Pat Adongo When Pat Adongo traveled to Ghana, she had no idea she would find her soulmate, and thus, her path through life. “I had to go all the way to Africa to find him,” she said of her husband. In fact, Adongo and her husband even have the same name: Pat Adongo (She’s Patricia; he’s Patrick. Their friends call them Pat2). “It’s very handy, because I never forget his name.” she said, chuckling, her eyes squinting and her figure bouncing, almost like Santa Claus with long brown hair. Her jolly disposition shows frequently, as she actually chuckles like this after the majority of the things she says. “We have to find enjoyment in little things.” In Ghana, she taught literacy and helped to translate the Bible, which actually warranted “taking an oral language and making it into writing,” she said, with her retained borderline Ghanaian accent: (Americans say she has a Ghanaian accent. Ghanaians say she sounds American.) In addition, she spent six years in the African country with no running water, just living “with the people. You live the way they live,” she said. “A lot of people would come around and watch the white lady, because it’s funny,” she said. “It was a crack-up.” But meeting Patrick actually set in motion Adongo’s path through life, as the impenetrable force of family immediately took over, and now, she is where she is because of her family. After returning to the states, Adongo had three babies to show for it. To provide for her new family, she had to find a job, so she started teaching part-time in 1989, and the rest, as they say, is history. Adongo’s office provides an accurate portrayal of her personality. The small, wood-paneled room tucked at the back of the hallway represents humble origins, as she was raised on a piece of land in the south of Montclair. She called this “little piece of county that nobody wants. I lived on a dirt road most of my life.” The rustic walls prominently display pictures of her four kids, the most noticeable of which is a high school football picture of her son, which she proudly points out. An offensive and defensive lineman, he’s hoping for a scholarship to play, she said. In fact, as any proud parent, she readily wields pictures of all her children, relentlessly lauding their accomplishments. “They’re all doing good, but they can be a pain in the neck at times. You don’t have to put that in there,” she chuckled. This last phrase punctuates the majority of her sentences. Adongo wrongly suspects, as many people do, that what’s dear to them just isn’t that interesting. But the family doesn’t end with her children: “But you don’t know about my dog,” she said. Abby, named after the ULV law school’s pursuit of ABA accreditation, joined the family recently. “She’s a department mascot,” Adongo said. “She doesn’t know. Nobody else knows it.” Before Adongo’s budding family inspired her to teach, she actually practiced law, taking cases dealing with anything she could get: criminal, civil, family, bankruptcy, wills, etc. “I just had a small practice,” said the UCLA alumna. “I did what basically came in the door.” But real-life case law simply got to her. Her heaving humility just wasn’t satisfied: “Practice can be a pain in the neck, dealing with real people. I like the idea. I like the idea that you can make a difference. In the law, you have this hope that once in a while, you could make a difference.” But despite noble trappings of changing the world one pro bono case at a time, Adongo didn’t always want to be in law. “I was going to be a Russian correspondent for LIFE Magazine,” said the one-time journalism student. But, the story of her life, she could only work part-time doing journalism at the time and she needed to provide for her new husband. THE PROFESSOR Adongo admits to giving a lot of work: “I’m one that makes people really work, and they will tell you that.” As always, Adongo humbly declares herself and her pursuits relatively mediocre. “Here, our goal is to be good teachers, to relate to the students,” she said. “I relate well to students. I’m not a great teacher, but I think I’m a good teacher.” But even talking about herself as a professor circles back to the other half of Pat2, who teaches fourth grade. “I don’t think I’m a natural born teacher,” she said “He’s a natural born teacher.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:ADONGOP@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_2_link_1
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