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SHE'S A PROFESSOR, A TRAVELER AND A PHILANTHROPIST
By Bayard Stern
Associate editor, Florida State Times
Planning last summer to fly to Africa, raft down the wild Zambezi River and see hippos and crocodiles up close, Sandra Schultz wasn't sure she'd make it back.
She went anyway, but made sure of one thing: Florida State's education students would have more scholarships and more exposure to the nation's top educators.
And Schultz survived a splendid adventure.
"Going to Africa, I thought what happens if the plane goes down?" she remembers now. "I don't have any children. I'm going to go down the Zambezi river in a raft. And what happens if I get killed? I had a will but I didn't really say much. So I figured I better find a place to leave some money. I thought this would be a good thing to do."
Her $1-million gift was the largest so far to FSU's College of Education. It creates scholarships and the Sandra Schultz Eminent Scholar Chair, which will bring nationally recognized figures to FSU.
Schultz picked Florida State because it's the school where she earned a Ph.D. in movement science and physical education, and enjoyed the work.
"I thought the professors at FSU were super," Schultz said. "For the first time in my life, I felt like I was really challenged academically. I realized this was going to be my career, and I'd better pay attention. I really enjoyed going to classes, and I loved to do the research."
Schultz was teaching and coaching volleyball and softball at Miami-Dade Community College while she worked on her Ph.D. at FSU.
"It's hard to do when you're teaching full time and coaching," Schultz remembers. "My committee was very supportive. Dr. (Billie J.) Jones and Dr. (Janet) Wells were prodding me. They finally said if you don't finish, we're going to retire ... Dr. Jones was a great teacher and friend. She is a very demanding and caring individual."
Jones, who taught physical education and coached volleyball at FSU from 1972 to 1989, has fond memories of Schultz.
"She doesn't suffer fools very well," Jones recalls. "She's very bright and a good writer. She's the kind of student you always want to have."
Now a professor of health and physical education at Miami-Dade, Schultz, 52, is very interested in education technology. She is finishing an interactive multimedia educational package called "Personal Fitness for You."
"I think technology is it," Schultz said. "We've got to do it ....I'm working on an interactive multimedia project that's kind of cool. It has audio on it, QuickTime movies; it has still pictures, graphs or whatever is appropriate for the topic...
"Miami-Dade is building a new computer courtyard, and I hope my multimedia project can be installed on a number of computers for use as a tutorial. I think my project will be particularly useful for the large number of students for whom English is their second language. A student who misses class or wants to review something can take notes right there. Text comes up, or movies or graphs. Sightand hearingimpaired students will be able to call up anything they need."
The Sandra Schultz Eminent Scholar chair at Florida State will be a rotating appointment within the College of Education.
"I don't want someone just to sit on it," Schultz said. "I want fresh blood to come into the university and bring in new ideas. I think it's important to be able to bring a national figure in there to have input. I think it's important to move it around."
The Sandra Schultz Endowed Fund will also create scholarships.
"I was fortunate enough to afford to go to school," Schultz said. "I know there are a lot of people who can't. So maybe this can send someone. Sometimes having to work full-time and trying to go to school is difficult. Some people have families, and I think if they can get a little bit of financial help, it will enable them to pursue a graduate or undergraduate degree."
And in the meantime, Schultz remains adventurous.
"I've been involved with horses all my life," she said. "I enjoy breeding and training horses for racing and jumping, but I haven't been able to ride in horse shows for several years due to a back injury. I have been an American Horse Show Association judge for 30 years and have judged hunter and jumper horse shows in Central America and Puerto Rico. I have also shown some of my dogs. I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback now. I love to snow ski, scuba dive, and travel.
"Next year I am going to South America - probably the Galapagos
Islands and Peru. And I always find time to come to Tallahassee for a football
game or two each year."