Before Massage

My University of Dayton Career

Because medical massage therapy is an “encore” career, a complete biography of Dick Ferguson’s earlier career in higher education follows. It was updated in April 2020.

Dick Ferguson

Founding Executive Director, Fitz Center for Leadership in Community (Retired)

University of Dayton

Dick Ferguson retired from the University of Dayton on December 31, 2014. Dick held several major administrative positions in 41 and ½ years of service to the University of Dayton. He began his professional career in 1973 as an Admission Counselor. He held various positions on the Undergraduate Admission staff from 1973 until 1978, concentrating on the development of recruitment publications, audiovisual presentations, and communication systems, finishing as Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission.

In 1978, Dick became Director of University Communications (Public Relations) of the University of Dayton. He directed this staff for seven years through the introduction of a new president, most of a successful $43 million fund raising campaign, and resulting changes in UD’s programs and reputation as a major Catholic university and Ohio higher education resource.

From 1985 until 1988, Dick served as Assistant Dean and Director of Admission and Financial Aid of the University of Dayton School of Law. In that role, he developed effective student recruitment, admission, scholarship, financial aid, retention, and enrollment management operations. He also introduced an alumni annual support program.

In 1988, Dick became Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and, a year later, Associate Provost for Enrollment Management. In this role, he directed the University’s undergraduate student recruitment, admission, scholarship, and financial aid efforts. He also became a member of the University’s senior academic administrative team. Dick served as Associate Provost until 1992.

Following a one-year program of study at The Ohio State University School of Public Policy and Management beginning in 1992, Dick became Assistant to the President for Regional and Government Relations at the University of Dayton. Besides his routine community and government relations responsibilities, Dick served as lead staff and final report writer for the Montgomery County Child Protection Task Force, coordinated the Montgomery County Science Day, assisted with planning of the Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI) for advanced engineering education, formed the Serve With Energy and Talent (SWEAT) collaborative and corporation—one of Ohio’s first AmeriCorps national service programs, and facilitated creation of the Montgomery County Family and Children First Council.

Dick led the University’s community partnership initiatives and, in October 1998, added the role of Director of the Institute for Neighborhood and Community Leadership (INCLUD) to his responsibilities. In July 2001, INCLUD and the Center for Family and Community Research merged to form the Center for Leadership in Community, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dick was named Director of the new Center and Special Assistant to the President.

The following year, the Center was renamed in honor of Brother Ray Fitz as he completed his 23-year tenure as President of the University of Dayton. Dick began full-time service as Executive Director of the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community. Along with Brother Fitz, Don Vermillion and others, Dick taught a multidisciplinary seminar entitled Leadership in Building Communities from 1995 until his retirement.  Undergraduate and graduate student participants worked with over 25 Dayton neighborhoods to develop shared visions and action plans.

Organization & Role/Title

  • United Way Public Policy Committee Chair

  • Community Action Program Board Member

  • Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Partners Board of Trustees

  • Genesis Project Investment Committee Member

  • Phoenix Project Board of Directors

  • Rubicon Park Master Plan Committee Chair                           

  • Archdiocese of Cincinnati Archbishop’s Pastoral Council

  • Salem Avenue Corridor Committee Member

  • Dayton’s Neighborhood School Centers Co-founder

  • COPE House Board of Directors

  • Rubicon Park Business Association Member

  • Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI) Founding Member

  • Marianist Educational Associates Steering Committee

  • University of Dayton Rector’s Council Member

  • President’s Installation (1979) Chair

  • President’s Installation (2002) Chair

  • Leadership Dayton (1984) Graduate and Curriculum Review

  • East End Community Services Board of Trustees

  • League of Women Voters Community Advisory Board

  • Out-of-School Youth Fast Forward Center Advisory Board

  • Daybreak Runaway Shelter Board of Trustees

  • Emergency Food Bank Transition Committee

  • World of Wonder Community School Governing Board                                

  • Dayton Dialogue on Race Steering Committee

  • Artemis Center for Domestic Violence Peacekeepers Committee

  • Catholic Fund for Urban Children and Schools Board of Directors     

  • Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley Chair

  • CSSMV Community and Agency Committee Member

  • Archbishop Moeller High School Board of Trustees

My Community and Volunteer Involvement

Dick has served on more than two dozen boards, councils, committees and task forces.

Dick helped initiate and direct Dayton’s Neighborhood School Centers, a community schools project of the Dayton Foundation, Dayton Public Schools, the City of Dayton, Montgomery County, and the Fitz Center. He also initiated or co-founded multiple programs, including Semester of Service, Graduate Community Fellows, Dayton Civic Scholars, Rivers Institute and River Stewards, YESS AmeriCorps, and Ohio’s Great Corridor Association. 

Dick and Susan Ferguson

Dick is a 1969 graduate of St. Xavier High School (Cincinnati), 1973 graduate of the University of Dayton (B.A. in English), and a 1993 graduate of The Ohio State University School of Public Policy and Management (M.A. in Public Policy). His wife, Susan, served as Executive Director of the Center for Catholic Education in the University of Dayton School of Education and Health Sciences until her retirement in 2021. Dick and Susan are recipients of the University of Dayton’s Lackner Award for their longstanding commitment to the University’s Marianist character and identity. They have three grown sons, three daughters-in-law and five grandchildren.   

Dick’s most lasting legacy at the University of Dayton is its unofficial motto, introduced on an admission brochure in 1991:

Learn. Lead. Serve.     

University of Dayton Magazine Article:

Happy Retirement

Of Dayton, 100 Years and Counting

By Dick Ferguson

July 20, 2020

Published in University of Dayton Magazine

In celebration of Dick Ferguson’s service to UD, Dayton, region

By Paul Benson

11-2015 Community Leader, Vol. 15, No. 02

University of Dayton Fitz Center for Leadership in Community

UD to Launch Center for Leadership in Community, Names Dick Ferguson Director

10-26-2000

Press Release: University of Dayton, Teri Rizvi

Ten Years of Community Involvement

April 17, 2012

The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community celebrated ten years of community involvement on Friday, April 13, 2012. This video discusses how The Fitz Center programs have made an impact on the local community.

See more history of the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community.

See what I’m doing now.