President Poser expresses her purpose to students. // Photo courtesy of University Relations.

President Susan Poser spoke to Hofstra University students and staff members last week about the personal and professional experiences that have shaped her into the person she is today. Poser was the guest speaker at a “Seeking Purpose” series event on Wednesday, Feb. 23, in the Student Center Greenhouse.

“Perhaps it is those bumps, those inflexion points, when you don’t get what you want and what you had hoped for, or when you had to make a choice to leave something behind that teaches us the most about our purpose,” Poser said. “Because it is what you do after that happens that really matters.”

Poser said her academic journey began alongside her husband, Stephen, who she moved to different states with as new professional opportunities came up for him. The couple moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in April 1993 after Poser’s husband got his first job as assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Nebraska.

“We flew out to Nebraska on, of all days, April Fool’s Day of 1993,’’ Poser said. ‘‘A little part of me thought that this was actually his idea of a bad joke, and it was going to surprise me when the plane landed in Cancún.”

When Poser and her husband settled in Nebraska, Poser didn’t know what the future held for her professional aspirations.

“I thought my career was over before it began,” Poser said. “And yet, 17 years later, I was the dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law and we had two teenage girls thriving in Lincoln.”

While on a sabbatical from teaching in Nebraska in 2006, Poser said she opened a university-wide email by chance. The email was from the university chancellor, and it indicated that he was looking for a new associate to the chancellor.

“I had not heard of this position or the person in it, even though it turned out he was something of a legend at the university,” Poser said. “But the job looked interesting, so I applied, and lo and behold, I got it and discovered educational administration.”

Poser said she did not have previous experiences that were directly related to the role.

“Before that job, I could not have told you what a chief of staff to the chancellor was, never mind what a provost or a chancellor, which is essentially the equivalent of a president, does,” Poser said. “And even though I had taught undergraduates at Berkeley as a graduate student, I knew nothing of undergraduate retention and graduation rates, of Pell Grants or advisers or residence life or student organizations.”

In that role, Poser said she solved problems every day, one of which was addressing the potential environmental hazard to birds by the release of thousands of balloons in the stadium when the first Nebraska points were scored in a football game.

Through such experiences, Poser realized that she enjoyed and wanted to pursue leadership roles.

“I loved [my job] and people started to say I was good at it,” Poser said. “And I realized during that time that administration was what I wanted to do. I felt that I personally could give more back in one of these roles than in writing another law review article, even though I really loved being a law professor. In short, I found purpose.”

Hofstra staff members appreciated Poser’s stories about how she got involved with higher education. W. Houston Dougharty, the vice president of student affairs, believed Poser’s talk was candid and beneficial for the Hofstra community. 

“She was willing to be transparent and honest,” Dougharty said. “She was willing to be herself.”

For Poser, having a clear vision of the future is not the only way of finding one’s purpose.

“Many people believe that they know their purpose before they gain experience, and they set their sights on a career goal and then work toward it. And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Poser said. “But there are some advantages to finding purpose in the somewhat haphazard way that I did.”

Some students said they learned more about Poser and thought her talk was impactful.

“I’m a senior and I’m leaving, but I feel like it’s important to know your president and know who is the person in charge of your university,” said Alexandra Thomas, a senior sociology and history major.

Other students feel that these types of conversations need to happen more often. 

“That presentation could change so many people,” said Abigail Desyr, a freshman drama major. “Change comes in different scales. It doesn’t have to be a big show off, showy thing. It could be as little as just telling someone your story.”