Carol Schaap returns to Wayne State

Carol Schaap's time at Wayne State began almost a decade before her future husband would come to campus. During her time here, she had an opportunity to see the university expand and change dramatically.

WSU: What brought you to Wayne State?

CS: I was working in the legal department, patent division, of Parke Davis, which at that time was a huge pharmaceutical company located on the Detroit River. One of the chairman's Ph.D. students was an attorney in the patent department, and he approached me and said, 'My professor, Cal Stevens, has become chairman of the chemistry department and he is looking for a new secretary. Would you be interested?' I said, 'I think I would like to move forward in my career, so I'm in.' So I was interviewed by Professor Stevens and hired, and became his secretary in 1961.

WSU: What was the university like at that time?

CS: It was certainly smaller than it is now, with not as many buildings. In fact, Second Avenue ran right through the middle of campus - what is now Gullen Mall. Second Avenue had traffic running through it with mud parking lots where the employees used to park.

I worked in the life sciences building, which is still here. That's where the chairman's office was located at that time. In 1970, the present chemistry building was built. I eventually became the office supervisor of the department in addition to being secretary to the department chair.

WSU: How long were you at Wayne State? How did your career grow?

CS: I was at Wayne State approximately 30 years. I worked in the chemistry department for 18 years. I met a lot of wonderful people, got familiar with what was going on on campus. Then I moved to the upper administration. Professor Stevens became vice president of research and asked me to go with him at that time, we were almost buddies so I became the secretary to the vice president of research. Then he became the interim provost and I became secretary to the provost. Cal left that post, but I continued my service as secretary to the provost, and then at one point the executive secretary to David Adamany moved on to another position and I was asked if I would be interested in moving to the president's office. This is one of the top dogs in the secretarial world in the city of Detroit, so I said, 'sure, I'd be interested.' So David interviewed me and I became his executive secretary. That's the position I left when I decided to retire.

WSU: How did Wayne State change during your time here?

CS: There are so many more buildings. David Adamany, I think, was responsible for the beautification of campus, because he was going around almost daily taking notes of flowers and trees. He just did a marvelous job of updating facilities and really beautifying the campus.

When I came to Wayne State, I was typing on an IBM Selectric typewriter. There were no word processors, no computers, no cell phones. So I think I witnessed a really technological jump forward. The technology was really fabulous. I trained, actually, on a manual typewriter. I went from manual typewriters to electric typewriters and then all the way on up to computers.

WSU: What kept you at Wayne State for 30 years?

I liked the atmosphere and the collegiality and what good the university was doing in educating the student population. Students are the university. In the city of Detroit, I'm sure I would have had an opportunity some place like General Motors or Chrysler or one of the other corporations, but I'm glad I chose Wayne State.

This interview has been edited for journalistic style.