Been at UPIKE since 2011
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (July 11, 2017) — The University of Pikeville has named Mathys J. Meyer, Ph.D., as the university’s first dean of student success.
Meyer joined the faculty in the biology department at UPIKE in 2011 where he served as an instructor, assistant professor and now associate professor. A published academic, his career in higher education includes teaching, research, fieldwork, museum projects, grants and scholarships.
In addition to his academic work, Meyer has led student success and retention initiatives on campus including expanding the university’s new student orientation program and serving as the director of first-year studies. In that role, he developed and implemented the first-year studies program, a requirement for all new students at UPIKE. Meyer has also worked with the CREDO Advising Institute and the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education to research best and high-impact practices in regards to student success and retention.
Meyer earned his doctorate degree in entomology from the University of Illinois, a master’s degree in biology from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Ill. Prior to his time at UPIKE, Meyer taught biology as a visiting faculty at Knox College.
He earned UPIKE’s second place William Wade and Helen Record Walker Teaching Excellence Award in 2015. Meyer participates on several university committees including the retention and summer orientation task forces and also serves as the divisional representative to the executive committee of the faculty.
Meyer is a member of multiple national organizations including the National Science Teacher Association, Association of College and University Biology Educators, Kentucky Academy of Science and Beta Beta Beta-Pi Zeta Chapter. He is also a former member of American Ornithological Union, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Herpetologists’ League, Society for Systemic Biology, Zoological Society of Africa, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Society for Conservation Biology and Illinois State Academy of Science.
He and his wife, Karyla, reside in Pike County with their two children, Bix and Rainier.
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