Installation honors the memory of Dr. Gail Walker 4/20/06
On her desk are her books and papers. Her glasses. A favorite lamp. Her chair is pushed slightly away from the desk.To visitors it will look as though the late Dr. Gail Walker, professor of psychology at Alfred University, "Just Stepped Out for a Moment."That's the title Yvonne Squadrilli, "Doc" Walker's partner, has given to an installation she's created at the Women Leadership Center, located in The Commons on Terrace Street, near Openhym Residence Hall. A reception from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, April 22, will mark the opening of the installation, which will remain on display for several weeks. The reception is open to the public, free of charge.Squadrilli says the collection of items reflects "things that were dear" to Doc Walker, who died June 7, 2005, after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Walker, who taught at AU for 24 years and won a record 12 Excellence in Teaching Awards from the University during that time, continued to teach her classes during the spring '05 semester, even though she knew she had
exhausted her treatment options. She died three weeks after graduation. A video of Doc Walker delivering a talk at a 1995 conference on the AU campus will also be playing during the reception to help alumni returning for Hot Dog Day weekend, as well as current students and Walker's colleagues remember her. "I'd like people to come sit in her chair, read what she wrote, see what she was working on, and touch the things that were dear to her," said Squadrilli, who plans to give visitors copies of one of Walker's poems and of the essay, "Sunset and Moonrise: Reflections on living with terminal illness" that Doc Walker wrote after learning of her diagnosis. A memory book will be available during the time "Just Stepped Out for a Moment" is at the Women's Leadership Center, and Squadrilli is asking "everyone who remembers Doc" to share their thoughts about her in the book.A recognized expert on "death and dying"
professionally, Walker was widely published in that field. At AU, she taught many different courses in Psychology, but most often she taught "Introduction to Psychology," "Human Sexuality," and "Death and Dying," courses she said spanned human life from the moment of conception to the moment of death.But her curriculum vitae also listed what she considered her greatest achievement: "Career total of students taught: 12,064 by Spring Semester 2005."To honor Walker's memory, Squadrilli and her colleagues have created the Walker Book Fund, an endowment that will assist students who cannot afford to purchase textbooks, some of which now cost well over $100 each. Contributions to the Walker Book Fund may be sent to the Walker Book Fund, in care of University Relations, Alfred University, 1 Saxon Drive, Alfred, NY 14802.
