Dr. Samuel Goldstein has been teaching English at Daytona State College since the Fall of 1989. He’s been the advisor for DSC’s English club since 2006.
Goldstein was asked by his department head Evan Rivers to take over the English Club when the previous advisor quit. After he accepted, he proceeded to save the club.
According to Goldstein, Sigma Kappa Delta Honor Society, which is the national organization to which the club belongs, was displeased with the club, due to lack of new members. They were threatening to remove the club from the society. “After I sent them ten new members within a month, the national organization was my best friend,” said Goldstein.
Dr. Goldstein got his first two degrees in English at the University of Michigan. He then went to the University of Missouri to pursue his doctorate in theater. “I wanted to do something a little different with the Ph.D.,” he said.
Goldstein says he was inspired by his high school English teachers to major in English.
Goldstein has taught English in several schools in Arizona, New York, and New Jersey. When he moved to Florida, he got another gig teaching English and Speech at Embry Riddle. There, he worked with the theater club and, in three years, directed eight shows.
In one Embry Riddle play he directed, “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller, his leading man dropped out three weeks before the show premiered. Goldstein stepped into the lead role and even stuck with the part when he did the production again the following semester.
Dr. Goldstein has been teaching Introduction to Composition (ENC 1101), among other English-related courses, here at Daytona State for the past 34 years.
“I love DSC, it’s the place for me,” Goldstein continued. “I know we try to turn the lives of students around here, but I think DSC turned my life around.”
The English Club meets on the 3rd Wednesday of every month in room 220 of building 500 at 2:30pm.
Dr. Goldstein brings pizza and refreshments to every meeting. He shows movies with a message and leads a discussion about the movie afterward.
“Come to the English club, bring your appetite, and be ready to see some movies and talk about them,” he said.
Paige Reckenwald
Contributor