By Frances Matteck/reporter
SE Campus director of student development services Doug Peak works to encourage students to excel.
His duties include supervision of student development services, student activities, the campus learning center and intramurals. He also handles new student orientation and coordinates welcome week and services to off-campus and dual credit students among his other responsibilities.
Besides these assigned duties, he assists students if they need help with special projects. For instance, when a student organization is putting together an event and wants to do something different, he would work with the organization’s members.
Peak prioritizes student triumphs over his own.
“My position allows me to draw upon past experiences to encourage and motivate students to be leaders in our campus and community,” he said. “It carries with it an honorable pursuit of success not found in my own accomplishments but found in the accomplishments of those I have helped to educate.”
Student services coordinator Nita Haliburton has worked with Peak since he became the director and sees how he encourages students on a daily basis.
Students come in to talk to him, and he mentors them on a one-on-one basis, she said.
Early in his career, Peak struggled with some advice he was given. He was told that being good at multiple things keeps someone from being great at one thing. For years, he tried to prove that statement wrong, he said.
“It was shortly after coming to Tarrant County College SE Campus that I realized the statement was motivated by selfish ambition,” he said. “Such a statement does not belong in the mind of an educator if motivated to help others. Such a statement puts limitations on learning and takes away the exploration and creativity of the mind.”
Instead, he draws upon the skills and talents of his staff to create a positive learning experience for students, he said.
Peak joined TCC in 2003 as a physical education instructor when he moved to Mansfield to be closer to family. He began working in his current position in the fall of 2004.
Haliburton says he brings a unique set of talents.
“I think that he brings creativity and a different perspective on events,” she said. “He has a calming, mediating-type personality.”
Her opinion matches up with Peak’s explanation of his methods for success.
“I enjoy searching for new resources that support learning inside and outside the classroom,” Peak said. “I appreciate and value employees’ and students’ creativity and outside-the-box thinking.”
Peak said he can’t think of a more fulfilling occupation.
“It is truly rewarding to hold a position where every day is an opportunity to be great at helping others,” he said.
