Monica Moody
Published: August 23, 2005
He builds ham radios, talks to astronauts, and globe-trots around the world on his quest to expand his international subway ticket collection.
This one-time New York City cab driver is none other than Dr. Jeffrey A. Cantor, Pensacola Junior College’s new provost, and he is here to rebuild the Pensacola Campus family.
Along with his administrative responsibilities, Cantor emphasized his desire for unity within the Pensacola campus among the various departments.
“I want to build a support system and create a continuous dialogue between department chairs and PJC’s nearly 70 faculty members,” he said.
With the start of the fall semester, Cantor is also looking to create open discussion between students and faculty.
“Education is a two-way thing. A student has to be willing to express ideas, to put themselves out there to their instructors in order to create a climate of learning,” he said.
In the not-too-distant future, he said that he plans on setting up an open forum off-campus where students can express their opinions and concerns with him, and where he can also get the word out about what’s available to students outside of the classroom.
“I think PJC is a strong learning institution, probably the strongest that I’ve seen. This college has more opportunities than any other I’ve worked with,” Cantor said.
He’s only been in Pensacola for two weeks, but already feels welcome in the community.
“Being here feels like a homecoming,” Cantor said. “The state is familiar to me.”
This stems from his time spent working on his doctorate in educational leadership from Florida State University and position as campus director of occupational and adult education and acting campus director of arts and sciences at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa.
He and his wife, Ruth, moved to the East Hill district from Norwalk, Conn., where he was the dean of extended studies and workforce education at Norwalk Community College. Cantor is well prepared for his new position at PJC with more than a quarter century of experience in higher education under his belt.
In addition to his vast professional experiences, he has an equally strong record of community service in Connecticut. He was the governor-appointed statutory representative to the State of Connecticut Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, member of the board of directors of The Workplace Inc., and member of the Enterprise Zone Board, City of Stamford, Connecticut.
Cantor is fully devoted to his new post here at PJC and is looking forward to becoming a strong member of the community, and yet he still finds time for some of his more colorful hobbies.
“I’m into ham radio, a.k.a. amateur radio. I build these radios and then use them to talk to other ham-radioers,” he said.
Among those other ham radio enthusiasts are astronauts, with whom he’s carried on conversations from outer space. He keeps the radios in his car, but not far from reach in his office is an impressive collection of subway tickets from San Francisco to Rome, and he’ll be adding more with a long anticipated trip to Israel planned for next April.