During his second day on the job, new University of Texas at Tyler president Michael Tidwell was still getting to know staff and settling in before classes start Jan. 17.
Tidwell, 43, follows longtime president Rodney Mabry, who retired in December.
“The goal is to gain a detailed understanding of the community and the campus,” Tidwell said. “I want to get an understanding of the student body and what their needs are. I’m going to immerse myself in the culture that is UT Tyler.”
Tidwell also was preparing for a trip to Austin for the beginning of the new legislative session.
“The way things operate in Texas is a bit different, and I think most Texans would agree with that,” he said. “Not being a native of Texas, I need to develop that understanding. Relationships are very important to me.”
Tidwell was born in Los Angeles and has traveled the United States and the world over the course of his academic career.
Most recently he served as the Dean of the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University.
Tidwell said it was an exciting time to come to UT Tyler as the school is in the throes of construction of a new college of business facility. The university has seen unprecedented growth, with attendance seeing a 12 percent increase from the 2015-16 school year.
He also is excited about the new Alumni House, which is nearing completion. Focusing on growing the school’s alumni is going to be a crucial part of his mission. His goal is to change the way alumni serve the community.
“Many institutions outside of private schools and flagship universities don’t do a great job of cultivating their alumni base,” Tidwell said. “Alumni don’t simply represent a financial resource for the institution; they also represent an intellectual resource. Making sure they’re able to come back and give their time and talent is very important to us.”
During his time as a dean, he has helped develop programs, which allow alumni to be involved in student success.
“One of the major programs I’ve been blessed to lead the focus on has been our alumni business conference, that’s a conference where it’s almost like the alumni are professor for a day,” he said. “We cancel all classes for the day in the college of business and the alumni come in and share their experiences. It’s ‘this is how I got to the institution, this is how I started and this is how I became the CEO of a major institution.’”
Tidwell also plans to focus on student development and growing the college’s faculty to match the school’s growth.
“I hate to think of things as challenges. I like to think of them as opportunities. The enrollment growth that we have experienced the last four to five years has been tremendous. There are very few institutions in the nation that have experienced that type of growth,” he said. “We have the opportunity to figure out how to maintain that growth and the quality of education.”
Tidwell said he is also looking forward to getting to know the area. Although he was reared in California, he does have connections to Tyler. Tidwell’s grandfather was born in Rusk and lived in Tyler. He and his wife, Karen, look forward to finding out if any distant relatives are still in the area.
Tidwell met Karen in high school and the two have been together ever since. They have two sons, Bradley, 20, and Cyrus, 15, who has been enrolled at All Saints Episcopal School.
The integrity of the college and the inclusion of its commitment to community are what drew Tidwell to UT Tyler.
“When I had an opportunity to take a look at the UT Tyler strategic plan, it talked about a lot of different things, but the one thing I found most compelling were the values it discussed,” he said. “Community, growth, opportunity and fairness and equity. Those are the kinds of things I have supported my entire career, so for an institution to have placed that in their strategic plan, that’s the kind of community in which I’d love to operate in.”
Over the next few years he hopes to see UT Tyler grow as an institution in both quality and its commitment to the region.
“I’m really excited to be here at the end of the day,” he said. “UT Tyler has been a tremendous institution and a great presence in the community. Dr. Mabry did a wonderful job of pulling the institution forward.”
About Dr. Michael Tidwell:
Tidwell holds a bachelor of science in communications from Ball State University, where he competed in Division I volleyball.
He went on to earn his master’s degree in communication at Washington State University. He later earned a Ph.D. in organizational studies from WSU.
He has served in administration at several schools, including:
Clayton State University - Assistant Dean, School of Business
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania - Dean, College of Business
Eastern Michigan University - Dean, College of Business
He also has served as an assistant professor at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri; Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington; and University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
Tidwell taught internationally as a visiting professor at CHM College in Ulhasnagar, India; Birla College in Kalyan, India; ICMIS in Bangalore, India; and Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya.
