By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Southwestern Michigan College President Dr. David M. Mathews became Dowagiac Rotary Club's 54th Paul Harris Fellow for community service Thursday noon at Elks Lodge 889.
The local club's membership has contributed more than $120,000 to the Rotary Foundation, said Richard Judd, who made the presentation.
Mathews, Dowagiac's 1978 valedictorian, graduated from Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs College with an Academic Excellence Award, then joined the Army.
He graduated from Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., followed by Infantry Officers Training, Jump School and Ranger School.
From December 1983 until March 1985, Lt. Mathews was stationed on the DMZ in Korea.
At age 23 he commanded and was responsible for the security of half of the demilitarized zone. He was also the top graduate from his Army Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Program in Korea.
In March 1985, Mathews returned to the United States to attend Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he earned the coveted Green Beret.
David was then selected to be a Special Forces "A" Team commander for the balance of his military career.
After his 1986 Army discharge, Mathews enrolled in the graduate program at North Carolina State and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics.
During his years as a student at North Carolina State, he also served as a graduate student teaching assistant and was awarded the North Carolina State University Award for Outstanding Teaching, as well as the Maltbie Award for Excellence in teaching mathematics. Mathews also received the Winton-Rose Mathematics Research Scholarship.
After receiving his doctorate, Mathews taught mathematics at Longwood College in Virginia before joining Central Michigan University's graduate mathematics faculty.
He came to SMC as dean of arts, science and instructional innovation. He was hired to transform the college's instructional paradigm from conventional teaching to a learning paradigm where collaborative and interactive techniques are used and supplemented by classroom computer technology.
In 1998, when David Briegel retired as SMC president, and Dr. Marshall Bishop, vice president of instruction, moved to president, David became vice president for instruction. Bishop retired in July 2001 and Mathews became SMC's seventh president.
During his eight years at SMC, Mathews led the transformation of the instructional program. "Today, SMC is recognized as one of the top community colleges nationally in educational excellence," Judd said.
During his exceptionally rigorous schedule since arriving back in his hometown, Mathews has been involved not only as a Rotarian, but was the first president of the Police Athletic League (PAL), securing the first two years of funding from private sources to get the program now based at Lincoln Community Center off and running.
For the past two years Mathews has held weekly church services for Cass County Medical Care Facility residents.
He bought a guitar and took lessons so that now he not only preaches the sermon, but plays the guitar and sings.
Residents look forward to this weekly service and it is well-attended. Recently, when one of the residents died, her husband asked David to do the funeral service, which he did. "This was another first in the many ways David has found to help people," Judd said.
Mathews also has assisted his wife, Janet, in coaching soccer and tee ball. He met the Army nurse at Fort Bragg while recovering from a parachuting injury. They married in March 1984. They have a daughter, Samantha, 11, a sixth grader at Patrick Hamilton, and a son, Michael, 7, a first grader at Justus Gage.
His parents are Dr. Fred L. and Thelda Mathews.