This fall, with mixed emotions, we prepare to say goodbye to Dr. Dave Collins, a valued member of the Sinclair family for almost 31 years.
Collins was among the first graduates from Sinclair’s Respiratory Therapy program in 1977. He served as the Chairperson and Assistant Professor for Respiratory Therapy, Dean of Allied Health/Life & Health Sciences, Associate Provost, Provost, and most recently, Senior Vice President for Workforce and Organizational Development.
In a phone interview with Collins, he expressed his deep commitment to Sinclair, its students and the surrounding community. It is with the students he found the most rewards.
“In general terms I would say working with students who might not otherwise have had a chance to be successful, I found that very rewarding,” said Collins. “For example, we work with prison students now and we work with a number of students who might not have thought they were college material, and they were, and they succeeded.”
Collins shared a story about graduations he has attended at UD. The university president always asks these two questions. How many of the graduates sitting in the audience were told that they were not college material? A lot of the graduates raised their hands.
He then asked them how many were the first in their family to go to college? The number of people sitting at the graduations were either the first in their family to go to college or were told somewhere along the line they were not college material. Now they are graduating from college.
“That’s pretty impressive,” said Collins.
“What I will miss most is the friendships and the colleagues that I’ve met along the way,” said Collins when asked what he will miss most during retirement. “This is truly a great place to work. What I found is people who work here really care about helping others and that will be what I miss most.”
As far as any plans he has for his retirement years, Collins plans to stay active with volunteer work and his family.
“I’m working on some volunteer opportunities – as a hospice volunteer, for one thing. If needed I would like to come back and possibly work on some projects here at Sinclair. Plus, my kids, two of my daughters live in Chicago and one lives in South Bend. I plan to visit them, as well as do some projects that may come along in the community,” said Collins.
Thousands of Sinclair students are succeeding in the classroom, in careers, and in life because of Collins’ commitment, passion, and leadership. Our community is a better place because of his contributions.
“This is one place where you can work and where you have the potential to make a difference in someone’s life each and every day,” said Collins. “In my estimation, there aren’t a lot of jobs that have that possibility. At Sinclair, we really do have, whether you’re faculty member or a staff, you have the possibility of making a difference in someone’s life each and every day – and if you come to work thinking that way, it happens.”
“I have found in this life, in general, that it’s never too late to find your passion and pursue it,” said Collins.
Congratulate Dave on his well-deserved retirement!
Diane Sikora
Managing Editor