(Peru, Neb.) – Peru State College will inaugurate Dr. Michael R. Evans as its 34th president on Wednesday, April 20, in the Performing Arts Center on the College’s campus.

The inauguration ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a reception to follow in the Al Wheeler Activity Center.

Dr. Michael Evans, who began his tenure on July 1, 2021, came to Peru State College from Southern New Hampshire University, where he served six years as the Vice President for Academic Affairs for SNHU’s on-campus program in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Previously, Evans was the Provost at Unity College in Maine and has served as the Interim Dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism, where he also served on the faculty for 15 years. Before his career in higher education, Evans worked for 13 years in the publishing industry.

Evans holds a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University and he focuses his research on expressions of indigenous cultures through the mass media. With the support of a Fulbright Fellowship, he lived for nine months in a small village in the eastern Canadian Arctic, conducting ethnographic fieldwork with Inuit videographers. That project resulted in two published books. He has conducted similar work in the Australian Outback, working with Aboriginal video and radio professionals. He has worked in several Native American nations as well.

Evans will celebrate 40 years of marriage to First Lady Joanna Evans with a trip to Africa following Peru State’s commencement in May. They have twin sons: Dylan, who has a degree in outdoor education from the University of New Hampshire and leads kayak and rafting trips; and Miles, who has engineering degrees from Purdue University and Stanford University and is working as a solar engineering research scientist.

A friend and colleague of Evans, Dr. Greg Kelley, will be the keynote speaker. Kelley holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University. The former president of the Hoosier Folklore Society and editor of the journals Folklore Forum and Midwestern Folklore, he also served as the coordinating publisher for Trickster Press. Kelley presently teaches Media Studies at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto, Canada.