On July 2, 2018, Matthew Fenton began his tenure as the Director of Athletic Communications at Messiah University. On July 1, 2021, Fenton was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director of Communications and Events before leaving his position on June 17, 2024.
After spending two years with Messiah as a graduate assistant from 2014-16, Fenton returned to Grantham following yearlong stints as the Sports Information Director at Cairn University (Langhorne, Pa.) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Claremont, Calif.).
Fenton completed his undergraduate degree in marketing from Messiah in 2013 with minors in accounting and sports management, before earning his Master's of Arts in Higher Education, with a concentration in Collegiate Athletics Management, from Messiah in 2016. While pursuing his Master's at Messiah, Fenton was a graduate assistant in the Athletic Communications office, contributing to the department in a variety of areas including reporting of statistics, press releases, photography, videography, and management of the GoMessiah.com and GoMessiah.tv websites. Fenton also had the opportunity to work alongside the Falcons in NCAA Division III Championship Tournaments, including trips with men's and women's soccer, field hockey, women's lacrosse, wrestling, and softball.
During the 2016-17 school year, Fenton served as the Sports Information Director at Cairn University where he directed the marketing and communications efforts for the department's 12 NCAA Division III athletic programs. At Cairn, Fenton refreshed the athletic department's website and social media pages, expanded Cairn Athletics' footprint in new media with the creation of Instagram and YouTube pages, and implemented a new visual identity for the department.
During the summer of 2017, Fenton took over as the Sports Information Director at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps where he managed the Stags' and Athenas' 22 NCAA Division III programs. During his year in Claremont, Fenton promoted National Championships from women's volleyball, women's golf, women's tennis, in addition to four individual National Titles in women's golf and women's track and field. In May of 2018, Fenton served as the primary media contact for the NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Tennis Championships hosted on campus. In addition to sport coverage, Fenton started "After the Whistle," a series that tells the stories of the department's student-athletes and staff members in their own words.
An eight-year member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Fenton has been heavily involved at the CoSIDA/CSC National Convention, serving as a panelist or moderator on multiple different panels with topics including: Adobe Photoshop, hosting championship events, working efficiently, social media strategy, and game notes. He served on the Division III Day planning committee for the CoSIDA Convention from 2017-2020 and currently serves on the CoSIDA new media committee.
As a former member of the Falcons' baseball team during his junior and senior seasons, Fenton is extremely passionate about Messiah Athletics and the Division III experience. On May 2, 2013, Fenton played in his last collegiate baseball game, playing all nine positions for the Falcons against the Gettysburg Bullets. He is the only Messiah baseball player to appear at all nine positions in a single game.
As the Messiah Director of Athletic Communications, Fenton is tasked with overseeing the Falcons' athletics website (GoMessiah.com), social media pages, live broadcasting efforts (GoMessiah.tv), branding, photography, video content, media relations, and coverage of each of Messiah's 22 programs.
For his work, Fenton was awarded the Messiah College Pride in Performance Award for the 2019-2020 Academic Year. Since the start of the 2021-22 academic year, Fenton has served as the chair of the Sports Information Directors for the Middle Atlantic Conference from 2021-2024.
Matthew and his wife Julie, who serves as the Director of Student Engagement at Messiah, reside in Mechanicsburg, Pa. with their daughter, Hallie.