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- Dr. Phil Pfost
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Phil Pfost
LB: You spent some time in the Dean’s Office in addition to your administrative responsibilities in director of teacher education centers. What were those roles?
PP: In ‘72-‘73 we had done a search, and we were bringing a dean in, but he couldn’t come at that time, and they asked Jim Dickinson to be the dean, and he asked me if I would serve as his assistant dean. Talk about differences. That was it. We had a dean, an assistant dean, and a finance person and that was pretty much the staff in the Dean’s Office. After that year, I agreed to work with Roger Wilk, and I worked with him two years as an associate dean. At that time we had three associate deans, and we had an assistant dean that worked with finance, so the staff expanded immensely, but that first year was really interesting for Jim Dickinson and me. I was teaching two graduate courses that summer, and Jim walked in and said, “Would you help me out and serve as my assistant dean during this year?” I said, “Yes, I’ll do it Jimmy. But you know I’m scheduled to teach two graduate courses, and I don’t think that we have anyone to take my place.” You don’t find faculty members overnight. We went to the Dean’s Office, and we walked in downstairs and sat down in that office. The two of us looked at each other and kind of said, “We will do what we have to do.” We discovered very quickly that we would work from 7 a.m. to 6:30 or 7 p.m., seven days a week that year. It was an exciting year because both of us were learning.
LB: Was that right before Bill Katzenmeyer?
PP: That was before Roger Wilk.
LB: Oh, right before Roger Wilk. It seems that people think, well, if you’re in an administrative position, you’re no longer a teacher, but you, I’m sure you continued to teach your courses.
PP: There wasn’t anyone to teach those two courses, so I taught those two courses.
LB: What are you most proud of in terms of your personal achievements or achievement for your department, so forth? For all those years, I know you’ve contributed much in different ways. Any one thing stand out that you did?
PP: Well, one thing I was proud of, I think, is the faculty that I worked with, whether as their colleague or as their department chair or when I was serving as an associate dean in the College. People felt I was fair and dealt with people fairly. I’ve always been known to express my views, and some people used to say to me, “Why don’t you become a team player?” I feel I am a team player, but I believe as a member of the team I have a right to participate. For the 40 years that I worked in education, I was certainly dedicated to the proposition of education for all people. I know we have to educate our bright kids, but if we don’t educate our masses, we’re going to be left out. Therefore, I’m a strong proponent of public education. As I mentioned to you when we were talking earlier, you and I both grew up in Louisiana. We both went to college in Louisiana when there was no such thing as tuition. Remember we talked about paying a $7 registration fee. I remember people asking me when I was in the Navy what tuition was in Louisiana, and I said, “$7 a semester,” and they kind of laughed. I think my belief that everyone who has the ability should have an opportunity for an education prevailed in my thinking, and still does, even though I’ve been retired for 13 years. I think we can afford to waste energy in some ways, but I don’t think we can waste intellectual ability. I’ve always been a strong proponent. Everyone doesn’t agree with me on that, and I understand.
LB: I’m sure you have many memories and interesting stories, some of which you can share with us and some you cannot, but I wonder if there are any in particular, maybe even humorous ones that stand out, that occurred over the years at USF or the College?
PP: Oh, I don’t know. I will tell you a little bit of humor. Before we occupied the new College of Education building in the spring of 1968, Roger Johnson and I had come to the St. Pete campus in the fall with two teams over there. These were elementary education teams, and as it turned out as soon as we moved into the new College of Education building, we immediately realized that it wasn’t big enough for the faculty. In fact, you folks in physical education didn’t come over at all, and we immediately had faculty going to the other building. I don’t know whether the Faculty Office Building was built or not, but I think it was. Anyway, in someone’s infinite wisdom, they assigned Roger Johnson and me to the same office because they had an office on the Bayboro campus. There were three big maritime buildings over there and about five people. We could have 50 offices over there, but anyway, for years we were known as Johnson Pfost. Literally there were people who thought we were the same person. If Johnson Pfost existed as one person, they would come looking for him, and we’d tell them no, there is no Dr. Johnson Pfost. It got into the university directory that way one year. You know how those things happen.
LB: On the Bayboro campus, was Les Tuttle the Dean at that time when you were over there?
PP: No. There was no dean. That happened two or three years later.
LB: Really? You were there before Les?
PP: Yes and no. The arrangement under which we were allowed to take over the St. Petersburg Campus was that we would have some students over there. Les Tuttle told me the day before I came that the University over-enrolled its freshmen class. Of course we didn’t have many dormitories on this campus. This was before you and I came. They over-enrolled freshmen by 200 more students than they had space for here. They went to the St. Petersburg campus and took one of the old barracks and converted it to a dormitory for freshmen students. They stayed over there for a year, and when space opened up over here, they came to the Tampa campus. I think it was the year after that you and I came, and I taught on that campus. I always taught on that campus quite a bit because we had a lot of reading courses for Pinellas County teachers over there. Of course, you and I both worked with undergraduates, but we worked equally as much or more with teachers in graduate courses.
We had two groups of students over there in elementary education. Interestingly, they were called more “mature” students. They really weren’t old. They were young mothers. The whole class was made up of women, except for one young man, who were in their middle to late twenties with children, and by us going over there we gave them an opportunity to go to school. It turned out of that first class there were several of them that I knew who now hold supervisory positions in Pinellas County schools. They were an exceptionally bright young group of kids that weren’t kids, young women who went back to school because we provided that opportunity. John Allen decided to establish that as a campus. It was probably around 1969, maybe 1970, and so suddenly Les Tuttle became the dean of all the off-campus programs. He also had Sarasota. I remember they referred to him as the “boy dean.” Les looked so incredibly young in those days. The same year that you and I came, Cal Craig also came. He came from Hillsborough County and became director of the internship program. Cal tells his favorite story that 27 people were sitting around, and this young man came and started talking, and Cal looked at this guy and he says, “He looks like he ought to be in high school.” He said he was incredibly bright. Cal tells that tale to this day. I still see Cal quite often. He talks about this guy who looked like he ought to be a high school student who came in and talked to us, and he thought, I never heard anybody with a vocabulary like that. The young man was, of course, Les Tuttle.