Evan Enke - Open Doors

Born in Denver, CO, the Southern Tier became home to Evan and his family when his father took a teaching position at Alfred University. His father taught accounting and was the director of the health planning management department in the business school.

Evan joined his father at AU where he was a member of the football and the track and field teams while studying community service administration. After his playing career was over, he joined the coaching staff.

Planning on returning to coach at AU, Evan said yes to the opportunity to come across the street and coach the inaugural football team at Alfred State in 1995. “I was torn about pursuing a variety of different careers and then Mark Shardlow approached me. He was heading to Alfred State to coach football and asked me if I wanted to come with him. I was like, ‘sure.’”

Shardlow became the head coach of Alfred State’s football team just days before the start of the inaugural season of Pioneer football. Enke was on the coaching staff for all of Shardlow’s coaching career at ASC, spent time on Mick Caba’s staff, and has returned after coaching youth and high school football to be part of Scott Linn’s staff the past few years.

Evan thought he would pursue one of three career paths: teaching, coaching, or working on computers. The opportunity at Alfred State opened the doors for him to do all three. “I have been fortunate that I have been able to do all three. I am lucky to have the lifestyle that allows me to coach, be in the classroom, and solve problems that I think are interesting.”

Once on campus coaching football, Jim Grillo, one his former bosses, encouraged Evan to start teaching as an adjunct professor while finishing his graduate studies. After being successful in that role, Doug Barber pulled him aside and asked him to apply for a full-time teaching position.

Evan’s love for computers goes back to his father and his mathematic background. “When my father was in graduate school, they would pull him in and have him work on calculus problems on pencil and paper and compare his answer to what the computer produced. Through him, I got an opportunity to play around with gopher net and all these other programs pre-internet. I was making web pages back when all you had was Times New Roman font and you could not have images. As a young person I got into the whole thing.”

Evan earned his master’s degree in decision support systems and through his time at Alfred State he has taught everything the college has offered from programming fundamentals and logic to teaching capstones. “I really enjoy [teaching capstones} because it is less about direct teaching and more about creating the environment where students get to excel and learn on their own. I have had a lot of fun teaching the web curriculum and more often than not, light bulbs go off above student’s heads every time you are in a lab environment.”

Currently he teaches and is the department chair of the Computer Information Technology program. He was part of the development of the four-year program and the large expansion of course offerings within the department.

“We really have truly remarkable individuals coming out of our program. I really like working with a group of people to accomplish goals. We are trying to work with a group of people to hit a goal for that day and hopefully all those goals add up to our desired outcomes by the end of the semester.”

Connections to Mark Shardlow, Jim Grillo, and Doug Barber were key to the start of his career but Evan is quick to go down memory lane and realize the relationships he built with colleagues like Chuck Neal, Linda Grillo, Jim Boardman, David Law, Robin Torpey, and Tom Stolberg have been key. “I am very blessed that people have been very welcoming. They went out their way to make everyone feel like they were part of a larger family.”

Today is no different as he feels similar bonds to the colleagues that he shares office space with. “It is hard to have engaged students if you do not have engaged faculty. I have been around a circle of engaged faculty and staff, and it is hard not to become more engaged yourself when you are surrounded by people who are engaging.”

To this day, Evan is very appreciative of the chance that Mark Shardlow took with him. “I think an awful lot of Mark. He is a phenomenal human being, a good coach, and a good mentor. It really meant a lot that he was willing to take a chance and bring an untested kid like me along with him.”

Things have come full circle for Evan. He and his wife Jen, who is the associate athletic director at the college, are the parents of three children. Their oldest, Emelia, is working towards her PhD in ceramic engineering at Alfred University, Eagan, is a construction management major and a football player at Alfred State, and their youngest Ellora is a sophomore in high school.

Alfred State students might know Evan as a professor, a department chair, a coach, an advisor to their fraternity or sorority, or that guy in the weight room. He encourages former students to come back and remember to support each other. “We all stand on the shoulders of giants. None of us are where we are in life without a huge amount of support from people. I want to express my gratitude to them but hopefully encourage their gratitude to others, their industry, and their alma mater.”

Saying yes to the opportunity in 1995 was the start of a meaningful career at Alfred State. “It is not much of a leap of faith as much as it is a belief in that connection. If you have people that you are connected with and have confidence in, it is not really that much of a risk because you know you are supported.”

That leap has paid off for Evan and the thousands of connections he has made at Alfred State.