Your Gifts at Work

Dennis Tartakow - Ed.D. learner
When Dennis Tartakow enrolled in the Ph.D. program in 1999, he had already established himself as a successful, private-practice orthodontist, college professor, and world-traveler.  Between seminars and other professional obligations, he engaged in iron man competitions and mastered five different martial arts.

“Looking back, it seems that each of these interests lasted 10 to 15 years, and after becoming proficient, I moved on to find another mountain to climb,” Dennis reflected during a recent interview. As it turns out, the next mountain would be the completion of his doctorate.

Dennis had begun working toward a Ph.D. in the mid 1960s, but switched career paths and instead earned a D.M.D. from Tufts University in 1969. “Fast forward to the middle 1990s, and after years of ‘fun’ in my practice, I had to go back to school,” Dennis said. “The hunger to be in a learning environment returned.”

Dennis discussed his plans with Dr. Arlene Sacks, a long-time personal friend and dean of education at UI&U, and enrolled in Union’s Ph.D. program to complete his degree in health care.  However, Dennis would experience another life-changing event the same year:  the diagnosis of a broken back and broken neck, a result of years of martial arts training.  The necessary surgery left him with a reduced cervical range of motion, forcing him to give up his private practice.

“During the next seven months of convalescence, my life was confined to sitting in a chair in a semi-upright position, unable to do anything but sleep, and eat, with plenty of time to think about reinventing my life.  After realizing that my clinical days of orthodontics were over, education became the next mountain to climb.”

“The rest,” Dennis said,” is history.” After receiving his Ph.D. from Union in 2001, Dennis continued with his UI&U education, earning an M.Ed. and then enrolling in the Ed.D. program in 2007. “I never looked back and view the last 10 years as traveling on a metaphorical road known as educational alley. The vehicle I used to traverse the road was Union Institute & University, without any regrets, doubts, or misgivings.  Hopefully, the past decade of educational traveling will prove that I am a better teacher, researcher, and more empathetic human being, with passion as well as compassion.  At this point of the journey, the future is uncertain, but if I see another mountain, I am going to climb it.”

Audrea Ivy - Ph.D. learner
“I believe we have some of the best faculty available anywhere in the world. The faculty members I have called on for assistance and advice have gone the extra mile to help, advise, challenge, stretch, support, and encourage me. They have invested themselves in my success. And they have given me a legacy and a charge to go and do likewise. They are living examples that for us here at Union, it is not just in the knowing, but in the doing—it’s how you use what you know to impact the world around you and the lives of those who live in it.”

Cohort Ph.D. learner Audrea Ivy has served her community as a pastor and community change agent for the past 16 years. As pastor of the Gorham United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois, she has developed community programs and built relationships, supporting and challenging her peers to better their own lives and the lives of others. But one of her most profound journeys began not in a church or a recreation center—it began at a bus stop.

After a long day of work at her church, Audrea was on her way home when she saw a bus pull up to a nearby intersection. A woman struggled to de-board the bus with her luggage.  Thinking of her own grandmother, Audrea hurried over to the woman and asked to take the burden of her luggage, explaining that she was a pastor and more than happy to help those in need.

As it turned out, the woman Audrea helped that day was Dr. Clotiel Harris, a UI&U alumna, who was returning from a psychologist’s convention and had missed her ride from the airport.

“We subsequently spent time getting to know one another and discovered that we each had something the other needed,” Audrea said.  “She mentored me into Union’s Ph.D. program, and we began a new journey of community service together.”

Now enrolled in Union’s Cohort Ph.D. program, Audrea knows that her studies in ethical and creative leadership are essential to attain her life and career goals:  to honor the struggles and progress of those who have preceded her by leaving the world better than she found it.  In the summer of 2009, Audrea joined forces with Chicagoland organizations to develop a youth program; working together, they transformed a vacant lot into a community garden.  And as she looks to the future, Audrea is ready to experience further transformation through her Union education.

“I didn’t know how much I didn’t know before I began to learn what I originally thought wasn’t necessary to know,” Audrea said.  “I have been broadened and deepened and stretched beyond my previously isolated experiences.  Before I was doing what I could do to help people and only dreaming of doing much more.  Now, I’m learning and applying what it takes to make those dreams comes true.”