Late Deborah Colky receives tenure and promotion

Director of the Training and development program, Deborah Colky, was awarded tenure and promotion during a reception on April 18 in the Sullivan room to honor her death.

The reception lasted an hour and was attended by about 50 people, including Colky's friends and Roosevelt faculty members. Several people dressed up in Chicago Cubs jerseys and other memorabilia because Colky was an avid Cubs fans. Pez dispensers were provided along with refreshments since Colky kept a collection of Pez dispensers in her office.

Provost Pamela Trotman Reid presented Michael Colky, Deborah's husband, with a plaque stating that she had been awarded tenure and promotion after submitting her portfolio last fall. Michael said that receiving tenure would have been one of Deborah's "proudest moments."

"She was the constant professional educator and teacher, always making sure that her students and everybody else was first and Deb was second," Michael said.

Gary Wolfe, department chair and associate dean of the Evelyn T. Stone University College, said one of the things he will miss about Deborah is the eye contact she provided at board meetings when they were arguing about trivial issues.

"You think, 'am I the only one here who thinks this is crazy?' and that is when you need the eye contact," Wolfe said. "Deborah was my eye contact because I looked at her and I knew I'm not crazy. This is as bad as I think it is."

Deborah died on Jan. 23, the day after a headache forced her to leave the NFC Championship game early, from a Streptococcus bacteria infection. She died at the age of 54. During her five years as director of the Training and Development Department, she oversaw a 40 percent increase in enrollment.

Deborah was first hired by Roosevelt in 1978 as a Cooperative Education coordinator and met Anne Klonsky in 1982 before they both left Roosevelt in 1984.

In 1990, she started a consulting company called Just Results, Inc. with her husband Michael, dean at Moraine County Community College. Deborah returned to Roosevelt in 1996 as an adjunct professor and brought Klonsky back as an adjunct professor in 2000.

Several people spoke about Deborah's role at Roosevelt and shared some of their favorite stories about her.

Karen Gersten, the associate provost for Academic Programs and Faculty Development, said she could never resist laughing when Deborah made a face at a meeting.

"In addition to eye contact, she did the 'Deb face.' So somebody would start to speak and she would look at me and go…" Gersten said as her eyes start to crawl up and she pulls her head up to the point where they are staring at the ceiling. "I burst out laughing, and the person leading the meeting would give me the evil eye."

Mickey Mantas, a graduate assistant who worked with Deborah, called her the "guarding angel" of the Training and Development program because she "steered the program and had a way to understand what the students are going through even though they don't understand it themselves."

Gail Hennigan, a former grad assistant for Deborah and now an instructional designer for Century 21, recited a few lines from the play "Wicked" to describe her friendship with Deborah.

"I have heard it said that people come into my life for a reason," Hennigan said as she talked about how she knew her first as a teacher and then as a mentor. "Because I knew you I have been changed for good. That's the way I think about Deborah."

Maria Di Prima-Anderson, an adjunct for the Department of Training and Development talked about how Deborah encouraged her to interact with her students more when she started to teach online courses for Roosevelt.

"I go online and still teach everyday, and I think I don't want to disappoint her," Di Prima-Anderson said. "It's a matter of friendship, it's a matter of commitment, it's a matter of pride, and I don't want her to ever think that I took her trust for granted."

Klonsky said that Deborah was instrumental in building the training and development program at Roosevelt by recruiting part-time faculty members.

"The thing is she made you want to work for Roosevelt even if you had a full-time job, even if the pay was not going to make you rich," Klonsky said. "The thing was that you were glad you did because her passion for the students and for learning was infectious."

After the reception about 20 people walked to "the Gage" a bar next door to the Center for Professional Advancement to raise a toast at a bar that was built directly below Deborah's office.

Wolfe said Deborah could not wait for "the Gage" to open when she found out it was being built underneath her office last spring.

"She was happy about the whole thing, she wanted a pole put in her office or at least a circular staircase," Wolfe said. "For six months all we would say is we're going to have an Irish pub to drink at."

Michael said he plans on creating a scholarship fund in his wife's honor to continue her legacy at Roosevelt.

Michael said: "Let's continue to share Deborah with others. She really has that much to offer with so many other people. It doesn't end here it only continues she goes on forever and ever. Everyday I talk to my wife, and everyday she tells me what I can wear and what I can't wear."