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- Dr. Phil Pfost
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Phil Pfost
LB: You mentioned that the University was over-enrolled in terms of dormitory space.
PP: Then they had two dormitories.
LB: Exactly. That fits in with what Bob Grindey shared with us. He recruited swimmers from all over the country. When they got here, they couldn’t be housed on campus. They were sent over to the St. Petersburg campus.
PP: Oh, did they go over there to live?
LB: Yes. He had to go over there and have swim practice with them in the morning at the St. Petersburg Campus and swim practice with the rest of the team here in Tampa in the afternoon. He said, “Could you imagine our football team today being sent off-campus for housing because there’s a limited amount of space?”
PP: So that was during that time. I don’t know whether it was for one year or two years that occurred. I think it only lasted one year. Then they brought them back to the campus, and I asked Les what they did with those students over there. I said, “Did they bus them over here to class?” He said, “No.” Since they were all freshmen, faculty actually went there and taught the students, taught the classes right there on that campus. That was something I didn’t know until Les and I were talking about three weeks ago. Because we were reminiscing about what you were doing with this oral history and Lester goes back because he came here in ‘64 from the University of Alabama.
LB: If you would, I would like you to pass sentiments on to future students of the College of Education who are aspiring to become teachers. What words of wisdom would you give them as they enter the College of Education?
PP: Well, I think they are entering a field where we traditionally thought of teachers as being very dedicated as public servants. You are entering a field where the financial enumeration will never be great. I think it’s a challenge to be a teacher of children or young people. Funny, I was an elementary teacher, but when they talk about secondary school, they talk about children. I kind of resent that. I think these are young people, not children.
We have many schools in this country where students come from the inner city or rural poor areas where they are disadvantaged economically and socially. The challenge of teaching those children is great, and we are certainly a long ways from coming anywhere near meeting their needs.
There are those who believe that the schools can overcome what the home doesn’t give those children. I think people lay far too much responsibility on teachers in the public schools. On the other hand, I can’t say we should ignore the challenges. I felt that way when I was a young teacher and a principal. I used to say you know we can’t cure all the problems of your children and yet as a teacher and principal in a relatively small system, we made an attempt to do that.
Our governing bodies, our legislature, our Congress from the national level just keep laying more and more odious paperwork on teachers. I guess it’s not just teachers. Everywhere you go you there is paperwork. Well, the Paper Reduction Act has not yet reached teachers, so I would say to the young people you have your eyes open, you will have to put up with a lot of bureaucracy that you shouldn’t have to. Your principle job is to teach children and not meet the mandatory requirements whether it’s from the governor or the legislature. Try to keep that foremost in mind because if you don’t watch it, you’ll believe the only thing you’re there for is to do all the paperwork. That’s not very optimistic.
LB: That’s good advice, though. That’s the important thing. You served under all the presidents that have been here except for Judy Genshaft.
PP: Yes.
LB: How did you find things changed from one president to the next? Were you and your colleagues affected greatly?
PP: Not sure whether we felt big changes as a result of different presidents or not. I found some presidents made really vigorous attempts to get to know faculty. When you and I came, there were 250 faculty members. I think, is it 2,500 faculty members today? The president can’t possibly know everyone. The first years I was here I made some very strong friendships over in Chemistry, in the College of Natural Sciences, two people there became very close friends because we served in the University Senate. Jim Ray, who later served as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, was the first faculty marshal. As a result of him being that, I attended every honors convocation and graduation for 15 years as a faculty marshal. That’s what happens when you get to know other faculty.
LB: You were representing the College of Education.
PP: Yes, I was representing the College of Education. I remember talking to Frank Borkowski. Frank tried to have a faculty activity once a year, kind of informal, and I was expressing the concern that so many retired staff and faculty at this University at that time seemed to believe that the University didn’t really care for them, and I didn’t understand that. My idea was a collegial atmosphere in which everyone cares for everyone else. Whether it was someone who sweeps the floors or someone who is a faculty member, that person is important. That’s probably a naive attitude, but I still like that attitude. I think probably the dean and the College’s department chairs had more influence on individual faculty than the president and the provost, who is the chief academic officer.
LB: Now, who were the deans you served under and with?
PP: Oh, I missed two or three of the last ones I served through Bill Katzenmeyer.
LB: You missed the last three.
PP: I missed the last three deans. I’ve been around close enough that I knew who they were.
LB: Certainly with Jean Battle, Jim Dickinson, and Roger Wilk.
PP: Of course Bill Katzenmeyer, who served as the dean for the College for 16 years, which was by far the longest in that position. I seriously doubt anyone is going to be a dean for 16 years anymore. I think everyone who accepts an administrative position has to understand that someone will walk in and say, you know, it’s time for you to step out. If you accept that attitude then you’re doing pretty well.
LB: Not to take it personally.
PP: That’s right. Don’t take it personally. It’s going to happen to you. I believe that it should happen, by the way.
LB: Any questions that I have not asked that you were ready to answer or would like to share?
PP: No, I think as I look back the relationships with colleagues will last a lifetime. And I’m also like most of us that are old timers. We look back and kind of say, maybe we were here in the glory days.
LB: I heard that statement a lot of times.
PP: Well, you can carry that too far. It’s obvious the University today, by reading the paper, with 250 million dollars worth of outside funding is different. As the University becomes larger and engages in more and more research and graduate education, it’s much more difficult to put emphasis on undergraduate education. You and I both lived through a time when we were predominately an undergraduate institution. One time we had a thousand graduates in from the Department of Elementary Education each year. We were a big program, over 2,000 students in that program. That has changed. The emphasis on graduate education, I’m not saying that is totally true, but that’s what happens to undergraduate education in a university. It gets relegated to graduate assistants, who may do a better job teaching than the faculty, so it’s not all bad.
LB: I appreciate very much you coming in this morning and sharing this with us and giving us the benefit of your experience and your perceptions, as it will become part of the 50-year History Project of the College of Education.