He’s been gone awhile, putting in 21 years as director of public relations for the city of London Corp. and the past three as director of the King’s Commission on London.
But Tony Halmos (’78) still has vivid memories of 504 East Armory, his home away from home while a ’70s grad student in what was then known as the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations.
“One of my favorite memories is of the regular gatherings of both students and professors in the common room at the school’s building,” he says from the UK. “It was where students exchanged gossip and caught up on plans — for both work and pleasure. Professors were there, too, and it was great for catching them informally.
“It was a basement space, right next to all the rooms for the graduate assistants, with a relaxed, casual atmosphere — very conducive to enjoying campus life and, dare I say, working harder.
“It was also, crucially, in the days before the Internet, emails or even faxes, where the only telephone regularly available for students was located, so we could communicate quickly locally — and further afield, provided we paid.
“It was also where the regular brown bag lunches were held with a programme of stimulating outside speakers, to keep us on our toes.
“In short, the heart of my two years at UIUC.”
