By Dave Person
In the 25 years since he graduated from Parchment High School, Matt (Peterson) Ricke has devoted himself to improving the lives of others, a reflection of the positive reinforcement he received from teachers and staff during his time in the Parchment schools.
“There were so many folks … who were such a great support,” he says.
Ricke, 42, is a university ombuds at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, where he helps university employees resolve issues they are confronting in the workplace.
It enables him, he says, to use “all of the skills I’ve learned over the course of my career to help employees in need and help resolve organizational conflicts.”
As an ombuds, a position he has held since April of last year, he works in conflict resolution coaching and education, and mediation. He also leads workshops on resolving conflicts.
“My passions are helping people identify and solve complex organizational and interpersonal problems and promoting equity and inclusion across the university,” he says on his LinkedIn professional networking site.
The rewards of his job, Ricke says, are “the ability to see folks who really are struggling with difficulties in their workplace, (help them to) make meaningful change (and) to be more healthy and whole, and hopefully be able to work through difficult situations.”
Ricke, who has a Ph.D. in higher education and student affairs leadership from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, previously worked for five years in the Office of Institutional Equity at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, serving as Title IX coordinator and equity officer, before returning to Colorado last year.
“Colorado is a beautiful place to live and we really wanted to get back here,” he says.
Ricke, who lives with his husband, Eddie Ricke, and their three dogs and a cat, is active outside of work as well.
“I love going hiking up in the mountains, I do a lot of gardening, I volunteer at different food banks now and again, and I love spending time with my family,” he says.
Ricke attended Parchment schools from third grade through high school, graduating in 1999, then went to Western Michigan University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish in 2003.
He was involved in student life and worked in the residence halls while at Western, prompting his interest in that kind of work. His first job out of college was as a residence hall director at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
He went on to earn a master’s degree in experiential education from Minnesota State University at Mankato, then taught middle school language arts to students who were primarily from a low socioeconomic background for a year.
“I really loved it, but missed working in higher education,” he says, so he began working on his doctorate and eventually landed at UCF.
“I knew when I was in high school I wanted to do something that was going to help people,” Ricke says.
He stayed busy with the National Honor Society, doing peer education, working as a library and teaching aide “and trying to be a good citizen in my community,” he says.
“I had so many faculty members during my time that helped me,” he recalls.
“Mrs. (Jodie) Lugar-McManus is one of those people who really supported me (through high school and) into college and provided me an opportunity to try out teaching as a teaching assistant in her biology class,” he says.
“Ms. (Nancy) Looper (English and psychology) has been an amazing support, even beyond (high school).”
“I don’t think I would have majored in Spanish (at WMU) if not for Mrs. (Carol) Bouabdellaoui and Mrs. (Cheryl) Frazier, who taught my Spanish classes in high school and stimulated my interest in other cultures and languages,” he adds.
Ricke says his immediate family no longer lives in the Parchment area, with some having moved farther north in the state and a sister who lives in Texas.
While he says he would like to someday get back into classroom teaching as an adjunct professor, he is enjoying the challenges of his current position at Colorado State..
“I am very content doing what I am doing now,” he says. “Being an ombuds has been sort of the pinnacle of my career.”
