{"id":218143,"date":"2022-05-17T15:46:59","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T19:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=218143"},"modified":"2022-09-23T10:15:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T14:15:13","slug":"object-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2022\/05\/17\/object-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Object Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just as there\u2019s more than what meets the eye in the photographed objects that line the walls of Richardson Hall, the collection carries layers of significance.<\/p>\n

In a beautiful display of collaboration, the new Richardson Hall Portrait Gallery captures the story of a group of professors\u2019 ingenuity and a daughter\u2019s generosity to honor her parents\u2019 Montclair legacy.
\nEstablished in memory of Dow H. \u201943 and Elizabeth Brann Rich \u201943 to commemorate their years as science majors at Montclair, the portrait gallery is made possible with the generous support of their daughter, Rev. Barbara E. Stephens-Rich.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place, and this institution were very dear to my parents\u2019 hearts,\u201d says Stephens-Rich. \u201cThis was where they met and fell in love. This is where my dad came into his own in academic success and leadership \u2026 where Montclair opened doors for him, like being the physics lab assistant \u2026 that allowed him to see himself in a new light, and find new achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

From abandoned objects to intrigue<\/h2>\n

It started when Ashuwin Vaidya, chairperson of Mathematics, began a collaboration with Klaus Schnitzer, then Photography chair and now professor emeritus, to photograph fluid flows in Vaidya\u2019s lab. Around that time, Marc Favata, chairperson of Physics and Astronomy, and other colleagues were clearing out a nearby storage room containing the physics program\u2019s equipment \u2013 young and old. A number of scientific instruments, now obsolete, caught the eye of Schnitzer, who realized the relics\u2019 artistic value.<\/p>\n

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Professor Emeritus Klaus Schnitzer discusses the photographs in his artifact series Science on display in Richardson Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Schnitzer is drawn to the \u201cquiet beauty of abandoned objects,\u201d and in his artifact series, Science, presents the scientific relics as mysterious monuments, out of context and disembodied against a black backdrop. His treatment produces a sense of scale that is in outsize proportion to the size of the original objects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great example of collaboration and our belief in promoting STEAM, looking at the world around us to see its beauty and to learn from it,\u201d says College of Science and Mathematics Dean Lora Billings.<\/p>\n

In acknowledging Stephens-Rich, Favata shared: \u201cWhen we moved into this renovated space, like a new apartment, you want to make it feel like home and put pictures on the walls\u2026the gallery connects with our past and connects with your past, and we thank you for making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the gallery feature images of physics lab equipment that my parents both would have worked with in their years at Montclair, and having it part of this new physics and astronomy building, both fields that my father loved, is very special,\u201d says Stephens-Rich.<\/p>\n

A living legacy<\/h2>\n

The heart of Stephens-Rich\u2019s generosity to the University lies in the endowed scholarship she established in her parents\u2019 names, the Dow and Elizabeth Brann Rich Scholarship in the College of Science and Mathematics, which recognizes academic merit and is awarded to students enrolled in a major in physics, biology, molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry or earth and environmental science.<\/p>\n

\u201cI endowed the science scholarship so that their legacy would live on in helping new generations of students at the institution that they so loved,\u201d says Stephens-Rich.<\/p>\n

\"Barbara
Donor Barbara Stephens-Rich (left) with Ethel Guelfguat, a junior and recipient of the Dow and Elizabeth Brann Rich Scholarship, at the gallery opening.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Junior Ethel Guelfguat, a Biology major and one of this year\u2019s scholarship recipients, was on hand to meet Stephens-Rich, whose generosity is helping pave her academic journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very fortunate to be the recipient of the Dow and Elizabeth Brann Rich Scholarship. This scholarship has not only helped me financially, but made me realize how much I have achieved in the past months,\u201d says Guelfguat.<\/p>\n

Through the endowed scholarship and now through the portrait gallery, the memory of Dow and Elizabeth Brann Rich endures, in a display of generosity and gratitude that has an ever-larger impact.<\/p>\n

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The Richardson Hall Portrait Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n