Voelker, Ludmila

1982: https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:7420#/kaltura_audio

1990: https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:7447#/kaltura_audio

Biographical Information: Ludmila Voelker was born in Dodge, Nebraska in the 1920s. Her father emigrated from Czechoslovakia, settling in Nebraska and later South Dakota, where he lost his farm during the Depression. The family eventually moved to Litchfield, Minnesota. Voelker attended the College of Saint Benedict, where she received her Bachelor's degree in English, with a minor in speech and philosophy. She then taught English for three years in Holdingford, Minnesota, until 1954 when her future husband Fran, returned from Korea. They married that December, and for the next 10 years Ludmila stayed home to raise their five children. In 1965, she began working part-time at St. Cloud State while also beginning work on her Master's degree. She eventually began teaching full-time at the St. Cloud State. Voelker was very involved in the Faculty Association, and even served as president of the IFO immediately after the the Inter-Faculty Organization (IFO) / Minnesota Education Association (MEA) won the election in 1975. Voelker also served as the university’s affirmative action officer, a position she maintained up to the time of her retirement in 1990.

Transcript Summary for 1st Interview (1982): Voelker focused on her involvement in collective bargaining at St. Cloud State, and her support for the IFO and MEA. Voelker explained why she became involved with collective bargaining at St. Cloud State. She believed that partnering with the MEA was a good move, as it was the strongest political unit available to them at the time. Voelker discussed her time as president and some of the activities she was involved in.

Voelker chronicled her time as IFO president, and the importance of a woman being in a position of power at a time when such a thing was not very common. She claimed that the campus needed an articulate woman to show that women were capable of holding authority. Voelker discuseed what she did after holding that presidency, including being the president of the Minnesota Council of Teachers, which she held before taking a year of sabbatical and beginning work on a degree in Theology. Finally, she expressed her feelings on whether or not collective bargaining on campus was a success. She felt that the tension it has created between administration and faculty is unnecessary, and that work needed to be done to build trust between the two.

Transcript Summary for 2nd interview (1990): Voelker briefly discussed her family history before going into her education experiences. She talked about attending the College of Saint Benedict and then embarking on a teaching career before quitting to stay home and raise her five children. She then talked about how the desire to get back to teaching was so strong that it drew her to St. Cloud State.

Voelker worked as teaching assistant while pursuing her master's degree, but because of the surge in enrollment, had to take on more freshman composition classes than originally planned. Voelker discussed how important it was for faculty to be involved in other activities besides teaching. This led to her involvement with the IFO, as well as the publication of a book on Mass Media with her husband Fran.

Voelker talked about the changes undergone by the university as well as the impact of some important national events, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Voelker chronicled the highs and lows of her career at St. Cloud, claiming that being selected as the university’s affirmative action officer was a great high, while getting burnt out on teaching was her low. She then discussed the rise in percentage of women professors on campus as a result of affirmative action, and her feelings on that subject in general. Finally, she offered some thoughts on the progress St. Cloud State University has made, calling it a wonderful institution, but also suggested some areas for improvement.

One photograph of Mrs. Voelker also in folder

First interview by Calvin Gower, second interview by Robert Nelson