Faculty Profile: Brendon Soltis

Name: Brendon M. Soltis

Title & department: Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Foundations

Can you share a little about your background (degrees, former job, etc.) and what brought you to ECU’s College of Education?

I have a background in computer science, completing my undergraduate degree at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and working as a software developer for two years. I returned to school to pursue a Masters degree in student development administration from Seattle University. I worked in student support services for over 7 years mostly in residential education before pursuing my doctorate at Michigan State University in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education.

I came to the College of Education because of the evident commitments to student success and regional impact. I love that our department focuses on addressing problems of practice alongside our students and applying research for positive change.

What are your primary teaching and research interests?

My primary interest of inquiry centers student success in college, critically examining the origin of the modern student success movement and its effect on institutional infrastructure and outcomes. 

What excited you most about joining the College of Education?

I am excited to work with wonderful colleagues to support our current and future leaders in the field higher education. I see an opportunity for positive change in higher education and I look forward to working with leaders to make a regional and national impact.

What do you hope your students will take away from your classes?

I hope my classes are spaces where students can take intellectual risks—I hope the students in my classes grapple with a perspective of higher education that challenges or unsettles their assumptions about what higher education is and could be.

What’s something fun or unique you’d like people to know about you?

I bake bread, specifically sourdough bread, using a starter created by my great-grandparents on their farm in California. 

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my family (two kids, 5 and 3), road or mountain biking, and playing board games.