Even after earning four college degrees, spending 20 years as a professor and four decades in America's public schools, Helen E. Ditzhazy's hunger for knowledge has not waned.
"I'm going to take Spanish," said Professor Ditzhazy, age 80, who retires this semester. "And I want to learn more about the inside of my computer."
For nearly 20 years, she has devoted herself to helping EMU students discover what's inside themselves. That time has been spent in the Department of Leadership and Counseling, where she supervised nearly two dozen students on the ultimate journey of academic discovery: the completion of a doctoral degree. She is currently chairing one dissertation committee, and continues to serve on several others.
"There's nothing I love more than having a student come into my office interested in pursuing a master's, specialist or doctorate, but concerned about their age or their ability to finish the program," Dr. Ditzhazy said. "I love to change that person's mind."
Since EMU's doctoral program started in 1991, she has been helping students discover their potential. "Helen had an unusual gift for greasing skids, soothing things over and putting things in perspective," said Nelson Maylone, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, whose dissertation committee was chaired by Dr. Ditzhazy.
"I already knew (as a former teacher and K-12 administrator) that 'This too shall pass,' but Helen helped me believe it. I think that I am able to maintain a more calm, rational demeanor now, and this is Helen's influence," Dr. Maylone said. "Working with her for five years changed how I dealt with life's little hassles, and I think that is reflected in my professorship."
Dr. Ditzhazy is ending her sixth decade of service as an educator. Her career has taken her from a dormitory assistant manager/dietician to a teacher, counselor, senior high principal, assistant superintendent and, since September 1987, a college professor. Along the way, she embraced roles which were then uncommon for women. When she ascended to the deputy superintendency of Jackson (Mich.) Public Schools in 1982, she was among a small group of female superintendents in Michigan.
The example she set through her own life made leading others come naturally, said Dr. Jaclynn Tracy, who chairs the Department of Leadership and Counseling.
"Dr. Ditzhazy is a valued member of our educational leadership faculty. She brings a wealth of school leadership experience to the students in our program," Dr. Tracy said. "Dr. Ditzhazy is known for the rich relationships she has developed with her students throughout her career."
Her retirement comes after a painful year emotionally. She lost her son, Joseph, who died unexpectedly from a burst appendix, and brother John Ringle, a successful land and commercial developer. There to share those difficult moments, as well as most others for the past 58 years, was her husband, Joseph. The couple maintain homes in Farmington Hills, Novi, Ypsilanti and Florida.
The Ditzhazys have been generous supporters of EMU's College of Education. A gift in 2000 was recognized with the naming of the department's main conference room in honor of Dr. Ditzhazy's mother, Inez L. Doty, a direct descendant of Edward Doty of the Mayflower. An educator trailblazer herself, Inez earned three college degrees when few women had one. She met and married Albert Ringle, a designer of cemeteries and golf courses from the 1920s through the 1940s.
As she looks out beyond the end of the semester, Dr. Ditzhazy said she'll miss coming daily to a campus transformed in the past 20 years by new buildings and programs. "It has become a major university," she said, "and I had the good fortune to watch it all happen."
But mostly, she'll miss engagement with students and the opportunity to create and impart knowledge. "Every student is different, but they all want to broaden their knowledge," she said. "What I did as a professor was to point out the books and other resources they may want to consider, and then added to it the value of my own experience."