Emeritus Faculty

Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Several College of Education emeritus faculty members have managed to remain or regain their artistic selves in retirement.

Alice Atkinson and Robert Engel play music. Mildred Lavin and David Jepsen write. Dick Shepardson dances. Alan Frank makes wooden toys. All report that their artistic endeavors provide mental, social, and even physical benefits.

Frank (PhD ’70), a Special Education professor emeritus, said woodworking was a lifelong interest.

“When I retired, I began looking for new projects. As my grandchildren began arriving, I made toys for them out of wood,” he said.

For Shepardson, who taught Classroom Management at the College for 34 years, ballroom dancing has been a major part of his life for several years. He and his wife, Marty Shepardson (BS ‘79), have been dancing together since they started dating in the 1950s. They’ve danced at least three times a week for the past 20 years. But retirement has provided travel time to new dancing opportunities and an increased appreciation for what it can do for him as he ages.

“Dancing has given me better balance, better muscle tone,” he said. “Dancing truly does keep you younger.”

He reports that it’s good for the mind, too.

“The music and laughter do a lot for your mental health,” he said. “I can go to a dance in an ornery mood and after a few dances be relaxed and find myself having a good time.”

Lavin (PhD ’71), who created the University’s first Saturday and Evening Program, is part of two memoir writing groups—The Gray Hawk Writers, which is for retired UI faculty and staff, and The University Club, which was founded for UI faculty wives and is now open to the public. She said her writing is often humorous and many times chronicles growing up as a first-generation American.

She said she enjoys interacting with others on an intellectual level at age 85.

“You forget how old you are because in the groups you’re not treated like an old person,” she said. “They’re just interested in what you’re writing.”

Jepsen, a Counselor Education professor emeritus, joined the Gray Hawk Writers last year and has used the opportunity to write about everything from baseball to his father’s time during World War I.

“The writing is certainly a constructive endeavor,” he said. “I gain a sharper sense of personal identity, of who I was and who I am now and of the small legacy I can offer my descendants.”

Atkinson (PhD ’82) and Engel (PhD ‘69) both enjoyed playing instruments in high school and then put them away for several years until joining the New Horizons Band in retirement.

Atkinson, an Early Childhood Education professor emeritus, said she hadn’t touched her flute in decades. She joined the New Horizons Band, which is a seniors-only group led by College of Education Professor Don Coffman, in her retirement. She also plays with two other musical groups and said the practices and performances provide several benefits.

“Learning new music keeps me thinking and problem solving,” she said. “And re-arranging chairs and tables after band is great physical exercise!”

She said getting back into music has been “wonderful.”

“Sometimes I look around and wonder how I could be so lucky,” she said.

Engel, who joined the New Horizons Band six months after he retired, said he was eager to get back into music. After 42 years of not picking up an instrument, Engel took up the euphonium—a bass brass horn—and dove right in. He even joined three other concert bands as well as a low brass quartet in addition to New Horizons.

“Most of us who love music have a desire to express it in some way,” he said. “We can do it through dance, or singing, or through playing an instrument. Playing the euphonium has given me a chance to fulfill a need I have felt for a long time.”