Art director sees College through snapshots

Office of College Communications Art Director Julie Strasheim is one of the few employees at Metro State who can view a montage of much of the College's history through images she's captured with her own photo lens.

At Metro State for nearly three decades, Strasheim has had a front-row seat to countless major events on campus featuring College presidents, political officials, Hollywood celebrities and student activities.

She's snapped photos of U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John Edwards as well as U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and Hollywood celebrities from Perry Mason star Raymond Burr to songwriters Ashford and Simpson, who served as Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professors. Her snapshots of history have been documented in This Week@Metro, College promotional materials, billboards and Metro Magazine.

Strasheim's work has also ended up at the White House. "In 1989, we used our photo of Plain & Fancy honoree and U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder as 4-inch die-cut in the Plain & Fancy invitation, and of course gave her copies of it," she says. "Later, she sent us a letter saying the White House asked her if she had anything to contribute to one of their Christmas trees, themed 'Little Women.' That's what she gave them."

Strasheim has drawn and painted her entire life."I started taking photos with a little instamatic in junior high. In high school I brought my first 35 mm with money I'd earned from babysitting and landscaping jobs."

Her role on campus is not so different from her role as the "family official photographer," she says. "I've driven my family stark raving mad over the years. They all cringe when I bring out the camera. But because of my gentle insistence, we have lots of family photos to pass on to future generations."

When she thinks about her time at the College, Strasheim sees the bigger picture of the College's beginnings from "struggling to get recognition at all and now we have master's programs and are looking at a name change. In the '80s, there were rumors about a possible name change. History does repeat itself."

Metro State's birthday and anniversary celebrations serve as occasions for her to flip through her photo archives. "It's fun to watch how styles and people change over the years. Some (people) have retired, some are still here, and some sadly have passed on."

She points to the late Rachel B. Noel and Richard T. Castro, who "made a great contribution to the school." The College has established professorships to honor both.

Strasheim hires and manages freelance photographers, student photographers and graphic designers. In addition to photography, she is the art director for Metro Magazine and designs everything from ads to e-vites to the commencement booklet.

Having seen the transition of the art of photography over the years, she says it's a long way from the days when she developed film with chemicals in the dark room of the library basement. "I don't know how I had time to do that. As we grew over the years, we hired freelancers and watched the industry go digital. But, I'm glad I got to do (photography) from the really basic level."