Interview with: TED PRENTING
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Lily Jandrisevits
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections





Transcript: Ted Prenting

Interviewee: Ted Prenting
Interviewer: Gus Nolan, Jan Stivers, and Sue Lawrence
Interview Date: 27 June 2022
Location: James A. Cannavino Library

Topic: Marist College History

Subject Headings:
Prenting, Ted



Marist College Faculty



Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)--Social Aspects
Marist College. School of Management


Summary: In this follow up interview, Ted gives a new perspective on how he has seen Marist
College change, as well as the changes he wishes to see within the college. He also talks about
seeing the business school get AACSB, his unique educational path, and his leadership of
luncheons for retirees.




Gus Nolan (
00:00:02
):
Oh, good morning, folks. We have a small community here. We're interviewing Ted Prenting, a
retired professor, a long time Marist teacher, along with myself, Gus Nolan, Jan Stivers, and Sue
Lawrence. We're the new committee doing the interviews for the Marist College Archives. So,
good morning, Ted.
Ted Prenting (
00:00:26
):
Good morning, Gus.
GN (
00:00:27
):
Ted, I'd like you to look at Marist College today and tell me what you see in your view of
looking at the college in terms of a stable college, one with some nice reputation, good
enrollment, financially stable, take any of those things in order as you see this college. How did
this happen?
TP (
00:00:58
):
Can I start with a correction on the last interview?
GN (
00:01:01
):
Yeah.
TP (
00:01:01
):
Before we get started because otherwise I'll forget it. I think they're sort of material. And they
were probably transcription problems. The organization I was with in Chicago was Armour
Research Foundation, and that's Armour as in the meat packing company. A-R-M-O-U-R. And



2
Ted Prenting

the writeup, they have like a suit of armor, A-R-M-O-R, which doesn't make an awful lot of
sense. And the Armour family, of course, in Chicago, was very wealthy and they endowed a
college that was Armour Institute, I understand originally. And later became Illinois Institute of
Technology. And we were a wholly owned affiliate of that. We were Armour Research
Foundation, spelled as the meat packing company. The other thing that was in there that didn't
make sense, and I can see it's a transcription problem. The interview with-- and that goes back to
where we were before the session now, we were talking about Tony Campilii's problem or
comment that he went to the Prenting, P-R-E-N-T-I-N-G.
Jan Stivers (
00:02:37
):
It says apprenticeship.
TP (
00:02:37
):
Prenting School of Management. It wasn't apprentice.
JS (
00:02:42
):
Oh, that's very interesting. That's a really important one to get.
TP (
00:02:45
):
Apprentice doesn't make sense in that context. Other than that, the only observation I would
make from that earlier interview, wow, what foresight. I was already talking about supply chain
problems that I saw at that time, and that's whenever, twenty years ago. And those problems are
still with us. And I've spoken about that with some people recently in another context. And
they're all very, very concerned about the same thing. From a national security, national defense


3
Ted Prenting

standpoint, I learned in the course of things that the United States in this country, we only have
one computer chip maker,
JS (
00:03:39
):
Intel?
TP (
00:03:40
):
One. And the first thing you learn in business is you're never single source. You always have
other sources, even if you have to help support them, so that there's always a supply. And that is
not being addressed. And I don't think anybody has the vaguest notion of how serious that
problem is from the point of view of national security and national defense. Just incredible.
Absolutely incredible.
GN (
00:04:12
):
Okay. I appreciate that--.
TP (
00:04:14
):
Now, we'll get into your--.
GN (
00:04:16
):
Yeah. Okay. Tell me what you see.
TP (
00:04:23
):
Dramatic change [laugh] and, you know, from what I can see all to the good, you know, a fine,
great looking campus and good programs and what I understand at least the good quality


4
Ted Prenting

programs, all of that is there. The one, and I was looking at it in a different context. Some of the
questions you had raised. I wonder, and this is really a huge question, whether the college has
really given deep thought to what it wants to be. It's grown, but it was always an institution that
emphasized teaching. That's from the-- I think, heritage of the Marist brothers. And that was key.
I remember in the promotion process for professors, you could be good and everything else, but
if you weren't a good teacher, you weren't going to get tenure, period. So clearly I think all
faculty knew that, where the emphasis was. And I think that that probably, my guess would be
that that's still true today. Perhaps less so with some newer faculty coming in that have different
backgrounds or different interests or what have you. But I wonder, institutionally, I haven't heard
anything, whether the college has thought about who are we? What do we want to do?
GN (
00:06:26
):
Okay, let me interject a thought here. We interviewed a member of the board, John Klein, and he
said it is an issue that they're considering. I mean, that they're pondering and a couple of things
that drive the question in terms of what will make us-- what's survivable? You know, will we go
down as just a teaching institution, and give up what might be considered research and
development in terms of, well, the two issues are we going to be working pretty much for our
names' sake of saying, well, liberal arts. Oh, we listen to-- what's the students, the pool of
students is dramatically dropping, and we have to appeal to that student body to come, well, they
come to us if we just say, no, making a living is not a big issue. Learning how to live is a big
issue. Liberal arts is more important than the practical arts, that may not sell too well in the next
century or the other part of this century. So that has to be taken in hand, not with the giving
uphold one or the other, but a balance that has to be approached in kind of meeting that, that was
my understanding of his statement, Jan.


