Five of TCNJ’s most beloved faculty members are retiring this month and while we wish them well, let’s face it — we’re already missing them.
Deborah Compte, professor, world languages and cultures
Compte, professor of Spanish, joined the college in 1990 and has taught Spanish language courses, as well as senior seminar and graduate topics courses on Don Quixote. She served as acting dean of the School of Culture and Society (now known as the School of Humanities and Social Sciences) from 2001–2002 and as interim dean from 2008–2009.
Donald Hirsh, professor, chemistry
Hirsh came to TCNJ in 2003 and has taught the physical chemistry sequence — quantum chemistry and chemical thermodynamics — in addition to general chemistry I and II.
William Keep, professor, marketing and interdisciplinary business
Keep arrived in 2009 as dean of the School of Business, a post he held for nine years before serving as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. He retires as professor of marketing, and remains a nationally recognized expert in multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes.
Michael Ochs, professor, mathematics and statistics
Ochs arrived at TCNJ in 2013, teaching courses in biostatistics for public health, data-mining, and statistical inference and probability, among others. He has also served as a mentor for independent research in math and stats, and as president of the campus chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Margaret (Betsy) Ruddy, assistant professor, psychology
Ruddy began her tenure in the psychology department in 1985, and has taught courses in biopsychology, psychopharmacology, developmental psychology, and research methods.
“I will enjoy the ‘freedom’ of retirement, but I will miss the warm interactions with my colleagues and, of course, the students,” Compte said.
Keep echoed her sentiments. “I will miss being part of TCNJ and the people who I came to enjoy and respect,” he said. “My 14 years at TCNJ were exceptionally gratifying and I feel fortunate to have been part of its mission.”
Additional faculty members who retired earlier in the 2022–2023 academic year include Arthur Homuth, psychology; Mohamoud Ismail, sociology and anthropology; and Wei-Hong (Chamont) Wang, mathematics and statistics.
— Emily W. Dodd ’03