Replacing Ruth: Sanyo Mathew named senior director of Graham Center

Student Affairs named Sanyo Mathew senior director of the Graham University Center in late August, replacing 35-year veteran Ruth Hamilton. As the hub of student life at Modesto A. Maidique Campus, the Graham Center, or GC as it’s commonly known, welcomes 3.7 million in foot traffic and hosts 23,000 events each year.

FIU News had the opportunity to sit down with the two-time FIU alum to get to know how one reaches the helm of one of FIU’s most diverse and vibrant buildings on campus and what it takes to keep things running smoothly.

New beginnings

In the winter of 2002, Mathew packed his car at snowy Illinois University and drove south, landing at sunny and warm FIU.

“I barely made the deadline to apply,” Mathew recalls.

As an international and transfer student, Mathew was excited to be in Miami but worried about the expenses of putting himself through college. He lived in a Motel 6 before finding two part-time jobs and, eventually, an apartment nearby. As a computer science major, he quickly found there was little time spent at home.

“I spent a lot of time in the piano lounge,” Mathew recalled. “I quickly grew into this place and GC became my home. Really, I used to go home only to take a shower.”

After repeatedly inquiring about job opportunities with GC, one appeared in March 2003: a desk position at the Welcome Center. Three months later, Mathew’s friendly attitude and quick thinking landed him a student coordinator position. He had the least experience of the applicants, but his can-do attitude was a welcome addition to the team. Using his computer science skills, he began recommending upgrades for certain GC systems, including moving the lost and found from a paper to an electronic system. Laying the groundwork for that and writing the policies would serve Mathew well as he learned the details of what it takes to run the Graham Center.

A different direction

By December 2004, the soon-to-be-graduate had landed a job with a consulting firm in New Jersey and was getting ready to say his goodbyes when Hamilton approached him.

A team member from GC’s IT department had given notice the week before, and Hamilton thought Mathew would be the perfect replacement. She asked him if he would consider staying.

“I had never thought of that,” he replied. “But, can you do my visa?”

Not only did Hamilton arrange for a 3-year visa, she had it extended. Mathew spent the next four years overseeing the computer labs and managing the IT department, upgrading systems, using cutting-edge software and increasing productivity for the unit.

In June 2008, Mathew was one of the youngest applicants to apply for the position of assistant director of the Panther Card (now the FIU OneCard). Again, he landed the job and immediately began making improvements to the office.

“I had zero fiscal knowledge at that time,” Mathew recalled. “It was a $3.7 million budget I was responsible for that was in the red because of some contracts that were in place. I quickly did some renegotiating, changing things up with our vendors and the way we purchased things. It was not an easy transition because the team of six full-timers and 18 students had all been my colleagues or even supervisors at one time. It was an interesting challenge, but it set the foundation for me in my professional life.”

While in that role, Mathew would complete his master’s in information systems with the Chapman Graduate School of Business. Another three years later, Mathew came to a crossroads. With Business Services taking over the Panther Card, he was set to move with the card. Hamilton again stepped in and asked him to stay.

“They gave me a week to decide, but I didn’t need longer than 60 seconds to give them a response,” he said.

Mathew said Hamilton trusted him implicitly, and he recognized the value in that. But then she told him something he didn’t believe.

“You can grow into my replacement if you wish to do so,” Hamilton said. “If you build on your skillset, you could be it.”

Mathew was honored, but didn’t see himself in her position. Instead, he took the position of assistant director of GC and continued what he had always done: making improvements to the units he oversaw.

Clearing the path

“I would later realize that what Ruth did strategically was place me,” Mathew said. “That experience helped me look at the entire operation from a big picture view down to the nitty gritty. It got me involved in every operation.”

When Hamilton set her retirement for the end of May, she immediately recommended that Mathew assume the interim position. Larry Lunsford, vice president for Student Affairs, supported the move while commencing a national search for a new director.

“I went through three months of interviewing with the committee, the president, again the committee,” Mathew recalled of the rigorous process. “On August 21, it was made official. So here I am.”

Throughout the process, Hamilton reminded Mathew that he had it in him to run the Graham Center.

She sent him an email when the news was announced, writing, “You made us all proud.”

Mathew is quick to credit Hamilton with his success.

“She saw in me the qualities to run this place when I had absolutely no faith in myself to do it back then,” he said. “But I grew in to it.”

While Mathew never saw any of this working out, he takes pride as he walks down the hallway of GC today. Remembering his own days as a student in the halls of GC, he makes certain to stop and ask random students their opinions of how things are working and what needs to be improved. It’s clear that Mathew wants every student to feel the same way he did about GC – it’s their home away from home.