SRU honors art professor
SLIPPERY ROCK — Inspired by the movie "Mr. Holland's Opus," the art department at Slippery Rock University planned an impressive tribute to one of its veteran professors.
The guest of honor is Glen Brunken, an art professor who recently marked his 40th anniversary at SRU and plans to retire in June. In the movie, students come back to a campus to play for their beloved music teacher.
At SRU, alumni were asked to send postcards back to Brunken telling their whereabouts and showing their pictures or artwork. The response was impressive, even though the cards haven't been counted.
Brunken has been watching the cards stream in for more than a month.
"It's been a lot of fun," he said.
The cards will be hung in the Martha Gault Gallery for display through March 13 and then given to Brunken to keep.
An opening reception was held Feb. 9 to show the cards, which Brunken estimated at "about half a bushel."
The earliest graduate he's heard from left the university in 1972, he said.
"There's been quite a few from the '70s, more from the '80s and even more from the '90s," he said.
Jaci Ross, a 2002 graduate and teacher at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, said Brunken had a huge influence on her teaching. She still tells her students things that he taught her, she said.
Some of the 4-by-6 cards showed artwork from students. Others had pictures of them, and some included a simple "Thank You, Professor Brunken."
Brunken started at SRU in 1969 when enrollment was 4,000. The university now has 8,300 students.
Brunken said the current Art Building I at that time was a social hangout called "The Hut." He taught painting to 20 students in two houses rented by the university.
Now the art department has 120 majors and offers programs in fine arts, art with a teaching certificate and minors in studio art and art history.
