Community Memories

I got my master’s and PhD at CGU, getting my PhD in 1976, and an interfield degree in Education in Social Psychology. Then, I went on to be a faculty member and retired in 2012, in Higher Education. As a student, one of my earliest memories was this sense of you can do it. I was an older student coming back with no experience of doing field research. The prevailing sense all throughout my experience as a student was you could do it. It was a message that I took with me all throughout my graduate degree until I got my PhD to my time as a faculty member. So, my experience as a faculty member was conveying to students all throughout their time: You can do it.

One of my consistent memories and experiences to this day is the continuing contact with CGU students as alums. There are dozens and dozens and dozens of them. I watch as they advance their careers, not just as academics. Many of them are senior leaders in higher education and nonprofits. I watch them continue to maintain contact with CGU and succeed because CGU has a philosophy of you can do it. Getting a PhD was new to me. This was not something that had been expected in my family, nor to me. At every moment, where there was something new, there was always somebody, whether on the faculty—I think of my colleagues, David Drew, Jack Schuster, who were always there to help mark the path. As a faculty member, getting tenure was a big moment in my life. I always felt surrounded by people who would make sure that I knew what I was doing and made sure that I had all the T’s crossed, and I’s dotted throughout. So, there was always a sense of community that was going to be supportive.

I was a very difficult student in college and spent a lot of time going to different colleges around California. I earned a master’s degree in science from the University of Southern California and wanted to go on for a doctorate but wasn’t satisfied with a lot of institutions. I was doing some research for the California State Colleges and Universities, for the Chancellery in Long Beach and was getting some evaluators for projects that they were doing.

Then I called CGU and was talking to some people here, and they asked me to come out and have lunch. As a master’s degree student, I had lunch with some professors and administrators and what I found was a place that I had been searching for my entire college career. It was someplace that I was welcome as a person who was interested in knowledge and learning, a place where it was collaborative and not instructive, and a place where I could grow on my own terms and have people that supported me who were my professors. That’s priceless for someone like me. I did not thrive at other institutions, but I did thrive at Claremont Graduate University.

There were a lot of people that I worked with: Joe Weirs was the Chair of my dissertation committee, John Regan and I worked closely together for several years, Ethel Rogers, who I married, David Drew, Jack Schuster… Malcolm Douglas was very helpful to me in my college endeavors at the university… So, there wasn’t just one person. It was everyone. And they didn’t have a script. They keyed into what you needed and what you wanted to do and helped you do just that.

When you go to another institution, the focus is on them or on the school or what they want done, and you’ve got to fit yourself to that mold. But, at Claremont Graduate University, the focus is on you and how they could help me accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, what I needed to do to get where I wanted to go. That I didn’t find that anyplace else.

When I met my now wife Ethel Rogers at CGU, I had a lot of trouble talking to her. I went through my program and took my time and, finally, just near the end of my program in 1994, an opportunity came up where we were talking. We talked about relationships that we’d had and “wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to do things with?” So, I went home and got tickets for Phantom of the Opera and called her up. I said, “I have tickets for Phantom of the Opera, would you like to go?” She said, “Yes, I’d love to!” And that’s how it started. It took me nine years to ask her out, and I wasn’t going to leave until I asked her out.

We went to Phantom of the Opera. After the matinee, we walked to the Bonaventure, went up to the top and had dinner at the revolving restaurant and came back down. It was absolutely dark, so I asked the valet that was doing cars if he would give me a taxi. He said, “just a second,” and came back later and said, “take the limo over there.” I said, “I can’t afford a limo,” and he said, “We’re down. There’s no business. I don’t want you walking back to the Music Center in the dark. Take the limo. If you can afford to give the driver five bucks, fine. If you can’t, don’t worry about it.” So, we had our dinner, took a limo back to the Music Center, and the rest is history.

I was at CGU from 1970 for 32 years. It was known as Claremont Graduate School then. I remember transcribing interviews for the oral history department. These included interviews with Chinese missionaries and Los Angeles booksellers. Then I went to work for Claremont Reading Conference on site. That was a program in the School of Education, which was not a school then, it was a program.

