Welcome to Holland

UVU’s new leader of the brand is Dr. Matthew S. Holland, former BYU political science professor and current father of four under the age of 11. With his wife at his side — both literally and figuratively — Matt brought his school of thought in June to the fastest growing university in the state. Now he’s had his taste of UVU catering and budget setbacks. But he knew what he was getting into. Matt moved to Provo as a high schooler so his father, Jeffrey R. Holland, could be the president of BYU. Talk about then and now.

UV: What has it been like to relocate your family to campus?
Matt: We’re having a great experience. Previously, we lived on the tree streets in Provo, and we had a terrific neighborhood. It felt like Mayberry, USA. But once this job came, there was all the pull in the world to come to Orem. As a practical matter, living close allows me to sneak home on busy nights and still perhaps have dinner with the family or tuck the kids in. We have the best of both worlds because we live on the edge of campus, but we are also part of a great Orem neighborhood. I had to move when I was younger because my father became a university president, and I was a lot less cooperative than my children have been.

UV: What do you remember about being the son of the BYU president?
Matt: Those were great years. It does put a certain burden on a family, but I always felt that it was more than made up for me in additional opportunities. I’m already seeing this with my own family. This experience will help us to be more cohesive. We’ll rely on each other. My kids have been involved with things such as the community parades — and they worship the studentbody officers.

UV: So how was the transition from Bountiful High to Provo High?
Matt: Moving was tough. That’s an awkward time of life, and you make decisions about what kind of person you are going to be. But I had some great high school friends in Provo. I just spoke with one of them this weekend. I had dinner with one about a month ago. The 1984 class was a great one. There were extraordinary people who have gone off to do interesting and important things.

UV: Do you keep up with them on Facebook?
Matt: No, I don’t Facebook. I’m not looking for more things to manage right now. I don’t “tweet,” either. I am an e-mailer, but with this job I’m finding that many items need the immediate attention of a phone conversation.

UV: Do you text?
Matt: I have sent some texts, and my son is thoroughly impressed. I did get an iPhone a couple of months ago. In fact, this past summer I changed everything except for my faith, my wife and my kids. I have a new job, new neighborhood, new house, I moved from Outlook to Groupwise, and from a PC to a Mac. It’s enough to give a man an aneurism.

UV: This has been a year of change!
Matt: It definitely has. This job came out of the blue for us. We spent the summer in England last year, and we had visions of going back and doing that again this year. But a friend of mine who was loosely associated with the search committee landed on my doorstep and said I’d be a good fit for the university. I mentioned it offhandedly to Paige, and she instantly saw things clearer than I did. She said I’d be perfect, and I was taken back by her response. I started to think about how much this institution matters to the community. I see myself as a Utah Valley guy. I haven’t lived here all my life, but I’ve been here at key moments. So I threw my hat in the ring and decided to give it everything I’ve got.

UV: How would you describe UVU?
Matt: UVU is in a critical stage, and it needs to have its story told to the community. We need broader pockets of support. My sense is that when people go through the experience I went through — when they come on to campus and learn more — they are blown away. That’s a big part of what I want to do. I want to share our story.

UV: What has surprised you so far about being the president of UVU?
Matt: People watch very carefully. I’ll make an offhanded comment in a meeting, and before I know it the word has gotten out that the president doesn’t like chocolate cake. And now as an institution we don’t serve chocolate cake at any function. (laughing) I’m learning that I need to be aware that people are watching. I knew it was going to be a busy job, but the realities of it are eye-opening. There truly is always something you could be doing — and should be doing. I’m trying to find that balance of knowing when to say, “No, I’m going to go home and spend time with my wife and kids.” I’m also positively surprised that just when I think I know the place, I find out UVU is even greater than I thought.

UV: Have you figured out your favorite entrees from UVU catering?
Matt: That’s another revelation — the food at UVU is superb! We have both our culinary institute and our in-house dining services. We just hosted the Board of Regents, and I made a presentation about the state of UVU. My theme was that we’re a serious university. I told them we’re serious about ideas and learning — and we’re serious about food. The room erupted with applause! The others said they’ll never be able to compete with our food at future meetings.

UV: What do you do to relieve stress?
Matt: First, I’m an early riser. I like to get up at 5 or 5:30 and have quiet time for personal reflection — whether it’s reading or thinking or spiritual time. That’s important to me, and I’m pretty regular about that. Second, I absolutely adore my family. I get a kick out of my kids. If I’ve got spare time, I want to be with them. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing.

