Walking proud

Scholars Walk honors University's best

Photo by Patrick O'Leary

From M, fall 2006

The Scholars Walk heads west from the McNamara Alumni Center toward Northrop Mall and ends 2,000 feet later at the front door of Appleby Hall on the bluff above the Mississippi River. Lined with trees, shrubs, and benches, the walk includes lighted glass-and-limestone monuments honoring the University's creative and academic stars--Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners; Rhodes, Truman and Marshall Scholars; members of top academic academies; and many more.

At one point, the walk, a gift from the alumni association, the University of Minnesota Foundation, and the Minnesota Medical Foundation, traverses a narrow passage between buildings Electrical Engineering and Computer Science buildings. Affixed to a north wall is a 253-foot-long artistic tribute to the process of discovery. This Wall of Discovery is made up of inscriptions and illustrations on a metaphorical blackboard, like Seymour Cray's calculations for the first Cray supercomputer, a hand-written score of Dominick Argento's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, a sketch of William Pedersen's Shanghai World Financial Center, notes from breakthrough medical operations, and other items. Completing the wall are 20 edge-lit glass panels, which will appear to float in front of the blackboard.

When you're on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis, stroll along the Scholars Walk. You'll be in good company.