5
Ted Prenting

JS (
00:07:51
):
Yes, absolutely. He used exactly the same words that you used. Does the college know what it
wants to be? He then said that in September, I think there will be a board retreat that's focused on
a strategic plan. So, I think that that identity for the next ten, twenty years is on the agenda for
the strategic plan meeting in September, strategic plan retreat in September.
TP (
00:08:24
):
Because ultimately, after you go through that process, that may mean that you actually want to
change the mission statement of the institution and so on to better identify what it is you want to
do and to your audience, to the population, what it is you want to give them.
GN (
00:08:46
):
Yeah, I will say to evaluations--.
TP (
00:08:47
):
And you've brought up the point of research, that's one thought that occurred to me. I wonder if
sufficient emphasis, not that it should be, it needs a balance, but whether the college is
encouraging faculty and as part of the tenure process, that faculty understand part of their job
really is to do some research or, you know, work outside of just the classroom.
JS (
00:09:28
):
I would have to say--.
TP (
00:09:29
):


6
Ted Prenting

Now different faculty will have different balances. That's understandable. But I think, and the
reason I’m emphasizing that a bit, that's when I asked about the graduate programs, it was my
understanding there are about a thousand graduate students, or better, it's probably about 20% of
the college. If you have graduate programs, it's very important that the faculty teaching in those
areas, that they have some time and understand that part of their job is to be in some areas at the
forefront or, be doing things that can be conveyed to a class, and possibly involve some of the
students, research assistantships. I think, you know, some of that has to be, and, by the way, the
other ingredient might be, I have not heard that addressed anymore. I know it was talked about
for a time. And that is whether Marist should be called a university to better identify, and that
may be a kick for the population, even undergrad, if they have a sense that, you know, if they
wanted to, not only could they do their undergrad work here, but there would be the opportunity
to go into grad school directly if they wanted, or--.
GN (
00:11:11
):
Okay. Can you hold on that part? I want to come back to that later. I want to come back to what
you see in the campus. How did this happen? And, you know, with the question generally is, oh,
Dennis Murray is kind of a magic handler. I say, yes, he had a great deal to do with it, you know,
but he built on, you know, what was already here. You know, the thinking that went into putting
up the dorms, rather than just make this a mid-Hudson college, you know, was foresight bringing
students in from New York City and from California and from Texas, you know, so they're
making room here for others to be educated. But, the other side, again not knocking Murray, but
people don't come to take courses by him. I mean, people have come here be, I know a doctor's
son of mine came here to take chemistry because Marist chemistry, I know Bettencourt had a
great reputation. So, the faculty-- Prenting, your name also in the business. People came here for


7
Ted Prenting

the education. The college was built up by a number of components. And I was wondering, you
know, you might say administration, faculty, friends of the college, all of this played a part in it.
How does it strike you? Would you agree the faculty itself, that we maintained a good faculty
through those years with a reputation?
TP (
00:12:50
):
Oh yeah. I don't have any question in my mind really about that. I can't address that for some
other parts of the college, the particular faculty. But I certainly can attest to that with the business
program because it is accredited by the Sterling on Silver, which is the American Association of
Colleges of Business Administration, has a slightly different name now. Only about 10% of
business schools have that accreditation. And Marist got that. I was very anxious. I still
remember Dennis Murray wasn't on the campus, the first gathering you had a faculty, I
buttonholed him about that. That we really need to go after AACSB accreditation. We were out
at a place in Millbrook or something [laugh], I seem to remember, because it was very important
if we want to be-- and especially because I had in mind the MBA program. If you want to have
an MBA program and graduate students out of IBM, you have to have, you know, the credentials
to go with that.
GN (
00:14:06
):
Along that same line, the quality of education, I know as students who chose not to come here
because it's too hard, you know, in other words, it was-- you can't come here and live in the
dormitory, you know, you have to participate, you have to come to class, or they'll throw you
out, you know? So that, there's a certain stringency in terms of the academic program all too, you
know, the reputation that Marist has now. And without that, we'd be nothing. We were just a


8
Ted Prenting

shell where people come and live for four years and have a good time. That's not exactly where
we're at now. Okay. I've been talking a lot. I'm going to get Jan to address something else now.
JS (
00:14:55
):
So, I do want to go into the AACSB for a minute. But before we do that, because we're creating a
public record here, I want to ask Sue, if you could respond to what Ted was saying about perhaps
the faculty needs to be clearer about the expectations for research in terms of tenure. So, you've
served on rank and tenure. My experience has been that the faculty is super aware of that and
often feels that publications are prized at the expense or to the detriment of teaching, and
especially to the detriment of service.
Sue Lawrence (
00:15:34
):
I agree. I agree totally. It's become a huge problem because the expectations of research have
gone up. I don't know to what lengths, but a great deal since, like when I was on rank and tenure.
TP (
00:15:45
):
Now that's, you know, a new understanding for me, because when I served on rank and tenure,
first of all, it was, that was an area that a lot of faculty had some difficulty satisfying. They had
done no writing, no publication. They were not doing any research. They could demonstrate
good teaching, quality teaching, fabulous community service, whether on campus or in the
community. But they were weak on the research. And so that's interesting that--.
JS (
00:16:27
):


