In her first sit-down television interview as EMU president, the Rev. Dr. Shannon W. Dycus shared her excitement about leading the university into a new chapter, reflected on the role of faith in her life, and discussed how EMU connects with a generation of students whose relationships with religion are changing.
The eight-and-a-half-minute interview with WHSV-TV3 anchor Caleb Peek was recorded in the Administrative Suite of EMU’s Campus Center and aired Oct. 22, less than two weeks after Dycus’ investiture during Homecoming and Inauguration Weekend.
Dycus, who joined EMU in 2019 and served as interim president beginning in July 2025, officially became the university’s 10th president on July 1, 2026.
When asked to share a word that encapsulates how she’s feeling after her recent inauguration, Dycus chose one familiar to many members of the campus community: together.
“It’s actually a part of our brand here,” she said. “We talk about leading together and creating together and being together in ways that create the community that we have on campus.”
Peek asked Dycus, an ordained minister and trained spiritual director, how her journey in faith shaped her leadership.
Dycus, who grew up in a family deeply rooted in faith and in a congregation pastored by her grandfather, said the church has always been a part of her life.
“My faith … has really been a grounding piece for me as I listen and pay attention to who I can become,” she said. “But my faith, for me, is also about paying attention to how God is moving around us and how God allows us to create relationships between us. And that’s what grounds EMU as well.”
Dycus is the first Black woman to lead EMU as president and just the 10th person to serve in the role in the institution’s 110-year history.
Asked what it means to be a part of that legacy, Dycus reflected on the university’s past leaders, including President Emeritus Dr. Myron S. Augsburger, who died Oct. 15 at age 97.
“In his passing, it became even more clear to me just the courageous leadership that’s required to offer a vision for an institution like this, and I’m inspired,” she said.
Leadership extends well beyond the President’s Office, she added.
“This is a campus that is filled with incredible faculty, with staff who care deeply, and being president here means that I am only helping us all do the work that we need to do,” she said. “And so, while it’s an honor to sit in this seat, the true honor here is to be able to give vision and guidance for all of the folks who are leading on this campus.”
Citing a recent Pew Research Center study on changing religious attitudes in the United States, Peek asked Dycus how declining religious identification among younger Americans affects her approach to leading a Christian university.
Dycus described how people are changing the language they use to express their faith and the ways they live it out.
“There is still a strong longing that we see in our students and in our community leaders here who talk about compassion and justice and the care that we know in Jesus, that we know in many of the ways that faith takes form,” she said.
“It is still God informing how we live and move, and we get to talk about it in ways that connect more clearly with young people right now,” she added.
Dycus expressed gratitude for the support she’s received from the local community as she begins a “new season of leadership” at EMU.
“We get to journey with students who are growing and becoming in really important ways,” she said. “I’m excited about the ways we get to launch into a new season that grows our students and grows our connections across the Valley.”
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