Franciscan Way Winter 2003 - Franciscan University of Steubenville

ofessor John Korzi was a young
man working for West Virginia’s
Pto
Weirton Steel Company in 1955
pay for graduate school when a little
college across the river in Ohio beckoned
him to his future.
He agreed to teach a summer course
at what was then the College of
Steubenville and ended up staying for an
entire career spanning nearly half a
century. But before he began the work
that made him into an institution within
the institution of Franciscan University,
Professor Korzi almost took another,
more financially lucrative path.
He had been a part-time instructor
for two years at the College when he
arrived at a crossroads: Weirton Steel
wanted to hire him for its personnel
department.
A challenging professor
and untiring faculty
member, John Korzi
retires after 47 years
on the job.
Professor Korzi stayed so long, as he
said in a 1998 lecture on campus, because
the University gave him the opportunity
to implement his ideas about higher
education. He said he has enjoyed
witnessing and being part of the growth
of the University, which was only in its
ninth year when he arrived.
“If I had been at a larger school, I
would never have had the opportunities
to be involved in so many kinds of
nascent programs, gain such diversified
experiences in teaching, maintain such
individual personal contacts with students,
and have ideas so readily accepted
and implemented.”
A native of the coal-mining town of
Windber, Pennsylvania, Professor Korzi
came to Steubenville the day after getting
his master’s degree in counseling from
Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He
had gone on to graduate school because
at the time, he said, his bachelor of arts
degree in philosophy from Providence
College didn’t have much practical
application.
While at Providence, he considered
becoming a Dominican priest. He spent a
year as a novice and three more years at
the order’s House of Philosophy. “My
A Distinguished
Tenure
“I told the good fathers here, either
I will have to work here full-time or go
with Weirton Steel.” They offered him a
promotion to assistant professor and
director of a then-nonexistent testing and
counseling office, but at half the salary
the steel company was prepared to offer.
He talked to his wife Mary, and
together they decided that since his first
love was teaching, they would manage on
the lesser salary, even with the addition of
a son to their family.
It is a decision Professor Korzi has
never regretted, as evidenced by his 47year
tenure at the University, which ended
with his retirement from full-time
teaching in December.
By Judy Roberts
spiritual director and I and others along
the line felt that maybe Divine Providence
had me set for something else. And it
seems that that’s what has happened.”
He later did doctoral studies at the
University of Pittsburgh, specializing in
the psychology of emotionally disturbed
children and counseling psychology.
Throughout his tenure at Franciscan
University, Professor Korzi has become
known as much for his academic expertise
as for his knowledge of the University’s
history. In fact, when asked about his own
career, he often prefers to segue into
talking about the development of the
College.
Professor Korzi recalls in particular
the College’s move from a few old houses
and an administration building downtown
to the top of the hill overlooking
the Ohio River. When he first talked with
the dean of the College about coming
here to teach, he said, Father Dan Egan,
TOR, the first president, was busy with
“furious planning” for the hilltop campus.
20 Franciscan Way