Matt Means was appointed inaugural and founding Dean of the newly created University of Nevada-Reno Honors College on July 1, 2020. He was previously director of the honors program at the University of Nevada, Reno, after first serving as the inaugural and founding director of the Fort Hays State University Honors College. During his tenure at FHSU, the Honors College outperformed metric goals each year in the areas of student recruitment (more than 10 percent yearly increases), retention (more than 90 percent) and yield (more than 90 percent).

As a musician, Means has maintained an active international performing schedule as a professional violinist in solo, orchestral and chamber roles. He gave his European recital debut at the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, Italy (the birthplace of that great violinist). In Asia, he performed as a member of the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), founded by the composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. He has appeared in concert in orchestras across the United States under the batons of conductors such as Marin Alsop, David Zinman, Andrew Litton, Christian Macelaru, Charles Dutoit, and Gerard Schwarz, among others. He has been featured in the violin concertos of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven (Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto), Glazunov, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Barber, as soloist. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Sarah Chang, Angel Romero, and members of many of the leading orchestras in the United States.