Home- College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
- Dr. Jane Applegate
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Jane Applegate
LB: Are there any favorite memories or funny stories that you might share?
JA: A few I can’t share.
LB: Your days in the Dean’s Office.
JA: Well, you know, I worked when I was in the Dean’s Office with a wonderful fellow named Joe Tomaino, who was the development officer for the College of Education. There are lots of funny stories about Joe, who was always seeing an opportunity for a conversation about money and where we might find money to support the work of the faculty. And so I had a lot of good experiences with Joe. One of my more amazing development stories had to do with a potential donor for the College who is European. He and his wife decided that they really wanted to contribute to education in the United States. They lived in the United States part of the time, and they lived in Europe part of the time. And so he called together a group of people to come to his summer home, which happened to be the hunting lodge of King Henry VIII in England. I’ll tell you that it was quite a trip! He had invited people from Harvard and from Berkeley and from the University of Pennsylvania. We all flew to England and spent five days talking about ways that their money could be useful to our institutions. And so it was a challenging set of conversations because on the one hand we all wanted to be collegial, and on the other hand we were all looking out for our own institutions and our own well being.
Of course we had inside the College a great faculty with a great sense of humor. There were always little stories and things that people were doing. Those are probably some of the stories that are better left for others to tell.
LB: If you could share a sentiment with the students entering the College of Education now with all the experience you had in preparing teachers as they enter education today, what would be some of those thoughts that they should be aware of as they enter as compared to when you entered teacher education?
JA: Well, I think students today have many opportunities in front of them. In my era, women’s career options were limited. We were limited to nursing, teaching, and probably secretarial services. The young women today who choose teaching come with the whole world in front of them with many opportunities. So they make a more deliberate choice, and I think that’s good. What I would say to people who are entering the profession of teaching today is that there are many forces and factors that are at work to influence the work of teachers. Still the heart of the work of a teacher rests in the human relationship between the teacher and the student. There’s nothing more profound or more rewarding than taking something that you know and love and translating it to a young person so that they can learn to think, communicate, develop that curiosity and that love of learning that you have because you’re a teacher. Because you’re a teacher, your mind is never still, and you want your students to feel that enthusiasm and that commitment for the life of the mind that they can then create and bring innovation and joy to others. Teaching is really human capacity building when it comes right down to it. I would encourage both our beginning students of teaching and our beginning teachers never to forget that.
LB: Excellent, thank you. Are there some areas or questions that you’d thought I might ask you or you wished I had asked you?
JA: No, I think you’ve been very thorough. This has been a pleasure. You know it’s fun to think back over a career. I was saying to you earlier today, last year I had the opportunity to be a department chair, which is what you were when we worked together. Now I feel like I’ve done every job there is to do in a college of education. I have been a faculty member, an administrator, an assistant dean, associate dean, and dean. I have loved my career. It’s been good to me, and I hope I’ve been good for the people with whom I’ve had a chance to work. Sometimes we get caught up in making the big decisions, and that’s fine and good, but also in the small ways we need to have to have those exchanges of ideas, and sharing of those human moments. We have to do both and continue to do both well.
LB: Well, I thank you, one for many fine contributions you’ve made to our College as dean and now as a professor, and especially for coming here this morning and sharing your thoughts and experiences with us so we can have this as part of our history.
End of Interview