BY MARTIN LANG
VN SPECIAL WRITER
The 55-year-old University Honors Program (UHP) at Detroit Mercy is seeking progressive change with the hiring of new directors.
Among the new members of the UHM staff is business professor Evan Peterson.
Peterson has proven to be a seasoned professional and a proud member of the Titan family over the years, earning his bachelor's degree in business administration, his MBA, and his law degree from Detroit Mercy before practicing as an attorney in Michigan and Florida.
Shortly after his years of practicing law, Peterson starting teaching at Detroit Mercy as a part-time adjunct professor in January 2009.
After his five-year stint as an adjunct professor, Peterson started his full-time career at the College of Business in January 2014.
Today, Peterson teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in business law, advises hundreds of students every semester and serves as director of undergraduate business programs.
Peterson learned about the opportunity to progress his career in academia as a co-director of UHP in an informational meeting held on campus for faculty members.
Overall, Peterson attributed his excitement and motivation for the position to the unique opportunities it presented.
“The Detroit Mercy UHP is a program dedicated to highly motivated students looking to get the most out of their undergraduate education as well as explore a certain topic in more detail,” Peterson said.
Peterson said meetings with provost Pamela Zarkowski and current UHP director Tod Hibbard were instrumental in his final decision-making process to accept the co-director position.
“I was aware that the position might be coming available and it sounded like a good opportunity for me to work with some of the top students across the university that I might not see otherwise in the classes that I currently teach,” said Peterson. “It also sounded like an opportunity to gain some additional administrative experience.”
With the UHP currently in a transitional period, Peterson said he hopes to soak up as much information as possible on the program and how it fits into the overall mission of the university in his first year as co-director.
In January, Dr. Nicholas Rombes, an English professor at Detroit Mercy, will be joining Peterson as co-director.
Once established in his position, Peterson looks forward to working with Rombes to “take a hard look at the program and see what improvements we can continue to make.”
The UHP is at its strongest point since its birth in 1962.
“This past year for Fall 2017 was the largest incoming honors cohort that we’ve ever had,” said Peterson.
Peterson knows the task at hand is challenging but said he is honored to be a part of the University Honors Program and looks forward to further advancing it.
