During office hours, Elzinga gives students his undivided personal attention. He is open to discussing a wide range of topics. He explained, “When you have a thousand students, there are many who have serious problems. In some cases, their mother has cancer, or their brother is in jail. UVA attracts so many good students. If the student is having trouble academically, particularly in a principles class, it is usually not because the material is too difficult. It is probably because of something personal in their lives, like a bad break-up, that is keeping them from being focused. If that is the real reason they are having trouble in Econ 201, it does not make sense for me to go over Chapter 11 with them again. They can understand the material in Chapter 11, but it is about how they get focused on it. That is the best I can do.”

Elzinga’s designed his office to be an inviting and welcoming place for students. His fridge is always stocked with cookies and soda. Samyak Dixit (UVA ‘17), an international student from India, described Elzinga as an extremely genuine person who related to every student on a personal level. He said, “Professor Elzinga asked me questions about India and cricket. He listens patiently to every problem that someone has, not just course related issues.” Elzinga also gives his students his personal phone number in case they want to contact him. According to Elzinga, “If it is important to them, it is important to me.”

So, what motivates Elzinga to dedicate himself to students so deeply? A professor during Elzinga’s college years changed his life. Elzinga was a first-generation college student who was planning to become a fishing package salesman after graduating from college. “I was naive and had no clue what I was doing”, remarked Elzinga. He recalls that he wondered in college why ‘Dean’ was such a common first name among faculty. It took him the whole year of college to realize that ‘Dean’ was an academic title and not a name. He said, “I had a professor who was very kind to me. He invited me home. He was not curt. He didn’t slam his office door, or think that he was too busy to talk to a kid like me who did not have a clue on what was going on. He gave me direction and had more confidence in me than I had in myself. So I had a role model when I became a professor.” That professor, Sherrill Cleland (1924-2015), taught economics at Kalamazoo College and later served as the President of Marietta College.