THEN AND NOW —By Jed Dunstan
Take a walk down memory lane and catch up on the current whereabouts and activities of your favotite Rollins professors.
Pedro Pequeño
Carolyn Planck
Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Executive Director of Donor and External Relations and Adjunct Professor of Communication
When Pedro Pequeño saw an advertisement for a position at Rollins College, the Southern Illinois University anthropology graduate knew nothing about his future employer. From his initial visit, however, it was “love at first sight.” That was 1972, and a young, wide-eyed, and very “green” professor came to the College with the goal of helping to develop and restructure a small anthropology department within the behavioral sciences department. Today, the independent department boasts seven full-time faculty and 40 majors. Pequeño has come a long way from the time when he and his middle-class family fled Cuba with only $100 and the clothes on their backs after Castro came to power in the 1950s. That experience instilled in him something that he promotes to this day: the importance of education and the power it has to restore things lost in life. From the beginning of his career, Pequeño has always been an educator in the truest sense of the word, teaching students with the simple goal of imparting knowledge and being there to lend a helping hand when needed. He also takes great pride in the Latin American Studies program, which he helped to create in the early 1980s and which recently added a minor, reflecting the College’s strengthened commitment to internationalization. Now in his 34th year of teaching, Pequeño beams with enthusiasm and excitement about the future. At age 62, he counts each day and each visit from former students as a blessing and is never too busy to stop for a cup of Spanish coffee and cake (which he keeps in his office for visitors). A fitness enthusiast, Pequeño spends an hour and a half exercising every day and professes to be in the best shape of his life.
In the summer of 1973, Carolyn Planck moved to Florida from St. Louis, Missouri when her husband accepted a position as an attorney in Orlando. While the Purdue University alumna loved her teaching role at the University of Missouri, she was very excited to find an opportunity to teach speech communication at Rollins. Now a 32-year Rollins veteran, Planck has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions, including chair of the department, director of marketing for the Hamilton Holt School, and her current role, executive director of donor and external relations. She played a key role during The Campaign For Rollins, the College’s recent five-year comprehensive campaign that raised more than $160 million for numerous new building projects, programs, and scholarships. Today, as a member of the College’s advancement division, Planck enjoys working to enhance relationships with College donors and to further Rollins’ image in the community. An educator at heart, she values the opportunity to continue classroom interaction with students in the communication classes she teaches each semester. Planck has been recognized for her exceptional teaching with the Distinguished Teaching Award, and her students today include Rollins legacies attending her classes at the recommendation of parents who are her former students! One of her favorite things is reading about the achievements of Rollins graduates in the Rollins Alumni Record. Outside the College, when she is not traveling with her husband, Planck, a seasoned speaker, trains corporate professionals in the art of effective communication and public speaking.
“Each day I spend as a teacher is a gift, and being available to students, present and past, is a privilege. Nothing gives me more pleasure than helping students overcome roadblocks on their way to an education. Life is 90 percent how you take it and 10 percent how you want it, and if I can help my students take life with a positive attitude, I am succeeding. I am so pleased to have been a continuing part of this great institution, which has only improved over the years.”—Pedro Pequeño
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ROLLINS ALUMNI RECORD
“I’m so fortunate to be able to share my love of Rollins with donors and the community. It’s an honor to be a part of the group of people that works to further the development of this fine institution where lives are changed every day, and it’s particularly rewarding to work with donors to the College— they are a wonderfully dedicated, generous, and engaged group of people. Each day, I walk into my office feeling privileged to share the great things being accomplished by Rollins students and faculty.”—Carolyn Planck