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Progressive Profile: Barb Schaefer
by Joe Savrock

University Park, Pa.— For many of us, there is no off-season for participating in sports. Barb Schaefer is one who doesn’t take a holiday from the action.

One year her all-star team proceeded to win the district title, then went on to claim the sectional crown and, eventually, the Maryland state championship.

The girls continued into the U.S. Eastern Regional tournament before finally bowing out, just a few games short of qualifying for the Little League Softball World Series. Barb laments that she was the losing pitcher in the team’s exit game. "It was a thrill to make it that far, but that loss still bothers me," she says.

During her undergraduate days, Barb played center for Swarthmore College’s women’s basketball team. That NCAA Division III team won’t be remembered for winning during the late 1980s, she admits. "We won just a couple of games a year," she remembers.

Barb also played on Swarthmore’s varsity volleyball and softball teams, both of which met with better success than the basketball team. The volleyballers qualified for the MAC tournament. The softball team also had visions of tournament championships, but they had a perennial nemesis: Muhlenberg. "Every year, they knocked us out of the postseason and kept us from reaching the championship game," she recalls with chagrin.

She’s still spiking volleyballs, playing in a very competitive amateur league. Her team last year placed second in the Keystone Region. She also plays on a Centre Region Parks & Recreation team, as well as an intramural co-ed team here on campus. This latter team won last year’s championship. She admits that "It’s pretty satisfying to still be able to go out and beat the 19-year-olds."

Barb also played fast-pitch softball locally for several years. Now she has shifted to slow pitch and currently shares pitching assignments on the Rugrats, an intramural softball team, with Pam Selfe. "We’re in our third or fourth season now and really starting to gel," she said. "We’ve even created a new, vital position on the team. With so many families with young kids, we can’t play without our DS—designated sitter," she laughs. "Their sole job is to corral the kids and keep them off the field."

On paper, the Rugrats promise to have a strong upcoming season. The roster includes several fierce competitors from the College of Education. "Suzanne Wayne is a speed demon and plays hard," said Barb. "He’s always scuffing up his knees and arms diving for fly balls in the outfield, as is Rick Kubina. Rick would be an awesome hitter if he’d just pull the ball instead of trying to hit to right field." Other teammates are utility infielder Jeff Hayes and Barb’s husband and outfielder Mark Hood.

Barb’s trying to strengthen her team’s roster for the coming season by enlisting the talent of some of her College of Education colleagues, but she’s finding that negotiations can sometimes be difficult. "We’ve been trying for several years to recruit Charlie Hughes, Frank Worrell, and Marley Watkins, but they just won’t commit," she said. "We’re working on Elizabeth Skowron and Rayne Sperling, too. I have a feeling we’re going to get them to play this year." She has hopes of getting Maria Schmidt, Murry Nelson, and Dan Grow out on the softball diamond, too.

Barb and Mark met during her basketball-playing days at Swarthmore, where Mark was a team statistician. Their first date was the result of a dare between Mark and the other statistician. The plan was for Mark to ask Barb for a date, while his friend would ask the point guard.

Barb and Mark married in 1995, during Barb’s postgraduate and doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1997, Barb landed her assistant professorship here at Penn State. She teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, coordinates the CEDAR School Psychology Clinic, and enjoys research efforts in the areas of classroom behaviors, demographic differences, and the validity and application of rating scales. "When I began working here, Mark was a consultant in Philadelphia," said Barb. "We bought a house here, and he had a long commute. But eventually he was fortunate enough to find an engineering position with Penn State’s Transportation Institute."

Mark and Barb enjoy hiking a lot, often on local mountain ridges or in national parks around the country. Taking 3-year-old son Gavin along makes it double the adventure. Out west last summer, they loved hiking in Zion National Park up to Angel’s Landing, and upriver in the Narrows. "That was our first hike actually in a river!" she recalls, "But it was incredibly refreshing in comparison to hiking down into the heat of the Grand Canyon." Closer to home, they’ve hiked locally with the Sperlings. "Gavin tries to keep up with Rayne’s two sons, who are a little older," said Barb. "Garrett and Seamus are so patient to wait up for him." Which is not to say that they all haven’t slipped into the creek and come home a little damp.

Barb was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a child, she did extensive international traveling with her parents, both of whom were graduate students who scrimped and saved their stipends to start off on a round-the-world adventure. The family spent time in numerous countries. Her family’s travels finally came to an end one day. "My parents went broke while we were in Switzerland, and had to wire for money to get back home," she said. Later, the family spent four years in northern Japan. Barb didn’t attend a Japanese school, she says, and she regrets not learning the Japanese language more thoroughly.

Eventually, the family settled in Maryland, where Barb graduated from high school. She went on to Swarthmore, majoring in psychobiology and women’s studies, and also studied for a semester at Queen Mary College in London. "I always thought I’d be a biologist," she recalls. "I made it through organic chemistry class okay. But when I got to molecular and cell biology, I decided that this field wasn’t for me."

Her interests shifted to psychology, and she completed her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. In graduate school, Barb pursued jujitsu/shotokan karate, earning her green belt before retiring. "I’d always wanted to study martial arts, but after about three years, I was a little tired of getting banged up," she sighs. "However, if Michael Jordan can come out of retirement, there’s hope for me yet!" She received her Ph.D. in School, Community, and Clinical Child Psychology in 1996, shortly before arriving at Penn State.

Not known to stay firmly grounded, the Schaefer-Hoods love to travel and go camping, and are experienced hot-air balloon crew members who have crewed at regional balloon rallies over the past 15 years and now volunteer with a local hot air balloon company. "Aside from the early morning wake-up calls for dawn flights, crewing is great fun!" she shares. "Every now and again, our pilot will take us for a flight. It’s incredibly peaceful and everything’s so beautiful and quiet once you’re up in the air." At present, Barb enjoys photography, but admits that she’s still trying to master the digital side of the art.

Barb shows no signs of hanging up her volleyball kneepads or softball glove any time soon, and is trying to learn how to play racquetball. As long as she can compete with the 19-year-olds, she’s sure to keep the competitive fire burning.