SLU Honors Past Long-Serving Faculty, Staff with New Legacy Walls

For years, Saint Louis University has had a display of photographs to recognize faculty and staff who have served at SLU for 25 or more years. Originally located in Busch Student Center, the display is currently housed on the second floor of DuBourg Hall.

Now, SLU has added a special display on the same floor — across from the Pere Marquette Gallery — to honor the legacy of long-serving faculty and staff who have retired or have died since 2005.

A second legacy wall for the Medical Center will be installed in the coming months, and more details will follow. 

The new legacy wall in DuBourg Hall was dedicated and blessed during a small ceremony Monday, Sept. 12.

Several vice presidents, as well as faculty and staff with offices in DuBourg, attended. Mickey Luna, vice president for human resources, remarked on how these past employees dedicated themselves to SLU’s mission. University President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., acknowledged the importance of remembering SLU’s past, especially as the bi-centennial is approaching in 2018.

Eleonore Stump. Ph.D., the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy, discussed how SLU’s walls of recognition impacted her when she was first introduced to the University and how she realized that the honoring of everyone equally, regardless of rank or title, was a way of tangibly living out the Catholic, Jesuit values to which the institution is espoused. Stump hung the photo of past dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Donald Brennan, Ph.D., onto the wall after her remarks.

Finally, the Rev. Ted Vitali, C.P., chair of the philosophy department, noted SLU’s progress over the years, which was significantly impacted by the faculty and staff honored in the display, and blessed the wall with holy water.

More than 80 photographs of long-serving employees were added to the wall following the ceremony.