Home- College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
- Dr. Augie Mauser
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Augie Mauser
LB: We started the Adapted Physical Education Program in 1968 and the computer assisted instruction project in 1980.
AM: Yes.
LB: It was the early 1980s when Steve Klesius and I did the “I’m Special” video tapes and the computer assisted instruction system for teachers of adapted physical education.
LB: Were there some challenges that stand out that you faced as a department chair or a faculty member?
AM: That was why I started scratching my head right after I got to campus. There have always been budgetary restraints and then our beloved associate dean, who I love dearly, and you know who I’m talking about, who was in charge of the purse strings. I had a lot of empathy for the faculty, and we were never promised summer school teaching, but it always came through. But the money challenges were there in spite of the grants that we would receive. The available faculty lines were a big problem with individuals retiring. You have a department of 16 or 18 people. When people were starting to retire and we were not able to replace those faculty members who retired and the money was gobbled up by somebody else. That was a challenge.
Another challenge, probably a good challenge, when I fist came we had regional campuses at Sarasota and in St. Petersburg at the Bayboro Harbor. At that time, Fort Myers had just started and we didn’t have a Lakeland campus. It came later. But initially those were under the department chair in Tampa. It was difficult because I was responsible for the management there, and so what I tried to do was each semester pick a different place and go there to teach and see what’s going on. Even if you’re there one afternoon or evening a week you can’t really know what is going on. So I felt that was a management problem.
LB: It was difficult to manage the Special Education Department faculty members on the regional campuses?
AM: As chairs, we had quite a bit of power. But there were challenges in managing faculty members. I don’t think we have the challenges that maybe a dean of a college of medicine would have, dealing with MDs. But there were challenges. College professors are an interesting group of people, bright people. They don’t want to be told exactly what to do and certainly don’t want to be told what’s best for them which is all a part of academic freedom, I guess. You well know, Lou, as I did that there are a variety of challenges as a department head and that a major challenge is always the management of your faculty and the department resources.
LB: You referred to it. For the record, what would you view as your area of greatest achievement during your years here?
AM: Well, from a personal stand point, I would probably have to say even when I was chair. I tried to teach at least one course, and I thought for the most part I was a fairly effective teacher. Later, doing all of the research required to keep up with what was going on in my field, presenting at national meetings, and publishing simultaneously was satisfying. Working closely with the folks in the Florida Department of Education in Tallahassee, in terms of teacher certification examination test validation and development, was a proud accomplishment. All this was while I was Chair and continued until I retired. I still do some teacher exam development from time to time.
But I’d probably say that my positive impact on a handful of students was my greatest achievement. Many are in academia at a variety of universities. And many are in teaching and leadership positions in various school districts throughout the USA. And yes, some never did end up in education but in various types of businesses in the private sector. And, of course, you also remember the most successful and there are certainly many. An interesting side point is that I have saved every grade book since teaching my first college course in the 1960s. Yes, I’ve got grade books that go back to 1960 of all the different students that I’ve had. I’m so proud of them as they take their positions in leadership elsewhere. It’s kind of nice when I can say he or she was a great student. But it’s also neat for me say you know this guy barely got through and look at the position that he’s in right now. They must have done something right. So, it’s not all grades.
LB: Do you miss your former students?
AM: Yes, I do miss teaching and remember vividly many students from classes taught at USF as well as Indiana University, Indiana State, and Northern Illinois University. I have pleasant and fond memories from each and every institution. Obviously teaching at USF for 22 yrs, which is the longest of any of the previous universities, would have the most positive memories. However, each place I taught was the “best” place at that time in my career. Although in a sense when they ask me if I miss teaching, I actually say, “In some ways.” But it’d take an awful lot of coaxing to get me back in to teach a complete semester class again. I’m not sure whether I would want to go through all of the needed content preparation as well as the reading of all of the student’s course related work. I was always a taskmaster and would never ask a student to do any more work than I did. Reading and evaluating all of the students work did take a great amount of time and effort. Yes, a full course would be a difficult assignment. But hey, a couple of one hour seminars on the old world and our new world would be a piece of cake.