2008 Woodie Awards
Long-time professor taught GIs reading
Chief financial officer still teaches
By Charles Cima
Last update: 1/4/08 at 7:23 PM CST
In 2003, David Mrizek, a teacher here since 1970, was named chief financial officer at this college.
He served as adjunct professor teaching fundamentals of speech at this college from 1970-73, while serving as a sergeant in the Air Force, ending his military career in the summer of 1973.
"Not many of us left have been here as long as I have," Mrizek said.
He still teaches SPEECH 1311, Fundamentals of Speech, on Thursday nights.
"There is a great deal of satisfaction seeing folks who are dreading taking speech, not only survive the class but also gain confidence and skills that will pay them great dividends in their future," he said.
The joy of getting in the classroom and the extra pay helps, Mrizek said.
"With another child getting ready to go to college, every little bit helps," he said. "I've been doing it so long that it is a hard habit to break."
The thought of not having a class during the long semesters would feel strange, Mrizek said. He attended Eastern Illinois University where he majored in speech with an emphasis in radio, earning a bachelor's degree in education in 1968, later earning a master's from Eastern in rhetoric and public address. He landed a job at radio station WLBH in Mattoon, Ill., working the late shift.
"I showed up for work when everyone left," Mrizek said. After sending audition tapes to other stations without positive results, he realized it was time to change directions.
"I came to a self-realization that I wasn't good enough for radio if I wanted a livable income, but I was a good debater," he said.
Mrizek was drafted in 1969, joining the Air Force on a delayed enlistment program so he could finish school.
"I had one quarter to finish school," he said.
He spent four years in the Air Force teaching language skills at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center at Lackland Air Force Base. Mrizek narrowly escaped being sent to Vietnam.
"On the last day of tech school, they took nine out of the 33 in our class to stay and teach," he said.
Mrizek taught selected Vietnamese soldiers words for the tools of war.
"The only way to back out of Vietnam was to leave the machinery of war," Mrizek said. "Vietnam had no words for war tools."
The soldiers were selected in country and were sent to Saigon for testing, then to the United States for special language training, he said.
He also taught in the 26th Proficiency Squadron, taking American inductees with reading problems.
"They had to pass a test to read at a sixth grade level," Mrizek said.
He was chair of the theater and communication department until 1996, when he took on the position as director of institutional planning and evaluation.
Mrizek explained his philosophy he holds toward his job. "My job is to help others do the things that need to be done within the dollars that we have available," Mrizek said.
"The way I can help get that done is by pushing allocation decisions down to where the money has to be spent and providing as much information as I can to help those decisions be made so we use our dollars as effectively as we can."
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