Dr. Thomas Stafford: A Student Advocate

Kelly Hook recalls her experiences working with Dr. Stafford and shares an anecdote about his artistic ties.

Interview on 2012-05-02 00:00:00 -0400

Transcript

00:00:00.000 Well Dr. Stafford always wears a tie
00:00:03.109 that is from a significant painting, I guess in his life but also in the world,
00:00:09.215 I mean Picasso, you name it, and he'll wear a tie and he'll come into any type of event or function
00:00:15.333 and he won't really talk to you until you guess the artist that his tie is about, and nobody ever guesses it,
00:00:21.426 or maybe some people do but I never guessed right. I always guessed something off the wall like an NC State artist or something local.
00:00:27.744 He's just an interesting character but also probably the main person at NC State that I remember really advocating for students.
00:00:37.257 You know it's an interesting thing too to be done with school and to remember when I was here
00:00:43.123 that I didn't always agree with Dr. Stafford's policies or the fact that, you know,
00:00:49.139 why can't we have really amazing food for all thirty-four thousand of us every single day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
00:00:54.892 which the food is amazing, but why can't it be chef-made for every meal?
00:00:59.441 And so things like that I learned once I graduate that Dr. Stafford always had our best interests at heart,
00:01:05.804 and I really appreciate him then but especially since I've graduated for all the hard work and countless hours he put in to educate
00:01:14.145 us at that time for the realistic expectations of being a student at NC State
00:01:20.307 and how we can contribute after being a student at NC State. A good guy, Dr. Stafford.