Alumna establishes scholarship and archives fund, donates her husband's dissertation

For 1972 graduate Carol Ricketts Schelin, the dissertation and writings headed to SUNY Oswego’s Penfield Library Archives are far more than historical documents.

They are reminders of a life devoted to learning, public service and the belief that education should help people better understand one another.

“This is really about keeping the work in the hands of students,” she said of donating the dissertation and research materials of her late husband, Robert “Bob” Schelin of the Class of 1967. “Maybe somebody can learn something from it.”

Known affectionately by many as “Doc,” Bob Schelin spent decades as an educator, administrator and mentor at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, where he served as dean of students, professor of history and political science and advisor to countless students and organizations. But his academic journey — and much of the research that shaped his career — began at SUNY Oswego.

Carol and Bob also established the Schelin Family Scholarship at Oswego to support future students and a few years later, she established and the Schelin Family Library Archives Fund preserving materials connected to Bob’s scholarship and research interests.

The gift reflects both gratitude and hope: "We both loved Oswego,” she said. “So much of our lives started there.”

Together with their daughter, Leslie Heffernan, and son-in-law, Clark Heffernan, Carol Schelin has continued working to preserve her husband's legacy through both the family scholarship and the donation of his academic research materials to SUNY Oswego.

Lifelong connection to SUNY

Though Bob and Carol Schelin graduated from Oswego five years apart, they narrowly missed crossing paths as students.

Bob arrived at Oswego in 1963 after being recruited to wrestle by legendary coach, the late Jim Howard. Carol arrived in 1968 as a music education student deeply involved in campus choirs, accompaniment and student life.

“We probably passed in the night,” she joked.

The two eventually met as graduate students at SUNY Binghamton in 1972, where Bob was completing doctoral work in history and Carol was pursuing graduate studies in music. (She later attended SUNY Albany to earn a master’s in library science.)

“I knew right away this had potential,” she recalled with a laugh. “Because of his charm and his friendliness.”

Schelin described her husband as someone who instantly connected with people.

“Bob was one of those people that was like a star,” she said. “He would love you, he would meet you and you would be in his aura forever. He was just so good with everybody that he met.”

The couple married in 1974 and built a life rooted in higher education, service and community engagement. Bob Schelin spent nearly 50 years at St. Thomas Aquinas College, while Carol Schelin worked as both a librarian and music educator.

But even as their careers took them elsewhere, Oswego remained foundational to their story.

“What I always appreciated about Oswego was the sense of opportunity,” Schelin said. “It was a place where people could grow into themselves.”

Research project changes everything

Among the materials Carol Schelin is donating to Penfield Library are Bob’s dissertation, "Millard Fillmore, Anti-Mason to Know-Nothing: a moderate in New York politics, 1826-1856," and research documents connected to the Millard Fillmore papers housed in SUNY Oswego’s archives.

Schelin believes the experience of working with those materials as a student profoundly shaped her husband’s intellectual life.

“I think going to pick up the papers in the boxes in his car was a life-changing moment for him,” she said.

As an Oswego student studying history and political science, Bob Schelin volunteered to help transport donated historical materials connected to former U.S. President Millard Fillmore back to campus archives. That experience sparked years of research that ultimately informed his graduate work and dissertation.

“He always liked local history and primary source materials,” Schelin said. “It linked the academic world he was growing into with the reality of what was happening around him.”

He became particularly fascinated by Fillmore’s role in political compromise during the years leading up to the Civil War.

“He really believed people needed to learn how to work together,” Schelin said. “That compromise and peacemaking are better than warfare.”

She hopes students and faculty may someday revisit Bob Schelin’s research and use it to explore contemporary questions about civic dialogue and political polarization.

“Things are so black and white now,” Schelin said. “Students sometimes don’t even know how to talk to people who disagree with them. Bob cared deeply about helping people understand each other.”

Her hope is not necessarily that the dissertation becomes famous, she said, but that it remains accessible.

“I’m not hoping for anything grandiose,” Schelin said. “But maybe someone in the history department reads it and says, ‘There’s something here worth revisiting.’”

Giving back to future students

The scholarship fund Bob and Carol Schelin established at Oswego grew from a desire to support future generations in the same way SUNY education had supported them.

“We started giving as soon as we had ourselves squared away,” Schelin said.

Over time, the couple narrowed their philanthropic focus to the institutions that had most shaped their lives, including Oswego.

Schelin said she appreciated Oswego’s thoughtful approach to donor engagement and scholarship support.

“The idea of a five-year commitment appealed to us,” she said. “It just felt very good.”

The scholarship allows part of each annual contribution to support current students directly while the remainder builds long-term sustainability for the fund.

The scholarship represents continuity — a way for Bob Schelin’s commitment to students and education to continue beyond his lifetime.

“He gave back,” she said simply. “That’s what he always did.”

She decided to establish the Library Archives Fund after visiting the 2025 Archives and Special Collections exhibition, "Oswego Rocks: A History of Popular Concerts at SUNY Oswego," during her 53rd Reunion. The fund honors her husband’s research as well as her own passion for history, particularly the music history of New York state.

Legacy rooted in service

Bob Schelin passed away in 2022 after a life defined by leadership and community involvement.

In addition to his academic career, he served in numerous civic roles throughout Rockland County, including volunteer firefighter, Rotary Club leader, church officer and local board member. At St. Thomas Aquinas, his impact was so enduring that a roadway near campus was renamed the “Doc Schelin Memorial Highway” in his honor and the college established the Doc Schelin Basketball Classic.

Still, Carol Schelin believes the qualities people remember most about Bob were deeply personal.

“He loved everybody,” she said. “He really did.”

Now, through both the scholarship and the preservation of his academic work, Schelin hopes future students may encounter not only Bob’s research, but also the values behind it: curiosity, the art of compromise, generosity and lifelong learning.

“Learning never really ends,” Schelin said. “That’s what SUNY gave us. And that’s what I hope continues for students long after we’re gone.”

— Submitted by University Advancement