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- Dr. Connie Hines and Dr. Jeff Kromrey
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Connie Hines and Dr. Jeff Kromrey
LB: Today is November 30, 2005. I am Dr. Lou Bowers and I am interviewing Dr. Connie Hines and Dr. Jeff Kromrey of the USF College of Education’s Department of Educational Measurement and Research. I will start with Dr. Hines. What were the circumstances that brought you to USF from where were you, how did you hear about USF, and how did it come to be that you accepted the position here?
CH: I was actually in Ohio and I had done a review of research on teacher effectiveness that Dr. Bunnie Smith was working on. I met him through AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) and provided him my feedback on the review. We had a conversation during which he said you are the type of person we need at USF. He asked if I would be interested in a position at USF and I thought well, tell me a little more about the University of South Florida. He told me about the College and we went from there. One of the main attractions that brought me to USF was the SCATT program. It was a program in teacher education that I thought was really unique. Bunnie arranged for me to meet with Marcia Mann at the AACTE conference, I spoke with her and was quite impressed with what she had to say about the University. We went from there and I have not regretted it. I have been here 22 years and it just seems like yesterday. I have really enjoyed my time here.
LB: Excellent. Jeff what was your background and first introduction to USF?
JK: Well, I started here as a student. I got my bachelor’s degree in psychology here at USF a long time ago. And then I started working with mentally handicapped people and their families. I came back for a master’s degree in mental retardation, as it was called at that time. In the course of getting the master’s degree, I had one of the professors in the Measurement Department for a course in Foundations of Research. It was a course that was required, but it got me very much turned on to the idea of statistics and research and made it all very exciting. He convinced me to stick around for my doctorate and I did so. After I completed my doctorate, I decided I wanted to teach in the department and I was invited to join as a faculty member.
LB: Now the name of the department I noticed has changed over the years. What was the name when you joined the department?
CH: Educational Measurement and Research.
CH: Yes, it started to stabilize, I guess. I’m not sure what it was before.
JK: Was it called something else in the early days?
LB: At first it was the Department of Research and then it became Research and Measurement. “Evaluation” was in the name of the department at one time. What about the faculty? Who were members of the faculty when you joined? Who was dean? Who president of the University?
CH: The dean of the College was Bill Katzenmeyer and I remember being very impressed with him because I remember coming for my interview and then on the flight back to Ohio I thought he’s different from every college of education dean that I’ve known. He was alive. He was alert and so I was very impressed with him. The chair of my department at the time was Joe Mazur. In terms of the faculty we had Roger Wilk, and Bruce Hall, but Bruce was on sabbatical I think that year. Lou Carey, Doug Stone, and Cliff Blair were also in the department as well. I think that was it. I am surprised I can remember all of them. I was very impressed with the energy. I remember speaking with Associate Dean Ed Uprichard. There was a lot of energy in the College at the time and so that kind of hooked me. The president of USF was John Lott Brown and I was very impressed with him also.
LB: Jeff you came a little bit later.
JK: A little bit later. Bill was still the dean of the College. I agree with Connie that he was very impressive and easy to get along with. He seemed to have a vision, which was nice to see. I believe the president at the time I joined USF was Dr. Borkowski. As a new assistant professor, you don’t get to have much talking with presidents and provosts. I don’t think I could even tell who the provost was when I joined. I think Dr. Borkowski was the president of USF and the chair of the department when I joined was Bruce Hall. Joe Mazur who had been chair of the department had just retired so I did not serve under him. I think Cliff Blair had also left by the time I joined the department. Roger Wilk was still there, Lou Carey, Bob Dedrick was hired the same year I started I think or was he after me?
CH: He came the year after you.
JK: It was one year later.
CH: Yes.
JK: Okay. John Ferron joined the department a few years later.
CH: Right.
JK: At that time we had Connie, Lou Carey, Doug Stone, Roger Wilk, and Bruce Hall. That was it.