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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > December > 12
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Ellen Belcher: UD’s dean of getting things done retires
University of Dayton President Dan Curran said he has a running joke with Tom Lasley, who’s retiring at the end of the month as dean of UD’s school of education.
“I always tease him, saying, ‘What trouble have you gotten me in today?’ ” Curran said. “Of all my deans, he’s the one I have to hold back the most, and I’m a push-forward kind of person.”
Lasley, 62, is proud of having stirred the pot during his 30-year career at UD, including occasionally spilling the soup. His admirers say he leaves a legacy that is worth having been taken to the woodshed now and again by his bosses.
Judy Hennessey, the principal of the Dayton Early College Academy, isn’t exaggerating when she says that the nationally acclaimed charter school would not exist but for Lasley.
In its short seven-year life, the school — which has sent every student from its three graduating classes of mostly minority, low-income students to college — could have folded numerous times.
But Lasley was the champion who always made sure that the school got the money it was short and settled the political fights that could have doomed it. In tough conversations, “He can always disarm people with his humor,” Hennessey said.
DECA students, many of whom know Lasley, speak of “Las sightings” when he’s in the building. Hennessey tells the story of one student who acted on her teachers’ advice about the importance of networking and invited Lasley to her independent-study presentation.
Hennessey said she doubts Lasley, a classical music buff and the son of a minister, knew in advance that it would be an especially graphic and explicit discussion of breast cancer.
“There’s Tom, sitting in the room, taking notes, and then afterward giving her good feedback,” Hennessey recalled.
Frank DePalma, former Centerville school superintendent, said Lasley is a major force behind the effort to create “Air Camp,” an enrichment program for students that would promote Dayton’s heritage and also spur interest in science and math to students locally and from around the country.
When someone has an idea, DePalma said, Lasley doesn’t let the naysayers stop it from going forward. So many times, DePalma said, a suggestion has come up that has nothing to do with the school of education, but it “emobodies the Marianist spirit,” so Lasley runs with it.
DePalma joked that he admires Lasley’s ability to execute, but not his taste in clothing. “No one is ever going to call him Mr. Armani.”
Hennessey said she and Lasley were once preparing to speak about DECA in Washington, D.C., and Lasley spilled yogurt — he’s adamant about eating healthy — on his tie. Wiping the spot with a cleaning solution only made it more noticeable, so Lasley solved the problem by rinsing the whole thing in water. He gave his speech wearing a wet tie.
Lasley will continue to teach at UD and also will be the director of EDvention, a local group that is trying to improve education specifically in the area of science and math. EDvention (with Lasley among the point people) was behind the creation of the new Dayton Regional STEM School near Wright State University.
Lasley also was pivotal in the creation of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Sharon Rab, who conceived the idea, said Lasley had access to people she didn’t when she was trying to get the idea off the ground. (The prize, which was awarded this year for the fourth time, recognizes three authors with $10,000 awards each.)
“I could have gone to 12 other people in education, and they would have told me why it couldn’t happen, rather than why it could,” Rab said. “He’s not just a thinker who says, ‘Here’s my pie-in-the-sky idea.’ He lays the groundwork. He does what other people say they do: he always enables. He never throws up roadblocks, yet he’s cautious.”
Elizabeth Cameron, Lasley’s daughter and an English teacher at DECA, grew up seeing another side of her workaholic father. Dubbing him slightly obsessive, she says he goes to Dorothy Lane Market every week and weighs himself. If the scale tips the wrong way, he won’t allow himself a treat. If he’s in range, he’ll buy one dessert, which is all he allows himself for that week.
She said her father does all the housework “not because my mom is lazy, but because he thinks he can do everything.”
DePalma couldn’t agree more. “When Tom Lasley makes up his mind, something happens.”
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