By Wynn McDonald, Features Editor
The first thing you should know about Bellarmine’s provost, Dr. Carole Pfeffer, is that she possesses a deep love for helping students. She has done this without fail at Bellarmine for the past 30 years and will surely continue to do it until her long-awaited retirement this summer.
The second thing you should know is that she whistles everywhere she goes.
“She’s really good at it,” said Dr. Anne Bucalos, vice provost for faculty development and a colleague of Pfeffer’s in the office of academic affairs for the past six years. “She’s whistling because she has a great spirit about her, (but) it’s a good heads-up to people… if she’s coming into your office, you know.”
That joyous spirit, along with a tireless work ethic and commitment to serving the institution that has given her so much, carried Pfeffer throughout her steady three-decade climb from part-time instructor of English to chief academic officer. And it will be missed.
“She’s a colleague, she’s a friend, she’s a mentor, she’s somebody that I admire immensely,” said Dr. Graham Ellis, vice provost for program assessment. “We’ve got a great person coming in her place, but those are some huge shoes to fill… she’s an institution.”
Ellis, like Pfeffer, made the leap from faculty member to administrator under the leadership of former President Dr. Joseph McGowan. Ellis has worked with Pfeffer closely for much of the past decade and seen first-hand her impact on the school.
“It’s been amazing, and she’s been part of that journey, with Dr. McGowan and then Dr. (Doris) Tegart and now Dr. (Susan) Donovan, part of that legacy,” Ellis said. “All the professional schools, all the increase we’re seeing… but still at our heart we’re a liberal arts institution, and she is a part of that.
“She bleeds Bellarmine. She is what we’re all about.”
Pfeffer’s legacy began as a student at tiny Bellarmine College back in 1970. She spent 13 years teaching at nearby Assumption High School before the death of her younger brother left her searching for something new.
“I took some time off, and it just didn’t feel right going back,” said Pfeffer, who still looks back fondly to her teaching days. “Then an opportunity opened up here. It certainly unfolded in one of the most difficult times of my life, and work became a place of refuge, a community.”
She started teaching at Bellarmine part-time in 1988 and quickly advanced to assistant professor, associate professor and ultimately president of the faculty council before joining the administration in 2008 at McGowan’s request.
Not long after becoming provost in 2015, Pfeffer began making plans to step down from the office. However, that was put on hold after McGowan’s untimely passing in March 2016. Without hesitation, she offered to delay her retirement by three years to help with the difficult transition.
“You don’t bail in hard times,” she said.
Said Bucalos: “It’s a tremendous commitment. I think she embodies loyalty to people, to the university, to what it means to be an integral part of a community.”
But more than anything for Pfeffer, it’s always been about the students.
“I have tried to be (student-centric),” Pfeffer said. “I always say, look—we’re going to disagree about some things. And if we feel passionately, I hope we do, I want passion… but at the end of the day, if we say, ‘Now remember, this is about the students,’ then you don’t take it personally.”
This approach served her greatly in the classroom, according to Dr. Tony O’Keeffe, a long-time associate in the faculty.
“Carol was a wonderful English Department colleague, a joyful and engaging and supportive presence, blessed with one of the best laughs God ever invented,” he said. “She was also a superlatively gifted teacher—demanding and kind, tough and endlessly helpful.”
Despite everything she’s accomplished outside of teaching, Pfeffer has always wanted to return to what she calls her “greatest joy,” but she said she is glad to have been able to serve the school in so many different roles.
“I always loved the place enough to say, “Yes, I’ll give it my best shot and do the best I can for the university,’” Pfeffer said. “And if it doesn’t work, you’ll find somebody who can do it better and I won’t take that personally. I’ll do the best I can.”
Pfeffer will take the stage one last time to speak at the commencement ceremony on May 11 before calling it a career. Until then, don’t be surprised if you see her making her way around campus, spreading positivity to everyone who crosses her path and whistling as she walks away.