9
Ted Prenting

It's actually even an unspoken rule of thumb, which is two publications since you arrived, not
publishing your dissertation in the first year that you've gotten here. That doesn't count. It's two
publications based on work that you've done since you've arrived.
SL (
00:16:46
):
And the quality of publications has ratcheted up insanely. Like a friend of mine just got put on--.
TP (
00:16:53
):
Yeah. And by the way, that's a requirement of AACSB. And so, the business faculty have had
that requirement now in practice. I think what happened is if Jack and I saw the people weren't
doing that, they sort of got noticed that, you know--.
JS (
00:17:18
):
They weren't going to be supported for the tenure process. Yeah. So, and the other point, let's
make sure that the record is clear, it's tier one and tier two journals also. It's not just, you know
your regional--.
TP (
00:17:30
):
Juried publication
JS (
00:17:33
):
Absolutely. Peer reviewed, but not just peer reviewed. It can't be the proceedings from your
regional conference.
TP (
00:17:43
):


10
Ted Prenting

Oh, yeah. Right.
JS (
00:17:44
):
They use the, what are the rankings called? I forget. Well, the librarians would help us, know
which ones.
SL (
00:17:50
):
And I think that it's really impossible now to get tenure without the promotion to an associate, is
my understanding.
TP (
00:18:00
):
I think that was already true when I was here, pretty much.
JS (
00:18:07
):
Technically you can be tenured at assistant, but in reality, de facto.
SL (
00:18:17
):
The dean slides you out or something.
TP (
00:18:20
):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JS (
00:18:22
):
Yeah. Okay. So that, by way of clarification.
GN (
00:18:25
):


11
Ted Prenting

Just a side note, there's also this part about, there are areas where we need instructors, where
we'll keep them on as long as the need is there. It's not after five years, you're gone. It's a tenure
or out, you know. I had a couple of cases in business where people were good in advertising, but
there was no advanced degree and so on. And they were very disturbed that they were not getting
tenure and them being on promotion committees and so on. I said, look, the option is go for
tenure, you don't get it you're out. You know, or take it. We'll keep you as long as we need.
JS (
00:19:08
):
Term contract.
GN (
00:19:10
):
Term contract, you know? Yeah. And that was always an understanding where some areas where
we do need certain kinds of skills that are not so deeply academic.
JS (
00:19:22
):
I think that faculty wants to make sure that there are limits on the number of people who are here
under term contracts, because folks who are on term contracts don't have as strong voice. The
ability to shape curriculum, to shape, to share in governance, shared governance.
TP (
00:19:44
):
How-- I'm going to ask, how strong is the collegial? I have a question about that. And the reason
I bring that up is, you know, with the separation and the various schools now and the deans and
that they kind seem to kind of run independent and they're in separate buildings, it must be very,
very hard for faculty as a body to come, you know, have a common bond.


12
Ted Prenting

GN (
00:20:22
):
Can you hold that to the end, because you are ending with the same questions that I have here
about what can we do to bring back the old Marist community spirit that we had, you know? And
so, I like to come back to that particular question in the conclusion areas of this, back to Jan,
where she is please.
JS (
00:20:44
):
So, AACSB, that was a long strenuous undertaking.
TP (
00:20:54
):
Yes.
JS (
00:20:55
):
For the school of management. And there's just no question that it was the right thing to do. No
question. What were the tradeoffs?
TP (
00:21:05
):
I think that the trade off in our area and the market we were serving is that we would at best be
an also ran program. You know, because we simply would not have been attractive to students,
the students know this, they read the literature before they go to a school, and they know which
ones have quality in the business area. And if I understand correctly, business, including
economics, accounting, all that, I think it's still around 40% of the student population on campus
or in programs. That's huge. Without a good business program, the college would be in deep
trouble, you know? So, I didn't really, I didn't feel there was an option, that we had to put that
kind of effort into it. And I remember I worked on it for a full year, and a couple times at the


13
Ted Prenting

beginning. And then at the end for my last year here was the final push to get AACSB and get
the team in here and get it, period.
JS (
00:22:31
):
So, when we in education went for a similar accreditation. We would say we have to do it.
Absolutely. It's a good thing. But some of the trade offs for us were a narrowing of the
curriculum to things that could be measured, because it was all outcomes based, and you had to
report on your measures. You had to demonstrate, you had to specify your learning outcomes,
and then you had to demonstrate mastery, that your students had mastered those. And also, we
were just single-minded. There was nothing else that you could do on campus. No development
of student clubs, let's say. Or new lines of research. That would be one cost. Another cost would
be we hired people who we would not have hired other otherwise specifically for their ability to
get published, their ability to add to our--. Was any of, did you see any of that? Were there any
tradeoffs?
TP (
00:23:39
):
Very, honestly, I do not think there was any downside for us.
JS (
00:23:45
):
Okay, great.
TP (
00:23:46
):
There was an obvious pressure on the institution to come up with the resources for additional
faculty, but it was all things that were desperately needed. I mean, I would, my classes were
regularly forty-five students in a class with four classes, 200 students every single semester. I


