Coming from a Chicago public high school and a family of modest means, Dick Niemiec’65 was grateful for the financial assistance that allowed him to attend a school like Beloit. He arrived on campus like many students: a little socially naïve and without specific plans for his college years and beyond. But he had an open mind, a natural talent for mathematics, and a hunger to learn more about the ideas and issues of a larger world.

Beloit ended up being transformative for Niemiec, and while many people contributed to that experience, one person’s influence has always stood out.

Mark Olencki

Ed Wilde distinguished himself as a math professor and an administrator at Beloit, but perhaps his real legacy is the lasting impact he’s had on students.

Ed Wilde, a young mathematics professor at the time, took a personal interest in Niemiec. He became Niemiec’s favorite teacher, and later a mentor and a friend. Niemiec credits Wilde’s calculus course and his careful guidance with helping him find his path toward a fulfilling life and career.

For Niemiec and his wife, Joan, Wilde’s caring spirit came to symbolize the quality of teaching at Beloit, especially as their friendship and gratitude deepened over distance and time.

Last fall, the couple paid him the ultimate compliment when they established the Edwin F. Wilde, Jr. Distinguished Service Professorship. Starting this year, the endowed professorship will be awarded to a senior Beloit College faculty member who has distinguished himself or herself in service, teaching, and scholarship. Unlike most of Beloit’s endowed professorships, this one is not tied to a particular academic department.

Holding a professorship is a high honor for a faculty member, and the funds support great teaching by underwriting the recipient’s salary while providing supplemental resources for professional development, scholarship, and travel.

“The Niemiecs are generous and thoughtful to make possible this tribute to a gifted teacher,” says College President John Burris. “I think we should celebrate how Ed Wilde made a difference in students’ lives and take this opportunity to recognize how our faculty continue in this tradition today.”

Doug Knutson

Joan and Dick Niemiec’65 at home in Minneapolis, Minn. The couple has established the Edwin F. Wilde, Jr. Distinguished Service Professorship to recognize Wilde’s substantial influence as a teacher and mentor, and to support the tradition of great teaching at Beloit.

With the Wilde Professorship, Niemiec says he wanted to recognize all that Wilde and Beloit had done for him as an undergraduate. “I strongly believe that the same things Beloit did for me it has done for many other students and continues to do,” he says. “We were fortunate financially that we were in a position to do this.”

Although she did not attend Beloit, Joan Niemiec came to know and appreciate Wilde and the College through homecoming reunions and visits over the years.

She encouraged her husband every step of the way as the two thought about how they might honor Wilde.

“Rather than buying lots of material possessions that don’t really mean much, we wanted to invest in something that will last and be more meaningful,” she says. “Dick had been saying for many years that he’d really like to honor Ed Wilde, and as he got closer to retirement, we kept asking, ‘how can we do this?’ Dick was fortunate to have had such a good relationship with a faculty member that most people don’t have in their lives, and we wanted to recognize and reward that.”

While in church one day recently, Joan Niemiec was struck by how closely the lyrics of a hymn called “For All That is Our Life” summarized the intentions of their gift:

"For all that is our life, we sing our thanks and praise.
For all life is a gift, which we are called to use
To build the common good, and make our own days glad."

A Strong Start

Niemiec met Ed Wilde during his first semester on campus, when he enrolled in Wilde’s calculus class. Wilde still clearly remembers that class, describing Niemiec as a quiet, well-mannered young man who took a seat toward the back of the room and proceeded to ace the course and his final exam, a rare feat in an entry-level mathematics course.

At the time, Wilde was a junior faculty member who matched the challenges he presented in the classroom with a genuine, personal interest in students. Wilde was accessible, bright, and fun, and not much older than those he taught.

Wilde and Niemiec shared an interest in statistics, but the two also held long discussions on many topics in Wilde’s office. Wilde steered Niemiec to graduate school at the University of Missouri, where he had sent other gifted students.

After distinguishing himself as a math major at Beloit, Niemiec finished graduate studies, briefly taught high school, then joined the business world, moving into increasingly senior-level positions, first in a fledgling computer industry and later as an actuary and executive in the insurance business. While first living in Chicago and later in Minneapolis, he always kept in touch with Wilde and Beloit.

Now retired from a senior executive position at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Dick Niemiec joined Beloit’s board of trustees last year. His commitment to the College is part of a larger dedication to service and leadership both nationally and in Minneapolis, Minn., the Niemiecs’ home. Among other things, he served on the national board of the American Red Cross and is chapter chair for his home region.

Joan Niemiec started out as an upper elementary teacher, but left teaching to focus on raising children and later became active in politics and neighborhood organizations. After completing a master’s degree in industrial relations, she was elected to the city council in Minneapolis, serving for a decade before moving into human resources work. She capped her career as director of community planning for the Minneapolis Park Board before retiring in 2001 and now serves on a number of non-profit boards.

