WEBVTT 00:00:18.289 --> 00:00:20.289 Were there any particular challenges you encountered during your career? 00:00:23.068 --> 00:00:26.706 Fraternities and sororities on the campus, um, a lot of people have 00:00:26.739 --> 00:00:34.739 different views about fraternities and sororities, um. 00:00:35.579 --> 00:00:42.366 They're probably one of the most complex. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:49.065 Student types of activities to work with on the campus, um, at the, at 00:00:49.098 --> 00:00:54.186 there's about 50 different organizations in in the fraternity system. Um, 00:00:54.219 --> 00:00:57.307 each of them have their own alumni, each of them have their own 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:02.307 organizational, uh, components each of them have their own national 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:06.947 organizations, um, and so you're trying to work with that. In addition to 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:10.626 that, there's a governing body to each of the councils. There were 4 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:16.286 councils. Um, and there's judicial procedures tied into all that. You're 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:22.816 working with probably close to 5000 students, um. 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:29.495 And a lot of times there there was housing in in areas uh there wasn't a 00:01:29.528 --> 00:01:36.915 lot of direct supervision and, and as sometimes college students will, uh 00:01:36.948 --> 00:01:44.076 , they, they had sometimes they, they made poor decisions. Um, 00:01:44.109 --> 00:01:50.826 And um became uh or were recognized as I think a liability to the 00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:56.096 institution as well as to maybe other fellow students, um. 00:01:56.129 --> 00:02:01.906 Unfortunately what isn't recognized is um. 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:06.536 The great point average of most fraternity sorority members versus the 00:02:06.569 --> 00:02:11.096 average student, uh, the number of hours that they contribute to the 00:02:11.129 --> 00:02:14.696 community and service to the community, the amount of money that they 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:20.406 raise for different projects throughout the community, um. The the 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:24.725 standards that if they keep their standards, the the standards and the 00:02:24.758 --> 00:02:30.517 ritual that they go through related to oaths of of keeping those standards 00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:37.406 are, are of the highest level and, and if anyone keeps those standards 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:44.927 they uh it provides uh a true foundation for success, uh, after they leave 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:52.960 the college environment. Uh, in the, uh, Interfraternity council area. 00:02:55.189 --> 00:03:02.399 How do you think the moving of fraternities off campus has? Change things. 00:03:03.788 --> 00:03:05.788 Well, that's, that's an area that probably, um. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:18.800 I personally was very saddened to see it happen, um. 00:03:19.069 --> 00:03:25.525 I, I believe ASU is a unique institution in that from the beginning, not 00:03:25.558 --> 00:03:29.525 necessarily the very beginning, but practically the beginning we did 00:03:29.558 --> 00:03:34.207 provide housing, um, opportunities for our men and women and fraternities 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:39.126 and, and, and even stories, um, it's just that So chose not to participate 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:45.207 , um, back when the fraternity houses were built but instead went to uh 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:49.427 they were housed in poverty, Maine. So poverty remain didn't happen by 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:53.646 accident. It was actually created to house the sororities at the time 00:03:53.679 --> 00:03:57.267 Alpha Drive was created and the Delphi Drive was created for the 00:03:57.300 --> 00:04:03.085 fraternities, um, by special federal, uh. Budget funds that became 00:04:03.118 --> 00:04:10.066 available, um. Where where things broke down, I think really related to. 00:04:10.099 --> 00:04:13.585 The university's expectation that the fraternities pretty much be 00:04:13.618 --> 00:04:18.594 responsible and govern themselves. And 00:04:18.627 --> 00:04:23.856 And that's a high expectation for national offices that are 2 or 3 1000 00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:30.416 miles away to be involved in a daily operation of 18 to 2223 year old 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:36.536 people on a campus, particularly the campus our size, um. 00:04:36.569 --> 00:04:43.217 There was a failure to provide, um, adult supervision, um, through an RA 00:04:43.250 --> 00:04:49.856 system or or or some kind of house mother system, um, later in the year, 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:53.895 although early in the years most of the houses had house mothers, um, the 00:04:53.928 --> 