Meet A Deac Bonus
It’s the last day of the year, and a bonus edition of Meet A Deac! Today I am pleased to introduce you to my friend and colleague Matt Clifford of Residence Life and Housing.
Matt, thanks so much for doing this. Let’s start with your title, and how long you’ve been at Wake. I am Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Residence Life and Housing. I’ve been at Wake for 11 years.
Tell me about your educational background. I received a BA in English from Davidson College, an MEd in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina, and an EdD in Educational Leadership from the University of North Florida.
In layperson’s terms, what do you do at Wake? I’m responsible for all aspects of the residential experience at Wake Forest, from the buildings to the support structures there to help students. With the residential nature of Wake Forest, nearly everyone lives on campus, making it really important that we create opportunities for students to call this place their home. I wish I interacted more directly with students but I’m always up for coffee or lunch with someone – just shoot me an email!
What do you like best about working at Wake? Wake Forest always has me in a state of amazement. The students are bright and engaging; faculty are caring, expert teachers; and the staff are compassionate leaders.
You and I worked a LOT together during COVID, so I know you took on many new projects during the pandemic. Talk a little about that. Where do I start?!?! In many ways, it felt like COVID turned my work upside down. We needed to reexamine all aspects of how safely house 4,000 students on campus. No detail was too small, I assure you! [Believe me, I know.] I also had the pleasure of serving alongside some wonderful and intelligent colleagues on the University’s COVID planning team. The team used a focused project management approach to make recommendations about our response to COVID, including academics, testing, quarantine/isolation, and the student experience.
What would you say was your biggest COVID challenge? I thrive on human interaction and engagement, so it was really hard to do the challenging work and not be with my colleagues and our students.
Speaking of students…what advice would you give students – and families – respectively? For students: you did not get to Wake Forest by making many mistakes – I know that. I expect that your college career will be highlighted by more of the same success that brought you here. When you make a mistake, take the time to deeply explore not why you made it, but what you can learn about yourself from it and commit to change if needed.
As for parents and families…I know you’re eager for everything to click into place for your students, but it may take longer than you (and your student) expect. Please be patient and encourage your students to keep trying.
What did you most look forward to as the fall semester began? I looked forward to walking on campus from meeting to meeting – it’s wonderful to see the campus vibrant with activity. I also looked forward to some of our signature student events like Hit the Bricks, Lighting of the Quad, and the Lovefeast.
OK, ready for the bonus questions?
Book(s) you are reading now? Radical Candor by Kim Scott; Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, and The Searcher by Tana French.
Music you love: Winston-Salem native Ben Folds!
TV, movies, Netflix you love? The Crown, Ted Lasso (be a goldfish!), CBS Sunday Morning. I know this isn’t really a show but I’m a sucker for the Olympics and enjoyed watching them this summer. I was a college swimmer (a far cry from Olympic-level) and it’s the only time swimming and some other sports get top-billing.
Websites you frequent: For news: npr.org, apnews.com. For work: insidehighered.com. For fun: trailers.apple.com.
Guilty pleasures: Related to my ‘for fun’ website: I’m addicted to movie trailers (maybe I have a short attention span?) so I’ll get sucked in when a new trailer comes out.
Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert.
Something most people don’t know about you? I have four kids born within 16 months of one another. Peyton, Adah, and Sam are 13-year-old triplets, and Luke is 12 years old. Four middle-schoolers make for an interesting household!
Many thanks for being our Meet A Deac this week, Matt, and for all you for our resident students and the rest of campus! As a reminder, you can see our Meet A Deac archive here.
Program note: because Monday, January 3rd is a holiday, there will be no Daily Deac that day, but we’ll be back on January 4th.