Steve retired in May 2024 after 33 years of dedicated service to the Mathematics Department at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). Joining the department in 1991, he devoted his career to advancing teaching, scholarship, and service. A pioneer in undergraduate mathematics research, Steve was instrumental in fostering a departmental culture of engaging students in scholarly work. During his career, he mentored 32 undergraduate research projects, often collaborating with multiple students at a time. His leadership in this area extended to securing a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant, the first of its kind at GVSU starting in 2000. He served as PI for the first NSF-REU grant in 2000, then as lead PI for the NSF REU 2002-2004 grant, and as co-PI for the 2006-2009 REU grant. These were the first such grants of their type awarded to GVSU, which laid the foundation for nearly two decades of federally funded undergraduate research in the department. His mentoring excellence earned him the Distinguished Undergraduate Mentoring Award from the GVSU Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence in 2011.

Steve was also a prolific scholar, delivering over 80 presentations and publishing 15 refereed papers, 10 of which included undergraduate co-authors. One fun consequence of this research is that he has 45 entries in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Over 25 years, Steve authored or co-authored eight mathematics textbooks, spanning topics from topology to wavelets. A passionate advocate for Open Educational Resources, six of these textbooks are freely available to students worldwide.

Steve also made significant contributions to GVSU and the mathematics profession. At GVSU, Steve served as Department Chair (2001-2007) and held key roles in university committees including serving on the Executive Committee of the University Academic Senate (2007-2009). He also assumed leadership roles beyond the university including serving as Michigan Section Governor and Michigan representative to the Congress of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) (2016-201), and as a member of the national Project NExT Leadership Team (2012-2014). In 2008, Steve was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan Section of the MAA.