00:05:00.257 kitchens failed to. Um, they, they were eventually given up because they 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:05.317 Um, just cost a lot to run and, um. 00:05:05.350 --> 00:05:08.726 I, I, 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:14.145 having the fraternities out in the neighborhoods unsupervised to me is 00:05:14.178 --> 00:05:18.546 more of a problem than having them on campus, but if they're on campus, 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:24.666 they, they do need to be supervised and they do need to be in somewhat of 00:05:24.699 --> 00:05:29.825 a controlled environment, you know, and I, I hate to say that 18 to 21, 22 00:05:29.858 --> 00:05:35.866 year old students should be, um, supervised. But we we supervise them in 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:40.346 residence halls. Why wouldn't we supervise them in a, a fraternity house 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:47.137 that cost a million dollars to build. So, um, I, I, I, I truly believe in 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:52.187 , in the value of a fraternity sorority system. Um, it was founded for all 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:57.145 the right reasons. I am I do belong to a fraternity, so I have obvious 00:05:57.178 --> 00:06:04.786 bias in those ways, um, in that belief, um. But uh my own personal 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:09.967 experience with them has been that that I wouldn't trade my days. For 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.555 anything in the world, and it really helped to develop me as an individual 00:06:14.588 --> 00:06:19.796 and I still remember the oaths that I took in that fraternity. I, I almost 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:27.526 on a daily basis try and keep that oath, um. 00:06:27.559 --> 00:06:33.366 Uh, the friendships that I made are exist even to today, um, the, the 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:39.096 service. And the experiences that I had in that organization and in the 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:44.096 larger organization, not just the the fraternity but the fraternity system 00:06:44.129 --> 00:06:47.455 so that you're working and competing with other clubs, organizations or 00:06:47.488 --> 00:06:52.015 fraternities and sororities and um the social aspect of it as well as the 00:06:52.048 --> 00:06:58.526 service and the fund raising um it it can be a very valuable asset to an 00:06:58.559 --> 00:07:05.437 institution. So your successor uh has a bigger problem I guess with trying 00:07:05.470 --> 00:07:10.906 to supervise uh off-campus uh locations that could be scattered all over 00:07:10.939 --> 00:07:15.526 the place. Uh, do you think this would cause friction between the 00:07:15.559 --> 00:07:19.697 university and the city of Tempe? 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:23.895 The fact that, uh, you know, I'm not employed by the university so I 00:07:23.928 --> 00:07:28.015 really can't address that, um, specifically, all I know is what I read in 00:07:28.048 --> 00:07:32.486 the paper and, and there does seem to be some tension particularly between 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:38.467 the, uh, university and the city related to. Um, fraternities and 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:41.866 fraternities, the sororities pretty much, uh, you know, they're still 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:46.106 housed in the Delphi Commons, and, and they're not as much of a problem at 00:07:46.139 --> 00:07:49.387 this point, uh, when you're talking about panolinic sororities, there's 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:54.887 also stories that belong to MPHC and stories that belong to the Hispanic 00:07:54.920 --> 00:08:00.166 Greek Council that. They aren't housed as a sorority, but they, they have 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:08.199 members that live together. No, they're, they're totally social. 00:08:13.059 --> 00:08:17.467 Of all your accomplishments and all your work at ASU, uh, what gave you 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:25.500 the most, um, satisfaction? 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:31.805 Probably the relationships that I developed with um people and students 00:08:31.838 --> 00:08:36.407 over the years, um, particularly those that were kind of related to 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:42.157 devil's advocates, um. 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:47.116 We had a student body president, John Fees, who used to refer to the 00:08:47.149 --> 00:08:52.157 university as the, the smallest large university in the country, you know 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:58.226 , and, um. And I just felt that during my time period that's what it was, 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:03.297 uh, it was the smallest large university in the country that uh we went 00:09:03.330 --> 00:09:07.657 out, we recruited the students, we stood by the students, we had students 00:09:07.690 --> 00:09:12.255 come in and see us, uh, maybe not every day, but they were not afraid to 00:09:12.288 --> 00:09:16.096 come in and visit with us if there was a problem or if they needed, um, 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:23.167 advice or needed to be pointed somewhere, um. