Matt Milless is assistant dean of students. He joined Union in August of 2000 and has served in a number of roles, mostly in Student Activities. Matt is often easy to find on campus with his scarlet Ohio State hat. He is dedicated to positively impacting students at Union and finds a great deal of joy spending time with his wife, Laura, and their two sons, Lucas (5) and Carter (3).
FIRST APP YOU LOOK AT IN THE MORNING: Email? Is that an app? I usually don’t make it until morning to check. Typically, I check it once or twice overnight. Is that bad?
ONE BOOK YOU HAVE READ MULTIPLE TIMES: Why would I read a book multiple times? My favorite author is Carl Hiaasen and I have read most of his books once.
BEST ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED: Honestly, a female friend in college told me the best advice I have ever received – “Never settle when it comes to love.”
FAVORITE SPOT ON CAMPUS: 404 Reamer Campus Center, my office. It is often filled with students who are having the most interesting conversations, from the best rapper of all time to pulling questions from the would-you-rather jar.
GO-TO BREAKFAST: Everything bagel with plain cream cheese and coffee. LOTS OF COFFEE.
NETFLIX OR AMAZON: Netflix. Is there any question when it comes to streaming media?
FAVORITE PODCAST: “Science Vs.” with Wendy Zukerman
ONE SKILL YOU WISH YOU HAD: Carpentry. Not sure why, I just wish I could build stuff!
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PANDEMIC DIVERSION/ACCOMPLISHMENT: Spending time with my children, doing projects and making videos for our YouTube channel – Cooking with Carter and Lucas.
BEST PART OF YOUR DAY: 6 a.m. I love my mornings to get ahead for the day and take a moment or two to reflect on life. Maybe watch the birds at my bird feeder for a few minutes.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT YOU: I love fishing. When I was living in Key West, Fla. (1999-2000), any time I wasn’t working I was fishing. I learned to spearfish, catch lobster with a tickle stick and did a lot of line fishing. One afternoon my amazing friend, Chester from Poland, and I were out on his 13-foot Boston Whaler. We were having a great day catching yellowtail snappers faster than we could bait the hooks. All at once the fish stopped biting and we wondered what happened. Chester all of the sudden looked over at me, and said, “Look.” In the water I saw this dorsal fin, just like in the movie “Jaws.” It was headed towards the boat, the very small boat. It was not a great white, but it was a great hammerhead shark, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. This massive shark nearly as large as the boat was gracefully cruising through the water. It came so close to the boat we could have reached over and touched it. If I could have a do-over, I would reach over and touch it.