UV: What do you enjoy as a family?
Matt: We have a tradition of family movie night. I make popcorn with way too much butter. We also enjoy athletics — tennis and basketball. We like to hike around Rock Canyon Park.

UV: What did you want to be “when you grew up”?
Matt: I had a “Perry Mason” complex. I saw high courtroom drama as my future. But by the time I was a senior, I had talked to enough lawyers to know that exciting courtroom days were not the common way of life for an attorney. I got thinking more about the moral dimensions of politics. I flirted with getting an MBA, but I found that each night when I should be reading Business Week and the Wall Street Journal, I was drawn more to “Origin of the American Revolution.” So I decided to get a Ph.D. That’s the best decision I’ve ever made. It satisfied so much of my intellectual curiosity. And it gave me the credentials to teach, which I loved and will miss. I hope to begin teaching a class after I get my feet under me at UVU.

UV: When did you start loving history?
Matt: I’ll forever be grateful to my parents. When they were in graduate school, they had no money, but they came up with the funds for a big set of Step-Up readers. They were all about history. There was one on Lincoln, the American Revolution, the Wright brothers. I read them over and over again. It got me thinking about history early on.

UV: What were you like in college?
Matt: I was a good student, as much through effort as native ability. I was involved in intramural basketball and football. I was on a championship ultimate frisbee team. I dated a lot. I created a family crisis by graduating from BYU single. My mom nearly had a nervous breakdown about that. I had great roommates. I liked to bring humor into the classrooms I found myself in. My senior year I did an impersonation of the department chairman.

UV: You are a graduate of BYU and former professor. Plus, your father was the BYU president in the 1980s. How do you feel about BYU?
Matt: I love BYU, and I was very happy in my BYU position. There’s no loss of affection for that place. It is, however, serving fewer and fewer of our Utah County youth. Both schools are needed.

UV: Which chapter of your life has been the most challenging?
Matt: It was challenging to move from Boston where I was doing management consulting to graduate school. That was a tough time. I was single, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to find someone who seemed right for me. I was leaving a great job for an uncertain future. I was also leaving a fun East Coast city like Boston to go to Durham, N.C. There were a lot of gambles going on. It took a couple of years for things to come into focus for me. For awhile, I wondered if I’d made the greatest mistake of my life. But I can see that the combination of my business experience with my Ph.D. prepared me for this position.

UV: With your passion for history, what lessons come to mind when taking on this position at UVU?
Matt: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and John Winthrop are terrific role models I think about a lot. They faced difficult challenges and had to take decisive stands. All of them in different ways had charity and genuine concern for others. I keep that at the forefront of my mind. I’m presiding over a large and complex institution with people who are very bright — and with people who see the world very differently. My job is to help pull people together as much as possible.

UV: What do you want people to understand about UVU?
Matt: It is a serious university. It’s better in so many ways than it gets credit for. We are a teaching university, and we embrace that wholeheartedly. Our recent announcement of the MBA program is a serious step forward for us. We’re home to the traditional LDS student, but we have a population that is more diverse than Utah Valley itself. We’re also very engaged — that’s one of our buzzwords. UVU is a community problem-solver. And that’s the right strategic focus for us rather than to compete with the U of U as a research institution.

UV: I like the billboard on I-15 that says at UVU you get a degree and a resume.
Matt: Exactly. Each of the schools at UVU is defining for themselves what it means for them to be engaged. Jack Christianson, who was a candidate for the presidency, is the special assistant to the president for engaged learning. He is a tremendous asset, and I’m delighted he has stayed on board. We’re going to be seeing more of this engaged focus, not less. This is the foot we’re leading with.

UV: What are the main challenges you are facing at UVU?
Matt: We live in a time of macroeconomic difficulty. And we live in a time of exploding growth. If we’re going to navigate these challenges, we’re going to need the whole community to step it up and devote time and resources. We won’t be able to rely solely on state legislative funding. Beyond that, we need emotional support.

UV: What makes you nervous going forward?
Matt: We are in a difficult environment — we had budget cuts last year, and we’re likely to have them again. At the same time, our enrollment is going through the roof. That’s a challenging combination. That’s what wakes me up in the morning. But I’m extremely optimistic, and we can and will do this. We have a fantastic executive team, and we will creatively deal with the situation.

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