Juan Mestas- Chancellor of the University of Michigan at Flint campus

– Responsibilities: Chancellor Mestas is the chief executive officer of the Flint campus. He represents the campus in front of the University Board of Regents and reports to President Mary Sue Coleman. He is responsible for the academic quality of operations at the Flint campus, as well as its fiscal health.

– Mestas said one of the benefits of the Flint campus is that it is smaller and he is at more of an advantage to have contact with students and faculty. “The size of the campus is 6,500 students, it sort of encourages intimacy,” he said, adding that one of the most important things he does is maintain close contact with students. He teaches one class a year and invites 20 students a month to have fireside chats. “The University is about teaching and you don’t want the administrators to be too removed from that,” he said. He said he enjoys the fireside chats because they allow for a more informal setting.

“You get more interesting and more candid and conversations that way,” Mestas said.