Luke Fayard
(he/him/his)
Transfer Student Coordinator and Coaching Specialist
Center for Student Success
As Transfer Student Coordinator and Coaching Specialist, Luke has the unique privilege of being solely dedicated to the wonderful transfer student population here at UNC (Outside of his role with the CCR, where he is more than willing to meet with anyone!). While he has always shown willingness to help any student, he has shown love and support to his transfer students since day one, helping them any way they need him to.
Like many of his students, he was a non-traditional, first generation college student who started at a community college northeast of Orlando, getting his AA. He then got his BA in Humanities from Stetson University and – after some time 0ff – got his MA in Religious Studies at the University of South Florida in his early thirties.
He worked with community college students for nearly fifteen years, on the other side of the transfer process, before being offered what he would call his “perfect job” at UNC. Since becoming a Tar Heel, he has taken on the challenge of consistently learning to better serve every walk of life, which has led him here.
He spends his time playing guitar, loving his family, searching for his next laugh, and planning his next meal, and he is excited to be here for you in the CCR!
Get to Know Luke
How do you identify yourself?
I am an adoring husband to the single greatest person I’ve ever known. I am a grumpy, but fun and powerfully loving Dada to two little ones, Miles and Adelyn. I’m a southern boy from Shreveport, Louisiana who loves my family, my food and drink, my Lord, and my laughs above all else. My strongest value is love, and while I’ve never cared much for what folks think of me, my number one priority day to day is how I make people feel. My goal is to try to make everyone I see feel a little better than they did before I saw them, and I try to walk in the footsteps of my Lord, who – despite how some Christians practice their religion – loved everyone he met. I get plenty wrong; but, I believe that I am getting that right, and I’m working hard at it daily.
List three things that people would be most surprised to learn about you.
1. I had no plans of working in education before it naturally came to be.
2. I had ZERO interest in going to college after I (barely) graduated from high school, until my mom said, “Cool… Where are you going to live? Get out or go to school.” (Thanks, Mama!)
3. I’m a dude who loves his football, drinks his bourbon neat, and was considered one of the “tough guys” for many years… But, I love small dogs, I am overly emotional, and I can be found crying at a sentimental commercial, much less anything deeper. (Don’t tell my friends)
Whom do you most admire and why?
I admire my folks for showing me what it means to love your family and for blessing me with the confidence to enjoy being me. The older I get, the more I realize how valuable those gifts are. Most of all, I admire my wife for having the greatest heart I’ve ever known and for helping me through the years – with the greatest critical thinking prowess I may have ever witnessed – to learn to grow my own heart as well. I always had the right love, just not the right lens. Thank you, Sarah Ann.