31 Dec 2024 Five-Oh-Ones to Watch 2025: Matthew Emery
By Mary Eggart
Everyone in the workplace wishes they had a co-worker and team member like Matthew Emery … and with good reason.
According to one of Emery’s fellow employees at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, “Matthew works hard to promote UACCM. He’s such a nice man and is always willing to help with projects. He really cares about our college and community and wants to see them succeed.”
As the Associate Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Emery said that the key to being a good team member is listening to his coworkers. “Uniting towards a common goal requires a foundation of understanding and agreement,” he said. “Of course, that can be difficult. For me, the key has been to listen. It is so easy to want to talk, especially in more stressful scenarios, but I’d argue that’s when you should be doing the most listening.”
Matthew added that his pension for listening began at an early age, as his mother was born deaf.
“I was taught the difference between ‘hearing’ and ‘listening.’ She taught me how to truly absorb and process information before responding,” he said. “As I got older, the difference between the two became more and more clear. It also became clear how special it felt to have others listen.”
At UACCM, he leads the traditional and digital marketing and public relations efforts of the college, including social media, advertising, press releases, day-to-day operations, and more. He also is responsible for much of the school’s photography and video production. “I appreciate Mary Clark, director of marketing and public relations at UACCM, for bringing me to Morrilton and helping me grow into my own as a leader,” Emery said.
When asked what he enjoys most about working at UACCM, he discussed how inspiring the students are. “I love how diverse our student body is. We have classes with grandparents in them, nurses in them, welders in them, single parents in them, teenagers in them and more.”
Emery’s enthusiasm for the diverse student body is personal. He was a first-generation college student who originally dropped out of college and worked full-time at a department store to make ends meet. He said, “I understand the feeling of having the odds stacked against you — that you need just one break to get back on your feet. I ended up getting my break, and that’s helped lead to where I am today.”
Emery’s mother raised him and his brother in Tuckerman (Jackson County). He graduated from Arkansas Tech University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. He then moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to work in campus ministry. His experiences in Alabama taught him much about himself and helped lead him to Arkansas State University to attend graduate school. Following graduate school, he took a position at Crowley’s Ridge College (CRC) in Paragould. He credits Dr. Richard Johnson, president of CRC, for taking a chance on him in the middle of the pandemic. Emery said he will always be grateful to Johnson for helping kickstart his career.
Currently, Emery lives in Atkins with his beloved greyhound Ro, short for Astro. (His favorite baseball team is the Houston Astros.) He is an avid baseball lover and enjoys frequenting Dickey-Stephens Park to watch the Travelers play. He said that he loves living in Central Arkansas and looks forward to all the future opportunities and experiences headed his way.
