Writings on the wall

Within the University of Dayton’s brick-clad halls, a piece of chalk becomes a voice. Borders between disciplines blur as dry erase markers speak in inky reds, blues and greens. Hands transcribe. Pens glide. Curiosity stretches far and wide. 

Across campus, writing surfaces — chalkboards, whiteboards, bulletin boards, even sidewalks — double as forums for thought and dialogue. Marianist education is etched into every scribble and scrawl. Each erasure clears space for what’s next, as yesterday’s insights make room for tomorrow’s conversations about faith, learning and community. 

To see for yourself, all you have to do is look.

SHOWING THEIR WORK
(Above)  A whiteboard serves as both canvas and classroom in Raymond L. Fitz Hall as students present alcohol safety strategies to their nutrition and health class. “They like getting up out of their chairs, moving around the room and writing on the board — sometimes sketching pictures,” said assistant clinical professor Rebecca Gonter-Dray. “We all learn in different ways. … This activity provides an opportunity to meet those learning needs in a blended fashion for the student.”

FINDING SOLUTIONS
 (Above) Aerospace engineering graduate students review propulsions in Jessie S. Hathcock Hall, named for Jessie Hathcock ’30, the first Black woman to graduate from UD. Here, whiteboards encourage shared momentum. Asked what keeps their energy going, Casey Schepner ’23 (black beanie) said, “Listening to music. Right now, it’s Creed helping us study ‘With Arms Wide Open.’” 

(Below) Roesch Library’s second floor is quiet but not idle during fall finals week, where coveted study rooms and workspaces are quickly claimed. By morning, boards are covered with formulas, literary terms and caffeine-fueled caricatures — traces of learning that linger long after midnight.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD  
Built in 2012 to connect Sherman and Wohlleben halls, UD’s Science Center is 40% laboratories and 60% classrooms, lecture halls and offices. In its labs, students use transparent glass boards to chronicle their arc of inquiry through handwritten equations and complex compound structures, synthesizing the evolution of understanding in real time. When instruction bonds with practical application, knowledge reacts and learning is in solution. It isn’t always tidy, but it is elemental. 

SHARING STRATEGY 
Catch a women’s basketball game at UD Arena, and you’ll see head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter write the playbook in real time. With a dry erase coaching board in hand, she sketches strategies during every timeout, drawing lines and scenarios like a point guard setting up the perfect assist. Her approach — thinking two steps ahead, always moving — mirrors the fast-paced play of her Flyers, who never stop writing their own story on the court. 

CREATIVE CONCEPTS
(Above) Music theory, art-lined walls and photo boards in Fitz Hall capture more than the current curriculum — they showcase student-spun stories of joy, vulnerability and imagination told through ink, graphite and Polaroids.

(Below) Professor Joel Whitaker (pictured teaching Foundation Photography) said he relies on whiteboards for instruction. “Thinking about the ‘what’ and ‘how’ is essential to the learning and photographic process, and this takes time,” he said. “Time making exposures, processing film, making prints in the dark room [and] spending time with the end result … all to make evident [students’] visual and creative approach to problem-solving.”