Love Stories: Married couples workingtogether at WSSU

It's the holiday season, and love is in the air — especially at Winston-Salem State.

There are at least 27 married couples employed at WSSU. 

At least two of those couples appreciate their situation and find that it enriches their work life.

In 2005, cupid struck Jesse Pittsley, program director of exercised science and Sigrid Hall-Pittsley.

Pittsley said, "When I saw her, I went ‘Whoa! Who is the hottie?'" 

Pittsley described Hall-Pittsley as being mean when he first met her. 

"So right then I knew she was a challenge.  

"I remember going to another faculty member and saying there is a good-looking woman who works in marketing," Pittsley said.

However, the feeling was not mutual when Hall-Pittsley encountered him.

"I noticed him when I was in the Red Room," Hall-Pittsley said.

"He would always stop by the table and just chit chat. I could not even fathom that he was interested. I just thought he was chatty. I finally got a clue when he kept bragging about his big TV.

 "He was alluding to the fact that I needed to come watch his big TV at his house.  I was like ‘Oh my gosh.' Is he flirting with me?'" Hall- Pittsley said.

Pittsley said he enjoys having his wife work at WSSU. 

"Overall I enjoy having a spouse at the University," he said.

 "When you work at a university it's a hard place to work because there is pressure from all angles. It is good to have a person who is on your side, who you know you can trust to be there for some empathy and to support you."

Dara Silver, Visitor Services/Installation manager  and husband Mike Silver adjunct professor in the justice studies department don't see each other often on campus.

"We work close enough so that we can do lunch," Mrs. Silver said. 

"Sometimes we go home for lunch."

Silver said that working with his wife on campus is not an issue at all and that it has helped him better appreciate WSSU.

"Because Dara works at the [Diggs] gallery, I have a better appreciation of the school; we are both connected and interested in the school. We try to support the student activities," he said.

The Silvers decided to use their honeymoon money to buy a piece of rare art.

"We have an amazing art collection. We have an original Beyonce piece by famous artist David Garibaldi," Mr. Silver said. 

 Silver says the only other person who has a Beyonce piece is rapper Snoop Dogg, but his piece is different from theirs. The Silvers also own a Barack Obama piece by Garibaldi.

Being supportive spouses gives the Silvers an opportunity to spend time together.

"We are definitely interested in each other's professions," Mrs. Silver said. 

"Mike comes to a lot of events. If you come to a Diggs Gallery event, Mike will probably be there," she said.

 "When he goes to his lawyer functions, I go and support his stuff as well. We try to get out in the community as much as we can." 

The Pittsleys have worked together at WSSU for more than five years, and Mrs. Hall-Pittsley says they even though they work on the same campus, they rarely see each other.

"I think that what most people don't understand is that by him being faculty and me being staff, our work environments are very different," Hall-Pittsley said.  

"Even though we know a lot of the same people and we work at the same University it's as if we have two completely separate jobs."

Hall-Pittsley said in her position, it is helpful to have her husband working here because he spends more time with students than she does.

"We are often in positions where we are talking about making decisions that effect the students," she said.

"But because we generally do not work directly with the students, I think we are sometimes out of touch but think we know."   

"It's really great that I can come home, and he can tell me the struggles students are having or perhaps he is having," Hall-Pittsley said. 

"So it works well together."