After waking up early in the morning and getting ready for work, a hurried goodbye is all many couples have time for. When both halves of the couple work at AU, however, that “goodbye” turns into “see you later.”
Many faculty members and their spouses work together at the University, some after meeting here and others after a series of serendipitous events. Here are the stories of three AU faculty couples.
Courtesy of Melissa Young
Young love
AU professors Melissa Young and Joseph Young remember the University when it was much younger. They met here in 1996 as students in the Washington Semester Program on the Tenley Campus. Melissa was studying International Business and Joseph was studying Peace and Conflict Resolution.
“I don’t think we ever imagined that we’d end up back in D.C., and we certainly didn’t imagine that 15 years after we met at AU, we would start teaching at AU together again,” Melissa said.
Their first meeting was at the Dancing Crab, a bar and restaurant in Tenleytown that was a popular karaoke hangout for AU students on Wednesday nights. Soon after, they went on their first official date to a Thai restaurant in Tenleytown.
“When you’re on a semester like that, everything happens at microwave speed, so we started dating soon after that,” Melissa said.
When the semester ended, Melissa, a senior, returned to Monmouth College in Illinois and Joseph, a junior, returned to Stetson University in Florida, but the two continued their relationship. Numerous cities, schools and jobs later, the now-married couple ended up back at AU.
“We chose D.C. because we wanted a big city where we could both get jobs, but we hadn’t dreamed that we would both be offered jobs at the same place,” Melissa said. “That’s pretty special to come back to.”
Now, the two work in different departments and rarely see each other on campus since they work on alternate days to take care of their children.
“I have never in 18 years ran out of something to talk to him about, because we’re both so interested in the world and so interested in what’s happening and so interested in knowing more,” Melissa said. “When you have that love of learning, it’s easy to talk. There’s always something else to learn.”
Courtesy of Jeffrey Middents
Together at AU, at last
Love at first sight isn’t for everyone. Professors Angela Dadak and Jeffrey Middents have been working together since their days as students at Dartmouth College, where Dadak started as a freshman in 1990 and Middents in 1989. The two both worked together but never dated while at school.
“We have this weird story where we don’t actually remember where we first met,” Middents said.
In their last two years of college, Middents said the two were both interested in each other at different times. After graduating in 1993, Dadak went to Poland for two years, and their letter-writing began.
“In a way it’s very Victorian,” Middents said. The two have kept their correspondences to this day.
Middents was studying at the University of Michigan by then, and in 1995, Dadak went out to visit. She ended up finding a job in the area, and soon the two began dating. Four years later, they married in Michigan.
After two years in California, a job opportunity for Dadak at Georgetown brought the two to D.C., where Middents found a post at AU. In 2004, she applied for and got a position in AU’s College Writing department.
“Her job brought us to D.C., and then both of our jobs have kept us in D.C.,” Middents said. “Neither one of us thought that we would actually stay here or even enjoy it necessarily, but D.C. does have a little bit of everything.”
Although Middents and Dadak work in the same department on the same floor, their work is very different and pulls them towards different ends of the department.
“Because we do different things, oftentimes we’ve bounced different ideas off of one another,” Middents said. “We can almost act as a bridge... We don’t always agree, and that’s okay too. We can still go home and be happy.”
Courtesy of Michael Manson
A shared love of literature
Sometimes, a first encounter doesn’t involve sight at all. Professor Michael Manson remembers interviewing for a position at AU with Kermit Moyer, then the Literature Department chair. While Manson was in his office, Moyer received a phone call from Professor Marianne Noble. She was calling to accept her own new job at the University.
“The first time I hear her voice is this excited sound of, ‘Oh yeah, this is great, I got the job,’” Manson said.
The two then officially met at a new faculty meeting in the fall of 1993 as visiting assistant professors and immediately hit it off. They were good friends for years, during which time Manson moved to New England after teaching at AU for two years. Noble continued teaching at AU, and after the two began dating in 2000, Manson returned to D.C. They married in 2001 and have remained at AU ever since.
Both work in the Literature department. Noble teaches 19th century American literature, while Manson teaches 20th century American literature and serves as director of the Honors program.
“I like to say she’s prequel, I’m sequel,” Manson said.
Although they work closely together, Manson said they prefer to keep their relationship on-campus strictly professional.
“You get to talk about books all day long,” Manson said. “We have an endless supply of conversation that is intellectual in nature and so therefore, to us at least, intrinsically fascinating.”
After having children, Manson said their relationship now revolves mostly around parenting their young son and daughter. Still, their love of literature and teaching remains an integral part of their life together.
"Having that shared profession has deepened the bonds that we have,” Manson said.
