Most everyone will admit that their college experience is influential, but for Johnson Resident Director Evan Duszynski, the impact of his four years at Asbury was so strong that it led him back to Asbury.
“I love Asbury,” said Duszynski. “I left a career in secondary education to come work at Asbury in higher education. I love to work with students, but I also love Asbury, and I just love what it stands for. It was so impactful in my life.”
After graduating from Asbury in 2011, Duszynski taught middle school science for a year, then moved up to high school to teach biology for five years. During this time he also coached soccer. However, while he was working with younger students, his mind kept returning to university.
“The more I worked with students, the more I realized that I would really like to work with college students,” said Duszynski. “I think for me personally, college in general and my time at Asbury was really transformative — I grew a lot. I think really being able to invest and participate in that transformative time in students’ lives seemed more down my alley.”
Duszynski returned to Asbury in 2017 as the RD of Johnson Hall. He lives in the residence hall with 250 men, where he works in student development and community building. Outside of the hall, he uses his background in education to work with academic coaches.
“The exciting thing about being an RD and working with the academic coaches is seeing students take initiative and wanting to be involved and wanting to grow and help other people,” said Duszynski. “You’re working with students who want to build community, and these are students who really care about other students and want to mentor other students.”
Duszynski is currently studying for his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Liberty University and is also looking forward to his future at Asbury. In regards to Johnson Hall, he said that the staff is always looking to strengthen the community.
“There’s this big drop in connectivity. That’s something that we’re thinking about — what does that look like? And how do we change things to get people more connected?” said Duszynsk. “The community is different in the men’s dorms. We’ve got some ideas on how to get our students more connected.”
Overall, he plans to stay at Asbury even though his role may change.
“I hope to either teach here at Asbury eventually — I already teach some adjunct classes now — or to move up to teach full time or to work in student development,” said Duszynski.
