Document Type
Interview
Publication Date
Spring 2019
Abstract
Alice Lynn Hoersch was born in 1950 in Abington, PA to Albert and Alice Hoersch. She moved to Honey Brook, located in Chester County, PA at two-years-old. Hoersch lived in Honey Brook until she finished graduate school in 1977. She attended Honey Brook Elementary School. She graduated as valedictorian from Twin Valley High School in 1968. Hoersch studied geology at Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1972. She received both her master’s and Ph.D. in metamorphic petrology from Johns Hopkins University in 1974 and 1977, respectively. The same year she obtained her Ph.D., Hoersch began teaching as an assistant professor of geology at La Salle University. She has served La Salle as a professor of geology, physics and environmental science for 42 years. She also took on additional roles at the University, including serving as associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences from 1986 to 1993. While in this role, she became one of the founders of the Freshman Year Experience, now known as the Freshman Seminar. From 1993 to 2017, she performed the duties of executive assistant to the president of La Salle University. In this role, she served as the school’s liaison to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, organized and contacted La Salle’s honorary degree recipients, and pioneered La Salle’s Heritage Week (previously known as Charter Week). Hoersch also participated in a group of women faculty members on campus, named Professional Women of La Salle, which aimed at establishing equality amongst the faculty. She currently chairs the environmental science department (now absorbed into the biology department), though she intends on retiring at the end of the 2019 school year. Hoersch currently resides in Hatfield, PA with her two dogs, Laddie and Dyson. In addition to providing insight on the evolution of La Salle over the past four decades, this interview also sheds light on social and military history, as Hoersch discusses life as a teen in the 1960s and as the daughter of a chemical engineer who worked on the atomic bomb.
Recommended Citation
Hoersch, Alice L. Ph.D. and Bemak, Selena, "Interview of Alice L. Hoersch, Ph.D." (2019). All Oral Histories. 123.
https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/histdeptohall/123
Alice Hoersch Interview Part 1
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Alice Hoersch Interview Part 2
HOERSCH oral report.pptx (69146 kB)
PowerPoint Presentation about Hoersch
Alice Hoersch Interview Log.pdf (378 kB)
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