14
Ted Prenting

mean, that was, that's absurd. You can't run a quality program with, I didn't get to know students.
I didn't have the chance to do that. It was just overwhelming.
JS (
00:24:27
):
So, the accreditation functioned the way it's supposed to. It set standards that elevate the body of
the program.
TP (
00:24:34
):
And by the way, I have to credit the AACSB that they really, they're serious about that. What
they want to do is help you and help institutions to deliver a better product. And there, it is true.
You know? So, we had to get more better faculty and more of them. But fortunately, we had the
student population, so it didn't cost anything to the college. And by the way, I remember that one
of the things we-- it was just, Jack and I worked very closely together on these things. And both
of us had a very strong interest. And that was for all the way from Linus. I remember when he
talked to me the first time, he wanted to have a business program that was liberal arts oriented,
not quantitative, you know, not an over over-emphasis on quantitative. And we totally agreed
with that. So, it was based on economics, and economic theory, and behavioral science and so
on, along with the necessary math and statistics and all that. And so, we kept-- and a number of
the other faculty reminded me of that once when all the rest of the campus, all the majors
dropped the core requirement, we had it forever. I don't, as long as I was here, we never got rid
of the core requirement. Six credits in philosophy, six in English, six in history, poli sci, blah,
blah, blah. And so, that in a way, it also kept, you know, other departments going, you know, so
we did not have a downside. It fit in well at a time that the college-- and we were very conscious
of the finances that we, you know, didn't go beyond what's realistic.


15
Ted Prenting

JS (
00:26:56
):
Jan, another question?
JS (
00:26:58
):
Want me to go onto the question about your own MBA? Ted's MBA?
GN (
00:27:03
):
No. Well, yeah. If you wanted to say something about that, different views of getting there. I
mean, you skipped going to college [laugh].
JS (
00:27:11
):
So, the question would be, you took an unusual path to the MBA and would you recommend that
Marist consider alternate paths, offering alternate paths to students like you had?
TP (
00:27:32
):
I'm not sure.
JS (
00:27:33
):
Well, you got an MBA without having a bachelor's degree.
TP (
00:27:36
):
Yes. That was a curiosity [laugh].
GN (
00:27:43
):
That was our question. Go ahead.


16
Ted Prenting

JS (
00:27:44
):
And there are many-- we have a school of professional programs. We have degree completion
programs. We have a lot of things in place. We do credit by examination, credit for life
experience. Do you encourage alternate paths to degree completion? Do you think Marist might
do more of that, would benefit from doing more of that?
TP (
00:28:08
):
I don't think that's necessary. And I have to say that if I put all the things together in my
development, I easily would've had the equivalent of the undergraduate degree. And by the way,
the University of Chicago, in order to get into the graduate program, I had to take a battery of
tests by the five divisions of the college of the University of Chicago. I think they were all about
a half day in length from all five divisions separately graded. If I passed, I had to pass a
minimum of three of them in order to do anything. And I think that what the rule was, if I failed,
didn't get sufficient, you know, in one or two, they would allow me to go on for graduate study.
But I would have to complete my requirements in each division that I did not get a satisfactory
grade.
I took the five divisions. I'm not bragging about it. I passed them all. And that was a
result of having an unbelievably strong high school education, Poughkeepsie High School, where
the faculty came from places like the University of Chicago, and Harvard and Yale, and the
wealthy families in Millbrook were sending their kids at $2,000 a year to Poughkeepsie, because
they taught Latin and Greek. And we had good teachers including calculus, which was kind of
unheard of at that time. So, I would say when I graduated from Poughkeepsie High School to
begin with, I probably had the equivalent of a community college degree today. Without question


17
Ted Prenting

in my mind. Then I went on to a special trade school down in Silver Spring, Maryland, because
my family was in a dry-cleaning business. And that was six days a week of classes, a lot of it in
chemistry and so on. I mean, further education, plus I was in the Army. I don't think Chicago
gave you any merits for that. But, you know, all taken-- oh, yes, and I completed international
correspondence schools, two-year business management while I was in the Army. So, you know,
that's college level run by professors at the University of Chicago. Interesting. I only learned that
later. So, I had easily the equivalent of an undergraduate put all--. The key was those five exams.
They were, I mean, it was in music and art and everything. Oh, I studied violin. So, I knew
music, you know, I knew a foreign language, German,
GN (
00:31:44
):
No question, Ted, you were well educated, and I think you kind of nicely put it, it's very complex
to do that. Let's go the simple way and get the undergraduate--.
TP (
00:31:58
):
I don't know if Chicago had another person that did that.
GN (
00:32:02
):
I hope not [laugh], they probably wouldn't be alive today. It takes a little stamina to do that.
Alright. Back to something we talked about a little bit earlier. Marist is in a good place today.
Now, where will it be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow? And so, interesting point of
saying, what about the future of Marist and different areas to go to, fundamentally students? And
one of the terms used before is the university. Should we become a university or not? One of the
factors involved in not having college up there at Marist, it was going to be Marist College on


