The Associate Vice President for Student Affairs position, which was left vacant after Fr. John Donato was promoted to Vice President for Student Affairs in January, has been filled. The position had briefly been filled in March by Thomas Studdert, who abruptly left the university a month later with little explanation from administration.
Matt Rygg, former Dean of Students at Clark College in Vancouver, began in the position over the summer.
The Beacon sat down with Rygg Thursday to get to know him better:
The Beacon: What is your role and what do you do in that role?
Rygg: This position coordinates student services, specifically in the areas of Residence Life, Student Activities, the Moreau Center and core services. I also am helping and coordinating the response to serious issues and incidents with conduct, Title IX and Early Alert.
The Beacon: So when students have a problem, you might be one of the people they would talk to?
Rygg: Yes, or a member of one of my teams. But I will be coordinating, in conjunction with their services, ways to support and care for students.
The Beacon: How are you liking it?
Rygg: I love it. UP is a great place. Most recently I was at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash. as the Dean of Students and it was a commuter campus, large community college, and so this is a very different context. I went to Pacific Lutheran University for my undergrad and I was the Dean of Students at Multnomah University for a while so I’m very familiar with faith-based colleges, liberal arts colleges and the kind of culture we want to create here for students to be successful.
The Beacon: There was a lot of talk about diversity around your role before you arrived here. How does your role pertain to diversity?
Rygg: One of the responsibilities and privileges that I’ll have is working to cultivate a more inclusive and diverse community on campus. That is going to be a priority for me and for the division, and I think that really encouraging the campus community to talk about power, privilege and difference and really inviting people into conversations that might feel vulnerable and difficult, but are so important. I think those conversations have to feel safe and people have to be honored and people have to feel respected and we need to do it in a way that can really be empowering for students from underrepresented groups.
I look forward to building those relationships and helping that dialogue. Diversity and inclusion are things that are not just goals on a piece of paper but things that we need to live out as a Christian community. I think as a university we really need to be on the cutting edge of really helping diverse voices and perspectives and really talk about things that matter.
The Beacon: You’re not a priest, but many of your colleagues are and you’ve worked in different religious institutions. How has this experience been for you?
Rygg: I have found the religious, or the priests, to be extremely supportive, inclusive and caring about me and my experience. I think that they are appreciative of the experiences that I have had and am bringing to the University of Portland. Some of the conversations I’ve had with the priests here have been so enlightening and heartwarming and transformational that I think if I went to school here I’d be one of those students that stayed up late at night talking to one of the priests in the common area just because I think there is so much wisdom and knowledge they have. They are just so accessible and wonderful.
The Beacon: Are there any events on campus you’re excited about?
Rygg: We just finished up Orientation and that, I think, was a great success and it also included parent orientation. The feedback we received from parents was really positive. We’re coming off of that experience and looking ahead to the academic year, but I know that Student Activities has a number of great late night programs they’re planning that I think will be a wonderful addition to the things have going on here. There are a lot of sporting events and conversations and debates and campus forums about politics that I think will be interesting and educational.
I think there are so many things a college campus provides from music and the arts to athletic events to lectures to Student Activities’ events. I walked through the Activities Fair last week and I was so struck by the energy that each of the groups had.
The Beacon: What would you do for a day out in Portland?
Rygg: You might find me running the trails at Forest Park or around the waterfront. I might be out walking my dog, Brooks, who is a Cocker Spaniel, in town. I might even be visiting one of the many coffee shops here in Portland. I actually roast coffee. Will Meek (assistant director of the Health Center) and I geeked out about coffee roasting. I think he’s more sophisticated and a better roaster than I am, but I do love it and I do own my own espresso machine and I pull my own shots. It’s kind of my Northwest thing but I love coffee and it’s just such a good tool for starting conversations.
The Beacon: Anything else you think students should know?
Rygg: If I could share one message with students it would be that if you are experiencing challenges or hurt or any kinds of issues, there are so many people here that care and want to help, including me, that would do anything to help. So if somebody finds themselves in need, or in trouble, or in a challenging situation, to reach out and to let us know. If somebody sees somebody in distress or in need of support, to reach out to us so we can reach out to the student in need. I think it’s important that we care for each other in this community and I really want to help encourage a culture of care.
