It is only mid-October and not only does graduation loom on the distant horizon, but it also brings with it the inevitable job hunt. For generations, the University has functioned as an undergraduate institution -- taking in students, developing them and then throwing them back out into the suddenly much more real world. But somewhere in this process, certain students have been absorbed back into the University community after graduation.
Among the faculty of the University is a finite population of U.Va. alumni who have completed their undergraduate degrees -- and in some cases left the school -- only to return as members of the staff. While an appreciation -- if not love -- for the school and its surrounding community, might be one motivating factor, returning alumni have cited a variety of incentives that have drawn them back to the University.
C-ville, born and raised
For English Prof. Jahan Ramazani, the University was not so much a distant dream as a daily reality. Born and brought up in Charlottesville, Ramazani was very familiar with the University, especially because his father was a Middle Eastern Politics professor.
"I can certainly remember as a kid coming into his office and horsing around, walking around Grounds," Ramazani said. "Just as I occasionally come up here with my little kids."
Ramazani officially entered the University ranks as an undergraduate student in 1978, for what he cites as mainly financial reasons-- he estimates the yearly tuition at the time to be around $800.
"It's hard to believe I was an Echols scholar living in Dunnington in 1978. That was the Echols dorm back then," Ramazani said. "That was also something that attracted me about coming here -- the Echols program; the idea of being among like-minded people who'd talk about ideas and books late into the night."
He laughs a little at these ideals now. "I was a little disappointed."
While here for only three years, Ramazani made the most of his time. Aside from being a Jazz director at the WTJU radio station -- where, little did he know, he would return to serve as a faculty member for 12 more years -- Ramazani also initiated the International Student Host Program, an organization that exists still on Grounds today.
"I set that up through Madison House. The idea was to pair an international student with an American student," he said.
Ramazani left the University armed not only with a degree in English, but also with the Rhodes scholarship, which secured his spot at Oxford University for next two years. After receiving his doctorate at Yale University, Ramazani found himself faced with a whole new set of college decisions; namely, offers for professorship from Princeton, Michigan and of course, the University of Virginia.
Ultimately, though, U.Va. reclaimed its own, and Ramazani found himself on the other side of the podium, facilitating change in a system he had only recently gone through himself.
As chair of the Faculty Senate in 1997, Ramazani introduced several new ideas in his Convocation speech. The fruits of his initiative on "intellectual community" have sprouted up around Grounds today: The Alderman Cafe, the deferral of rush from 10 days to a whole semester, the now extinct Garden Room at Hotel E restaurant for faculty and students, and the Forum for Contemporary Thought.
"Often you feel like you can't bring about change because institutions tend to be conservative," Ramazani said. "But if you're patient, stick to your vision and work collaboratively, things can change."
Chef-in-training
College class of 2003 graduate Wright Harrison has had his own share of changes in the past year. These days, Harrison is still found in one of the places he loved frequenting as a student -- the Newcomb dining hall. But while before he was among the masses of students waiting to be fed, now he is the one doing the feeding.
Officially known as the "Prep Cook," Harrison is a recent addition to the University's catering department, where he works as an assistant to the Sous Chef in preparing a huge variety of hot dinners.
"I really want to be successful at this; use cooking as a way to see different places. This is what I want to do professionally," Harrison said."Newcomb Hall is just a factory for food. It's such a cool place to be working in."
Work, for Harrison, extends over a variety of duties, which have been growing as he becomes more adept in the kitchen, he said. These responsibilities range from checking on supplies -- be they towels, butter in the refrigerator, or sanitizer to clean the countertops -- to cutting fourteen pans of vegetables, which he did one Thursday for a student athletes' luncheon.
"When I come into work I'm really trying to be ahead of the game. My goal for myself is to be more efficient at the job," Harrison said. "Everyday it's a real challenge for me, and it's a welcome challenge."
This challenge is particularly pronounced during football game days, when the catering service has its own set of festivities behind-the-scenes, preparing food for anyone and everyone: The President's box, the press box at the stadium and staff working at the stadium, among others.
"It's such a fast-paced scene trying to get all this food together for the people coming in for this one event. The volume builds up as games get more important," Harrison said. "As tough and stressful as it is, it's a really rewarding thing to have accomplished when you get through it."
Wahoo for life
Another 2003 College graduate, Chris Husser, also hasn't left the University scene yet. As the official Technology Coordinator of Newcomb's Student Activities Center, Husser has maintained much of the responsibilities he had while working at the SAC as a student.
"It's kind of an adjustment getting used to not having classes," Husser said. "Now it's like I can do the extracurricular stuff all the time, without classes getting in the way."
Freedom from classes has also given Husser the opportunity to explore Charlottesville at a level he was never able to as a full-time student, he said.
"There's so much just beyond the Corner that a lot of students miss out on. Going to where all the students are -- I don't have to do that anymore, I'm not constrained by it," Husser said. "I guess I'm a townie now. I definitely think I've done more in these past couple months in Charlottesville than I did my four years."
While Husser had never considered the idea of staying on at the University career-wise, he said the prospect quickly appealed to him. It gave him the opportunity to pursue activities -- i.e. technology -- that he had been involved with as a student, including his term as the Chief Technology Advisor for Student Council.
"I've extended my lease," Husser said. "I've got more years that I can spend here."
And for Husser, a self-declared U.Va. fan, those years would inevitably have come up, if not now, then in the future.
"U.Va., to me right now, is where I want to be in ten years," Husser said. "U.Va. means so much to me. This is definitely where I want to end up."
Husser's conversion to full-time Wahoo transpired between his nonchalant first year and the two summers he spent as an Orientation leader, he said.
"I did a 180 with that," Husser said. "When you do that job you just learn so much about the school. I think that's where I got my spirit from."
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