Carolyn Pretzer
Carolyn A. Pretzer, who recently concluded her career as Director of the Krider Visual Resource Center, is recognized for 20 years of dedicated service to the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning, and Design.
Ms. Pretzer’s relationship with Kansas State University began in 1952, when she came to Manhattan to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics and Teaching which she completed in 1954. After some years as a homemaker, Ms. Pretzer was employed in 1977 as the curator of the emerging audiovisual aids collection of what was then the College of Architecture and Design.
During the 20 years Ms. Pretzer worked for the College, the audiovisual aids collection grew tremendously in size and changed dramatically in nature. Now named the Krider Visual Resource and Learning Center, the collection numbers 70,000 slides and contains many films and videos, all carefully catalogues according to a nationally recognized system Ms. Pretzer implemented. Equipment now maintained by the Krider Center includes not only the traditional slide projectors but a constantly increasing variety of specialty equipment required to serve the unique teaching needs of a design school. Ms. Pretzer played an important role in the College’s entry into the current age of digital and multimedia technology, laying the groundwork with several key faculty to acquire hardware, software and information to digitize slides and prepare multimedia lectures and materials.
To enhance her knowledge of teaching media, Ms. Pretzer was a frequent participant at various meetings and conferences. As coauthor, she and Professor Carol Martin Watts presented a paper, “The Establishment of a Visual Database for Multimedia Use at Kansas State University” at the 1994 Visual Resource Association Conference in New York City; the paper was later published in Visual Resources. Throughout her career, she maintained membership in the Missouri Valley Slide Curators Association.
This citation is given to Carolyn A. Pretzer in sincere appreciation of her many years of loyal, steadfast service to the faculty, staff, and students of the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning, and Design.