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.427 That would probably be the. 00:09:26.460 --> 00:09:29.316 The main thing 00:09:29.349 --> 00:09:37.349 As your career progressed, what changes did you see at ASU? But Jesus. 00:09:38.129 --> 00:09:41.736 Wow. Um. 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:46.135 Well, my, my career, you know, if, if we begin in '66, is one thing. In 00:09:46.168 --> 00:09:51.336 '77, there were even some changes in that time period, but um the the 00:09:51.369 --> 00:09:55.496 changes were just immense. I, I mean, we started as a campus of around 00:09:55.529 --> 00:10:01.816 20,000, 22,000 students when I um first came to issue and, and began 00:10:01.849 --> 00:10:08.576 working. Um, we were primarily just a four year local institution, um, 00:10:08.609 --> 00:10:15.116 serving primarily Arizona. Um, 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:20.476 Not a lot of graduate work and not a lot of research, but mainly, um, just 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:28.509 the basics. Um When I left Uh, we had become one of the largest, well, I 00:10:29.428 --> 00:10:32.515 believe at that point we were the 2nd or 3rd largest institution in the 00:10:32.548 --> 00:10:39.686 country on a single campus, um, with over 60,000 students. Um, we were 00:10:39.719 --> 00:10:45.395 recognized as a major research one institution. Our athletic program had 00:10:45.428 --> 00:10:53.428 totally advanced, uh, to, um, huge. Um, numbers and, and attendance as 00:10:53.460 --> 00:10:59.307 well as budget and facilities, um, the academic reputation of the 00:10:59.340 --> 00:11:07.340 institution, uh, was totally different and, and international, um. 00:11:09.038 --> 00:11:15.486 Those were probably the biggest changes. Is there any particular event in 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:21.326 your career that stands out in your memory? 00:11:21.359 --> 00:11:25.875 Any particular event, um. 00:11:25.908 --> 00:11:29.096 There's so many events that I was a part of that it's hard to tell, you 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:33.816 know, um, things doing with the stadium, things doing with Gam, things 00:11:33.849 --> 00:11:38.297 doing with alumni, things doing with different presidents, um, orientation 00:11:38.330 --> 00:11:45.836 , convocations, um. The thing that probably most sticks out is hosting the 00:11:45.869 --> 00:11:51.206 1985 National Orientation Directors Association conference. Um, it was a 00:11:51.239 --> 00:11:58.037 national conference hosted by us. It took 3 years to plan. Um, we held it 00:11:58.070 --> 00:12:04.625 at the Sheridan Plaza resort. Um, which was just finishing up as a 00:12:04.658 --> 00:12:08.346 property at that point. I mean, literally they were painting the walls and 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:14.667 installing the landscaping during our conference, um. 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:20.066 There was about 500 professional orientation, um, people from around the 00:12:20.099 --> 00:12:27.145 country and, uh, an equal number of undergraduate and graduate orientation 00:12:27.178 --> 00:12:33.265 leaders that that attended the conference. Um, I think they truly enjoyed 00:12:33.298 --> 00:12:41.298 the Western hospitality that we provided, um. And I was just very I, I 00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:47.599 just felt that we had really accomplished something with that conference. 00:12:48.609 --> 00:12:50.609 Can you tell us about an individual at the university that had a 00:12:52.090 --> 00:12:55.635 significant impact on you? 00:12:55.668 --> 00:13:01.167 Um, I've never shared this with that person, um. But it would probably be 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:08.167 Don Dodds. uh, Don gave me the opportunity to be myself, um, and during my 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:14.635 whole career here on. The campus really supported and encouraged me at 00:13:14.668 --> 00:13:20.797 every step of the way um in his position uh professionally and also 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:25.836 personally you know he was always there to um provide opportunities that 00:13:25.869 --> 00:13:30.885 he could and uh. Um, 00:13:30.918 --> 00:13:35.557 And was always kind enough to uh provide a phone call or a note 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:40.807 occasionally letting me know um something that he had observed or 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:47.287 witnessed and um so there was a. Um, quite a bit of that. I mean, Don was 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:53.836 the first person I worked for Don as an undergraduate. Um, and, uh, then 00:13:53.869 --> 00:13:58.275 Don came down and, and offered me the position because of that, um, he 00:13:58.308 --> 00:14:05.576 helped me grow and recognize. My uh Passion for student development as 00:14:05.609 --> 00:14:11.836 well as written journalism at that point and publications, um, he 00:14:11.869 --> 00:14:14.116 supported. 