18
Ted Prenting

the big thing. It was taken down, no put up. But one of the reasons was that more of our foreign
students, Marist College in Dublin is a high school. And the European mind college is not the
university. You want to go to the university, it's the university. And so, if we, our appeal for
students comes to a wider base than what our tradition was here in the New East, the Northeast.
And so, we have to reach out now in a number of ways. One of them across the country. I don't
know how many students from California. I think there were ninety in a freshman class or
something like that. You know, there are a number of the forty-seven states, I think they
represented in the student body. There's a diversity there. I don't know how many international
students there are, but we have a good number of African, a good number of Chinese. And so,
we're feeling appealing more to this wider body. How do you see us succeeding with that? What
would be a way to bring students to Marist? Is the campus going to be enough to make the
magnet to come here?
TP (
00:34:04
):
Well, clearly, it's the programs that are offered. And that's where I don't know. I couldn't, I'm not
sure. Maybe I didn't follow all your line of thinking, but that's where I would also see that there
could be an advantage in retitling, Marist to a university, to give it greater breadth and depth.
College is, I know that for Europe, I did a lot of business traveling in almost every country in
Europe when I was in Chicago. And college is not a name given to an institution like Marist is
today. It has to be a university. And the other thing that kind of gets me to that, all the years that
I was here, I served as a middle states evaluator for thirty years, and I went every single year to a
different campus. And in the course of that experience, I learned that a number of states have
passed laws that a place like Marist could not call itself a college because it's offering all these
graduate degrees. They view it as being a little bit of false advertising. You're not a college.


19
Ted Prenting

You're a multi-disciplined campus offering graduate degrees. And the rule in a number of states
now is that if you offer more than one or two graduate programs, you must call yourself a
university. We have something, I forget what we have now. I think it's thirteen, fourteen or more
graduate program or degree program, maybe twenty. I don't know. I mean, there's, you know, I
can think of two or three that are in math, in the computer science area and so on. Business has
the MBA, the MPA, I don't know if they may have an, oh, yes, there's an MS I think, yes, in
accounting. I don't know whether they offer something like that in economics. I'm not sure.
GN (
00:36:35
):
We have a doctorate in physical therapy,
TP (
00:36:38
):
And then you have a doctorate degree in physical therapy or something. And you know, so it
really, I think it could be very helpful to change that. Well, I'm not sure I answered the question,
but--.
JS (
00:36:57
):
I do have one. It's a bit of a diversion, but I do want to get it on the record. I one time heard you
tell a story that I want to have preserved, and that was a time when the college was in bad
financial straits, and you were in faculty leadership. And with President Foy, with Linus, Linus
was saying there can be no raises this year. And you went to him, and you said, you can't do that.
Want to tell that story?
TP (
00:37:33
):
Yeah. Oh [laugh]. Well, I don't know if that should go on the record [laugh].


20
Ted Prenting

JS (
00:37:39
):
It's a great story.
TP (
00:37:43
):
I mean, it was, I still remember, Larry Menapace said, we really have to thank you for that one
[laugh], but no I--.
JS (
00:37:56
):
So, let's pick it up where Linus says, we can't afford any raises for the faculty this year.
TP (
00:38:00
):
And I remember it was around 1972, and that was a year where inflation was unbelievable.
Twelve to 15% inflation interest rates were 20%. I mean, that's how bad that was. It was a
terrible, terrible time. And you can imagine, I have, we had, you know, we had two children at
home, and I knew the faculty were very young and they had children. And when Linus said, we
just can't afford any increased-- Linus, you can't do, I just well. That was my field, labor
relations. And I just said to him, Linus, you can't do that. And this is one-on-one. And so, that--
we looked at how something could be done as in deferred that it wouldn't cost the college so
much right now, but they would pay a little later. And that was how the pension program got it.
Actually, he did more than I would've expected, but, I wasn't going to say anything about that
[laugh], you know, if he felt comfortable with it. Okay.
JS (
00:39:24
):
Do you want to go into the, you feel comfortable going into the specific numbers?


21
Ted Prenting

TP (
00:39:28
):
I can't, I'm not sure of that.
JS (
00:39:32
):
Well, I know that the college contributes, I think it's after your third year of employment, the
college contributes 13%, as long as you contribute 3%. I don't know if that's still--.
TP (
00:39:45
):
I think that's correct. Yeah.
JS (
00:39:47
):
It certainly, that was what governed me. That was the program, the plan that I was under.
TP (
00:39:52
):
It was a dramatic increase.
JS (
00:39:54
):
So, but I really don't know of other institutions. Especially institutions of higher ed that
contribute 13% of your salary to your pension plan. 5%, maybe generous ones maybe do eight. I
think, I shouldn't say this. I think that that's what they are.
GN (
00:40:18
):
I talk about survival, comment on this situation. You know, people can't come to Marist if they
don't know about it. So how do we get down on the west coast, on the south, on the northeast,
Chicago area, and so on. One of the ways, of course, is the alumni that is there who came here,


