On a sunny fall morning, Salisa Olmsted drove up in her blue Miata to Peterson Park, not ready to return to Lake Land College (LLC) for an interview. Olmsted had been a professor at LLC since the Spring of 1986 as an adjunct. She became a full-time professor in 1993 and has viewed LLC as her home ever since.
A buzzy bee was also interested in hearing the life story of Olmsted as one kept interrupting our interview. Olmsted laughed and remained calm when the little bee landed on her hair. “It probably likes my shampoo or hairspray!” She chuckled and continued speaking about her first semester at Lake Land. “Of course, the first semester I started teaching was when there was a strike going on. I was asked to teach my class but also asked not to cross the picket line. I did not know what to do because I wanted to please both sides without angering the other.” Her solution was to teach her class off campus, this way she would not be crossing the picket line but also fulfilling her teaching job.
While an adjunct at Lake Land, she taught at Eastern Illinois University full-time. After her fifth year at Eastern, Olmsted wanted to return to her home of Lake Land but full-time. She spoke with the president of LLC and was advised to get a second master’s degree in English. So, she decided to do just that and luck would be on her side as a full-time position at Lake Land was advertised in fall of 1992. The position was exactly what Olmsted had gone to school for: English and speech. Out of the 58 candidates, they narrowed it down to Olmsted and one other. However, because Olmsted already had a master’s degree in speech and was working on her English master’s degree she was hired.
Ever since, Olmsted has been the buzz of campus with her glittery, out-of-the-box outfits and bubbly personality. “I wanted to return to Lake Land because I had such good memories of being a student here. I really owe my speech teacher, Bill Osier, a thank you. He really helped me in deciding to get my degree because originally, I was going to do cosmetology. He pulled me into his office one day and asked why I was doing that…” Osier had seen something in Olmsted that she did not see in herself. That day, he called the cosmetology department and had her taken off the waitlist to get in and the rest is buzzing with fond memories.