The Niemiecs believe in the value of a liberal arts education. Joan is a graduate of Luther College, and all three of their children also graduated from liberal arts schools.

“I always tell prospective students when I’m trying to attract them to Beloit that the College really gave me the skill set to deal with new situations,” Dick Niemiec says. “I’m not minimizing the quantitative part of it, but when I got into business, I did a lot of other things, and it was thanks to an incredibly well-rounded educational experience.”

Wilde at Beloit and Beyond

The first faculty member to be hired by College President Miller Upton, Ed Wilde was a talented professor of mathematics and a statistician who later became associate dean and then vice president for planning. His Beloit tenure stretched from 1955 to 1976.

One of the primary architects of the Beloit Plan—the College’s bold year-round academic program that incorporated field terms—he engineered the plan’s calendar, which allowed Beloit’s enrollment to grow by a third while maintaining campus facilities of the same size. The plan distinguished Beloit from the time it was implemented in 1964.

Beloit College Archives

As a young faculty member, Ed Wilde could be found interacting with students in any number of ways—from leading them on canoe trips, to teaching them advanced mathematics, to coaching them at wrestling, to counseling them about graduate school. Later, he also went on to serve Beloit as an able administrator.

Over 21 years, Wilde played countless other roles at Beloit, contributing to the vibrancy of life on campus. He coached wrestling, delighted in playing intramural softball with students, ran National Science Foundation summer institutes for nationally selected elementary school teachers, and founded and advised a popular group called the Outing Club. Through that club, he led students and faculty members on canoeing, biking, hiking, rock climbing, and kayaking excursions over a period of 10 years. Professor Emerita Marion Stocking, who taught English at Beloit from 1954 to 1984, recalls the faculty canoeing trips led by Wilde as “a great boost to collegiality.”

To the consternation of then-President Upton, Wilde sometimes led rock climbing practice sessions up the exterior of Chamberlin Hall.

Scaling the walls of classroom buildings notwithstanding, Wilde was revered by his colleagues. “I think the main qualities which made Ed a respected and loved teacher and administrator were his openness and generosity,” says Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Phil Straffin, who taught at Beloit from 1970 to 2007. “He had a wonderful sensitivity to what people around him needed, and he would work very hard to try to give that to them.”

In 1976, Wilde decided to close the book on his Beloit career after disagreeing with an administrator who blocked his future chances for advancement. He accepted an offer to join Roger Williams College (now Roger Williams University) as chief academic officer and later distinguished himself through service to the University of Tampa as provost and to the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg (now Upstate) as vice chancellor for academic affairs. He was named Teacher of the Year at Upstate in 1998.

Today, Wilde is retired and lives in South Carolina with his wife, Kathleen. He’s active in his local Unitarian Universalist Church congregation and was elected to serve two four-year terms on the church’s national board. Taking advantage of his adopted home state and its warm climate, he indulges a longtime interest in gardening and beekeeping.

Along the way, he’s never lost track of the Beloit students he became close to, and he loves it when they occasionally show up on his doorstep.

Celebrating Common Ground

Besides an affinity for mathematics and Beloit College, Dick Niemiec and Ed Wilde share a number of common interests and beliefs.

Both began their careers as teachers, and they continue to believe that access to education is crucial. Both are active members of the Unitarian Universalist Church. And perhaps most importantly, they share a deep sense of responsibility for causes larger than themselves and a willingness to help young people do well.

Wilde has a long history of going to bat for students, including back at Beloit, when he championed prospective students he believed had potential to succeed, but who lacked stellar entrance exam scores. While serving on an Admissions committee at Beloit, he was known for convincing others to give those students a chance to enroll, even if it often meant serving personally as the student’s advisor.

Likewise, Niemiec believes in reaching out to students who may not have the advantage of college-educated parents.

“I think the success of the country depends on how we bring first-generation students into the college experience,” Niemiec says. “My passions are around giving students an opportunity for a college education.”

Since retiring, Niemiec has been volunteering in a Minneapolis high school, tutoring kids in advanced algebra. It’s an arrangement with a special connection: The Niemiecs’ son, Randy, is a math teacher at the school.

The first Edwin Wilde Distinguished Professor at Beloit will be appointed later this spring.

In the fall, when the Wilde Professor presents his or her first lecture, the Wilde and Niemiec families plan to be together in the audience as they celebrate and rekindle friendships at Beloit.

“I just find it utterly remarkable,” says Wilde of the professorship. “This is sort of the crown on my academic career, and it was absolutely unexpected. It just came right out of the blue.”

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