The Backpage Interview Series

The sun was bright and the humidity high when Backpage coeditor Timothy Faust climbed to the top of 180 one recent bright Tuesday afternoon. A few minutes later, he was joined by Advisor to the Dean of Undergraduates Dr. Matthew Taylor. The birds chirped overhead and more than one professor walking past looked quizzically at the two figures atop the crown of the Engineering Quad. The Backpage Interview Series had officially started.Taylor maintains a reputation as an administrator who understands student needs - which makes sense, when you consider his past. After attending Southern Methodist University with a stint at Oxford, Taylor earned his Ph.D. and taught history here at Rice, where he was a Resident Associate at Brown College. But it was not a straight shot from graduate school to Forman's right-hand guy. Taylor was dean of student life at Pomona University - with a few national tours with a rock band peppered in between.