Michael McVey, a professor of teacher education at Eastern Michigan University, is hoping to apply his experience in education and public service by running in Saline's 2026 mayoral election.
At EMU, McVey's work is largely centered around teaching future educators how to navigate technology in the classroom. The importance of his work is growing with the emergence of artificial intelligence, he said. He works not only with students, but also with EMU faculty members by hosting workshops in educational technology. He also has experience working in K-12 classrooms.
“Educational technology is extremely important, especially today, because so many new teachers are going to experience it and encounter it. They need to know how to deal with it. First of all, just the mechanics of it, and how to use the various tools in the classroom," McVey said. "Now ... AI is in every classroom, so I feel like I have a lot of work to do in getting our new teachers prepared for that."
Alongside his work at EMU, McVey serves as the elected treasurer of the Saline Area Schools Board of Education, and previously served as president-elect of the school board.
McVey has won many awards including the Ronald Collins Award for Service from EMU in 2020, EMU's College of Education Outstanding Faculty Award in 2021 and the Michigan Association of School Boards Presidential Award of Recognition in 2024, according to emich.edu.
Additionally, McVey holds three professional memberships in the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, the International Society for Technology in Education and the Michigan Association of School Boards, emich.edu says.
McVey is running for mayor of Saline because the current mayor, Brian Marl, has served for 14 years and McVey believes it is time for a new person to hold office, he said. Marl is currently running for re-election.
Having served on the school board for ten years, McVey has closely watched the Saline City Council and wants to make changes.
McVey's campaign focuses on making the city more appealing for businesses to open there, and handling the city's budget and infrastructure issues by encouraging preventative maintenance. He hopes to encourage transparency and communication within the community and pare down the mayor's tasks.
Yukari Amos, associate dean for programs and operations for the College of Education, said that McVey is a very community-driven educator. Amos highlighted that McVey is focused on improving the wellbeing of the communities around him and that he carries a very service-oriented mindset. She also mentioned his dedication to the Saline Area Board of Education.
McVey told The Echo, “[There are] a lot of moving pieces in the City of Saline, and I think all my 40 years of experience as a teacher, and serving on thousands of committees, and the oversight I've done has prepared me for the job."
McVey said that if he is elected mayor, taking on the new role would not effect his work with students. He said he will still be entirely dedicated to helping his students get through the semester, though he may have to step back from research projects.
“If I'm successful, I'll have to spend a lot of time focusing on [being mayor-elect], and, at the same time, helping my students get through this semester. My time is going to be very crammed with first meetings with a lot of people in Washtenaw County and around the city of Saline, but I'll be ready for it. The biggest thing I can do ... is just to scrape a few things off my plate that won't affect my work here at the university," McVey said.
McVey has taken a positive approach on his campaign.
“If I lose, that's okay. Wayne Gretzky once said, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.’ So I'm out there taking a shot at running for mayor, and it's been a really great experience meeting so many new people in town," McVey said.
