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- Dr. Dick Puglisi
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Dick Puglisi
DP: Well, I have to tell you that it was something I felt very strongly about. A driving force of the center from the very beginning is was recognition that K-12 educators are tremendously valuable and dedicated people, and they need to be treated in an appropriate manner. This notion seems to be lacking in their pay and work conditions, and so forth. A very strong belief of mine was to treat teachers as first-class citizens. The physical setting needed to be part of the customer service model we have created at the Stavros Center. Because we believed that K-12 teachers were special people, we believed that the building where they would receive their professional development should be special as well. I was able to accomplish this without too much difficulty because Gus and the other private donors were supportive of this idea. The furniture, the look, the feel are all first-rate along with the way they are treated. We run it as a business model with teachers being our customers. It is a customer-centered model.
LB: Over the years, you have served with a number of deans of the College of Education.
DP: I have served with six deans. The Stavros Center started under Bill Katzenmeyer. Bill was supportive of our relationship with the business community. It was his view that business contacts made through my role as center director could be beneficial to the College if I also served in the role as assistant dean for business partnerships. It made a lot of sense, and I was eager to do anything I could to help the College, so I became the Assistant Dean of Business Relations in the College.
There have been several occasions when businessmen have been able to help us. I remember a legislator who had proposed legislative action to abolish colleges of education. Bill called me and said he would like to talk to Gus Stavros and other businessmen in the area. Bill contacted several business leaders who then lobbied against the legislator’s proposed bill. The governor doesn’t call the dean or me, but he calls business leaders for advice. Gus Stavros in particular had very positive influences with Governor Lawton Chiles and Governor Jeb Bush which were very helpful to education.
LB: I know there were challenges along the way. Were there any that stand out for the center or the College?
DP: Well, there are always challenges. I can remember the challenges which forced the National Resource Center for Middle School Education, and after the second year we lost our state funding. We knew we had a quality program, but faced the reality that we had no more state funding. I remember Sandra Schurr in my office and she was very depressed. We decided that we were going to make it work so we pulled out every resource we could. We did so by charging for educational services, and soon we were selling all over the world.
Another time, a few years ago, the College underwent some severe budget cuts. At one of our board meetings I mentioned that our program would need to be cut. Within 30 minutes after the meeting, I received a call from a couple of our board members saying they would contribute $25,000 so the Stavros Center would not have to cut its program. We have made some tremendous relationships over the years with some great business leaders. Just a few weeks ago, we received the Tampa Bank of America Excellence in Neighborhood Excellence Award for $100,000.
There are always challenges to keep our K-12 population engaged. FCAT has been a huge challenge and not in a positive way. Many things are “crowded out” of the curricula. Principles make it clear they don’t want their school to be anything less than an “A” school, don’t get involved in anything that is a challenge. We need to be creative and look at ways we can meet the needs of K-12 teachers.