Julie (Torres) Manner ’06 Speaks at Science Hall Dedication

The university was thrilled to be addressed by alumna Julie (Torres) Manner ‘06, among others, during the LaVerne and Dorothy Brown Science Building dedication in February. As an alumni voice for USF’s undergraduate science and biology programs, Manner reached out to past classmates to ask what they remembered and missed from their “countless hours spent in the old science halls and classrooms.” She shared the following memories with those gathered:

• Pulling all-nighters in the biochem lab, trying to isolate alkaline phosphatase…

• Joking that the answer to every Dr. Bromer essay question is something about Darwin…

• The wonderful smells coming from the petri dishes in microbiology…

• Making aspirin in o-chem and then asking “Can we use this?”…

• Being swarmed by fruit flies when walking through the halls after genetics lab…

• Hanging out in the Kirk Center all day, which included taking naps, writing messages on the chalk board, and playing practical jokes on the professors…

Said Manner, after eliciting a few giggles from the crowd, “I have so many memories from my four years at USF. Some are fun and others are stressful. But I worked hard and learned more than I ever thought possible. In the end, I walked away with a superior education—one which I did not truly appreciate until I finished graduate school and started

my career. I look back now with admiration and a deep gratitude for our science program and our professors, and I want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and for helping to create many fond memories of USF. Thank you for making me proud to say that I studied at the University of St. Francis. My success in my education and career is because of your dedication and compassion in teaching.”

Manner currently works as a physical therapist for Athletico Physical Therapy in Wilmington, Ill.