Feigl returns to SMC classrooms
by KATIE MILLER
A familiar face has returned to the chemistry department at Saint Mary's.
After 14 years as an administrator, Dr. Dorothy Feigl has returned to teaching. Since her arrival at Saint Mary's in 1966, Feigl has played many roles in the community.
Growing up in Chicago, Feigl attended Loyola University where she majored in Chemistry. She attended graduate school at Stanford.
After receiving her Ph.D., Feigl interviewed for industrial and teaching positions, before accepting a job at Saint Mary's – a campus she with which was already familiar.
"My brother had graduated from Notre Dame and his wife was a Saint Mary's graduate," Feigl said. "I knew the school. When I came to interview, though, I found a very different kind of education. There was a lot of interaction between teachers and students. I really enjoyed that and it's proved to be everything I thought it would."
Feigl began by teaching organic chemistry for majors.
"Saint Mary's was an inclusive community. From the very beginning it was quite clear that I wouldn't be just with the chemists. I would interact with faculty from other departments. I had always known that I wanted to be a chemist, but this school gave me the opportunity to interact with english literature professors, historians, and communication professors," she said.
Feigl found the student-teacher relationship at Saint Mary's very unique.
"Student interaction was very important. You really got to spend a lot of time getting to know and talk to students of all majors. It was not what I had experienced in college, " she said
After teaching in the chemistry department for 19 years, Feigl agreed to take a one-year temporary position as dean of faculty.
"I had always planned on returning to teaching," said Feigl.
When the dean of faculty, Bill Hickey, became College president, he asked Feigl to take his place until a replacement was found.
"I just stayed and stayed," she said.
Feigl's role as dean of faculty was very different from teaching.
"As an administrator, I saw the school as a whole. Because I was hiring the faculty, I knew them very well. I always knew what all the departments were doing. I really liked to watch the whole school operating," she said.
In 1998, a search was conducted for a vice-president, yielding Karen Ristau, who assumed the role of dean of faculty in 1999.
Last year, Feigl was on sabbatical.
"I had worried that chemistry had changed while I was out of the classroom," she said.
Now that she is back in the classroom – teaching organic chemistry this time around – her fears went unconfirmed.
"Everything I had worried about turned out to be fine. And my memory ofhow much I enjoyed teaching to out to be right. I've always thought of myself as a teacher and it `s great to be back."
All News Stories for Monday, September 11, 2000
