a long, leafy, lovely space

By Dr. Joe Crowley
Submitted by Jane F. Tors

In mid-July, 1965, Joy and I spent a week at Plumas Pines, California, and decided to drive down to Reno to see the University of Nevada campus. I had accepted a one semester job there, beginning in January, 1966. Joy dropped me off at Morrill Hall, the first campus building, and, as I learned later, still one considered to house the heartbeat of the university. Just north of it was a long, leafy, lovely space known as the Quad.

One day in late spring, around 20 years ago (by then I was president of the university), a man I did not know came to my office and asked to see me. He was a friendly gentleman, well-dressed, who I believe worked for a book company. He sat down to tell me he had just walked several times around the Quad. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia, after which the University of Nevada had been designed. He had not been back to his alma mater for a long time. He was much pleased, he said, to have walked here along a large piece of land very similar to where he had often walked at Virginia. Then, with that memory in mind, refreshed by his tour of the Quad, he wept. His tears were happy ones. I shed a few myself.

UNR Quad and trees by photographer Jeff Dow, provided courtesy of ONE OF A KIND.

Dr. Joseph Crowley provided courtesy of University of Nevada, Reno

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This story by Dr. Joseph N. Crowley – who was well known for asking to be called Joe – is from ONE OF A KIND, a book by Mark Curtis featuring a collection of first-person essays and images about life in northern Nevada. Jane F. Tors submitted this story to the Double Down blog.

Joe served as the University of Nevada, Reno president for a record-setting 23 years, from 1978 to 2001. When Joe stepped down from the University presidency, he was the longest-serving president at a single institution among the nation's principal universities. He is namesake for the Joe Crowley Student Union. Known as “The Joe,” the building is a vibrant hub of student activity and campus life at the University. Joe officially served on the Nevada Humanities Board of Trustees as a gubernatorial appointee from 2003 – 2011, and as chair of the board from 2010 to 2011, but he was a stalwart advocate of Nevada Humanities – and the humanities in all its forms – since Nevada Humanities was founded in 1971. ONE OF A KIND was published in 2019, two years after his passing in 2017.