University Times

Pitt-Titusville psychology associate professor emerita Lois Hayweiser died Sept. 29, 2010. She was 75.

Hayweiser, who earned her PhD at Syracuse University, joined the UPT faculty in 1978, received tenure in 1985 and retired from the faculty in 1998. She also taught part-time in the psychology department on the Pittsburgh campus.

Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, she was a faculty member at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

Former UPT colleague Mary Ann Caton, a faculty member in history and political science, recalled Hayweiser as a powerful presence, both physically and in terms of personality. Tall and deep-voiced, Hayweiser “was not shy about making her views known,” Caton said.

“She could be a bit of a gadfly or a burr in the side of the powers that be,” Caton said. Solution-oriented and practical, Hayweiser practiced her activism with a real desire to be useful.

“She was not philosophical or theoretical or an ideologue,” Caton said, noting that Hayweiser called for action whenever some problem, large or small, needed solving. “She zeroed in on problems and would get them fixed.”

Hayweiser, who resided in her childhood home on Dawson Street, participated in Oakland neighborhood organizations and other grassroots civic activism. She was an early member of the National Organization for Women and engaged herself in community and campus issues.

In Titusville, she served as a YWCA board member and participated in UPT faculty government. As a member of the campus physical plant committee, Hayweiser kept a keen eye out for campus maintenance issues, calling attention to anything that needed repair, and suggesting solutions when she felt it necessary.

She took interest in the UPT campus landscaping, becoming a master gardener and continuing her interest in public gardening in Pittsburgh. Among her pet projects was the garden at the Stephen Foster Memorial, Caton said.

“She was one of those individuals who was generous with her resources and her time and with people who she thought could use what she had to offer,” Caton said.

She credited Hayweiser as the impetus behind the four “Titusville questions” that appear on campus course evaluation forms. Today, in addition to other standard evaluation questions, UPT students are asked about whether the course instructor was on time for class, how frequently the instructor was absent from class, whether he or she was available to students outside of class and whether the instructor took reasonable precautions to prevent cheating.

Caton explained that Hayweiser disliked the value questions on the form — such as whether a student would recommend a course or faculty member to others. “She felt they weren’t good questions for getting the kind of information you wanted,” Caton said.

Caton said Hayweiser conducted a very formal class and was not the sort to pursue personal relationships with students. She addressed students as Mister or Miss — never by their first names  — and felt it her role to raise her students’ level of education rather than be their friend or confidante. “She took her duty seriously, but she was not there to be their friend or a clinician,” Caton said. “Students either loved or hated her.”

Although Hayweiser eschewed frivolity, she could engage herself in a practical joke. Caton recalled Hayweiser baking beautiful cupcakes filled with ketchup, garlic and other inappropriate ingredients as a prank on a faculty member who had a reputation for eating anything left in the faculty lounge. He took the bait, as did Caton, who unfortunately was let in on the joke too late.

Caton said she considered Hayweiser a best friend during their time together on the UPT faculty. Following Hayweiser’s retirement, the two maintained a friendship, although distance had taken its toll in recent years.

Caton still frequently recalls Hayweiser’s very practical wisdom: “I talk about her all the time,” albeit not by name, in class. Just recently, Caton said, a student approached her, overly apologetic for missing class. Recalling Hayweiser’s response to a colleague who would apologize and offer gifts after displaying outbursts of temper, Caton asked the student to stop apologizing. “I would prefer your behavior to change,” she told him.

“I’ve never forgotten. I use it a lot,” she said.

Hayweiser is survived by brothers Herbert and Charles Hayweiser, sister-in-law Karola Hayweiser, and nieces. A memorial service took place Oct. 7.

—Kimberly K. Barlow