Then he was on time for our meeting. His answers weren’t rehearsed. He asked me questions about myself. Sure, he came uber-prepared in a way any Type B person would never do — contacts ready to go for follow-up interviews, a business card in hand, a leather-bound writing pad tucked under his arm — but he was also willing to talk about whatever came up, to just be in the moment. I knew then that Tremblay could actually be that rare example of a wellrounded, ambitious higher-up. And it was my journalistic duty to find out if he was the real thing. Tremblay, 41, not only works a million jobs at WMU (not an actual count), but also participates in an LGBT (lesbian/gay/ bisexual/transgender) mentoring program on campus, spends much of his free time participating in cycling events like Pedal Across Lower Michigan, sings in the St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish choir, commutes to Dearborn because he is still finishing his doctorate at the University of Michigan, frequents arts and cultural events in Kalamazoo, has co-written eight murdermystery plays with partner Amy Farrell, has written one-act plays and musicals, is cofounder of StageLab24, a page-to-stagein-24-hours theater event in Dearborn (he also co-founded TLC Productions, a theater in Canton), is launching an online academic journal called The Journal of College Access to debut this year, and serves on the board of Stamats Inc., a higher-education marketing firm.
I’m tired just writing that. To top it off, Tremblay has only been back in Kalamazoo since March. A WMU graduate who worked for the university’s Office of Admissions after graduation, he left Kalamazoo 10 years ago to pursue a career in enrollment management, first working as director of admissions at Gannon University and then working in four different roles at the University of Michigan, Dearborn (most recently as assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management). Along the way, he earned a post-graduate certificate in enrollment management from Capella University, and he is nearing completion of a doctorate in educational leadership at U-M. Although he’s been away for a while, his return to Kalamazoo has been a long time coming. “I always loved Kalamazoo,” says Tremblay, who moved here from St. Clair Shores as a high school student and graduated from Portage Northern High School in 1990. “I didn’t want to leave. It’s the town I’ve spent the most time in. I love the size of it and the arts and culture.” When Tremblay started as a student at WMU, he didn’t think he was headed down the road to administration — in fact, Tremblay’s dream at the time was to work for the Walt Disney Co. Turns out, he was able to fulfill that dream while in college, through the Disney College Program, which mentors students by integrating them into the Disney corporation for hands-on experience in business, hospitality, arts and management.
league “has a words of a former col ms at WMU and in the ’s license plate aptly captures his gra pro d an ts en Tremblay four departm job. same time.” Above, Tremblay manages alma mater and his air, spinning at the enthusiasm for his dozen plates in the
20 | Encore FEBRUARY 2014