22
Ted Prenting

go back. But the other, we spent something like a hundred thousand dollars sending the football
team to California to play. We sent another, you know, for the basketball team to play in
different arenas to which they play in a stadium that brings Marist into the public eye. So, I
mean, other than the Marist poll, which appears on internet, on the TV and NBC and otherwise,
you know, here is another, at least you get known. And if there's a faculty out there, at least, I
know a number of times vice presidents have gone to meetings or faculty in these areas just to
kind of juice up as it were, the interest. And having the kids come and look at Marist in terms of
that. And I think what's needed, is a sympathetic eye to allowing sports to develop, to have this
kind of thing. We don't want to be, I mean, Rik Smits was a big name for us to get national
attention, but we can't give up the requirements to go to school. You know, we can't afford to
have a football team that goes to all the coaching classes. And you know, the other students go to
the regular academic classes, which is probably commonplace in, I would say Georgia Tech, just
to pick a place in the south. Comment on, on those kind of expenses, interest in sports, interest in
debate team, traveling, interest in even George Sommer, his famous conferences that he used to
have on literature. And people would come and submit their papers. At least there was publicity,
you know, and as a businessman, you know, the importance of publicity, I'm sure.
TP (
00:42:38
):
Yeah. I really, I haven't given a lot of thought to that. But and I'm probably the wrong one to talk
to about spending a lot of money on sports. I-- that bothers me a little bit when schools go
overboard with that. By the way, that may change dramatically because they're going to allow
schools to pay, in effect compensate athletes. Which could be a- I don't know, it could almost be
frightening that all we're trying to get money from our alumni to support the college and what are
we doing? We're paying salaries to somebody to play baseball or football or basketball. I give


23
Ted Prenting

you the example, the University of Chicago. They were once the big powerhouse in football.
And the president that established the program I went through, he put total emphasis on
academics and cut out the football much to the chagrin and lost a lot of the alumni support. But it
worked. And now Chicago is probably recognized as one of the, I think they have more Nobel
winners than Harvard, Yale, or anybody else. You know, they've emphasized that. It's very hard
to get in, even as an undergrad. I tried to get my granddaughter, but that didn't [laugh], and she's
a good student, but I guess they're overwhelmed, you know?
So, but at any rate, it's so hard. You know, one thing that should be done is it should be
emphasized that faculty get more involved in their professional associations in their fields, and
that they go to conferences, and they deliver papers and so on. Because that gets the name out
too. It's a little more indirect, but it's a pretty solid one. But, you know, there's a funny one about
the Marist poll. And with all due respect to Lee, I have-- all of our family are in Detroit or
Cincinnati, Cincinnati or Detroit. I don't think one of them, they know I taught for years at
Marist College. They know Marist College. When they hear, even my sister, when she hears
Marist Poll said this or this on NBC, she didn't have the vaguest idea that that's this Marist
college, Poughkeepsie, New York, because it's never mentioned. It's never mentioned. They,
they say the Marist poll, but who, the devil knows where Marist is?
GN (
00:46:06
):
Yeah.
TP (
00:46:07
):
It's unbelievable. I mean, you know, and this is like a hundred people [laugh].


24
Ted Prenting

GN (
00:46:14
):
This is news. I had no idea.
TP (
00:46:16
):
It's amazing. It is truly. That's the difficulty with promotion. Get people's attention that they
know something. Yeah.
JS (
00:46:27
):
Alright, well back to Jan in the role of the faculty et cetera.
JS (
00:46:31
):
Well, I do want to ask, you've given a lot of your time and effort in retirement to the retired
faculty association. What was my question? Can you talk about why this is an important thing to
do? Why it's important to provide this organization for retired faculty [laugh]?
TP (
00:46:57
):
I never really thought that much about it. I just do it [laugh]. And I think it really, we're coming
to a point where we really need to address it because the attendance at the lunches is going down.
And if that doesn't improve-- and, you know, the announcement has been made for the picnic,
and we have that holiday party-- without the lunches holding the organization together, it'll cease
to exist. And the picnic and the holiday party won't be there anymore.
JS (
00:47:37
):
They come, they're sponsored by the development office. The advancement office.


25
Ted Prenting

TP (
00:47:45
):
It's-- there is not really a direct connection.
JS (
00:47:54
):
Don't they pay for the picnic?
TP (
00:47:56
):
I think Chris would probably feel, and maybe some of the others, that it'd important, the
organization to kind of keep the faculty attached because of the potential for giving.
JS (
00:48:13
):
The donors, yeah. That's what I was--.
TP (
00:48:13
):
I'm not sure. I mean, I don't--.
JS (
00:48:19
):
I think the summer picnic is paid for by--.
TP (
00:48:20
):
It's interesting. We don't have--.
GN (
00:48:21
):
We used to contribute like $25 at Christmas.
JS (
00:48:25
):


26
Ted Prenting

Yes.
GN (
00:48:26
):
But the bill was like a $50 plate. But the college would pick up that and a number of things if
Dennis was there, the wine and so on, Dennis paid for the wine over the years, you know. So,
perhaps now the summer, which is not that-- well, it's at the river, right? Or it's down there
someplace. I think the college fixed that up. I don't remember.
TP (
00:48:57
):
But, you know, it's interesting. With the picnic, that was a potluck thing that everybody brought
food. And the college just provided some wine or beer as a courtesy that they gave us the space
to do it, set up the tables, and they did that. It was then it got, the numbers got to be so big that it
was hard to provide enough food. And then somehow or other, the college said, look, you know,
we can take care. We can have a kitchen prepared. So, that's how that came about. But I very
honestly, there is not a close direct connection. I work with Jamie Bower, who's leaving, I
understand. I, you know, I never really have talked to Chris about that. I don't know. So, it's
something that needs to be addressed or whether the, as you and Richard LaPietra, when you
develop thoughts about that, whether there are some other things that maybe the retired faculty
could do or could organize. For example, a seminar or a presentation for retiring faculty, what to
expect and, you know, the resources available, et cetera.
GN (
00:50:38
):
We didn't have a meeting, myself and Richard talked with Dennis about it, and it had to do with
the question of would it be limited to the faculty or would it be retired from Marist? You know,


