Faculty marriages work around job constraints

Every third weekend, Fran Walker either hops on a plane to Cleveland or awaits her husband's visit to her apartment in Springfield, a suburb 10 miles west of Philadelphia. Since the two do not see each other often, these weekends are reserved for "quality time," which includes relaxing together and socializing with their common groups of friends, she explained. For Walker and many other administrators and faculty members, commuter marriages have become a way of life. According to Walker, this set-up is not uncommon -- since academics often marry others in the same line of work. This situation sometimes means working together at the same university, but in Walker's case, it means a hefty commute. Walker has been the director of Student Life, Activities and Facilities at the University since 1974. She married her husband Larry, in 1979, and the two lived together in Philadelphia for eight years. In 1987, Walker's husband was offered a job teaching health care administration in Cleveland, and the couple's life drastically changed. According to Walker, moving to Cleveland was not an option for her since "there were no jobs there that I wanted and I didn't want to change fields." Besides, Walker said, she was very happy with her job at Penn. "I love working with students," she explained. "And I enjoy some of the qualities of Penn students [in particular]. They have intelligence, drive, are challenging and are a lot of fun to work with." Working long but enjoyable hours has made living apart from her husband much easier, Walker said. "I do not have much free time where I feel lonely," she added. And although she said the separation was difficult in the beginning, it has developed into a standard way of life for her and her husband. When she comes home at night, Walker explained, she feels independent and does not have to cater to others' needs. Although Walker said she is comfortable with her marriage, and she and her husband talk on the telephone every night, she added that "emotional support from a spouse or a significant other is more difficult to provide over the telephone than in person." Walker said that since she and her husband have no children, their long-distance relationship is much easier. She emphasized that having children would make their situation very difficult. But this is not the case for English Undergraduate Chairperson Al Filreis and his wife, Susan Albertine. Albertine is a visiting lecturer in American Literature. Together, she and Filreis are the faculty-in-residence at Van Pelt College House, where they live with their two children -- 4-year-old Ben, and Hannah, aged 17 months. Although the family now lives under one roof, Albertine explained that it has not always been that way. Albertine and Filreis were in a commuter marriage for 10 years. Before moving to Penn this summer, Albertine was an associate professor of English and English Department chairperson at Susquehanna University, which is 150 miles from Philadelphia. According to Albertine, Filreis lived in Philadelphia for two-and-a-half to three days a week, and would usually drive to Susquehanna on Thursday nights to spend weekends with the family. The time Filreis spent away from his family was not easy, Albertine said. "It wasn't fun commuting, and we never imagined it to be permanent," she said. She added that while at Susquehanna, she knew of other families in similar situations -- but none of them had two children as young as her own. On one occasion, Albertine recalled, she was pregnant with Hannah and driving home with Ben in a car seat. Her truck got stuck in the snow and she could not rely on her husband for help. "There was nothing funny about it," she said. Albertine has only been working at the University since September, but said she likes living with her husband much better than commuting. "We have always been comfortable working together, and our fields overlap," she said. "We read and edit each other's work, and I owe him and he owes me for things that we've published." Albertine is currently looking for a permanent job with the University, and said she is "trying to make a career change to fit my abilities and interests." Though Albertine and Filreis live together on campus, several faculty members commute to the University with their spouses each morning. Martin and Hilda Pring are such a couple. Martin Pring is a physiology professor who runs the computer center in the Medical School. His wife Hilda works in the circulation department at Van Pelt Library. The two have been working at the University since 1968, when they moved here from Britain. "We commute together to and from work everyday, which is a major convenience, but also a minor inconvenience when one of us has to come in early or stay late," Martin Pring said. He said that because the campus is so big, the couple does not run into one other often, but added, "occasionally I'll see her on campus if I have a meeting in the library." Martin Pring said he and Hilda know many of the same people because they work at the same institution. He explained that having common friends and acquaintances is beneficial because he and his wife are able to keep up with each other's lives. "If someone says they know my wife, I have to be careful, though," he joked. "I never know if it might be because she caught them with an overdue library book!"