Home- College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
- Dr. Augie Mauser
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Augie Mauser
LB: Yes, that’s right. That’s an improvement.
AM: Yes.
LB: There’s always been a need for special education teachers to this day. How did you find the relationship between the College of Education and local school systems, such as Hillsborough and Pasco Counties?
AM: A perfect question. A great relationship has been maintained between USF, Hillsborough County and other nearby school districts such as Pasco and Pinellas Counties. Our neighboring counties and most others in the state of Florida are truly interested in acquiring and further developing competent teachers which is a process that continues after the district hires them. There has been a long term commitment and solid relationship between the school districts, the College of Education, and the Department of Special Education. I ran into Dr. Phil Pfost, who was in charge of the Teacher Education Centers when I first came to USF. For the viewing audience this was a real unique concept that we had at USF. It was an attempt to build up the caliber of teachers they had in the various districts. There was a need for opportunities to upgrade the skills of teachers through training. Our programs, in general at the College, have changed dramatically. But the teacher education programs especially in my department changed dramatically because initially special education was a support area, an ancillary area. We developed a major and every major had core courses. But to me it didn’t really have enough of the elementary education components. So that that was a little bit of a concern, and I think it is changing back again to a supportive and a co-teaching kind of focus, linking together regular education and special education. But it had actually become a little too separated. With grant money comes the opportunity to do you own thing occurs, and sometimes when you do your own thing it isn’t always the right thing. Having the school districts genuinely working collaboratively with universities is certainly the key and USF has always tried to do this.
LB: Yes, we went from isolation of special needs students to inclusion.
AM: Yes.
LB: And, in fact, we came full circle.
AM: Oh, yes. And as you know that’s the way it has been. The history of America includes vivid descriptions of the educational process when we had the one room school houses. All the needs were being met by one teacher. Then we got compartmentalized and we segregated things out. Now we’re trying to do as much inclusion as we can, as well as promotion of the non-segregated normalization process.
LB: You mentioned the migrant education program and I know the special education faculty did a lot of work with the teacher education centers. Are there any other programs that stand out in your mind during those years?
AM: The College of Education at USF has had a variety of exemplary cutting edge programs. I think, whether it was special education or not, I have always been very impressed with the SCATT program— The Sun Coast Area Teacher Training Program. The College of Education has recruited for this program the cream of the crop of aspiring professionals and has provided them the special experiences, but of course as everybody who was close to it knew, this was really a model for teacher preparation in general, rather than something that was compartmentalized and special. They had a super enriched program. That’s one of the things that I remember fondly. I am delighted to hear that it’s still going on. Also, the teacher education center programs that were, in a sense, like outreach programs in various school districts to upgrade the skills of teachers were outstanding. In our own Department of Special Education, we have for many years developed programs to develop personnel to work with inner city youngsters as well as to work with other minority underrepresented or overrepresented groups of students. Under the direction of Dr. Brenda Townsend, a long term commitment was made in the recruitment of minority students to become teachers. Along with the training of teachers to work with minority populations, our department has always recruited and employed a great number of minority professionals which has certainly increased the diversity and subsequent strength and positive influence of our department locally and nationally.
LB: Minority students were brought into the field of special education?
AM: Yes, they were brought into our programs. And it just wasn’t the African American minorities. Although, I think initially it was. Now it’s also Latinos, Hispanics, and to get male Caucasians in the program we went to Europe. The focus actually was on recruiting in special education young men and young women with those personality attributes which were so important. We recruited potential role models who could actually assume teaching and leadership positions in the school districts. We also had weekend enrichment programs for the gifted and talented. And Lou, I do know that over in your department that you, in particular, were doing computer assistant training that included special education concepts and techniques for your students in the Adapted Physical Education Program. You have had this type of program going on for years. When did you start that program over there?