Sarah Conley Odenkirk left the University of Illinois with more than a bachelor’s degree in history.
The Champaign-raised daughter of revered communication professor Thomas M. Conley and wife of “The Simpsons” writer Bill Odenkirk also took with her what’s become one of her most prized possessions.
“I took Professor James Barrett’s history classes and was inspired by his enthusiasm for the subjects he taught and his unapologetic defense of labor and human rights. All of these years, I’ve hung onto my copy of the ‘The Jungle,’ for which he wrote the introduction, moving it from place to place across the country and back,” says the attorney and founder of Champaign-based ArtConverge, whose mission is to “provide legal strategies and thought leadership for the arts,” with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
“In some ways,” she says, “the words that he wrote back in 1988 are even more powerful today, given the current climate of intolerance for immigrants working hard to build a better life in this country. Understanding how hard people fought at the turn of the last century for reforms and regulations protecting the health and safety of all Americans is critical to understanding how the erosion of standards and science-based protocols we’ve come to take for granted, poses a tremendous threat to our lives today.
“Professor Barrett made history relevant to the current day, and I am grateful for the lasting insight and perspective his classes gave me.”
Conley Odenkirk, who spent a year abroad in Montpellier, France as a UI undergrad, relocated to her hometown last year from L.A. Come fall, the board member of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts will join the faculty at her alma mater.
“Coming back to live in Champaign after moving away 35 years ago has been a mixture of nostalgia and rediscovery,” she says. “The unbelievable number of new apartment buildings on campus was a surprise, but it was fun to move my son into the dorms at PAR, directly across the street from where I lived my freshman year in FAR. Those buildings look exactly the same!
“I’m sad that the Daily Grind doesn’t exist anymore and that Illini Hall — which housed the University News Bureau, where I worked for an incredible group of talented and eclectic editors — was demolished.
“However, before working at the New Bureau, I worked in the Law Library for the wonderful librarian Jane Williams, and aspired to be a law student myself. While I did not end up attending law school here — I went to the University of Oregon, and yes, ‘The Jungle’ came with me — I am delighted to be teaching an Art Law course at the School of Law this fall. It definitely feels like a full-circle moment, and I could not be happier to finally be back home.”
