From comic books and pop culture paraphernalia to outdoor adventure inspiration as well as odes to Texas Tech traditions, Texas Tech faculty offices show a piece of the interesting people who reside in them. Next time your professors mention office hours, you should probably take them up on that.
M. Duane Nellis, Texas Tech president
“Even though I am the president, I care about everyone in the institution,” Nellis said. “I embrace each role, everyone that works at Texas Tech contributes to the university’s success, whether they are the groundskeeper, executive assistant, a professor or other staffers, and the students are key part of why we are all here. I do care deeply about students’ success and every aspect of life. I want a safe environment, a supportive environment, and so those are the things that are important.”
Roger Saathoff, College of Media & Communication associate professor
“I one time created a logo for myself,” Saathoff said. “What it was, I took some of the canyon pictures around here and some pictures that I had taken, and I put it in Photoshop and took several layers of light and color out of it, and it was very ghostly in the background. Some of these things in pictures are called buttes…so it also looks like another word, so my logo was Pale Butte.”
Robert Peaslee, Journalism and Electronic Media Department chairman
“A year, or two or five or ten down the road, somebody will send you a letter or a card in the mail or an email that says, ‘I had this crazy experience at work’ or ‘I just won this award or whatever it was, and it brought me back to this moment that I had in your classroom,'” Peaslee said. “Suddenly, I realized how important that moment was to get me where I am. You don’t get those often, but those are the moments that keep you in it.”
Kristy Kristinek, College of Visual and Performing Arts academic adviser
“Arts are all around you whether you want to admit it or not,” Kristinek said. “Like the t-shirt you are wearing—somebody screen printed that for you. Being able to tell people that it is all around them all the time, that someone is creating that for you is a pretty big boost for a student.”
Lyombe Eko, College of Media & Communication professor
“Masks play different roles,” Eko said. “That is the philosophy of masks. The Mayans and Aztecs used to worship the sun because the sun rules and was the center of life, so they reproduced the sun in that form, and for them, it was very important. So, every mask has a story.”
Rob Weiner, pop culture instructor and librarian
“I’ve carved my own niche and became a popular culture scholar,” Weiner said. “They call me the popular culture guru. If that’s true, I don’t know—between that and being known as the prairie dog guy.”
Chris Cook, Texas Tech Communications and Marketing managing director
“So many things happened over those 11 years that are kind of those life/work lesson moments,” Cook said about his time working in athletics. “My first year was coach Spike Dykes’ last year, and then we bring in coach [Mike] Leach, and it’s almost a completely different view of the world … the highlight, though, was when the most sports teams were doing the best that they could. Those years were a lot of fun.”
About Alyssa Chrisope
