USF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
FIFTY-YEAR HISTORY
Celebrating 50,000 Educators in 50 Years
Home- College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
- Dr. Bill Katzenmeyer
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Bill Katzenmeyer
BK: Well, I don’t know whether you should tell the truth in these things, but when Jerry Miesels came as Provost, that was really trouble because he arrived from Nebraska with an anti-College of Education bug in his bonnet. He’d make all these incredible requests for information. Ed Steiner and I went to through the first year or so doing everything he asked. Then one day we realized that he wasn’t organized enough to know what he’d asked us, so we’d come in and say this stuff and he’d sort of look at us like why did we do that. So we decided we’d go in together and present what we wanted him to know. Suddenly we had figured out how to work with Jerry Miesels, so we didn’t have any trouble with him afterwards. We gave him so much to think about when we were there he stopped asking us to give him reports. That was a lot of fun.
Greg O’ Brien was the provost when I first came. He was a wonderful leader, perhaps I say that because he saw the role of leadership in the same way I did. He believed that you find people who have ideas and energy, who are knowledgeable in their field and dedicated to the work, and you become a supporter, advisor, consultant, and cheerleader to them. Basically, he came in and said you have a college and there are some problems, see what you can do with it and fix it up. He said, “Let’s get some things going.” Of course we got a lot of things going, and Greg was very happy. You know he was president of The University of New Orleans for about 15 years after he left here. And as I understand it they liked him a lot, but I don’t know what ever happened that he finally left or whether it was his choice.
LB: Last I heard he was chancellor in the university system of Louisiana.
BK: Well, they are fortunate to have him.
BK: Carl Riggs was a fine provost, too. I liked working with Carl, but Miesels was a trial. Fortunately, he didn’t last long. And then God, who this last one we had before he died? What was his name?
LB: Stamps.
BK: Oh, no. Dr. Stamps was okay. It was the guy Tom Tighe, but he wasn’t as relevant to us. He had his own things.
LB: Well, we have a few minutes here. Can I ask you about some of the sentiments that you would pass on to future students in the College of Education relative to becoming a teacher?
BK: Well, I’ve seen some of the people I’ve known most of my life, arrive at a mid-life crisis asking themselves, “Have I wasted my life being a salesman?” or whatever else they were doing. One of the blessings of going into education is you never have that problem. I really loved knowing that teaching and preparing teachers was my work and that it was important work. The satisfaction to be derived from a career dedicated to helping young people develop as competent people, committed to learning, and ready to take their place as valuable and worthy citizens is worth the commitment it takes to persevere.
LB: Are there any questions I haven’t asked you that you thought I might?
BK: There is a Center we missed. One of the very first initiatives was the Center for Economic Education. The Center had been housed in the College of Business. There had been problems and little interaction with the schools. Then the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Carl Riggs, reviewed the situation with me and asked if I thought the College of Education could make it into something good. I of course answered “absolutely.” This was only a few months after I became Dean, so having said we could do it, I conferred with Ed Uprichard, then Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College. To his great credit, Ed identified a fairly new faculty member who was a graduate of the USF charter class who had energy and talent and was looking for an opportunity. We met with Dick Puglisi, offered him the opportunity, he accepted, and within a few short years our new center won the award as the best center for economic education in the nation. Because of Dr. Puglisi’s excellent work, Gus Stavros provided funds for the original building, an endowed chair for economic education, and the recent second story for the building. Dick continues the good and important work to this day.
BK: With that I think we covered the major centers and institutes. But I would also like to talk about the wonderful leaders we had in the various departments. In Elementary Education we had Leon Graebel, Phil Post, who both served as chairs, and then Mary Olsen came along. She was followed by Shirley Raines. Each brought their special brand of energy to the Childhood Education Department. Shirley became dean at the University of Kentucky and has been president of the University of Memphis for the last several years. So that you know those were very, very special people. And of course I cannot forget about the School of Physical Education. It was such fun when you think about people like yourself, Steve Klesius, Herm Weinberg, and Hugh Hoffman, and forgive me, but my favorite Jane Young.
LB: Yes, she’s our favorite, too.
BK: Sorry she lost her husband. He was such a fine man. We have also lost Don and Betty Lichtenberg, and John Bullock, who was another one of my wonderful golf buddies. Andrea Troutman did so much in technology to bring this College to where it is today. It’s wonderful. Howard Johnston brought new life to the Secondary Education Department and Carine Feyten is a person who’s been very valuable. Do you know how we hired her? I’ll tell that in one last story. I was sitting in my office one day when a guy about 6’8” tall was standing in my doorway, bent over, and he said I need to talk with you. I said come in, my door is open. He said, “You have to hire my girlfriend.” I said, “Oh, why do I have to hire your girlfriend?” He said, “Well, because I love her and I want to marry her and she needs a job over here.” And I said, “Well what are her qualifications?” He said, “Well she speaks seven languages fluently and she has a master’s degree in something or other.”
LB: Linguistics probably.
BK: Well, what he didn’t know was that I can’t remember the faculty member’s name who was the foreign language person, it’s a Spanish name, but anyhow he had told me he was leaving. I had nobody in sight in foreign language, so a Belgian girl who spoke fluent English and seven other languages seemed like a real possibility, but she didn’t have a doctorate. I said I do want to meet her. So he brought Carine by. We talked and we decided that she would enroll and get her Ph.D. here at USF and then we’d see. Of course she started teaching and supporting the foreign language program right away, finished her doctorate under Ervin Johanningmeier, which was an achievement in itself. We did a national search, but she was by far the best candidate and she became head of our foreign language program, and of course she’s Associate Dean now, but she’s been a real asset to the College and to the University. She was always ready no matter who came when we needed a translator. I would just call Carine and she would come down.
LB: Gem dropped in from heaven.
BK: That’s right. There are those wonderful people in every department who have really made this a wonderful place to be. Serving as the dean of this College and well as the director of the Anchin Center were wonderfully fulfilling experiences for me. I know I was very fortunate in my career, and am very grateful to the faculty, the members of the administrative council, and all the people who contributed to the successes of the College during my tenure as the dean.
LB: Thank you for sharing with us this morning and for all the many contributions you made to our College of Education. You made an impact and a real mark.
BK: Thank you. I’m pleased that so many people who served during my years have contributed so much of their time to recording this oral history of the College. I particularly appreciate your commitment to gathering the individual contributions.
LB: Those were good years. Thank you.
End of Interview