Dan Povenmire spent years working to get "Phineas and Ferb" made. On Wednesday, he tells Ferris State University students how he did it.

The co-creator of the Disney series and the voice of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz headlines "A Conversation with Dan Povenmire: A Masterclass in Creativity, Storytelling and Perseverance" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Williams Auditorium. Admission is free and requires no ticket.

Doors open at 7 p.m. to Ferris State students who show a student ID, then to everyone else. The auditorium seats 1,644.

The show follows stepbrothers Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher during their 104 days of summer vacation. Each day, the boys build massive, incredible inventions or go on wild adventures. Their older sister, Candace, constantly tries to "bust" them by showing their creations to their mom, but her attempts always fail

Perry the Platypus, the family’s pet, is a spy for a secret animal organization. Every day, Perry fights Doofenshmirtz, an incompetent evil scientist. By the end of each episode, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's gadget accidentally destroys or erases all evidence of the boys' project just before mom can see it.

Entertainment Unlimited, the student-led campus programming board, hosts the event. Co-President Cervonte' Plair and Student Engagement Administrator Ben Avery, the board's adviser, will moderate the discussion.

Avery said the board spent a couple of weeks last spring weighing its budget against names students would turn out for.

"Entertainment Unlimited, our campus programming board, was looking for recognizable names that students on campus would get excited about and want to see," Avery said.

Students supplied the questions. Submissions cover the show's creation and its 2025 return, Povenmire's creative process, the animation industry and advice for aspiring creators, alongside lore questions about Doofenshmirtz and favorite episodes. Students can add their own questions until 5 p.m. Sept. 23 through this submission form.

Povenmire built "Phineas and Ferb" with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel, where it ran four seasons from 2007 to 2015 and won five Emmy Awards.

He earned 10 Emmy nominations across four categories, from songwriting to voice performance, and won outstanding writing in animation in 2010. He returned for a fifth season that premiered in June 2025 and wrapped in January.

He also co-created "Milo Murphy's Law" and created "Hamster & Gretel."

Before that, he storyboarded and directed on "Family Guy," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Simpsons," "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Hey Arnold!"

The talk lands in front of an audience already training for that work. The School of Digital Media at Ferris State's Kendall College of Art and Design offers three bachelor's degrees: Digital Animation and Game Design, Digital Media Software Engineering, and Television and Digital Media Production. DAGD students specialize in game development or 3D animation, build a portfolio and complete an internship before they graduate.

The program runs 45 minutes and opens a week of Homecoming events that build to Saturday, Sept. 26, when the Bulldogs host Kentucky Christian University at Top Taggart Field at 3 p.m.

_{Release and photo courtesy of Ferris State University.}