Hi, my name is Mick Miyamoto. My story of coming to Dubuque is a little unique and unexpected. I was working at a comprehensive university in the state Wisconsin for 20 years. I wasn’t really looking to move, I was at my alma mater, in my hometown, i was fully vested in the retirement system there. I really wasn’t even looking. I came to meet Peter and Susan Smith, and eventually met Jeff Bullock, our president. I was so intrigued by their efforts to diversify their campus. It blew me away. My paradigm was a small private school in Iowa would be all upper-middle class kids, affluent, 100% white. To come down here and see their efforts to diversify the campus was something I wanted to be a part of.

I would describe myself as someone who is passionate about education, at all different levels. I think I would say I’m a person who cares about the bigger issues, about issues regarding inclusivity and what education can mean to drive us to that goal.