Dominique Mwepu is remembered for his “full-belly” laugh in the University of Maryland’s hearing and speech sciences department.

Mwepu brought joy to everything he did, his colleague Kristin Slawson said. He saw the best possible outcomes in tough situations and trusted everything would work out, Slawson said.

Mwepu, a lecturer in the department, was killed in a pedestrian collision on Sept. 30. He was 53.

He taught this university’s Introduction to Linguistics course, which is the first class many freshmen take when they enter the hearing and speech sciences department.

Slawson, an associate clinical hearing and speech sciences professor, knew Mwepu before he joined the university in 2018. The two were in a study group together at their church, and Slawson informed Mwepu of the position opening at this university.

“He’s somebody that I’ve just always had a ton of respect for,” Slawson said.

Prior to working at this university, Mwepu was an assistant professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and later an adjunct professor at the University of the District of Columbia, according to this university’s behavioral sciences department.

Stephanie Grissom, an assistant program director in the hearing and speech sciences department, worked closely with Mwepu to help undergraduate students with scheduling and classes.

The last moment she shared with him was at the department’s copy machine, where he talked to her with a light spirit and a “bounce and a clap” unique to him, Grissom said.

According to a GoFundMe campaign for Mwepu’s family, Mwepu was coming home from returning a U-Haul truck after moving his family into their new home when a car struck and killed him. He lived in Gaithersburg with his wife, Mireille, and son, Joshua.

Hearing and speech sciences professor Rochelle Newman said Mwepu’s upbeat and optimistic nature made him a great instructor and person.

“If you bumped into him in the hall and had a conversation for just a couple moments, that could be the highlight of your day,” Newman, the department’s former chair, said.

Because Mwepu was the face many saw at the start of their careers in the department, he was a key faculty member in getting students excited, Newman said.

When in-person classes returned after the COVID-19 pandemic, Mwepu sent Newman a long email about students’ specific needs, even though he knew it wasn’t possible for the department to meet each one, she said.

“[Students] felt heard, they felt they weren’t being overlooked in what was a big campus,” she said. “I think it made all of them feel safer.”

Junior hearing and speech sciences and human development major Hannah Eisenfeld took Mwepu’s Introduction to Linguistics class in her first semester at this university.

She appreciated his positivity and will not forget the impact he had on her studies, she said.

“To this day, I still remember the effect that he had on my work ethic and just how excited I was to continue on with my other hearing and speech classes,” Eisenfeld said.

Freshman hearing and speech sciences major Alyssa Davies was in Mwepu’s class this semester and said the class was in shock when they saw the email about his death.

Davies said the patience and confidence Mwepu had in his students were traits she especially appreciated about him. Mwepu made her feel less overlooked in a large class, she added.

Grissom helped organize the hearing and speech sciences department’s vigil on Oct. 9 at this university’s Memorial Chapel to honor Mwepu’s life and impact. Throughout the ceremony, attendees wrote in a guestbook that was later gifted to his family.

“I think it was very meaningful for [his family] to hear the impact that he had on people they wouldn’t have another opportunity to run into,” Slawson said. “I’m so glad students had a chance to express what he meant to them.”