The Ripple Effect of One Professor's Kindness
Editors Note: Tracy Doryland passed away November 6, 2025. He will be profoundly missed by his Embry-Riddle family and all others who had the fortune of knowing him. His legacy of service to his students and his university will be felt for generations to come.
“Generational wealth” isn’t just about individual families. It can also describe the gifts inspired by a professor who has been a friend and mentor to emerging engineers for more than 40 years. And these graduates are paying back that generosity of spirit by endowing a scholarship in the name of the professor and his wife.
When retired Brig. Gen. Tom Trask (’84) thinks back on his years as a young aeronautical engineering student at Embry-Riddle’s Prescott Campus, he doesn’t picture a classroom or a test. He remembers one professor and his wife.
“Professor Tracy Doryland was teaching the very first aeronautical engineering classes the campus ever offered,” Trask recalled. “We were literally doing every single class for the first time it was taught. Tracy was teaching all the early courses himself before new faculty were hired. We weren’t just his students; we were part of building the program with him.”
That spirit of collaboration and care defined the early years of Prescott. The campus was small, the desert sky was wide, and the relationships were personal. Tracy Doryland, a former Navy helicopter pilot and flight-test engineer, had joined Embry-Riddle in the late 1970s and helped launch the university’s first full engineering program. He brought with him not just a command of aerodynamics and design, but a sense of discipline honed in the cockpit and compassion shaped by service.
Together with his wife, Nancy — often described by alumni as “the good cop” to Tracy’s firm but fair demeanor — he became a steady presence for students far from home. “Nancy was the one who made sure we were getting fed,” Trask remembered. “Tracy was the one cracking the whip and keeping us in line — they balanced each other perfectly.”
To their students, the Dorylands offered something deeper than coursework: belonging. “They were surrogate parents for many of us,” remembered 1984 graduate Peg Billson. “Their guidance and stability made a difference to generations of aspiring engineers as they became productive citizens.”
That mentorship extended far beyond graduation. “We had a mini-reunion in Greece not long ago — five of us from that original class,” Trask said. “We even called Tracy and Nancy while we were there. After forty years, they’re still part of our lives.”
Charles Story (’84) echoes the sentiment. Married and raising two children while completing his degree, he credits the Dorylands with seeing potential others might have overlooked. “They took us in,” he said. “They treated everyone with respect and dignity, no matter who you were. I give credit for most of my career to my wife — and to Tracy and Nancy.”
In 2018, Embry-Riddle rededicated Prescott’s wind tunnel as the Nancy and Tracy Doryland Wind Tunnel, recognizing not just the professor who helped build the university’s first engineering curriculum, but the partnership that sustained it. That same year, alumnus Pantelis Vassiliou (’86) created the Nancy and Tracy Doryland Aerospace Engineering Faculty Support Endowment, pledging to match up to $50,000 a year to support the next generation of educators and students inspired by the Dorylands’ example.
At the ceremony, Tracy deflected praise toward his wife. “Without her love and support and encouragement, I couldn’t have done anything that I did here, or in my life,” he said. Nancy added quietly, “Thank all of you for your love and your care over the years. It was wonderful of you all to do this. Thank you.”
A couple willing to listen, guide and open their home delivered more than a respected engineering program. Embry-Riddle gained a network of engineers who still call one another family, and a legacy of mentorship that continues to shape leaders, lift communities and build the future of flight.