00:14:14.149 --> 00:14:19.616 He supported the move of undergraduate missions and, and, um, Bradley 00:14:19.649 --> 00:14:23.515 provided the opportunity for campus tours and speaking engagements and 00:14:23.548 --> 00:14:27.677 devil's advocates to move from his operation over to undergraduate 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:32.635 missions, which I, I think was probably a, a big sacrifice on his part, 00:14:32.668 --> 00:14:38.116 but, but, uh. He had the vision to to see that that's probably where it 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:46.149 would be best placed, um. And uh during my time in orientation and in 00:14:47.859 --> 00:14:54.005 Greek life, he was always supportive of, um, well, alumni association 00:14:54.038 --> 00:14:59.866 co-sponsored devil's advocates and was the primarily budget person or 00:14:59.899 --> 00:15:06.787 budget office behind devil's advocates for most of my time at ASU, and 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:12.917 much of that is attributed to Don. Um, And then when I moved into Greek 00:15:12.950 --> 00:15:19.826 life, Don is a former president of IFC, uh, And a former campus adviser to 00:15:19.859 --> 00:15:26.787 his fraternity, um. Helped me um personally and and served on an advisory 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:33.765 board for the office. So Uh, I, I would like to say also, if you don't 00:15:33.798 --> 00:15:39.956 mind at the time. Don had the greatest impact on me, probably the mentor 00:15:39.989 --> 00:15:47.989 that. That helped me. Define better who I am and Um, how to be successful 00:15:49.418 --> 00:15:55.736 in what I do was Christine Wilkinson, um. You know, uh, Christine and I 00:15:55.769 --> 00:16:01.096 started, she started about, we started about the same time, um, she began 00:16:01.129 --> 00:16:05.537 in student affairs. I was an alumni, then we kind of came together in 00:16:05.570 --> 00:16:13.570 undergraduate admissions, um. She just was always there for me. Um, she 00:16:13.570 --> 00:16:19.057 allowed me to pick her brain. She picked my brain a lot. Um, we, we 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:24.525 created, I think a lot of very, very good programs that are still long 00:16:24.558 --> 00:16:31.375 standing with university, um. She obviously uh advanced much more higher 00:16:31.408 --> 00:16:38.706 than than I did or that I even wanted to um and uh. All along her path she 00:16:38.739 --> 00:16:43.986 was always very supportive and encouraging. 00:16:44.019 --> 00:16:47.336 She worked with me related to details. She worked with me relating to 00:16:47.369 --> 00:16:55.265 organization. She worked with me related to um. 00:16:55.298 --> 00:17:01.677 To really appreciating people, um. And who they are and what they do and 00:17:01.710 --> 00:17:05.637 the efforts that are put into a lot of things that happened that that 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:12.406 sometimes I used to take for granted. So she was a tremendous mentor. 00:17:12.439 --> 00:17:14.986 Thank you. 00:17:15.019 --> 00:17:22.065 Um, question is, how are you and Doctor Mason, uh, connected, uh, at the 00:17:22.098 --> 00:17:24.495 university? 00:17:24.528 --> 00:17:28.716 Marilyn came to work in undergraduate admissions as, as a student 00:17:28.749 --> 00:17:35.274 assistant helping Christine Wilkinson um as a reentry adult student um and 00:17:35.307 --> 00:17:39.515 I believe it was back in the early 80s. I can't remember the exact year, 00:17:39.548 --> 00:17:45.405 but uh and from there she just kind of never left. She um was always doing 00:17:45.438 --> 00:17:52.335 something with undergraduate admissions and um. And during my time there 00:17:52.368 --> 00:17:58.946 primarily worked with um student relations and publications and um parent 00:17:58.979 --> 00:18:04.676 programs. Where were you located and I had some of the best offices on 00:18:04.709 --> 00:18:08.196 campus and, and I've been very fortunate, you know, and then I sound like 00:18:08.229 --> 00:18:13.897 I'm bragging, but, but I am probably, I mean, um. 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:16.976 My, my first office was in the old president's home, which is now the 00:18:17.009 --> 00:18:23.156 archives building and um overlooking Palm Walk. And and you know that that 00:18:23.189 --> 00:18:28.035 was just an incredible experience to begin with with something like that. 00:18:28.068 --> 00:18:32.357 Then, uh, the old Sands Hotel was bought by the university and alumni 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:37.756 association moved over to Mariposa Hall at that point. I got to design my 00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:43.877 office, um, it's like the furniture, design the light table and just do 00:18:43.910 --> 00:18:48.506 everything, um, for that, and that was a great experience. Once I moved 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:52.506 into undergraduate admissions, I, I moved to several different offices, 00:18:52.539 --> 00:18:59.726 but that was in the Moore building, um. And uh so there was a lot of 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.607 history there, um. