Matthew Evans has been part of the Board of Trustees for almost two months after he was appointed in December by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Evans is from Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. and has a bachelor of arts and a master of education in educational leadership.
He began his role on Jan. 1 and has begun working on the university’s goal to increase enrollment. Evans explained his role on the board.
Can you run me through the process of what goes into being appointed?
“You start the paperwork the process, it would be an application process. They do background checks, you submit your references, you submit your class, past deployment, past educational experiences and then you go through a panel interview before the final selection and appointment which goes through this through the governor’s office.”
What is your role with the project, overall?
“The overall role would be a liaison and represent representative for Ferris State for any college eligible demographic. So it could be high school students who are looking to go to college. It could be older students who are looking to finish their and continue their education. There are some articulated agreements with community colleges in the region, and we want to maximize those opportunities as well as raise awareness of Ferris state’s presence as a university and a great institution for higher learning.”
Are there plans for reaching out to students who aren’t coming directly from high school?
“That is a very specific and highly targeted demographic, without question. There is tremendous value in gaining your four year degree later on in life, right? You have life context, you have experience, you have a lot of things that enable you to have a more seamless transition into getting your diploma, and we want to be able to make sure that that’s something that is available for all students, regardless of where they are in their life experiences.”
You’ve been in the role for almost two months, what are some things that you have implemented and started?
“The implementation comes as a form of planning, because we haven’t had any actionable next steps yet, anything that we can put in motion, but we’re making connections for Ferris State in the greater southeast region, there’s going to be representation in an office in Detroit for Ferris and I participated in the first board meeting for my first board meeting last week, and so we were able to talk about strategy leading to implementation for both the state of Michigan and the surrounding states.”
Where do you hope to see Ferris with everything you are working on by the time you leave?
“I would like overall, overarchingly, be able to see Ferris State be recognized more broadly as a great institution, the great institution that it is, increase awareness, increase enrollment, and diversify the student body from different areas that fall within the state of Michigan and beyond. So we’d like to see the diversification of enrollment. I think there’s a great opportunity to include students who are two years down the road in their community college development, as well as four year entering in so the transfer opportunity from community college to four year institution is one that we want to increase, and we want to increase the freshmen enrollment again in a broader base. So really create a larger platform, create awareness for Ferris State.”
Evan’s appointment lasts for eight years, meaning that his role will end in 2032.