From there, I was hired as the Secretary of the Chair, and I began going to college. I got my AA at Mount SAC, then I went on to Pitzer. Five years after I started my AA, I got my master’s in education, working with Daryl Smith in CGU’s School of Education.

Graduating with my master’s degree in 1992.

So, I got to go to school with professors who I worked with, which was wonderful. I was the Associate Director for the Community College Leadership Development Institute, which was a grant that the School of Education had gotten. We worked for two years putting on conferences in Tucson, Arizona, and I retired after that.

Education faculty birthday party for Joe Platt in 1995. He was the chair of the School of Education’s Board, and the faculty threw a birthday party for him!

I also met my husband, Bob Rogers, who was a PhD student in Education at CGU, and we’ve now been married 30 years.

Bob and I got married in 1994.

When I left the U.S. Marine Corps in 2008, I knew I was stepping into uncharted territory. The challenges of military life were behind me but navigating the realities of PTSD and finding my next purpose were mountains I wasn’t sure I wanted climb.

CGU became my compass. The university’s interdisciplinary approach and the guidance of exceptional professors like Dr. Linda Perkins and Dr. Janet Brodie gave me the tools to explore my passions and define my path. It wasn’t just about education—it was about mentorship and the community.

One of the most transformative aspects of my time at CGU was learning to understand my PTSD better. Guest lecturing, participating in panel discussions, and diving deep into my PhD coursework gave me space to reflect on my experiences and confront the challenges I had buried.

My research in Gender Studies provided me with a new vocabulary to understand the power dynamics I encountered during my service. This perspective not only helped me unpack the roots of my PTSD but also allowed me to see how those dynamics shaped my own journey and interactions with others; which ultimately contributed to my healing.

CGU’s mission, “to prepare individuals to be leaders for positive change in the world,” resonated deeply with me. It wasn’t just a statement, I left CGU inspired to make a difference, whether in the classroom, the corporate world, or beyond.

I’m Diane Tickton Schuster and I graduated in 1986 from the School of Education at CGU. My husband, Jack, and I met in Washington, D.C., in the late 1960s, moved to California in 1970, and eventually settled in Claremont in 1977. We’ve had close ties to CGU, or Claremont Graduate School as it was previously known, since then.

Recently, Jack and I had a wonderful visit with Phil Dreyer and Janet Dreyer. Phil was a very close colleague of Jack’s and also served as a chair of my dissertation. Janet, on the other hand, was the director of the Mary B. Eyre Children’s School, where our daughters attended. She even taught our daughters, which adds a special layer to our connection. Reflecting on these relationships, it’s remarkable to see how we’ve grown together in Claremont, sustaining friendships through many years of change and growth.

Phil also organized the Claremont Irregulars marching band for the annual 4th of July parade. Janet and I used to march in the parade, proudly carrying the banner for the Claremont Irregulars. It wasn’t just about being part of the university; it was about being embedded in the community in so many ways.

This was a brass band—Phil played the trombone, and Jack Mills, who just left, also played in the band along with others from the community. It was a beautiful example of the special town-and-gown relationship in Claremont, where academic life and community life were deeply intertwined.

With my dissertation committee after my defense in March 1986. From left to right: Jean Walton, Philip Dreyer, Diane Tickton Schuster, Lois Langland, and David Drew.

When I was at Claremont Graduate School from 1977 until my retirement, I held teaching positions in education and public policy. What I felt most keenly about was the amount of autonomy that I had as a faculty member. You couldn’t find that anywhere else. It meant that I could develop courses in the way that I wanted and teach the way that I wanted.

My wife Diane Schuster and I met so many wonderful colleagues and friends through the institution. We still visit with them and keep in touch to this day.

School of Education faculty, approximately 1988. From left to right: David Drew, Doty Hale, Chuck Kerchner, Joe Weeres, Mary Poplin, Philip Dreyer, Daryl Smith, Malcolm Douglass, Jack Schuster, and John Regan.

Early in my first year at the Drucker School, Peter Drucker invited me to his house. We had a wonderful chat in those big, wicker chairs, but not before he scolded me for timidly calling his wife’s phone, rather than having the courage to call his. Drucker’s spirit was shared by all my professors—kind, demanding, and generous.