Dorothy Walker
Dorothy Walker broke the glass ceiling even before most people knew one existed. Hers is a story of sacrifice, perseverance and inspiration. Born in Brighton, Tennessee, the daughter of a sharecropper, no one imagined or expected—not even Walker—that she would one day become a dean at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).
“My parents raised seven children and I was the second oldest. We attended all-Black schools and we grew up on a farm raising most of our food. We were poor, but we didn’t know it because all our needs were met. We had a close-knit family where we visited our grandparents and great grandparents on a regular basis. We also went to church and had to participate in church activities. If we didn’t participate in church activities, we couldn’t do other things. That’s just how my parents where. My father was very sickly, so the bulk of taking care of the children fell on my mother. She also worked in White people’s home, cooking and cleaning,” said Walker.
Education was a priority in the Walker household. While some landowners wanted the children to work long days year-round, Walker’s mother — who left school after seventh grade — insisted that her children get an education. She wanted to ensure that they had a better and easier life than she did, so during the school year, the children boarded a yellow bus that took them to an all-black, two-room schoolhouse.
As they grew up, the oldest Walker children moved to Indiana, found jobs, eventually bought their parents a home and moved them to Indiana. Walker said that she made some bad choices and ended up a single mom, but after looking for a family-supporting job, ended up working in manufacturing in the RV industry, where she learned welding.
“In the 70s Elkhart, Indiana was the recreational vehicle capital of the world, so I was able to learn welding on the job and did it really well. As the gas prices began to increase along came the oil and gas embargo, and RV sells slumped. Nobody was purchasing them and companies started laying people off. I lost my job in Indiana and ended up moving to Milwaukee,” said Walker.
Walker looked and worked several jobs, even had to go on welfare for a while, as she searched for employment that would enable her to support her daughter and the nieces she was helping raise. Then one day she learned about a program at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
“I started taking welding class there and really learned how to read blue prints and set up machines. When I worked in Indiana, I knew what to do, but I didn’t know why until I took those classes. I honed my craft and became more employable. I worked at Harley-Davidson, the Heil Company, Milwaukee Road and eventually ended up at Koehring Company,” said Walker.
Reminiscent of Beverly Johnson’s plight in the movie ‘Hidden Figures’, it was so unusual to have women welders at that time, that there was no restroom on the shop floor for Walker to use. She had to walk across the street and over to the office area to use the bathroom that secretaries used.
“I really didn’t think of welding as a career. I started out just trying to get a good paying job to take care of my family. Nothing is guaranteed, but when opportunities present themselves, you have to be ready to step into them, even if you’re not totally prepared. That’s what happened with me. My teachers got to know me in the classes I took and recognized my potential even before I did. The Associate Dean in the Manufacturing area asked if I would be interested in teaching other women to learn welding I immediately said no, because I had no background in teaching. He later contacted the person who headed up the Women’s Bureau and asked her to talk to me about teaching welding. When Ms. Marian Medley called I was still hesitant but told, but she told me that this was too good of an opportunity to turn down. She offered to walk me through the process of taking professional development classes on teaching methods, curriculum development and other areas related to teaching and assured me that I could take classes that could help me become a good teacher.
“I believe that I was placed on this earth for a reason, and that God had opened this door for me, so I took on the challenge. You can’t just walk into an educational institution with no degree or academic training and become a teacher. God had a purpose for me here and as look at all the things He has allowed me to do and made a difference in the lives of so many students over the years, even some of their children I it is a great felling I believe I’m still here for a purpose,” said Walker.
With the help of a federal grant, Walker started out teaching other women how to weld and after the first group graduated, she used her connections and reputation to find them jobs at companies like Koehring Company. She was able to do that, thanks to her great reputation for being a good welder. When the grant was over, Walker moved into a permanent full-time teaching position and became the first female welding instructor at MATC. From there, she taught welding for 16 years before moving into administration, where she became the apprentice coordinator for the college.
“I worked with a lot of manufacturing and construction companies, connecting people with apprentice programs in the construction trades—particularly people of color—and after two years I became the assistant dean and associate dean overseeing curriculum,” she said.
Today, Walker is over the entire School of Technology and Applied Science (which includes Construction, Manufacturing, Automotive, Transpiration, Engineering; Electronics (Protective services, i.e., Fire, EMT and Police officers), Walker has also received academic degrees to back up her skill set. She has an Associate’s Degree in Welding from MATC, a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocational and Technical Education from the University of WI-Stout, and over 40 credits at the Master’s Level at the University of WI-Stout.
“Over the years, I have spent a lot of time encouraging young people to look at the trades and nontraditional opportunities to earn family sustaining wages. Single moms don’t realize these types of job pay excellent salaries and have great benefits. It’s not that young women can’t do these jobs; they simply are not exposed to them. Working in the trades doesn’t mean you stay there—you can go on to become an engineer or work in construction and learn how to run you own construction company There’s a broad career path that exists to people in the trades,” said Walker.
Walker said that annually MATC hosts activities for the Girl Scouts, where 100-150 girls come in, learn about nontraditional careers, and are able to see what some of these areas entail.
“We have partnered with the Department of Corrections and the House of Corrections with the reentry program at MATC where we bring individuals who are incarcerated onto the campus and teach them the trades to help them so that when they re-enter society they don’t go back to the same lifestyle. We give them an opportunity to learn something different, which can help change their perspective and help them realize they are capable of learning and making changes in their lives as well as the lives of their children and become better parents. Society should understand we all deserve a second chance. Even when mistakes are made, everyone still deserves another opportunity. It should not mean that society gives up on you. These individuals are able to acquire skills and get family-sustaining jobs when they return to their community,” said Walker.
Married and the mother of an adult daughter and an adult granddaughter and a great grandson, she has had an influence on three generations of her family and enjoyed seeing nieces and nephews grow and mature, not only physically but also spiritually as well. Walker is also active in her church—Community Baptist Church—and works with several community-based organizations.
“My passion is to change a generation of children to help them realize who they are and who they can be, to help in the community by working with various organizations and providing information about opportunities available through MATC. I want to get that information to our people to get people on career tracks, especially students in middle and high school. We need to reach our young children early to help them understand that the trades and manufacturing jobs are all viable career paths and offer good paying job opportunities and benefits,” said Walker.
Leave a Reply