Hometown: Hanover, Maryland
Education: University of Maryland (bachelor’s in psychology), Shippensburg (master’s in counseling), and University of Maryland (PhD in college student personnel administration)
Family: Wife, Rebecca, and sons, Alexander and Christopher
Hobbies: I love Star Trek. Grilling is also a big hobby. And I love all things Apple.
Favorite place to eat in Indiana: Romeo’s. I love the Lemon Pepper Wings.
Favorite TV show: Star Trek
Person who has had the biggest influence on you: My parents. I get my work ethic from my dad. The caring part of me comes from my mother.
A few years ago, Tom Segar was picking up his luggage at the airport when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd. It was a man, not much younger than he was, who was also picking up his luggage. They immediately recognized each other from their college days.
After greeting one another, the man introduced his wife to Segar, and vice versa.
“He said, ‘This is my R.A.,’” Segar recalled. “He didn’t say, ‘This was an R.A.’ It had been a long time since we had seen each other, but he still referred to me as his R.A. I thought that was really cool, and it made me feel good.”
That story shows why Segar does what he does. As IUP’s vice president for Student Affairs, he works every day to ensure that all students have everything they need to be successful in the classroom and in the community. It’s a job that requires him to work long hours, but it’s all worth it, because of the relationships he forms with students every single day. That’s something he did when he was a resident advisor (R.A.) as an undergrad at the University of Maryland, and he still does today.
Get to know more about Tom Segar in this Q&A.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
The first thing I wanted to be was a foot doctor. I wanted to be a podiatrist. My dad worked for General Motors. He was on his feet all day, and he would come home with sore feet. And so from an early age, he would ask me, “Can you trim my nails?” I was the youngest kid, and I felt special. So, being the nerd that I was, I learned all I could from the 1977 World Encyclopedia set about feet. I still know, I think, that there are 28 bones in the feet. So I thought I wanted to be a podiatrist. But then I learned that’s a tough hustle. After that, I thought I wanted to be an engineer. I actually went to college to be an electrical engineer. I had a scholarship from the local utility company to be an engineer. I realized early on that I liked engineering as a field of study, but not as a profession.
I knew after three weeks of college that I wanted to go into student affairs. I didn’t have the language to articulate that. But by my sophomore year, I was like, “I want to go to student affairs. I want to do what those people are doing.” It was never like, “I might want to do that.” I knew I wanted to do this.
In a nutshell, what does a vice president for student affairs do?
We do a lot of things to serve the needs of students and to support their learning. Sometimes we are removing obstacles. Sometimes we are making a wider path. Sometimes we are making a smoother path. But it’s our goal to make it possible for students to pursue their learning and to support them in and out of the classroom.
What does a “normal” day look like for you?
A normal day looks like a ton of meetings interspersed with helping individual students and helping my staff in their work with individual students. It all ties back to students.
But typically, a day begins at 4:00 a.m., when I wake up. Then I spend about an hour and a half in Zink (Hall) working out. I’m usually in my office before 8:00. I respond to a lot of emails. I usually attend a lot of meetings. And some of those meetings are really about just the nuts and bolts to keeping things going. Some of those meetings are working on high priorities that are designed at the end of whatever process we’re pursuing to make things better for students.
What makes a day a good day for you?
Being able to spend time with colleagues makes it a good day. Having fun, but also being productive, makes it a good day. Being able to spend time with students makes it a good day.
I think being able to bear witness to the growth and development of students is one of the greatest things I get to do. I’ve been lucky in my entire career that I can remember students from 20 years ago and I can describe the growth they’ve experienced. I’ve been witness to what they’ve done. It’s affirming, number one, that the work we do matters. And it’s important. And sometimes if you’re lucky—and I’ve been very lucky—those students come back and tell you, “Hey, thank you.”
Generally speaking, what should students do if they need help?
First, just simply ask for help. Go to your navigator. Don’t hesitate. If you know that the help you need is very specific, for example, if you need to go to the Health Service, just go.
I think students often hesitate and think that, whatever their needs are, it’s not worthy of someone’s time. I wish our students were more vocal about saying, “Hey, something doesn’t feel right. I need some help.” I think, too often, our students are hesitant to ask for help.
What advice would you give students to ensure they succeed at IUP?
One, ask for help the first time there’s danger. Two, just because something’s hard or uncomfortable or it’s something you don’t feel like doing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Going to class can be a pain. Coming to work sometimes is a pain. I don’t care how much you love your job, sometimes the bed feels better than getting out of it. But you still have to do it.
And I’d say for students, don’t let the fear of something stop you, because it will not be as bad as you think. Trust me: It will never be as bad as you think. Inaction is what gets you in trouble. I’ll tell students, “Yeah, it’s going to be tough. Sometimes you’re going to get through it and going through this series of tough things will make you tougher, and we’ll give you what you need to make things easier over time.” That’s the one thing I want students to get, because I witnessed students oftentimes stopping just at the edge of a breakthrough. I also witnessed students who are ready to stop, but they don’t, and they have a breakthrough. That’s the best.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
The best advice I’ve received came from an author named Wayne Dyer. His advice was “Don’t believe all your thoughts.”
Your thoughts will take you to places that your heart never wants you to go to. Your thoughts will lead you down a path that your heart will never let you go to. Your heart is the part of you that’s going to take care of you. In your head, you can’t listen to all the thoughts. So when my thoughts are telling me something, I don’t always believe the thought. The thought isn’t me; the thought is what’s happening in my head. Sometimes your thoughts and your heart are aligned, but sometimes the thoughts are going places that you don’t really want to go. You don’t have to believe all your thoughts. I wish that I had been given that advice as an undergrad, but it came to me as a doctoral student.