Dean, Co-op, Career Planning and Placement
1983
Bio:
Mr. Hunt earned a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering (1941) and a Master’s in Business Administration (1950) from the University of Detroit. He has honorary doctorates from the University of the Pacific (1975), Milwaukee School of Engineering (1970) and University of Detroit (1986). He was a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan.
He received the Herman Schneider Award (1970) for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of Cooperative Education from the Cooperative Education Association. He received the Alderson-Broaddus College Award (1973) for outstanding leadership to Cooperative Education in the United States. In 1984, the American Society of Engineering Education, Co-op Education Division, honored him with the Clement J. Freund Award for his contributions to the aims of co-op engineering education.
Donald Hunt joined the University of Detroit in 1944 as an assistant professor of aeronautical engineering in the College of Engineering. At times, he served as the chairman of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, chairman of Industrial Coordination, and Director of Coordination and Placement. He was later the Director of Placement and Cooperative Education and non-academic Personnel. In 1979 he was appointed Dean of Co-op, Career Planning and Placement, a position he held until his retirement in 1987.
University of Detroit’s January 19, 1970 News Release announced the Herman Schneider Award to be given to Hunt at the annual convention of the Cooperative Education Association. The news release further announced that “The association presents the award annually in recognition of an individual’s outstanding efforts to further cooperative education on the college and university level. One of the founding members of the Cooperative Education Association, Hunt has been a catalyst in the development and expansion of the concept of cooperative education at colleges throughout the nation. He also is a trustee of the National Committee on Cooperative Education. At the University of Detroit, Hunt has strengthened the required co-op programs in engineering and architecture. In addition, he has established an optional co-op program in business administration on both the undergraduate and graduate levels.”
A November 2, 1973 University of Detroit New Release which covered Hunt’s Alderson-Broaddus College Award stated “U. of D., the second university in the nation to introduce cooperative education over 60 years ago, now offers the co-op study plan in its College of Arts and Science, School of Architecture and Environmental Studies, College of Business and Administration, and College of Engineering. The plan affords U. of D. students the opportunity to alternate semesters in the classroom with semesters on-the-job with employers throughout the country.”
As a founding editor of the Journal of Cooperative Education, a position he held from 1964-1967, Mr. Hunt edited and published five editions of 50 Views of Cooperative Education and authored Legal Considerations in Cooperative Education Administration, a noted reference volume. Fifty Views of Cooperative Education presented the opinions of educators and business men involved in designing and administering co-op programs.
Over the years, Dean Hunt was very involved in professional and civic organizations, as a member of The Engineering Society of Detroit, National Secretary and later National President of The Midwest College Placement Association, member of the General Council of The American Society for Engineering Education, President of the Cooperative Education Association, Detroit Chairman of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, and District Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of American. He was also a member of the Employment Managers Association of Detroit, P.T.A. Council of Oakland County, and College and University Personnel Association.
In the October 11, 1963 University of Detroit faculty newsletter, the University announced that “Donald C. Hunt, director of coordination and placement at U. of D., is one of four lay members named to the Catholic Board of Education by Archbishop John F. Dearden in a move to give the Catholic laity a strong voice in parochial school affairs. Detroit is now the largest archdiocese in the country to have lay members on its board of education….The board is being asked to advise and make recommendation to the archbishop and the superintendent of schools on the administration of parochial schools, said Msgr. Horkan, archdiocesan superintendent of schools….Msgr. Horkan added that Hunt would be especially valuable to the board on the matter of teacher placement and lay teacher policy in the eight county archdiocese."
In 1983, Fr. Robert A. Mitchell, President, University of Detroit, honored Donald C. Hunt with the title Dean Emeritus of Cooperative Education.