Dr. Chip Palmer, a 2009 graduate of Pfeiffer University, has served as its Director of Student Support and Academic Success since 2022, and he’s held other student-support positions at Pfeiffer since 2012. He says he pursues this line of work in higher ed administration in part because of his own student experience: “I want to be the person I needed when I was a college student.”

When he toured Pfeiffer as a prospective first-generation college student from nearby Mount Pleasant High School, Palmer met an admissions officer intent on demystifying the application process for him. As the first in his family to pursue a college degree, he was largely unfamiliar with the usual tasks required for admission, as were members of his family.

“There were so many different small steps,” Palmer said, referring to everything from filling out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to uncovering scholarships. “The admissions officer walked me and my family through all of them.”

Palmer had not encountered anything like the help he received from Pfeiffer admissions during his visits to several other North Carolina colleges. That Pfeiffer had gone the extra mile for him figured prominently in his decision to attend the University.

Palmer also gravitated to higher ed administration as a result of the influence of Dr. Russ Sharples ’75, an alumnus of Pfeiffer College. Sharples’ tenure as an administrator at Pfeiffer, where he served as VP of Student Development and Dean of Students from 2009 to 2016, overlapped with Palmer’s two-year stint as a science teacher in the public schools of Rowan (N.C.) County (2010-2012).

During his deanship, Sharples occasionally called Palmer with the aim of bringing him back to campus as an employee, having recognized that he possessed the skills and background to work effectively behind the scenes for the betterment of the University’s students.

One of those calls resulted in Palmer running a summer program called Pfeiffer Readiness Education Program (PREP).  PREP — the latest iteration of which will take place in June over 10 days on Pfeiffer’s campus in Misenheimer, N.C. — equips mainly first-generation freshmen with study, writing, and time-management skills as they take and earn credit for a course called English 101. PREP also engages its students in team-building activities and acquaints them with Pfeiffer’s resources.

When Palmer ran PREP over two summers during his time as a science teacher, he related well to the first-generation students who participated, because he was one himself. Under Palmer’s guidance, PREP leveled the playing field for first-generation students, whose metrics (e.g., GPAs, graduation and retention rates, and the pace at which they earn degrees) came to match those of their multigenerational peers.

Sharples was impressed. He placed another call to Palmer after he had resumed teaching middle schoolers during the regular school year.

“Dr. Sharples was very blunt,” Palmer said. “He said, ‘I need you to quit your job and I need you to come work at Pfeiffer.’”

Palmer’s response: “What day do I start?”

Palmer closed out his stint in teaching and began working full-time at Pfeiffer the following summer as a Learning Assistance Coordinator, a post he’d hold until 2020, when he became Director of Learning and Academic Success (2020-2022). As Coordinator, he assumed two principal duties: running PREP and overseeing the peer tutoring program at Pfeiffer.

Peer tutoring remains a pillar in the offerings of Student Support and Success. Some 20 students, each certified by the College Reading & Learning Association, are paid to assist their peers for between five and seven hours a week. Peer tutors often pursue master’s degrees or attend professional schools after graduating from Pfeiffer, and tutoring is a way for them to retain material they will need for graduate-level studies.

“We normally tutor 100 to 125 students a semester,” Palmer said. “We have a tutor for nearly every class on campus.”

Palmer’s work with the Student Support and Success Center also helps ensure that a Pfeiffer education remains accessible to students with disabilities or injuries. He ensures the completion of updates to important paperwork needed for foreign students to enter and leave the country legally. And he helps American students arrange study abroad experiences. “It’s the Pfeiffer way for professors to prioritize student needs by offering them extra help after class or mentoring them,” Palmer said. “Student Support and Success builds on that important part of our culture, and I am proud to be a part of that work.”