LeMasters retire after decades of transforming UTPA

EDINBURG — Edwin LeMaster remembers how his body felt when he slipped off his burdensome backpack during long hiking trips.

“You take it off and you feel like you’re floating off the ground,” LeMaster said. “That’s kind of the feeling you get when you retire. There’s nothing pressing down on you.”

Last week, he and his wife, Jane LeMaster, retired from the University of Texas-Pan American, and the two have slowly released the tension in their shoulders and started breathing a bit more deeply. Combined, the powerhouse couple dedicated more than half a century to the university and brought significant changes to the school’s culture and organization.

“Retirement scares me a little bit,” admitted Jane LeMaster, who oversaw the creation of the Center for Online Learning, Teaching and Technology (COLT). “But I’m glad to be able to go. To have lived your life so passionately for an organization and suddenly don’t have to get to work by 7 (a.m.), it’s such a difference.”

Jane LeMaster began her relationship with UTPA when she enrolled as a student at age 36. She then swiftly earned a bachelor’s degree, master’s and doctorate, later channeling that momentum into serving at UTPA as a lecturer, associate professor, director of the master’s in business administration program, department chair and associate dean.

“I like to think I was a good leader,” she said. “But you can’t be a good leader without the organization believing in you and your view of the big picture.

“Perhaps (COLT) is my legacy,” she added. “I’ve brought a lot of respect and appreciation for the need of an online learning arm of the university. … I guess it’s good I don’t see a need for me for too long.”

As Jane LeMaster transformed the way more than 15,000 UTPA students learn online, with interactive psychology and criminology courses on Second Life — a free, 3-D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat — and with innovative forums and lectures, her husband blazed another much-needed path in the school’s engineering studies.

In 35 years, Edwin LeMaster morphed from a physics professor into physics department head, eventually focusing on the practical applications of that science as the first chair of the university’s engineering department.

Joining his wife in retirement on Sept. 1, he finished at UTPA as its last dean of the College of Science and Engineering. He propelled the engineering program to such popularity that, as he made his departure from UTPA, the college split into two separate schools, one for engineering and computer science and another for science and mathematics.

“It feels great when you get to say, ‘Gee, I did all of that?’” he said. “I don’t feel I’m the smartest or fastest or toughest guy, but I did it longer. There’s something to be said for persistence.”

Like his wife, Edwin LeMaster championed a love of learning, and he said he always maintained the philosophy that the academic programs in which he was involved should be “a pump, not a filter.”

“We make tremendous change in people’s lives,” Edwin LeMaster said. “We don’t want to have (students) apologize for their degrees. … We’re here to help them, but we expect performance at the highest level.”

The couple does not plan on leaving the university altogether, though. Jane LeMaster intends to continue to work as a part-time adviser for COLT after a trip to Egypt in October. Likewise, her husband might serve as an emeritus professor to pursue long-missed research opportunities.

No matter what their future roles at the school are, every student and faculty member benefited from the LeMasters’ past contributions, said UTPA President Robert Nelsen.

“They are the institution,” Nelsen said. “They represent the best of it … building this university into a fortress of education.

“If students walk to the engineering school, see how full it is, they’ll see the legacy of Edwin,” he added. “Go online, post an essay, learn on Second Life … you’ll see the same legacy for Jane.”

Gloria Gilpatrick, the six-year assistant to Edwin LeMaster, expected great change with the couple’s exit but was confident each had generated unstoppable momentum at the university.

“It’s really big shoes to fill,” Gilpatrick said. “You meet people once in a lifetime who make a change for everyone, and they were like that.

“We’re lucky we can expect to see them soon,” she said.

With many thanks and good-byes behind them, the LeMasters have said they will fill their time with art projects, travel during the non-summer seasons, community groups and even beekeeping.

Currently, the couple is relaxing with family at a beachfront property on South Padre Island.

With laughter in his voice and his wife nearby, Edwin LeMaster said he expects the change of pace to feel normal sooner rather than later.

“It’s a funny feeling, though, I’ve got to tell you,” he said. “We keep thinking of all the things to be done on campus. This is a shift, but I think we’ll make the adjustment.”

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Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4472.