CSE Professor gets Jerry Miller Outstanding Faculty/Staff Advisor Award
Dr. Matthew Stephan, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSE), has recently received an award for his work with the fraternity Alpha Epsilon pi (AEπ).
Having grown up in Canada, Stephan moved to Ohio and began working at Miami in 2014, when he began as a professor in Software Engineering. Before coming to Miami, Stephan worked as a Software Engineer for Visa International, as a systems analyst co-op for Deloitte Inc., and as a course instructor at Queen’s University, the institution in which he earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Dr. Stephan has been a contributor to 30 publications in Computer Sciences and Software Engineering. At Miami, he has been a member of many committees and has held Session Chair on multiple occasions.
Stephan now works with AEπ here on Miami’s campus. Matthew was a member of the fraternity when he was an undergraduate and while getting his masters. In fact, he was actually the longest active member of that fraternity ever, so when he saw the opportunity to help with the branch at Miami, he was very excited.
With his work in the fraternity, Stephan has a double role. From the university perspective, he is a faculty advisor, while from the international fraternity perspective he is the chapter advisor.
His typical day to day consists of attending chapter meetings once a week and helping with AEπ’s governance.
“I help them resolve conflicts. I make sure that they're mitigating risk, where possible, [and] being responsible, good people,” Stephan says.
Matthew works with their new members and their pledge education as well. While things have been a little different during the pandemic, typically he would do lecture and seminar series with the new pledges.
Dr. Stephan, as an advisor to AEπ, has helped them earn their highest average GPA for multiple semesters as a fraternity. This past semester, despite the issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew was able to provide support to members that encouraged student well-being and strong academic performances, leading to one of the chapter’s highest average GPAs ever.
While Stephan likes to make sure the students are being good members of the community, he also does some fun things with them, such as running a fitness group. He has been working very closely with the fraternity for about six years, and even lived in the house for the first two years.
Matthew says that this perspective and experience with the fraternity made him feel closer to the students that he works with, making him an even better resource.