Wren Rogers writes: I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it to the upcoming reunion, but you asked what I've been doing-- so here it is:
I graduated from Yale with a degree in architecture and headed out to Rice University to pursue a Masters. However, before I finished my studies I ran off to Bogota, Colombia, with my former husband, Mario Noriega, a Colombian architect and urban planner. I lived there for 24 very exciting years. During that time my husband and I started what continues to be a successful design and planning firm. I also became a professor at the University of Los Andes, a wonderful, magical school high on the slopes of the Andes. I taught design and the history of architecture there for several years, and then moved on to be the Curator of Architecture at the Bogota Museum of Modern Art. I returned to Los Andes as Dean of the School of Architecture and Design in 1996. In 2000 I came back to the United States with my sons, Thomas and David Noriega. I got a PhD in the History of Architecture from Binghamton University (SUNY) in 2005, and then moved briefly to New Mexico as a resident scholar at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center. In 2007 I moved to Alabama, where I am now Associate Dean at the College of Architecture, Design and Construction at Auburn University. My son Thomas graduated from Harvard in 2006 and is now in San Francisco pursuing a doctorate in biochemistry at USF. David graduated from Brown in 2007 and is in Manhattan working for the Civilian Complaint Review Board of the City of New York; he plans to start law school next fall.
That's it in a nutshell. I'm happy as a sand clam in Alabama, where I live in a house with a world-class back porch and a huge, venerable white oak in the back yard. I am privileged to work at a wonderful school surrounded by remarkable, accomplished colleagues and smart, creative young men and women. My sons are awesome. All in all, very satisfactory.
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Judy Schoneman Beirne said...
ReplyDeleteWho da thunk that three little Willardites (Rogers, Elgin, Schoneman) would eventually provide enough male offspring for a polo game!?
September 07, 2010
susan said...
Wow.. Hi Wren! What a coincidence, I am planning to go to Bogota, Colombia next January with a Witness for Peace delegation. Sorry you can't come to the Willard Reunion. I'm driving up from NC if you want a ride. I discovered Miss Eliason's travel diary in the Southern historical archival collection in Chapel Hill and am making a little presentation about her. So all you Miss E fans, try to make it to the gathering at Judy Hall's house on Friday. Susan (Shaffner)
September 08, 2010
Karen said...
Hey, Susan.
It's great to hear from you. Weird how many of us have migrated south... I was a big Miss Eliason fan and am sorry that I'll miss your presentation. Maybe some of us who live below the Mason-Dixon line (called the Muffin-Biscuit line around here) could get together sometime.
Hope Y'all have a great time at the reunion.
Wren