14 FACULTY AT SEMO TO RETIRE; SOME WILL LEAVE PROFESSIONS EARLY

Peter Hilty loves words, but one he doesn't love is retirement.

The Southeast Missouri State University English professor and former city councilman is retiring this year after 29 years of teaching at the university.

Hilty, 69, will retire from teaching after the summer session. But, he said, he's only retiring because state law requires state employees to retire by age 70.

"There is no choice about it," he said.

Hilty is one of 14 faculty members who are retiring this year. Some of the faculty members are taking early retirement.

In addition to Hilty, those retiring at the end of this academic year and their respective departments are:

William Hoover and Willard Morgan, department of education administration and counseling.

Russell Johnson, elementary and secondary education.

Ann McConnell and Margaret Mates, physical education.

Ed Stoever Jr., earth science.

Robert Cox, industrial technology.

Fred Wing, English.

Frances Crowley, foreign languages.

James Drickey, psychology.

Mabel Daugherty, human environmental studies.

Janie Wright, Kent Library.

Jack Hensley, speech communication and theater, who retired earlier in the academic year.

Combined, the faculty members have 325 years of service with the university.

A published poet and short-story writer, Hilty has instilled in his students at Southeast a love for language and literature.

He was the founder and first editor of The Cape Rock, Southeast's poetry journal founded in fall 1963. He served on the Cape Girardeau City Council from 1982 to 1988.

Drickey has served the university for 35 years while maintaining a private practice in psychology. He said he believes his private practice has been helpful to his teaching work.

Drickey started at Southeast in 1956. "I was the only person in the department of psychology at that time." Today, the department has about 15 faculty members.

Drickey was the first dean of graduate studies and served as interim chairman of the division of education and psychology.

He said he has enjoyed working with the students. "I think that has been the most rewarding part of it," he said.

Daugherty has served the university for 24 years, teaching and advising hundreds of students pursuing careers in clothing, textiles and fashion merchandising.

"When I first started teaching here 24 years ago, we only had one degree program a vocational home-economics education program," she said. The program was designed to turn out high-school home-economics teachers. But over the years, specialty programs have been developed such as child development and fashion merchandising, she said.

The associate professor said she has enjoyed teaching. "The thing I will miss most probably is the excitement and the vitality and youthfulness of a college campus."

Daugherty, who turned 59 in March, said she is taking an early retirement. She said she plans to spend time at home with her husband, Robert, on their 250-acre farm at Oran.

Hoover has served the university for 20 years as a member of the education faculty. For 10 of those years he served as director of the teacher admission program.

Hoover served for 20 years as a teacher and administrator in public school systems in Southeast Missouri and Arkansas before joining the university in 1971 as a supervisor of student teachers.

He said he and his wife, Jo, plan to do some traveling by motorcycle and in their new recreational vehicle. In addition, the couple plan to take a cruise through the Panama Canal later this year.

Johnson has served the university for 17 years and has been a prime contributor to the gifted program both at the state level in the development of teacher certification standards and in the evolvement of the program on campus.

Johnson, who has over 30 years in the teaching profession, founded Gifted Association of Missouri Inc. He also founded the Quest Program, a campus-based program for gifted students in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois whose school districts don't have gifted programs.

"I started it (the Gifted Association) here about 16 years ago and for many years I was doing it all by myself," he said.

Over the years, gifted programs in Missouri's public schools have grown from 10 to 200. A number of school districts in Southeast Missouri, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, now have programs for gifted students, he said.

Johnson said he is having a house built in Florida and plans to move there this summer.

Wright has served the university for 29 years, including four years as seventh-grade supervisor at the Campus School and 25 years as instructor and assistant professor at Kent Library.

Morgan has been employed at Southeast for 28 years. He has served as coordinator of student teaching for seven years and coordinator of the specialist degree program in education for eight years.

Hensley worked for the university for 27 years, instructing students in the areas of theater history and public speaking. He helped plan the construction of the Forrest H. Rose Theatre and directed 27 plays.

Cox has served the university for 27 years, teaching a number of industrial-technology classes. He has served on a number of departmental, college and university committees.

Wing has taught at Southeast for 24 years. He has represented the university in teaching assignments in the People's Republic of China and Bulgaria.

Crowley has served the university for 22 years, teaching thousands of foreign-language students. She founded the Spanish Club and has been a major contributor to the Spanish Club Scholarship.

Mates has worked at the university for 20 years. She has been a leader in the community youth soccer program and has helped encourage women's sports. She has coached women's field hockey and softball.

Stoever has served the university for 13 years, including more than six years as chairperson of the earth science department.

He served as the first director of the science and mathematics education center. He also has served as co-director of the Missouri KSAM Project, a statewide program designed to improve mathematics and science education.

McConnell has served the university for 10 years and has earned a reputation as a quality researcher. She has served on several departmental, college and university committees and has brought to her department expertise in elementary school physical education.