By Nekieta Taylor-Hunley
Published on October 10, 2007
As I walked into the president’s office, I was greeted by Pat Crews and Sharon Sanders, staff assistants to the president. Between the two, the kindness that they displayed filled the office. It would seem that the only goal that they have is to make any and everyone that visits the president of Pensacola Junior College feel at home.
Within minutes Dr. G. Thomas Delaino came out with a great big Santa smile and welcomed me into his office. Delaino is so humble that he offered me his “big” chair.
The first thing that caught my eye were three pictures on the wall. One picture was of an old rustic motel sign, with a road next to it. The second picture, was a red lighthouse outside of a window.
The last picture was my favorite, only, because you wouldn’t expect to see it in the president’s office. It shows the side of an old blue and white trailer surrounded by bushes with a single branch of pink flowers adding a hint of softness and elegance.
All three pictures face the president, as a reminder perhaps of where he’s been, where he is, and just maybe where he’s headed.
Taking a brief look around the President’s office, evidence of the two things he loves were strategically placed – the Florida Gators and fishing.
We began the interview.
Q: How did you come to be President of PJC?
A: I went to the University of Florida as a freshman and I probably needed a community college as much as anybody for that transition process. As I went through my career there I discovered community colleges, and this was in the early 60’s. Community colleges in the state of Florida, most of them were just getting formed. PJC is one of the four oldest so it had been around for quite a while. Down in the central part of the state there weren’t any, and I thought that’s a great idea. I did a little study of it, (PJC) while I was doing my master’s work. As I worked with Dr. James Wattenbarger, it became clear that, that was what I wanted to do with my life. So then for the next 30 years I’ve done that. I worked with Santa Fe Community College for eight years. Came up here as a vice president about 15 years ago, and then became president when Dr. Charles Atwell unfortunately had a very serious illness and had to resign. That was the process and I was selected for president a little over five years ago.
Q: What are some memorable moments at PJC?
A: That’s hard. I love PJC, I love the role it plays in the community, clearly being selected as president and going through an inauguration is a very impressive thing for a person who came from Cedar Key, Florida, and didn’t anticipate that type of event in his life.
Q: What do you wish you could change?
A: I wish we had more money! I think that our people do a tremendous lot with very little resources.
Q: What advice, or what would you tell the next president to focus on?
A: When I took over PJC I knew it was a great college. I knew it had great faculty and great employees. I felt no need to disturb it. If I had to give a new leader some advice I’d say spend some time getting to know PJC, getting to know the tradition of PJC, getting to know the employees of PJC. Get a sense of what it means to this community. And then I’m not na’ve enough to think that there aren’t some ways that it could improve, that there aren’t some things that we need to do to move us forward. But I think that because we are such a great college, because we’ve done such great work historically. What we need to do is study our history before we move too rapidly forward, and maybe that’s because I’m slow in everything I do. But I sometimes think that slow is good because you need to know your base before you move.