graduating from the Seminary College, Fick went on to study English literature at St. Louis University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Ohio State University, where he completed his doctoral studies in 1951. In 1958 Fick was appointed to the first level of Monsignorate by Rome. He would be appointed to the second level in 1967. For twenty-one years, 1948–1969, Monsignor Fick also taught English at the College of St. Mary of the Springs, (now Ohio Dominican University). Fick was immensely popular among students, introducing them to literary classics, creative writing, research and drama. A Monsignor Fick literary committee still meets at Ohio Dominican in his honor. He was also a moderator of several literary clubs formed by graduates. He addressed the seminary section at meetings of the National Catholic Education Association and helped other seminaries as a member of various teams that were sent to inspect the status of vocational education by the US Bishops' Committee on Priestly Formation. Fick was named chairman of the English Department of the College in 1952. In 1958 he was named academic dean. He served as Vice Rector of the combined schools of the Josephinum Campus from 1969 until 1989. Teaching Because Fick had traveled much in his studies, he had the opportunity to meet well-known American authors including William Faulkner whom he met in a coffee house favored by the literary set in New York City. Sometimes, to illustrate a point in the classroom, Fick would make references to one of these encounters. When a student grew discouraged at the amounts of red ink expended on their term papers and essays, Fick would typically tell the student to persist in his or her efforts, reminding the student that "Knowledge maketh a bloody entrance," or similar quips. As editor of The Josephinum Review, he had a standing bet with his students to pay a dollar if anyone could find a single grammatical mistake. Never one to mince words, in the midst of an attack on an alleged grammatical "mistake" in his magazine, he told one student that he "had the tact of a wet noodle." At times, vice rectors of the Josephinum (the apostolic delegate to the United States was the nominal rector) restricted students' access to "worldly literature." One such episode occurred after a visit of Bishop Joseph Mark McShea of Allentown, Pennsylvania, that led to a new vice rector,