Working with Pleasant is a pleasure
By Maggie Nichols and and Chelsea Thomas, MAW students
As business manager for the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Rose Pleasant is the first point of contact for all financial operations of the college. She works with the dean’s office, all of the administrative specialists, accounts payable, procurement, philanthropy and legal.
Dan Ennis, dean of the Edwards College, considers Pleasant an important interface for every coordinating office that helps the college operate.
“She has to understand our college and know about other operations and how other people’s jobs work,” Ennis explains.
Pleasant has been an essential team member at CCU for 10 years, but her work in with the college is about so much more than business.
“She does all of this with a smile, always tries to be helpful,” Ennis continues, “and when she’s presented with a particular financial problem, she goes at in a dozen different ways until she solves it.”
Originally from New York, Pleasant moved with her family to Conway when she was 16. She graduated from Conway High School and then went on to earn a degree in English from Coastal Carolina University in 1995. After working in Charlotte as teacher at a private school for six years, she returned to Conway hoping to get a job here because the University felt like “home.” She was hired by one of her previous professors as a part-time temporary staffer and began working her way up in the college.
During her time as an administrative specialist, Pleasant met her future husband, Scott, who was sharing an office with Ennis at the time.
“Dean Ennis actually hosted our wedding on his back porch and was the best man,” Rose Pleasant says.
Along the way, Rose Pleasant has gained the respect and trust of other staff and faculty members, first in the English department and now throughout the college.
Joan Trupiano, administrative specialist for the English department, nominated Pleasant because she is someone who can always be counted on to help make the team better and stronger in what they do. While fulfilling her roles as business manager, “Rose also takes the time to help all of the administrative specialists with their accounting responsibilities,” says Trupiano.
Pleasant often takes on the role of teacher for her coworkers. “I have always appreciated her training, how she always takes the time to explain the details then follow through with showing us where we may have missed something important, creating a smart learning moment for us,” says Trupiano.
Rita Smith, administrative specialist for the visual arts department, agrees, saying Pleasant is “an excellent teacher, amazingly intelligent but down to earth.” Smith spoke of how helpful Pleasant is to everyone, that “you can knock on her door or call and she’s always willing to help.”
Even as she works toward her graduate degree at CCU in the Master of Arts in Writing program, Pleasant continues to be an asset to the team as well as to the other graduate students in the program. One of her peers, Lanessa Salvatore, pointed to Pleasant as being “instrumental” in helping herself and others prepare financially for the upcoming Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Washington, D.C.
“Every question I’ve asked her about AWP has been met with genuine kindness as well as the right answer or direction to someone who could give me the right answer,” Salvatore says. Salvatore commends Pleasant on her ability to “balance her career and her degree all while taking extra time to help us.”
Pleasant’s coworkers are thankful for her and everything she does for the college, but she is just as thankful for them and their flexibility with her schedule while she’s taking classes. When asked why she returned to Coastal, Pleasant says, “I just wanted to come home.”
