20-21 / 32
Summer 2016
|
TOWER
21
20
TOWER
|
Summer 2016
BACK TO CLASS WITH…
KATHLEENDOLGOS
’68,M’71
For Kathleen Dolgos of Wescosville, retirement definitely
does not mean resting on her laurels.
During her tenure at Kutztown University (KU), she
was certainly active. Dolgos spent 12 years as chair of the
Secondary Education Department, and a year as interim
chair of Elementary Education. She was co-director of
the study abroad program experiencing multiple trips
to England, and two exchange visits with the Russian
program, traveling to Moscow in 2003 and 2006.
But her connection to KU didn’t start there.
In January 1968, Dolgos earned her Bachelor of
Science in education with a concentration in mathematics
from the Kutztown State Teachers College. Later, in
1971, she finished her Master of Education degree
with a concentration in mathematics education. Be-
fore returning to instruct at her alma mater in 1991,
she served as a high school math teacher at Allentown
Central Catholic, and worked part-time as a professor at
Muhlenberg College.
“I loved teaching where I went to college,” recalls Dol-
gos. “I enjoyed seeing students walk down the hall with
their KU sweatshirts on, remembering being a student
myself. I loved seeing them be successful.”
What does the former tenure and curriculum commit-
tee member not miss?
“Correcting research papers,” she laughs, explaining
she did a lot of it as a grad school professor.
CONTINUING TO GIVE BACK
Though the 2002 Arthur & Isabelle Wiesenberger
Award-winning professor retired in 2013, Dolgos is
still active in many ways, including within the field of
education as a member of the board of trustees for the
local charter school, Roberto Clemente Charter School
of Allentown, which boasts both elementary and high
school facilities.
“I love that it’s a block away from where I grew up as a
kid and that I can be involved in education and continue
to give back,”Dolgos, an Allentown native, says. “I feel
like I know who the people in those neighborhoods are. I
used to be them.”
The other big project she’s committed to is one she
works on with her husband, George, a former missile
technician on a nuclear submarine for the U.S. Navy.
The two are co-chairs of Caps for Kids, an umbrella
program under the Lehigh Valley Base of the United
States Submarine Veterans, Inc.
The initiative sees members of the organization give
submariner programs to children with medical chal-
lenges (often cancer) and present those kids with their
own baseball caps adorned with dolphins, making them
honorary submariners.The caps are particularly signifi-
cant to those children with ailments causing hair loss.
The program is well-known and established nationally,
but Kathleen and George have headed the charge locally
for about a year now.
ENJOYING HER FREE TIME
If there is one thing Dolgos enjoys more now in her
retirement days, it’s travel.
“I love that I have the freedom to go where I want,
whenever I want and that I’m not tied to having to ma-
neuver around school breaks,” she says.
She and George just recently returned from a three-
week riverboat cruise site-seeing in Belgium, Holland
and Germany. Last year, they spent time on a cargo
ship visiting Norway, traveling all the way to the Arctic
Circle, Russia and back.
When considering future travel, she asserts she
needs some time to recoup from her last jaunt, and get
through her pile of mail. Not too long after she reveals,
“I’m looking at Cuba as the next spot, possibly. I’ll need
a couple of weeks then I’ll be able to say, ‘Now where
are we going?’”Then Dolgos will start the trip-planning
process again.
While home, she’ll indulge in a couple of her other
favorite pastimes: gardening and reading. She enjoys the
time outdoors and her easy-to-maintain pets: her koi fish.
And she has at least three books to read by her favorite
author: James Patterson. She’s thankful he never seems
to run out of writing fodder.
“I think he writes them [books] overnight,” she laughs.
Dolgos also enjoys spending time with her two daugh-
ters: Michele, 40, and Denise, 41, as well as her three
grandchildren and grand-dogs.
STILL CONNECTED TO KU
Though Dolgos is officially retired, she still can’t com-
pletely break ties with KU, the university she loves. As
treasurer of the Retiree Union, she helps guide future
retirees at the university on how to do it right.
Once yearly, near the end of the fall semester, she
helps those attending retirement meetings think about
what options they might want to consider when their
retirement time comes. She, herself, started attending
such meetings five years before she took the retirement
plunge and highly recommends others take advantage of
them as well – even if retirement is 20 years off – to get
pointed in the right direction.
BY
NIKKI M.
MURRY ’98
PHOTOGRAPHYBY
BY JEREMY DREY
“I enjoyed seeing
students walk down
the hall with their
KU sweatshirts on,
remembering being
a student myself. I
loved seeing them
be successful.”
— Kathleen Dolgos ’68,M’71