27
Ted Prenting

and he was the one that directed us, stay with the faculty. If the others, the staff wants to organize
its own, you know, they can organize their own, you know, but keep the faculty, you know,
together as a unit, because you'll have more of a commonality in terms of what you would talk
about and share, you know. Since then, you know, we got applications from other people to join
us. I mean, security, [ ] you know, two or three of the staff from security on board. And some
people in other departments or in other areas of the college. Shaileen for instance is part, likes to
come and, you know, it's a widespread thing. Who participated in faculty development or visits
or whatever it might have been, you know? So, I think-- but that leads me to this, why the
question, where we were in the sixties and seventies, you know, and there's a certain unity and
bond that was in existence in those days, you know? And where we are today, and the diversity
because of the development of the college and the schools and the buildings and its growth, that
has been splinted. And I was wondering if there's some idea of reuniting or somehow
reorganizing, a Marist alumni for retirees or whatever it would be. Are we on?
JS (
00:52:38
):
Just double checking. Yes.
TP (
00:52:40
):
First of all, I, annually after the retirement period in May or June, I always get a list of the new
retirees. And I do send them information about us, et cetera, and ask if they want to be put on the
list now, on our mailing list. Now this year, I used a little more marketing technique, and that
was, I put them on the list and they can ask to get off [laugh]. But also interesting, what I got this
year was a list of seventeen new people, all those that retired from the beginning of the pandemic
because we couldn't meet from the '19, 2020, I guess it was, to '22. So, it was a three year period


28
Ted Prenting

out of the seventeen people, I was happy to see, I heard back from about a half a dozen of them
that they were glad that I had contacted them. And they, you know, they hoped to attend some--.
So that was a good sign. But now I have to wait and see if they actually show, because all, most
of the newer people have not shown up at our lunches. So, I mean, last month was down to six
people. And that was-- that's a steady decline over the last three months. So, I have a plan on, at
the, if we get a good turnout, maybe I hope maybe forty or more that we had for the holiday
party registered, which had to be canceled, if we could get that at the picnic. I do plan to speak to
the assembled group and explain a little bit about the dilemma. And you know, that we need to
address it.
GN (
00:54:48
):
Do we need to know the sales on it too? You are getting tired of doing it [laugh]. Somebody, you
know, with new blood as it were who might pick up. Well, I have no idea who to go to when--.
JS (
00:55:01
):
I think you appealed for that--.
GN (
00:55:03
):
Twenty years out of it.
JS (
00:55:04
):
A few luncheons ago, I think the two of you stood up at a luncheon at Farmers and Chefs and
said we need people to take over.
GN (
00:55:16
):


29
Ted Prenting

I said, the list was so big, we didn't choose yet [laugh]. You know, the candidates who had
applied because we are doing quality searches [laugh]. But I was wondering if there was not
something else that could be done. I'm thinking of, for instance, lifelong learning. You know,
you can't even go to those things. Now. There's a list of 200 trying to get into it, you know, so
that's another area that perhaps, you know, we, or I'm not proud enough to think of other ways it
might be done, you know, maybe film events or something, you know, that could bring-- order a
notice going out, inviting, let them know in time and something significant that people might be
interested in coming to see. So, that kind of yeast to put out there to see if something can grow
out of it, you know, is my thought.
TP (
00:56:17
):
I'm sure that one reason a number of people come, especially those that, where they've lost
spouses or are alone or so, or even couples that like to get out and eat and so on, and, you know,
socialize with others. That is the draw of the lunches. One of the thoughts that's occurred to me is
that they may be too frequent, once a month, maybe too much. Maybe we should have them on
either a bi-monthly basis or quarterly or something like that.
GN (
00:57:00
):
I was going to suggest that to you.
TP (
00:57:02
):
I think that might take care of the issue.
GN (
00:57:06
):


30
Ted Prenting

The one comes around very quickly. So, you know, we go to like the quarter, you know, and
therefore, you know, did Jamie set up something for the summer, for the picnic?
TP (
00:57:21
):
The picnic, is it scheduled? It's August 11th, 12th, 13th, something like that.
JS (
00:57:31
):
The save the date went out.
TP (
00:57:32
):
Yeah. And I purposely asked, please don't send the mailing to confuse things until I get through
the July lunch. So, it'll go out immediately after the July lunch.
GN (
00:57:50
):
One last thing, this comes from John and Nancy and I'm sure from Shaileen, it's not Shaileen but
Joan Gambeski and Amy Woods, that maybe something more should be done for graduates,
inviting graduates back to campus for even these interviews as an example. You know, getting
guys who have left, or women who have left, and bring them on campus to do what we're doing
now. You know, see what they say about what was, and we could find that there's some holes
that we have to fill. We think we're doing good here. But actually, you know, they, no one ever
cared. No one ever followed up on maybe sickness death or something like that, that might have
it. No one ever, you know, maybe something more, being more attentive to graduates. I'm just
throwing a net out and saying is there something more out there that we could do to enhance
what we have. You know.