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:11.647 Uh, most, most of my offices I, I had there were very, very good offices 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.746 overlooking Kitty Kitty's Mall fountain, um. And the administration 00:19:17.779 --> 00:19:21.746 parking lot so I could see who was coming and going almost all the time, 00:19:21.779 --> 00:19:28.976 um. From there we we moved in the student services building, um. With some 00:19:29.009 --> 00:19:34.127 nice offices, but I, I did end up at one point with the an office on the 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.526 2nd floor, a corner office, all glass overlooking Gammy auditorium. Um, 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:47.325 just an incredible view, very relaxing, very, very beautiful view, um. And 00:19:47.358 --> 00:19:52.206 from there I, I moved to the MU, um, had an office that was almost like a 00:19:52.239 --> 00:19:58.085 closet, um, but from there moved into another corner office on the second 00:19:58.118 --> 00:20:03.006 floor overlooking, um, the business courtyard and the recreation fields 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:10.476 and. Um, so those were my offices and, and I, I really, I, I think I'm one 00:20:10.509 --> 00:20:14.436 of the few people on campus that can say that I've had that quality of 00:20:14.469 --> 00:20:18.676 offices during my career. Bob, what kind of advice would you give young 00:20:18.709 --> 00:20:26.709 people today in choosing their majors and their careers? 00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:32.406 To follow their passion. Um, 00:20:32.439 --> 00:20:39.226 My experience has been that Um, well, obviously I, I found my passion 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:44.085 early enough, although I didn't recognize it, um. And it carried me 00:20:44.118 --> 00:20:47.726 throughout my, uh my whole career, but it wasn't until the end of my 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.686 career I realized that my true love was really in publications and in 00:20:52.719 --> 00:20:56.857 student development, um. 00:20:56.890 --> 00:21:02.717 Working with students. Um, I, I, I truly believe that if you can find your 00:21:02.750 --> 00:21:08.627 passion that you will be successful, um, that in today's world, no matter 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:13.285 what your passion is, there will be a way to support yourself somehow. Um 00:21:13.318 --> 00:21:17.406 , technology has advanced to the point where, where you can make money 00:21:17.439 --> 00:21:22.795 doing almost anything, you know, and, and, and enough money to support 00:21:22.828 --> 00:21:30.035 yourself and your maybe your family, um. So I, I really believe that. I, I 00:21:30.068 --> 00:21:35.189 would encourage them to try and find their passion, follow their passion. 00:21:39.838 --> 00:21:41.838 Bob, now that you're retired, what occupies most of your time? When I 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:50.486 retired, I adopted two sons, one in 2002 and one in 2005. They're not 00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:56.857 related. Um, they both have some challenges and, uh. And my, my time 00:21:56.890 --> 00:22:03.835 nowadays is, is mainly spent. Um, trying to meet their needs and help them 00:22:03.868 --> 00:22:10.467 with, um, Some of the challenges that they have, um. And then I like to 00:22:10.500 --> 00:22:15.766 putter around the house and, um, I bought a cabin up at uh near Flagstaff 00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:19.825 at Muns Park and, and I like to spend the summers and what I can from 00:22:19.858 --> 00:22:26.926 April through October, um, up there. Um, I worked with the ESU retirees 00:22:26.959 --> 00:22:33.016 Association for a while and, uh, enjoyed that. Um, but then I had a couple 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:37.835 of surgeries that caused me to uh. Kind of be sidelined for a couple of 00:22:37.868 --> 00:22:44.117 years and and now I'm back and ready to go and just enjoying life. Very 00:22:44.150 --> 00:22:48.006 good. Do you have anything to add? 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:55.746 A No, we, we've covered so much. I, I'm not sure. Um, you know, even why I 00:22:55.779 --> 00:23:00.026 would be selected for this, uh, because my career changed so much and I 00:23:00.059 --> 00:23:05.467 did so much, but in conclusion, I'd like to thank you for your service to 00:23:05.500 --> 00:23:12.226 ASURA. You were the 2nd. Chairman of the Video History Project and Linda 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:18.285 inherited that job from you and uh. Thank you for continuing it because 00:23:18.318 --> 00:23:26.318 it's uh grown and uh doing quite well. And now Linda is handing over the 00:23:26.479 --> 00:23:32.367 chairmanship to me, so I heard that congratulations and and Linda's done 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.647 an excellent job. I appreciate the invitation to be able to visit with you. 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:41.805 Um, I hope the information I provided was. I think you filled there's a 00:23:41.838 --> 00:23:47.959 lot of uh voids we have in the history. Thank you. You're welcome.