2008 Woodie Awards
Relationships that work
University has its share of long-standing married couples
By: Brian Brunner
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: News
At the 1982 CMU new faculty orientation, a beautiful young music professor stood up to introduce herself and caught the eye of a history professor in the back of the room.
John Robertson and Nina Nash-Robertson were married the following July.
John said he was "smitten to begin with" when he first saw Nina and made a point to get to know her through new faculty activities.
Nina said the new faculty members had parties in the beginning of the semester to get to know one another. When it came time for her to host, she made sure John was on the guest list.
"John stayed after and helped with the dishes and walked the dog," she said. "When you get a guy who'll do the dishes and walk your dog, you don't want to let him go."
A Roscoe relationship
Human Environmental Studies Professor Megan Goodwin said she is fortunate that CMU is such an accepting environment for married couples to work in.
According to CMU's Manual of University Policies Procedures and Guidelines, married couples may work in the same department, provided none are involved in making employment or financial decisions about the other.
Goodwin and her husband, Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, began working together in child development in 1984.
Unlike the Robertsons, it was not love at first sight for Roscoe and Goodwin.
"The funny thing is, we were both at UNC-Greensboro at the same time and both studying child development, but didn't really know each other," Roscoe said.
The two were introduced years later at a conference in Milwaukee, he said. But even when Goodwin interviewed at CMU a few years later, they did not remember one another.
Roscoe said working at CMU together is helpful because he understands what she is doing and how her schedule works and vice versa.
"We have an understanding of the world within each other works," he said.
Kodak moment
This understanding lies at the heart of the relationship for CMU's longest married staff couple, Peggy Brisbane and Robert Barclay. In 2008, the two photographers will have been married 32 years.
John Robertson and Nina Nash-Robertson were married the following July.
John said he was "smitten to begin with" when he first saw Nina and made a point to get to know her through new faculty activities.
Nina said the new faculty members had parties in the beginning of the semester to get to know one another. When it came time for her to host, she made sure John was on the guest list.
"John stayed after and helped with the dishes and walked the dog," she said. "When you get a guy who'll do the dishes and walk your dog, you don't want to let him go."
A Roscoe relationship
Human Environmental Studies Professor Megan Goodwin said she is fortunate that CMU is such an accepting environment for married couples to work in.
According to CMU's Manual of University Policies Procedures and Guidelines, married couples may work in the same department, provided none are involved in making employment or financial decisions about the other.
Goodwin and her husband, Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, began working together in child development in 1984.
Unlike the Robertsons, it was not love at first sight for Roscoe and Goodwin.
"The funny thing is, we were both at UNC-Greensboro at the same time and both studying child development, but didn't really know each other," Roscoe said.
The two were introduced years later at a conference in Milwaukee, he said. But even when Goodwin interviewed at CMU a few years later, they did not remember one another.
Roscoe said working at CMU together is helpful because he understands what she is doing and how her schedule works and vice versa.
"We have an understanding of the world within each other works," he said.
Kodak moment
This understanding lies at the heart of the relationship for CMU's longest married staff couple, Peggy Brisbane and Robert Barclay. In 2008, the two photographers will have been married 32 years.
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