31
Ted Prenting

TP (
00:59:10
):
For what population? For the student or for the college, or?
GN (
00:59:16
):
Universal, in other words, people would feel good about how we made a contribution to come
back to see the list of 120 people that I have. Most of them, all of them, are very happy to have
come and done what we are doing right now. You know, they feel that, yeah, I'm glad I had a
chance to tell this story. And so, it goes into the archives. Now, what's happening in the archives
is yet to be done. It's there. And who knows what it may come out of it, or people may find, or it
may be used for, it's been used for a number of things over the years by various people. But first
of all, it has to be there so it can be used. So, let's put it there, you know, and to go and get
people.
TP (
01:00:09
):
Doesn't the-- I would think there's a good outlet for that with the Alumni Association, that they
get feedback regularly from graduates.
GN (
01:00:25
):
Well, it does. I mean, it's a month, a quarterly or annual report from the alumni office about
contributions that were made and significant achievements of different individuals. Kind of a
popularity thing is sent, you know, they got their picture in the Times. So, an article was
published, you know, that. But I'm talking more singularly in fact, I don't know to what
particular audience--. I mean, we got a thousand graduates, you know, how do you pick, you
know, twenty that maybe you interview over the next year, you know, on what basis, you know.


32
Ted Prenting

But this is part of the problem. I mean, show an interest in doing it anyway. Or, you know, close
the book and say they're finished there. We'll hear about them when something big comes up,
you know? And we want to blow the horn about them, you know, which-- that's a lot of words
with nothing really questioned about saying, you know, is it worth an interest to pursue this?
Well, let's wait and see what, maybe wait for them. We'll wait for Amy to say we wish you
would see so and so. I do get that from Joan Gambeski. She would ask me to interview
somebody or other who has come in and gave an interest in the college and took their
grandchildren around and would like to talk to somebody about their experiences here. That
happens, not a lot, but it happens.
I interviewed one guy, or I think you were there with he--. A second point is, the
interviews might help if the wife came with the individual, if that's possible. Like, we want to do
Lou Zuccarello again to see what his view was now about where we are and what could be done.
But Barbara would be part of it. I'd like to hear what she would say about Lou while he was there
doing this. You know, this would be kind of an insight into the operation. And so, that's
something more to be done [laugh]. And one guy, I think you were there for this, couple that
came, but he's an older fella now, but, you know, he worked for IBM, he did it part-time. He
went on, he got a graduate degree, still working for IBM the whole time, you know. And he's a
miler. He organized the, some running club in Poughkeepsie. He's also a rather gymnastic, he
can stand on his hands. He can stand on one hand, he can do some steps [laugh]. I mean, so
[laugh] what else you got to say? You know? But anyway, it's just--.
TP (
01:03:36
):


33
Ted Prenting

One of the problems of interviewing students is that you don't know. It's very hard. I'm thinking
statistically, it's very hard to know if that's representative of the population as a whole. You'd
need a certain number, et cetera. That really, I think, and I'm sure, I don't know if they do it, but
it would seem by a survey, a written survey form that's sent to the class or something. And at
least I get a, hopefully a good cross section of the class, the return of the survey to see--.
JS (
01:04:21
):
Which is required in many accreditation studies.
TP (
01:04:26
):
Yeah.
JS (
01:04:27
):
You have to provide that data. Survey of alum.
TP (
01:04:29
):
And that would probably be a, you know, a good approach or a little more hopefully
representative. And that you could--.
GN (
01:04:41
):
Focused, getting to some different things.
TP (
01:04:44
):
If individual students, you don't really know, you know, you might select by chance good, bad,
or indifferent. And it's tough.


34
Ted Prenting

GN (
01:04:56
):
Alright, I'm finished. And I think Jan--.
JS (
01:05:00
):
Ted, was there anything else you were thinking about as you came--?
TP (
01:05:03
):
I just put my note away. It was written down with the questions you thought about Alicia, what
did I-- success missed opportunity [laugh]. Yeah. We didn't talk about missed opportunities.
JS (
01:05:24
):
Missed opportunities. No, we didn't.
TP (
01:05:26
):
A nursing program. Boy, I remember the battle royal, the faculty absolutely wanted it. And it
was felt to be too costly or something. And I can understand that, you know, especially at that
time. But I--.
JS (
01:05:42
):
And enrollments were very low also.
TP (
01:05:44
):
Let me see. We covered that, should Marist be a university? Okay. And we talked about the
research. Okay.
JS (
01:06:06
):


35
Ted Prenting

Got them all. Okay.
TP (
01:06:07
):
Yeah.
JS (
01:06:09
):
Wonderful. Sue, anything else you can think of?
SL (
01:06:12
):
No, I enjoyed listening to this [laugh].
GN (
01:06:19
):
You good, Gus?
GN (
01:06:21
):
I'm good. I've just--.
JS (
01:06:23
):
Well, thank you very much, Ted, for giving us all this time again [laugh]. And for continuing to
support retired faculty in particular.
TP (
01:06:34
):
Well, as I walked over here, I had to think of the contribution that everybody has made on this
campus. Yeah.
GN (
01:06:47
):


36
Ted Prenting

It's an amazing story. Every time I come on here, I can't believe it.
TP (
01:06:50
):
It's the campus on the Hudson. It's just emerged [laugh].
JS (
01:07:00
):
Thank you very much. I'm not sure we recorded the date. So, it's June 27th, 2022.



Prenting, Ted Cover Pages
Prenting, Ted, 27 June 2022