Richard "Dick" Ritchie

Richard "Dick" Ritchie

Assistant Professor of Management

Class of 1964

Dick Ritchie was not destined for college.  At least that's what his Long Island high school guidance counselor told him. "He said, �I don't think you are college material.  Go into the Armed Forces, learn a skill or trade.'"

Ritchie never went back to meet with him again.

He arrived at Gettysburg College with the idea of majoring in physics, "but I was blown away in my first physics course because of a lack of good prep in high school...and I was not really committed or motivated to overcome it."

"...but things were going on that proved to be invaluable.  First, I learned to study and to manage my time in order to keep up. Then I started sitting up front and not in the back of the room...  I became a more active learner."

Ritchie was on a roll. In his junior year he had "a good solid C," but by senior year he was on the Dean's list. He graduated in psychology and went on to earn his Ph.D., ultimately working 27 years for ATT in Personnel Research.

"I was able to publish a lot of articles. We had a million employees so it gave us a great opportunity for research."

He also began college adjunct teaching, so by the time he retired from ATT, his teaching and researching led him back to Gettysburg.

Ritchie met his wife, Pat, while at Gettysburg. "She was at an all girl's junior college in Chambersburg (it no longer exists).  They had mixers and would invite Dickinson, F&M and Gettysburg.  That's where we met."