Alumni Engagement

Dustin Malcolm ’05 is the first to admit that when he came to Eckerd from his hometown in Alabama, he didn’t know what he wanted to be when he “grew up.”

Eckerd, however, checked a few important boxes.

“I wanted to be in a school in Florida, and I wanted to be close to Disney,” he says.

Four years and a double major in management and theatre later, that proximity proved useful as he embarked on a 21-year-and-counting career with the Walt Disney Company. In his current role as a managing producer for Disney Live Entertainment, including for Disney Cruise Line, he and his team create experiences that bring the Disney magic to life—from special events and ship christenings to live performances onboard the fleet of ships. Dustin’s favorite aspect of working for Disney is twofold.

“One is watching my team succeed in producing something special, and then the second part is watching our guests’ reactions,” he says. “That’s where we get satisfaction for the work that we’ve done.”

Dustin Malcolm ’05 and Patrick Schwing ’06 (now an assistant professor of marine science at Eckerd) mailing letters from Antarctica in 2005.

During Dustin’s time at Eckerd, he participated in a semester-long internship as part of the Disney College Program. He loved the experience and, right after Commencement, he packed up his van and moved back to Orlando. He has worked as a performer, in management at the parks, in human resources (or, as Disney calls it, “casting”), and now in production. Over his more than two decades with the company, he has worked in close to 15 different roles. His work has taken him far past Orlando: he has been on cruise ships to Australia and Europe and even produced a themed event for a living history museum in Norway.

Dustin Malcolm ’05 in Sydney, Australia onboard the Disney Wonder.

Dustin says he uses his theatrical and management training from college daily in his corporate role, managing a team of producers, production managers, production stage managers, and production assistants that create and refresh entertainment offerings.

Dustin Malcolm ’05 with Fred Sabota and the 2001-2005 ECOS Presidents at the Dedication of the Armacost Library.

A central part of Dustin’s Eckerd experience was the close relationships he was able to develop with his professors, something he says he would never have gotten at a bigger college or university. Then dean of students—now Eckerd’s sixth president—Jim Annarelli even came to see him in the Disney parks with his family early in Dustin’s career.

“I didn’t have to talk to a TA—I talked to the professor,” he says. “I could go to their office and say, ‘hi, I’m having this challenge,’ or ‘hey, I just wanted to talk to you,’” he recalls.

“You were allowed to explore. It was very open-minded. Professors encouraged you to take risks and think about things in a different way.”

Sometimes his theatre classes were as small as eight students, while the management classes allowed him to experience another side of the College.

“In the management major, I was with a very diverse cross-section of the students at Eckerd,” he says. “There were athletes, there were student leaders, there were people who were going into finance, there were people who wanted to be entrepreneurs.”

Outside of class, one of Dustin’s formative experiences was his involvement with the Eckerd College Organization of Students (ECOS), including a year as president. He also traveled on multiple study abroad trips, including a 2005 Winter Term trip to Antarctica with Professor Emeritus of Economics Peter Hammerschmidt.

Several years ago, when given the opportunity, Dustin included Eckerd in his will and became a member of Eckerd’s Kadel Society—a testament to the way the College shaped his own life and how he hopes it can shape today’s students.

Dustin Malcolm ’05 on Eckerd’s very first Winter Term course in Antarctica, “Leadership and Team Building in the Field: Antarctica.”