Humanities Friend Spotlight:

Family, Buckeye Tradition, and a Continuous Eye on the Future

Sharon Schweitzer knows where she got her start, her ambition, and her drive. Her mother Evelyn Laga Schweitzer planted the seeds of success by emphasizing to her daughter the importance of thinking about the future, each and every day. When Sharon was young, her mother gave her a book with the inscription "your future lies before you, like drifts of deep white snow, be careful how you treat it, for every step will show." Her mother’s life philosophy helped guide Sharon to be a woman of distinction and the accomplished Buckeye Alumna she is today.

The Buckeye Tradition runs deep in the Schweitzer family. It started before Sharon was born; her father Theodore and his parents Dorothy Drexler and Leonard Schweitzer were all Ohioans. Naturally, Sharon chose Ohio State as her university home. So did her brothers Eric and Craig—and all three majored in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

After graduating from The Ohio State University, Sharon went on to attend South Texas College of Law on an Advocacy Scholarship and received her J.D. in 1989. She is board certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a trained Mediator, a certified Professional in Human Resources (P.H.R), and certified as both a Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant and as a Children’s Etiquette Consultant. Currently, Schweitzer is the President of the Protocol Center of Texas in Austin, Texas.

Though her degree is from our sister college, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Schweitzer’s passion lies in the humanities. She is extremely proud of her Czech heritage and is thrilled Ohio State has one of the largest Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures programs in the United States. She recently traveled to the Czech Republic and studied with several Ohio State students as they participated in the Intensive Czech Language Summer Program at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. This trip gave Schweitzer the opportunity to learn more about Jozef and Jan Uprka, Sister Alzbeta Uprka, and sculptor Frantisek Uprka, all ancestors of Sharon’s on her mother’s side. Schweitzer has recently endowed The Uprka-Laga-Schweitzer Fund in Czech Studies.

The College is happy that this Buckeye has elected to be part of the Humanities family.