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College of Environment and Design

Claris Ingersoll, Owens Library Librarian

It is with sadness that we report the passing on Friday, September 16, of Claris Ingersoll, who made an important contribution to the development of the College of Environment and Design. Claris presided for more than 30 years over our “Reading Room” and in that capacity befriended a great number of students. With a degree in Journalism from UGA, she had contemplated pursuing a degree in landscape architecture, but after she changed her mind she was recruited by Hubert Owens to establish a “Reading Room.” There was no item in the departmental budget for a library, but Owens saw a need for a collection of references more readily accessible to students in the throes of a design project than the collections in the main university libraries. Claris played an indispensable role in building up a remarkably comprehensive collection of books and journals.

Equally important was her role in befriending many of our students, helping them deal with the pressures associated with pursuing a design degree—such as deciphering problem statements, meeting project deadlines, and learning the idiosyncratic expectations of faculty members.

Claris’s own interests included plants and birds, particularly those native to the mountains of north Georgia, and the cultures of other countries, particularly those from which students came to our programs. She retired from the university in 1993 but remained in contact with former students and was always glad to receive visits when they returned to Athens. She will be fondly remembered and greatly missed.

Any gifts to honor Claris should be made to the UGA Foundation and earmarked to the H. B. Owens Library Support Fund. Please contact Jennifer Messer at jlmesser@uga.edu or 706-542-4727.

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