Betty Dusing met her husband Albert at orientation for her first year at the University of Kentucky in 1948. Little did she know, they would end up getting married during their junior year of college and starting their life together shortly after. After graduating, Albert took a job filling in for a biology professor at Park University who was on sabbatical. Dusing herself also took a job at Park University doing library work in 1965. Eventually, she moved up to an assistant librarian position and retired after 54 years in 2019.

Working in the library allowed for plenty of personal interaction in a relaxed atmosphere. Dusing is a people person; she said the favorite part of her time at Park was meeting all of the students and faculty. “Park’s a great place to work,” said Dusing. “Every day is a new experience.” She loved to learn about different cultures and getting to know students. “What you really do is learn how to listen to everybody,” said Dusing.

Her least favorite part of the job was bearing bad news, like having to tell a student their book wasn’t in yet or that they need to quiet down. However, the good outweighed the bad. Dusing enjoyed the versatility of the job and how every day was different.

Dusing did not want to retire, but she acknowledges that it was time for her to leave. Her son Roger Dusing, Chief Human Resources Officer at Park University, held this belief as well. “I’ll miss having her around, but it’s good for her,” said Roger Dusing,

Dusing has found it relatively easy to transition into retirement, although it gets boring sometimes. For the most part, she says she loves being retired. “It’s nice to be able to get up whenever you want to,” said Dusing. However, she enjoyed the structure that came with having a job. Reflecting on her free time, Dusing said, “it makes you wonder if you did it all right and what you’re going to do next.” In her retirement, she has been doing plenty of reading and is involved with The American Association of University Women (AAUW), which is a group that promotes education among women. She used to write their newsletter, but now she just attends as a regular member.

What Dusing misses the most about her job is the interaction with students. If she could give a piece of advice to everybody at Park, she would say, “be friendly, interesting, willing to adapt, learn, interact, and go forward.”