A Profile of Professor Dan Snyder

by Ayden Catanzaro
March 1, 2024

“Life is not about finding yourself it is about inventing yourself,” said Dan Snyder, who teaches Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communications at GCC.

Snyder wasn’t always an educator. At first, he wanted to pursue a career in music. “I was not much of a high school student,” he said. “I barely made it out of high school because I got a drum set when I was eight, and by the time I was ten, I discovered that I could play. By 13, I was like “I’m pretty good at this.” Then, by 16, I was like “I don’t need this stuff; I want to pursue drums.”

Snyder also sings and plays guitar, but primarily he’s a drummer. His band Fivehead started immediately after high school. Fivehead is a soul band that has been together for over 25 years. “We played; we traveled; we recorded,” Snyder said. “We also had a music attorney from Manhattan, and he had us talking to Sony Records.”

Sony Records was about to sign with Fivehead, but that was the same year that Nirvana’s Nevermind came out. “At our last meeting with us they said to us that there’s a band from Seattle putting out a record, and we think that it’s going to change music and pop culture forever,” Snyder said. “And they were right. We didn’t sound anything like them. Then after that everyone was looking for Nirvana wannabe bands.”

With this loss, Snyder needed a backup plan. He went to Monroe Community College (MCC) as a Media Arts major. After MCC, he attended SUNY Brockport to earn his bachelor’s degree. “It was an interesting journey because like I said, I wasn’t a good high school student, so I struggled at MCC because I didn’t know how to be a student,” said Snyder. “By the time I got to Brockport I was like ‘I got this,’ so I continued with my academics, acquiring my masters.”

When he graduated, Snyder was influenced by his peers to put in an application to teach in surrounding community colleges. “I got a job at Finger Lakes Community College. That was my first teaching gig,” he said. “I was teaching five classes my very first semester.”

He started working at GCC with the ACE program for eleven years. However, when a faculty position opened for public speaking, he applied. When Snyder isn’t teaching, he enjoys walking around GCC, talking with students. “I know my class is terrifying, so I want everyone to know me,” Snyder said. “So that way, when they get to class, they think, ‘Oh, it’s just him’.”

His goals for students taking Public Speaking are for them to conquer the fear of speaking in public and to prove to themselves that they can do it. “I want you to know you can do this,” said Snyder. ‘”You might never love it; you might not even like it, but you can absolutely do it.” Snyder inspires students to explore everything in college. “Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you love it,” he said. “Get outside your comfort zone. Life is not about finding yourself; it is about inventing yourself.”