For Beth Dolder-Zieke ’88, retiring from her post as Viterbo University’s career services director is a bit like a pregnancy. It’s going to hurt like heck for a while, but when the pain is over, there’s this whole new life, full of promise.

“There’s a huge hole in my life because I’m leaving, but I feel called to leave because I know other things are waiting for me,” Dolder-Zieke said in an interview in her third-floor Murphy Center office. It’s two days before her last day, and the quirky oddities that made her office so much fun to visit have been mostly packed up, some to take with her, some to give away as prizes at her retirement reception.

Growing up in a small town in central Wisconsin, Dolder-Zieke didn’t think she’d ever attend college, much less spend most of her adult life working at one. Neither of her parents attended college. When she was nearing high school graduation, she recalled, her guidance counselor told her not to bother taking a college entrance exam.

The die, it seemed to her, had been cast, and it was not her path to go to college.

After high school graduation, her path brought her to La Crosse (there was this guy she was sweet on). She got an entry-level job at Dairyland Power, working in the mail room. After a few years, she said, “people my age started coming into the company with degrees and getting nice jobs while I’m stuck in the mailroom. I’m like, ‘you’re my age and you’re no smarter than me.’”

As luck would have it, Dairyland Power had a tuition reimbursement benefit for employees who wanted to go to college. Dolder-Zieke started taking University of Wisconsin-La Crosse business classes at night. It seemed like the thing to do at the time, but then she took a sociology class and the lightbulb went on: studying people would be a lot more interesting and fulfilling than studying business.

Around that time, Steve Zieke, the man she would marry, suggested she look at Viterbo. He knew art faculty members Tim and Diane Crane, and it seemed like Viterbo would be a good fit for her.

Was he ever right! And were they ever wrong at her high school.

“My guidance counselor was wrong, and I think what that did to me is instilled an enduring faith in reinventing yourself and not letting other people define you,” she said.

When she came to Viterbo as a student, Dolder-Zieke had settled on majoring in psychology, and she recalled one psychology class convening at 4 p.m. at the Recovery Room, followed by a few pitchers of beer and some very deep discussions, finally concluding around 8 o’clock.

On Fridays, people would gather in room 574 in Murphy Center for happy hours. It was known as “the pillow room,” and people would bring a few beers or whatever they wanted to drink, maybe some snacks, and hang out, relaxing at the end of a long week.

“It was such a great way to get to know people,” Dolder-Zieke said. “I honestly don’t remember anybody abusing it or getting out of hand.”

Dolder-Zieke felt so at home that after she graduated summa cum laude with her psychology degree in 1988, she stayed on at Viterbo, working in the career services department. In 1995, when she decided to take time off for child-rearing, she was assistant director of career services.

After a decade at home with her children, Margaret and Charlie, Dolder-Zieke went back to school, earning a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Winona State University.

They hadn’t forgotten Dolder-Zieke at Viterbo, and one day in 2005 she got a call from the university, asking her to come work for career services again. “I so wanted to come back,” she said. “I loved Viterbo.”

For the past 15 years, Dolder-Zieke has served as career services director, and she has relished all the time she has spent with students, not only advising them on career matters but getting a chance to teach classes in career planning, career counseling, and psychology.

College has become so much more career-oriented and vocational since Dolder-Zieke was a student, she said, and today’s students are under a lot more pressure to have their lives and careers figured out by the time they graduate. That makes what they do in career services even more important than it was when she first started.

“I have loved being in this position of being able to work with students who are discouraged and confused and help them find out who they really are. They’re like, ‘I’m all over the place, I don’t know what I want.’ You just tell them something about themselves that they already knew but they hadn’t thought about it,” Dolder-Zieke said. “We all have gifts. I believe we all have unique gifts, and we don’t always know what they are.”

Connectivity between students today also is a lot different from when Dolder-Zieke was a student and then working in career services the first time around. When she came back in 2005, a big thing had happened: the internet. She soon noticed that instead of students coming out of class deep in discussion with each other, they came out of class looking at their phones.

“Viterbo used to be such a tight community,” she said. “Back then, if somebody’s mother died, everybody knew about it. We don’t know each other as much anymore.”

For all that’s changed, Dolder-Zieke still harbors immense affection for Viterbo, and the university community reciprocates. Just weeks before her retirement, she was honored with the Employee of the Year Award. “That was really validating. To be recognized by your peers is the greatest honor ever,” she said.

Dolder-Zieke isn’t sure what retirement will hold for her. Her immediate plan, she said, is to clean out the linen closet and win the prize for growing the biggest tomato at the Houston County Fair this summer. She has retained her mental health counseling licensure and might put that to use, but for now she’s happy to relax a little and reflect on her journey so far.

“I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would have,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been successful. I’ve had a very happy fulfilling career, and I got to work with amazing people. That, to me, is success.”