Name: Dante Pelzer
Major: High Education and Student Affairs, Ph.D. Program
Profession: Student Affairs Professional; Residence Coordinator
Hometown: Historic Port City of Charleston, South Carolina
Courtesy: Dante Pelzer
Her Campus (HC): How did you get into student affairs?
Dante Pelzer (DP): Funny story; my wife, who I’ve been dating since January of 2003… I was hanging out in her residence hall dorm at the University of South Carolina and she was going to an RA (Resident Assistant) info session. The policy in her residence hall was that students of the opposite sex, or actually, any guest, has to be escorted out of the building if they weren’t with their host resident. I didn’t want to go to the RA meeting, I wasn’t trying to be an RA, so I was going to go back to my dorm. But then I thought about it: check out, wait an hour to check back in, so I said “what the heck, I’ll just go to the meeting with [my wife]” so I didn’t have to check out.
So I went to the RA meeting not interested but in order to avoid checking in and out of the hall, and then I started hearing the perks. You get your own room, you get paid, you get a little bit off your meal plan, and I started to think that it was a pretty sweet deal. And so I did it, I applied to be an RA because I was lazy and I didn’t want to check out of her residence hall.
I applied, I interviewed and I got the job. It wasn’t until I became an RA that I saw the impact I could have on students through conversation and talkative programming. That was my fore into higher education, but what made me want to do this as a profession was being a fraternity man. Seeing my fraternity brothers enter the institution and not really have support, not really knowing how to navigate different parts of campus, and seeing no one there to catch them when they were falling. Some folks dropped out of school for financial reasons, some folks dropped out because of grades. It was disheartening to see no one associated with the institution actively trying to assist these men.
That frustrated me, so I talked to my supervisor, who was the director of my area of campus in res life about my frustrations. He said, “you know what, this is what I do. I have a degree in doing what you’re talking about”, and that’s how I got introduced to a masters degree in student affairs and student development and that is what blazed the trail I’m on now, getting this Ph.D.
HC: What is the most fulfilling part of your job? Or, perhaps a moment where you think “this is what I do this for?”
DP: I can’t say there’s one particular moment out of others, but it is a moment that does happen often. It’s when students who have no direct connection with me through a job (a non-RA person) just decide that something I said or something I did cultivates a mentoring relationship. To me, that’s the part of the job that is the most gratifying. Mentoring is not part of my job description, I could go throughout my entire day and still be a heck of a housing professional without ever mentoring someone on a professional and personal level. So that’s what I find rewarding in doing my job, the ability to mentor students, particularly those who do not work for me. That’s when it’s natural, it’s organic and I can kind of be more off-the-cuff because there’s no employer-employee relationship.
Those are very rewarding. Those are the kinds of candid conversations that weren’t happening with my fraternity brothers. Being a mentor both personally and professionally in higher education is the best part of what I do.
HC: What is the most difficult part of what you do?
DP: I think the most difficult part is trying to explain to students why certain policies or procedures exist and how they benefit the community as a whole. Some folks have this Animal House movie trope in their head of what a college experience is supposed to be, especially in the residence halls. Having to explain to students that we want them to have a lot of fun but still pay attention to the community standards that we have is always a difficult conversation. I come across as the party-pooper, even though I understand they want to hang out and have fun. I have a job to do, and those conversations can be pretty difficult and that’s not fun.
HC: What’s next for you, professionally and personally?
DP: I am currently “living in my next” as I like to say, because I have a two-month-old daughter and that is a really big deal. That was part of the life plan my wife and I did, when we were here for a couple of years we talked about starting a family and doing that in a residence hall with a kid and we did that. Every day is like a next – we have an infant. Every day is growth, development, and she wows me everyday. Professionally, I’m wrapping up my Ph.D. I’m in the dissertation phase and hopefully I’ll be collecting data and doing interviews and doing research once I get approval from the university so I’m excited about those possibilities. Hopefully by this time next year I will be finished with my dissertation, I’ll defend it and I’ll be a doctor. That will be a pretty nice feeling.
HC: Is there anything you’re working on for FSU right now, or something you’re growing with your PhD and career?
DP: I’m in my fifth year here at Florida State and it will probably be my last year. Just because my wife is also a student here at Florida State in a Ph.D. program and she’ll definitely be graduating in May, so we’ll be following her, wherever her career leads her. So this is my last year at Florida State and knowing that is allowing me to really set goals for myself to impart change within the department. There’ll be some things that have come to my attention or things I’ve witnessed throughout the year and now I feel that I finally have the institutional knowledge and the agency to do some things about that whether it’s from the student perspective or from policy or how RAs do their work. I am more intent on ways that I can leave an impact on the student population of housing and staff members. I feel very empowered in my last year to leave something impactful behind me, so we’ll see.
HC: What is one thing college students should know, whether that be wisdom you wish to impart to them or to clear up any misconceptions they may have?
DP: Students, specifically FSU students seem to try and rush the college experience. This is probably because a lot of students are very bright and come into the institution with a lot of hours. I’ve heard lots of stories of “I can graduate in three years” and “I can graduate a semester early.” You have your whole life to be an adult, to be a working professional. Don’t rush these four to five years. Let it breathe, let it simmer, put it on low and enjoy this time. Once you have graduated from undergrad, whether you begin working or pursue a masters degree or doctorate degree, once you finish these four or five years, that is an experience you can never have again. You’ll figure it out, but in the meantime stop, look around and soak this in because it only happens once.