ALUMNI NEWS 2019 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS: JOHN EVANS ‘62 GPUS Forty years ago, in 1979, Americans were introduced to a brand-new way to engage with the U.S. Congress and their other elected officials: by welcoming them into their living rooms through C-SPAN, the nationally televised cable network dedicated to covering gavel-to-gavel live political congressional sessions, speeches, hearings, and more. The co-founder of that revolutionary cable channel is John Evans ‘62 GPUS and we are delighted to honor him as University Liggett School’s 2019 Distinguished Alumnus during Alumni Weekend, May 17 and 18. As a pioneer and internationally recognized figure in the cable television industry, John Evans built and ran the very first cable system in the Washington, D.C. area, and he’s been a leader in telecommunications since his GPUS days. He’s received many awards and accolades for his success and also for his important philanthropic work. Among other things, Evans co-chairs Dr. Robert Gallo’s Advisory Board for the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland. He has also served in various capacities for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. At his alma mater, the University of Michigan, Evans founded the John D. Evans fund for Media and Technology in 1997, subsequently creating two chairs focusing on social media’s societal impact. There he also serves or has served on the external advisory boards of the School of Information, the College of LS&A, and the President’s Advisory Group. He has also served on the boards of the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute and the Hollings Cancer Center. In 1998, Evans was appointed to the Advisory Committee of Michigan State University’s Quello Center for Law and Regulation. We recently caught up with Evans to learn more about his experiences at GPUS, his achievements, and his rich philanthropic life.
While at GPUS, you committed yourself to service. Can you share some ways that you volunteered your time and energy, and what you got from the experiences? My experience at GPUS was that service was an integral part to living one’s life. I’m remembering that upon graduation, during the ceremonies I received the school’s service award. Whatever extracurricular services that the school needed, I got myself involved with, like for example the fundraising carnival.
What are some lifelong skills you gained while at GPUS? First would be to be inquisitive so that you can begin to get to whatever is the truth. Also, be true to yourself. I was a maverick in our family. My parents allowed me to be that maverick and take it where it would, so long as it was safe. Be authentic. I learned early on while in high school to be who you are. That’s hard, particularly as a teenager, but this served me well later in life. I always say: “What you see is what you get, because I’m not smart enough to be clever.” When you are trying to be clever you will be found out. To build on that: later in life as I developed these key
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