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- Dr. Don Orlosky
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Don Orlosky
Today is January 9, 2006. I am Lou Bowers and I am interviewing Dr. Don Orlosky, who is a retired faculty member from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Don, thanks for coming in and sharing your time and experiences at USF.
DO: It’s a pleasure, Lou.
LB: Let’s start by hearing about some of your personal experiences before you came to USF. What were you doing in education and so forth?
DO: My personal experiences included an undergraduate degree from Franklin College in Indiana with a double major. One of the majors was mathematics and physics and the other was physical education. I thought I was going to be a high school basketball coach in Indiana. When I graduated in 1951, the Korean War was going on and rather than going into coaching, I ended up in the US Army. I completed infantry basic training at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii and then completed Officer Candidate School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I was assigned to Korea as an aerial observer for the artillery and flew about 70 combat missions into North Korea. I lost a lot of my friends in that war, but I was fortunate to survive and was glad to return to the US after the war ended.
I accepted a teaching position in my home town of Mishawaka, Indiana and also enrolled in graduate school at the Indiana University’s extension center in South Bend, Indiana. I got married while in the military, and we started our family. I continued teaching and attending graduate school. By 1959, I had finished my graduate work on the Bloomington Campus of IU with a master’s, a doctorate, and had three sons. This was a hectic but satisfying time in my life.
In 1959, I joined the faculty of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana as an assistant professor. During the next ten years, I remained on the DePauw faculty while also holding a visiting lecturer position with Indiana University in their graduate programs, teaching educational research and educational psychology courses. I was promoted at DePauw to associate and then full professor and also was appointed to chair the Education Department. I was active in several state and national organizations during this time, and also was asked to be an editorial consultant for the Charles E. Merrill publishing company in Columbus, Ohio.
We added two more children to our growing family during this time. I heard about a new university that was getting underway in Tampa, Florida and contacted the College of Education to inquire about this new school. I received a response from Assistant Dean Charles Manker, and we agreed to meet in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. He invited me to come to Tampa for a visit and interview in April of 1969. It looked like an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a growing university. I accepted the offer to come on the condition that I could retain the rank I held at DePauw and the salary would equal the one I was receiving to allow me to support my family with five children. We came to agreement on both conditions and we moved to Tampa in August 1969.
LB: I have to ask you, did you ever get to coach that high school basketball team?
DO: No, that never worked out. When I was discharged from the military, it was the middle of the basketball season and no coaching jobs were available. When I enrolled in graduate courses, my professors encouraged me to continue graduate work, and I continued on the academic route instead.
LB: After you met Charlie Manker and he told you about the University, you had to consider leaving your position and come here for interviews. Tell me more about that.
DO: Charlie was optimistic and convincing when we met in Chicago. He described the potential of USF and how many new faculty members were being hired. My interview at USF went well, and Florida’s climate looked inviting after all the snow and cold of the Midwest. My family participated in the decision, and it was a mixed vote. DePauw also provided a fringe benefit to all faculty in which they provided tuition, in an amount equal to the tuition at DePauw, for the children of the faculty to attend any school in the US, which was a very seductive fringe benefit. However, the USF situation looked like an exciting adventure, and we agreed to come to Tampa. The first year in Florida required difficult adjustments for the children who left junior high and high school friends behind. Eventually, it worked out very well for everyone.
LB: Having been at other universities, how did USF compare?
DO: It was obvious that USF was going through some growing pains, and the situation was rather unsettled. Many elements were uncertain. We didn’t know from one day to the next exactly what was on the schedule. In traditional and established universities, procedures are clear and in place, you know your teaching assignment and salary at least a semester ahead of time. At USF, assignments were made at the last minute, and we often started the school year without knowing our salary. We trusted that things would work out and worked hard to make a success of the programs and to give our attention to the students.
LB: The department name at that time, the best I could determine, was Curriculum and Educational Leadership. Russ Wiley was chair at that time, right?
DO: The department name in 1969 was Curriculum and Instruction and Russ Wiley was the chair. The department taught the undergraduate course in curriculum and instruction for all departments in the College and also taught graduate courses for certification in school administration. There was some question if I belonged in the C & I Department or the Foundations Department since I had taught educational psychology courses at Indiana University. It looked like C & I was the best fit, so that is why I ended up there. I might add that the first year they didn’t know what to do with me, and I wasn’t quite sure what I should be doing either. I was suggested for several positions that were mostly administrative. However, I had just left an administrative position and wanted to spend more time in the academic arena. I turned them all down and did not get into the administrative side of the college at that time.
LB: But after a few years that changed, didn’t it? Didn’t you become chair of the department?