Matthew Lewis

Bio

Arizona native born and raised in Navajo County.  Grew up on a small farm raising Beef Cattle, Corn and Alfalfa.   

Graduated from Snowflake High School – Involved in Agricultural Education and FFA.  Served as Chapter VP and Sentinel. 

Attended Eastern Arizona College for one year and then served a mission for my church in Oregon. 

Returned to EAC and met my wife and Graduated in 1985.  I was a poor college student and applied for the Shaffer Scholarship at UA in Ag Ed.  This put me on the path as an Agricultural Educator!   

I completed my Student Teaching at Safford High School under the direction of Guillermo Zamudio.  Due to a shortage of Agriculture teaching positions after graduation, I enrolled in Graduate School at UA.  In October of 1987, Buddy Deimler left Agua Fria HS as the Ag Teacher to become the State Supervisor of Agricultural Education.  This created an opening and I started teaching at Agua Fria HS in October of 1987.  Thanks to Buddy stopping by regularly to see if I was “surviving,” I made it through the year and four more. In 1992 I moved to Chandler and began teaching at Chandler High School where I taught for 26 years.  While at Chandler, I taught with five other great teachers who helped build the program into a very complete program.  We built new facilities, created a school farm at Tumbleweed Park in coordination with the City of Chandler and had many successes in developing leadership opportunities for students through FFA. I served the Arizona Ag Teachers as President in 1995-96 and have been on the Board for most of my career.  I am most pleased that I was able to assist in changing the AATA Board Structure to enable it to function more effectively. My wife Suzy and I have five children.  The family rule was that they enroll in High School Ag Class as a freshmen and after that, they could leave the program if they discovered something better.   All were four year FFA members and two served as State Officer and received the American FFA Degree.  We have seven grandchildren. I am excited to have the opportunity to join the faculty at the University and continue my career in Agricultural Education.  I am passionate about helping others and love working with others who feel the same! 

Educational Background

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Master of Education
Major: Education Leadership

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Master of Education
Major: Agricultural Education
Curriculum for Applied Biological Systems
 
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Bachelor of Science
Major: Agricultural Education
 
Eastern Arizona College, Thatcher, AZ
Associate of Science
Major: Agriculture

Classes Taught

AED 150C1 Agriculture and Life Sciences Literacy

AED 201 Effective Organizations using Parliamentary Law

CTE 400/500, Principles & Philosophy of Career and Technical Education

CTE 410/510 Curriculum Development for Career and Technical Education

CTE 420/520 Classroom Instruction Development for Career and Technical Education 

CTE 430/530 Career and Technical Student Organization Development