“World language at Price Laboratory School brought the world to our students and to Cedar Falls,” Mary Doyle regularly declared.

Her remarkable collaboration with international schools and work with University of Northern Iowa College of Education students had strong educational impact, not only on PLS elementary and secondary students, but also on countless prospective language teachers as well. 

Doyle was born August 13, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but lived in Marion, Iowa for most of her early days.  She graduated from Marion High School in 1973.  During high school she lived for 6 months as a foreign exchange student in Colima, Mexico through the Experiment in International Living program—an experience that sparked her love for languages and foreign travel.

Influence of Lab School Foreign Language Festival  

After participating in the Price Laboratory School statewide Foreign Language Festival in 1972, she made the decision to study at UNI and, in the fall of 1973 at age 17, started as a freshman at the university.  She completed a B.A. degree in 1977, majoring in both Spanish and French—and with a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) minor.  (To learn more about the PLS Foreign Language Festival, click here.)

She then continued at UNI to complete in 1980 a dual language M.A. in French and Spanish.  In the years that followed, Doyle earned many more graduate hours in French through the French Teacher’s Institute in Angers, France.  She also earned more than 80 credits in technology education through the Waterloo (Iowa) Community Schools.  Additional hours in pedagogy were earned over the course of a number of years, and she was awarded a Permanent Professional Teaching License by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

Doyle taught French in the UNI Modern Language Department as an adjunct from 1980 – 1981.  She then taught French, Spanish and TESOL at Waterloo Iowa’s West High School from 1981 to 2000, also serving as Foreign Language Department Chair for 12 years there.  While teaching at West High, Doyle led travel experiences to France ten times. She also taught in the Iowa Board of Regents Institute in Cahors, France in the summer of 1981 and participated in the UNI French Teachers Institute in Angers, France in 19 summer programs.

UNI and the Lab School Call

In the spring of 2000, the World Language Department at UNI reached out to Doyle and asked her to apply for a tenure track position at Price Laboratory School, teaching French and Spanish.  While sorry to leave her colleagues and students at West High School, she was very excited to take on new challenges, to become part of the PLS family, and to work with UNI teacher candidates at all levels in her classroom.

The first several years Doyle taught French 2 and 4, Spanish 1 and 3, and also the middle school Exploratory classes in both languages. (To read more on the innovative Exploratory Language Program, click on this link.)  As faculty shifted, she moved into teaching only Spanish 8^th  -  12^th grades.  Later she again taught the junior high Exploratory Language course several times.  

“I admire how Mary Doyle speaks both French and Spanish with ease,” says her colleague Lowell Hoeft.  “Many speakers of a non-native language may be capable of doing that with one language, but not two.”

When Hoeft moved into the position of Student Teaching Coordinator, Doyle took on the role of World Language Department Chair at PLS and served on the Executive Council.  She was involved in a number of job searches, served on Professional Assessment (PAC) committees, and represented PLS at campus meetings.

The Door Is Always Open

As did all PLS faculty, Doyle mentored and worked with UNI world language teaching majors at all levels, routinely working with six to eight “Level 2” students each semester, several “Level 1” and “Level 3” students each semester, and a number of student teachers as well.  She provided mentorship and created numerous opportunities for the prospective teachers to get actively involved in teaching in her classroom.  Many long lasting friendships grew out of these experiences.  

In 2008, Doyle worked with the Spanish Ambassador’s office in the U.S. to bring a visiting scholar to UNI and to PLS.  Cristina Herrera was a physical education teacher in Jaen, Spain and came to PLS for one semester to teach in the PLS P.E. Department and to make presentations in classes on campus and in Doyle’s classrooms.

With her PLS colleagues, Doyle hosted group sessions during the Price Lab Teacher’s Institute—a program created to offer professional sessions in a conference style setting for all students in the UNI College of Education.  She presented sessions on a wide range of topics including creating foreign exchange programs, teaching in the target language, and others—on occasion co-presenting with other faculty members.  

Where In The World!

Price Laboratory School nearly always was host to foreign exchange students from many different countries including Russia, France, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and more.  These students usually took another language at PLS, so Doyle taught French and Spanish to native speakers of other languages besides English. 

In the Spring of 2001, she followed in the footsteps of Lowell Hoeft and took a group of French 4 students to Montreal, Canada for a week at Spring Break.  Students were immersed in the French-Canadian speaking world, visiting many attractions and learning about the area.  (To read more on Lab School Trips and Exchanges, including photos from trips, click here.)

In 2003, Doyle reached out to create a new foreign exchange program, starting with a school in Temuco, Chile.  She worked with the school there to secure a host family for each of the 10 participating Lab School students and to plan a program of activities, excursions, and school participation for the students over the course of 14 days in Chile.

The following year that school closed; however, Doyle made contact with educator friends in Arica in northern Chile to create a new site there.  In nearly every year through the Lab School’s close in 2012, Doyle and a group of eight to twelve PLS Spanish students traveled to northern Chile and southern Peru for 2 ½ weeks in the spring semester, staying with host families, visiting school, and taking excursions.  In September of each year, the Chilean host families’ teenagers came to spend a month at PLS—likewise staying with host families, attending school, and taking excursions.

Service Matters

As with all Price Lab faculty and staff, Doyle made service a priority in her work.  At PLS she served on the Principal’s Advisory Committee for 9 years, working with other Department Chairs and administrators to shape the course for the school and the PLS community.  She represented PLS in area schools for Professional Development activities through Professional Learning Communities and other PD meetings.  Doyle also often co-taught and presented to area world language classes. 

In service to the UNI College of Education during her years at PLS, Doyle was a member of the Dean’s Diversity Committee. She also took part in faculty focus groups from time to time.

On the state level, Doyle was a member of IWLA—the Iowa World Language Association—and presented yearly at the fall IWLA conferences.  She served as Exhibition Chair for the IWLA Conference for 5 years.  She also represented PLS and IWLA as the state representative to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) for 2 years in 2008 and 2009.  She served on the board for the Central States Foreign Language Conference for 3 years as well.

Internationally, Doyle represented PLS and Iowa when in Temuco, Chile and Arica, Chile.  There, she also provided professional development to teachers and administrators in several high schools as well as serving as a resource in the restructuring of the TESOL Department at the Universidad de Tarapaca in Arica.  She often worked with the teachers in the Methods courses there, too.

“Mary was a leader in the Lab School and a leader in the world beyond,” says Dr. Lyn Countryman, Doyle’s teaching colleague at the school for many years and Director of the Lab School from 2010 to its closing in 2012.  “She always had a ready smile and a willing heart, giving much to the students at Northern University Middle School and High School.” 

Following the closing of the Laboratory School in 2012, Doyle moved into the position of Field Experience Coordinator in UNI’s College of Education.  She taught “Level 1” seminars, placed UNI students, and supervised in-school experiences.  She also taught “Level 2” seminars and supervised in-school experiences for 10 years until her retirement in June 2022.  During these years, Doyle worked with the Regent’s Rapid License (RAPIL) Program working with 3 candidates throughout several years.

As noted at the start, Mary Doyle often reminded folks that Price Laboratory School’s world language program “brought the world to our students and to Cedar Falls.” And then she would add: “It also took our students across the world.”