Kyle Reyes, UVU staff and community service volunteer was said to be ‘the glue of campus’ in July when he accepted the position as Director of Student Success and Retention.
Reyes set the focus of the dean’s presence on campus toward informing, listening to, supporting and engaging of students in order to help them achieve their goals.
In March, he was one of three individuals named recipient of the Civically Engaged Staff Member Award. He received the award for engaging, modeling and influencing students to become involved in community service and service learning.
Reyes established and implemented the campus-wide UVU Latino Initiative including the Latinos Unidos Mentoring Program, Latino Educators of Tomorrow, Latino Youth Leadership in Action Conference, Celebracion Latinoamericana and Latino Parent Open House.
This reputation along with his apparent good judgment, people skills and energetic devotion to UVU is what earned him the post of Assistant to the President as appointed by Dr. Matthew S. Holland.
Given the ceremonial key to the university on June 17 of this year, President Holland began his tenure as president June 1, becoming the 6th president of UVU.
“My interviews and Kyle’s portfolio seemed to confirm that his reputation was eminently well deserved,” said Holland. “Kyle came with an outstanding reputation for quickly understanding problems, taking initiative to solve them, and doing so with great diplomacy and a spirit of collaboration. Those are key skills needed in the office of the President.”
When Holland was elected, part of his focus was to solidify UVU’s reputation for excellence in Utah and across the nation. Holland now believes that Reyes skills “will greatly magnify the efforts of this administration to move the institution forward in its quest for excellence and the resources needed to sustain such.”
“It is a great honor to work with President Holland and other UVU leaders,” said Reyes. “This position allows me to reach across campus to support and grow student-centered initiatives. I will continue to seek better ways to inform students and their families about the opportunities at UVU.”
Holland already has Reyes working on initiatives to further these and other goals, the results of which we hope to see soon.
“I hope to listen to students and bring their voices into executive meetings. Most importantly, I feel I can influence the way that UVU helps all students to succeed,” Reyes said.
