Throughout the Fall 2015 term, students in Sarah Kaufman's Documentary Photography class engaged in an ongoing project, focused on a few of the Ursinus staff members who keep the college running day-to-day. Early on in the semester students reached out to staff asking for their participation and together, they began an ongoing process of meetings and interviews. Ultimately, each student photographed and interviewed a staff member in his or her own community, in a location of their choice.
This collaboration was intended to facilitate meaningful connections between students and staff members. One of the project’s goals was to highlight individual staff member’s stories and various roles in communities beyond the college. Together, the images and text build a collective document, mapping a web of staff communities that come together each day on the UC campus. The resulting photographs become collaborative portraits for and of each staff participant.