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- Dr. Augie Mauser
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Augie Mauser
Today is December 20th of 2005. I am Lou Bowers and I am interviewing Dr. Augie Mauser, a retired faculty member from the USF Department of Special Education in the College of Education. Augie, thank you for coming in this morning to share your memories and thoughts about your experiences at USF.
AM: Well, thanks for inviting me.
LB: Before we get to USF, I’d like to ask you about your life and professional experiences prior to coming to USF. You are from Indiana. Is this correct?
AM: Yes, I am and I’ll be glad to do that. I’ll give you a capsule view. I was born in Valparaiso, Indiana. Immediately after birth, I lived in Eveleth, Minnesota. My mother just happened to be in Indiana for her brother’s funeral, my uncle August. My family was actually living in Minnesota. However, my father died after World War II when I was a very young child and we moved back to Indiana. So, I’m a native of Indiana. I graduated from Valparaiso High School and finished my undergraduate work at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Right after high school, I went to the University of New Mexico on an athletic scholarship for both football and basketball. I transferred to Indiana State University after football season after my first semester on campus. I returned to Indiana and went to Indiana State, played freshman basketball as well as football and graduated with a degree in special education.
I started teaching in Gary, Indiana, which was nearby and I taught there for several years. I started working on my master’s degree at one of the regional centers in Gary while teaching students with mild mental retardation. Several years after I had been teaching in Gary, I was offered a teaching position at Indiana University as a demonstration teacher in their new special education program at Indiana University’s on-campus University School. I also had the opportunity to finish my doctorate. I was at Indiana University for eight years as a faculty member going the instructor and assistant professor route. I figured well I’d better get started on trying to get some rank rather than just being an assistant professor. I was flattered and honored by being asked to come and return to Indiana State where I had received my bachelor’s degree. Being recruited to return to my alma mater to teach was a big deal to me. I spent four years at Indiana State University and subsequently accepted a full professorship at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. I spent eight years at Northern Illinois University, which was near home and also in the Midwest. And then, as the story goes, I got a phone call, really late in the year. I think it was around May in 1981. It was from USF’s College of Education Dean at that time, Bill Katzenmeyer. He did some serious coaxing to get me to come to USF. The rest is a history that you know. I started here as Chair of the Department of Special Education. I was Chair for about eight years or so until my sabbatical leave when I went to the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation in Washington, D.C.
And by the way, I really didn’t know too many people at USF back in ‘81. As I was asking around and checking on who was teaching at USF at that time, you, Lou, were one of the faculty members mentioned because you had been involved with the Kennedy family in the Special Olympics. So, I came to USF and served as the Chair. I took a sabbatical and then after I came back I was just a good ole’ faculty member teaching a course called, Management of Disruptive Behavior in Adolescence, as well as a whole variety of different courses for the Department of Special Education.
LB: You answered all three of my next questions there. Let’s go back a little. I know you are interested in athletics? What was the sport that you pursued in college?
AM: Yes. After high school I went to school in New Mexico. I was a basketball player like so many from Indiana. I also played football in college. I was probably technically a better football player, because basketball players in Indiana were a dime a dozen. However, I came back to Indiana from New Mexico and finished at Indiana State. Yes, I guess that I was a better than average athlete. It’s all quite relative and is certainly related to the era in which you played. And of course, this was years ago. In 1991, I was inducted into the East Chicago, Indiana Hall of Fame. I’m proud of that recognition. So, that’s good. But I’ve always taken pride, too, in my academic accomplishments. I initially was interested in coaching. And yes, Lou, I probably should have been a coach and graduated from the Department in Professional Physical Education.
LB: How did your relationship with the Kennedy Foundation and the Special Olympics come about? Was that through meeting someone?
AM: It was this type of story. At one of the very first Kennedy family sponsored Special Olympics games, which was held in Indianapolis, a mutual friend of ours, Dr. Tom Songster, was a faculty member at Indiana State University at the same time when I was there. We were both involved in those early games. I can vividly remember that event. If you are old enough, you’d remember the names of basketball players like former NBA player, George McGuiness. Tom and I had always stayed in touch with Special Olympics. We were both active in trying to get our students to become volunteers for the Special Olympic Games. While at Indiana State University, we received a federal grant to train professionals in special education, physical education, and recreation to work in this area. Dr. Songster also left Indiana State University, as I did, and went on professionally to become the national director for the Kennedy Foundation’s Special Olympics Sports and Recreation Program. Sure enough, years later when I was eligible for a sabbatical leave, I was offered the opportunity to work with Special Olympics in Washington, D.C. and to once again work with Tom Songster as we did back in Indiana almost 20 years before.
Going to Washington D.C. for my sabbatical was one of the best things I did from a professional standpoint. I had a built-in accountability because I went to work at the Special Olympic headquarters everyday. I met a lot of celebrity type people, movie stars, sports notables as well as Arnold Schwartzenegger, Maria Shriver, JFK Jr., Ted Kennedy, and so forth. But my major role there was to help them develop the Unified Sports Program. This program, as you know, focuses on team sports like bowling, softball, baseball, and mixing in or integrating individuals without disabilities with kids with disabilities in team sports. So that was my major role. I was also doing some other writing while I was there, such as a manual for parents and professionals who were working with young children with various types of disabilities. Along with being a faculty member at USF, my time spent in Washington, D.C. was one of the highlights of my professional career.