The people who keep The University of Alabama School of Law running took center stage this summer — and they deserved it.
Across two celebrations, the school recognized long-serving staff, presented the Distinguished Staff Service Award, and marked the retirement of a colleague whose tenure spans more than half a century.
At a staff social on July 30, the school honored service milestones from five to 35 years. Recognized were Nicole Hughes and Crystal Lucio (five years), Alicia Randolph and Melanie Reynolds (10), Luke Bentley (20), Jeb Richter and Candice Robbins (25), and Patty Nelson (35), along with retiring colleagues Bill Bellan (15 years) and Laura Dotson (35 years). The school also presented the Distinguished Staff Service Award to Joseph “Joe” DeAraujo.
No milestone this summer rivals Ruth Weeks’. After more than 50 years in the Bounds Law Library, Weeks is retiring, and the school will honor her at a reception on Thursday, August 6.
Weeks joined the law library in August 1973, fresh from a master’s degree in library science, as the department’s only cataloger. Over five decades she watched the school and its library transform around her — from the card catalog to the computer, from roughly 8,000 students on campus to the university it is today — while her work stayed close to the books. As associate director of collections services, she has selected, ordered, and cataloged the collection for generations of students. “Hundreds of thousands of books through the years,” she said. “They’ve all passed through my hands at some point.”
Some of those books passed through her hands quite literally. When the School of Law moved from Farrah Hall to the Law Center in January 1978, the staff gave up their Christmas break to carry every volume to the new building by hand. Decades later, the children of her early student workers have become library student workers themselves.
A Crimson Tide fan long before she arrived on campus, an alumna, and the mother of two UA graduates, Weeks leaves advice for those just starting out: “This school offers so much. Take advantage of all the opportunities the University provides — the classes, the atmosphere, the culture. Take it all in.”
From five-year milestones to a 50-year career, Alabama Law thanks the staff who make the school what it is.