Forty Years

I woke up this morning and saw an email from empower@fiu.edu.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was being congratulated for reaching an important milestone at FIU, the 40 year service anniversary.  Forty years ago today I accepted the position of assistant professor of chemistry.  I am surprised when I realize I was only 27 at the time.  Time does fly!

My job then was very simple.  I would teach one full class of CHM 1045, in OE 134, and one class of a senior level course, CHM 4610, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry.  Additionally, I would have to perform some yet to be identified service for the department. Oh, and I had to establish a research program. It was and is a very nice job.  There was no graduate program, no  Ph.D. program,  A lot has happenned since then.  The department has changed since then.  Only one other faculty member remains from that time.  I went through the process of becoming chair, graduate program coordinator, and associate chair.  I am beginning my tenth year as associate chair.  I wil also be 69 years old tomorrow. 

I joined in 1986, a little bit after the Challenger shuttle crashed.  I remember being at the UM and professor Carl Hoff letting me know the challenger had exploded as I was taking a very important melting point in the laboratory.  This was in January of 1986. At the time I had no idea where I would be for the next year.  I had not even applied for a position yet.  On March 10, 1986, Elena was born. Elena is my second daughter in age.  Cristina was at home. She was in school.  She was three and and a half years old and was attending a preschool in West Miami.   I am surprised that both of those things occurred, not simultaneously but close to each other. I have always marveled at how my brain can separate things like that.  I had never even associated those things until I started writing this.  

I remember I was actively thinking about what to do with my degree.  It is not as if I had any offers. Actually I did have one offer, to go to MIT and work on who would later become a Nobel Prize Winner.  

In 1986, I was the first faculty member hired by the chemistry department at FIU.  It had just been created.  Prior to that it was known as the Department of Physical Sciences and was a combination of Chemistry, Physics and Geology.  The Department of Biological Sciences was made up of Biological Sciences and various other subdivisions which I do not remember right away. I later was hired by the Department.  I was happy and frankly I still am, but at the time it was a strange situation to be in. 

In time I was the department chair from 1992-1995, was the graduate coordinator from 1990-1992 and from 1995-1997.  I later became associate chair from 2017-2026.  We had four children, two grandchildren, a lot was accomplished. 

University of MIami

 Today was interesting.  

I heard that they had torn down the Mahoney - Pearson halls at the University of Miami.  They had pictures of the halls on the web.  And pictures of what remains.

I was surprised.  To me those were the buildings that defined the entrance to the University of Miami.  Once you saw those buildings, you knew one had arrived at the University.  I decided to read about them They were not twin buildings but they looked similar enough that you could tell they were built as part of a complex, although first Mahoney was built and then the Pearson building was built.

Ramon drove from LMT’s to the University of Miami.  The Mahoney/Pearson complex were the two dormitory buildings at the front of the University.  One would see these buildings from US1 when one arrived at the University.  Today, Ramon saw the buildings and they had been destroyed.  Interestingly they looked like they were actually larger than they really were.  Ramon then drove to the back of the university to see the Science Building and realized there was a new Science Building right next to the fountain and West of the Library, kind of behind the Ashe Building. The former Science Building was still present.  It looked as if it was being renovated.  The Learning Center building was no longer visible from the student parking lot in behind the Memorial Building.  There were two other buildings in front of it.  Ramon then went into the campus just to see what was going on.  New students were already arriving, and Ramon did not see that many changes going on there.  The campus seemed different, as if a lot of the smaller buildings had been torn down and replaced by huge dormitory buildings.  Then again, sometime when we go back to a place we remember, it all seems smaller or tighter than it once did. Here is the address to the blog. https://lafamilialopezdelnautico.blogspot.com/

I first noticed the buildings when Robert became a student at the University of Miami.  He did not like the UM and the next year he would go to University of Florida in Gainesville.  That University he liked a lot better.  Robert graduated in 1970.  This meant he went to the University of Miami beginning in 1970 until 1971.  

I remember seeing the Mahoney Pearson buildings during his year at UM.  These were college dorms.  I do not know if he lived there or if he actually drove from home to there.  Or if he lived in another building altogether.  I have been trying to think back to see what I remembered but I remember nothing.  During that time the school kept different dorm buildings for each gender.  The ladies were in the Mahoney Building while the gentlemen occupied the Pearson Building, although I am not sure if these were the actual names of the buildings at the time.  They may also have been named the 720 and 730 buildings, due to their occupancy. 

The buildings were built in the late 50s.   

I remember first seeing or possibly noticing these building in 1970-1971.  Robert told me that one of these was for ladies and one was for gentlemen.  It was easy to tell which one was which by how many windows were pulled up.  In the Mahoney building, most of the privacy shades were down, in the Pearson building most of them were up.  I do not think Robert actually lived there.  He may also have lived at home.  I am honestly not sure. 

I later became more aware of the buildings when I actually attended the University Fall of 1975 all the way through Fall of 1986. I received my Bachelors of Science, Ph.D. and Postdoctoral studies.  At times I felt that I would never leave.  Oh, and I forgot, I had my first two children and got married then as well.  I am actually very proud of my education there, although sometimes it seemed interminable at the time.  The two buildings were joined by a common lobby and dining facilities.  

I only went into the buildings once.  I was studying for an exam and the whole group got together in a room in Pearson hall joined by our classmates.  We had a great time and we actually studied.  There I learned that I did not like the idea of living in a dormitory. Although the students that lived there seemed to be happy.  I on the other hand could go home at the end of the day.  I remember during that time one of the students had left the family and no one could find him.  He did not return although much later, I did see him at the UM. I was in the graduate school at the time so it may have been around six years later. 

While attending the University, I almost never went by that area.  Although they present at the front of the University, in practice, for the chemists particularly, they were way back where no students actually were.  

I just went by the University for the first time in years and was amazed at how much it had changed.  There seems to be a new science building which one of these days I will visit, just to see what it is like.