Sophomore Gaelen Kinkead, proper, sits subsequent to her pal and fellow sophomore Ashlay Findley on the College of Utah campus in Salt Lake Metropolis on Sept. 19. A brand new legislative audit assessing the effectivity and effectiveness of the Utah System of Increased Training discovered “a number of occurrences of inadequate board governance.” (Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information)
Estimated learn time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — The vast majority of Utah’s degree-granting public larger training establishments — six of the eight — fall under peer and nationwide averages in relation to commencement charges, based on findings of a latest audit.
“Utah appears to fall far under many different states,” mentioned audit supervisor Jesse Martinson.
The legislative audit, assessing the effectivity and effectiveness of the Utah System of Increased Training, discovered “a number of occurrences of inadequate board governance” inside the Utah Board of Increased Training.
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“The Legislature has made it clear in code how they want the board to control the system of upper training,” Martinson mentioned. “They’ve additionally prioritized the system of upper training to the tune of $1.3 billion {dollars} … So, clearly, larger training is very prioritized by the Legislature.”
Board members mentioned they have been engaged on turning the tide.
“Utah taxpayers and Utah college students deserve a system that works and people completion numbers are usually not working and we all know that and we’ve initiatives underway to alter it,” mentioned Board of Increased Training chairwoman Lisa Church.
The audit recognized three particular areas of enchancment that the board can work on, together with tuition approval, presidential evaluations and operational effectivity monitoring.
So far as tuition approval, Martinson mentioned that the board checked out this challenge in a 2018 audit, the place it discovered that the board did not have “plenty of dialogue (and) did not actually have impartial, goal data to make a willpower whether or not or not tuition wanted to be elevated.”
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“Sadly, we’ve not discovered plenty of enchancment,” Martinson mentioned.
The audit additionally pointed to issues with presidential evaluations at degree-seeking establishments.
When taking a look at annual presidential evaluations from 2016 to 2022, the audit discovered that solely 9 evaluations had been accomplished “when there ought to have been no less than 40 of them,” Martinson mentioned.
He added that the Workplace of the Commissioner of Increased Training might higher help the board with its “mounds” of knowledge that’s being underutilized, mentioning that a lot of the board is a volunteer board, made up of people who find themselves “being requested to make very massive selections on a really massive system with the restricted time that they’ve.”
The audit additionally requested the Legislature to affirm its governance needs for the board.
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Establishments are spending numerous cash, not being held accountable, they weren’t capable of decide in the event that they had been being environment friendly with the funds they had been utilizing.
–Jesse Martinson, audit supervisor
When taking a look at the place the board presently stands on the spectrum of governance, Martinson mentioned it isn’t the place it must be.
“As an alternative of being a consolidating board, they’re nearer to a coordinating board,” Martinson mentioned. “Establishments are spending numerous cash, not being held accountable, they weren’t capable of decide in the event that they had been being environment friendly with the funds they had been utilizing.”
A coordinating board, based on the audit, is when a single coordinating board and/or company is accountable for key points of the state’s position with public postsecondary establishments and in some circumstances, impartial faculties.
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Conversely, the audit says {that a} consolidating board — what the auditors are urging the board to be — is a statewide governing board that manages and oversees most features of the general public larger training system and sometimes has broad authority over establishments.
A picture within the legislative audit exhibits the variations between and coordinating board and a consolidating board. A brand new legislative audit launched Monday assessing the effectivity and effectiveness of the Utah System of Increased Training discovered “a number of occurrences of inadequate board governance” inside the Utah Board of Increased Training. (Photograph: A Efficiency Audit of Utah’s System of Increased Training Governance)
The audit additionally discovered that establishments are delegating the approval of tuition will increase — together with program approval — to their respective boards of trustees.
“We discovered a large chasm between the place they must be and the place they’re,” Martinson mentioned, noting that by way of the suggestions of the audit, the board can turn into the consolidating board that Utah code desires it to be.
The final a part of the audit discovered that Utah’s board is way bigger than boards of comparable construction in states of comparable dimension.
Utah’s board presently has 18 members, whereas different states that the audit in contrast Utah to have between eight and 13 members.
“We felt that one thing that they might do to be extra nimble and extra proactive and be capable to have extra well timed responses is to maybe look to cut back the scale of the board,” Martinson mentioned.
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“I do not know any group that may have an 18-member board and be efficient, so, most likely have to take a look at that,” mentioned Utah Home Speaker Brad Wilson.
Whereas responding to the audit and its suggestions, Church mentioned that she believes the state has the appropriate board to implement the modifications the audit prompt.
“Now we have the instruments to do it, however whether or not or not we have truly gotten up and carried out it’s the query and we welcome the dialogue,” Church mentioned.
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Logan Stefanich is a reporter with KSL.com, protecting southern Utah communities, training, enterprise and navy information.
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Volleyball has added a familiar face in former beach volleyball standout Langley Griffin starting fall of 2025.
Griffin will join Beth Launiere and crew as the Utes prepare to pick up where they left off last season making their 19th NCAA appearance, and finishing the year ranked No. 17 in the country. Griffin spent the past two seasons with Utah’s beach volleyball program before making the move to indoor.
“We’re so excited to have Langley join the Utah Volleyball Indoor program,” said Launiere. “She is a tremendous athlete and competitor which allowed her to be one of the best beach players in the country. These attributes, as well as her over skill set gained from playing beach will transfer well back into the indoor game, where she began playing the sport of volleyball.”
The 6-foot talent proved to be a commodity early in her beach volleyball career as a freshman, tallying 18 wins for an overall record of 18-16 with her partner Katie McAlister. Throughout the 2024 season, Griffin helped the potent pair post win streaks of six, five, and four through various matches. She also aided in giving the Utes their first top-20 win in program history over No. 19 Arizona going 19-21, 21-16, and 15-13 against the Wildcats.
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Griffin’s dominance continued in her sophomore year, helping Utah to their best season in program history, winning 35 of her matches for a 23-11-1 final record that included an eight-match win streak with partner Bella Vezzani and 3-0 victory over Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament to move on to the semifinal round.
Before coming to Utah, Griffin was a standout athlete at Peninsula High School in Tacoma, Washington where she excelled as an outside hitter/opposite hitter for her indoor volleyball team, lettering all four years of her high school career. Additionally, Griffin earned league MVP and first team all-state honors in both her senior and junior years in 2022 and 2021.
Griffin was also a standout on her track and field team as a three-time letter winner in the high jump, pole vault, and the 4×200 meter race, and placed third in her district for the 4×200 and high jump.
Griffin is slated to join the Utes as a pin attacker in 2025.
The company historically doesn’t confirm new stores until they’re about to open.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The new Trader Joe’s in Sugar House, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Another store, the seventh in Utah, is apparently in the works.
| May 29, 2025, 9:57 p.m.
Another Trader Joe’s grocery store likely is coming to Utah.
Utah’s liquor commission, in its monthly meeting Thursday, approved an off-premises beer retailer license for a Trader Joe’s in Holladay.
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The new store will be located at 1895 E. Rodeo Walk Drive, according to its liquor license application, said Michelle Schmitt, spokesperson for the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services.
The location is part of a development being built on the site of the former Cottonwood Mall, which was demolished in 2008.
What’s not known is when the new store will open. The company historically does not confirm or deny rumors of new store locations, and only announces openings shortly before they happen.
Nakia Rohde, a spokesperson for Trader Joe’s, said in a statement that “at this time, we do not have a location confirmed in Holladay.”
Rohde’s statement said that the company is “actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country as we hope to open more new neighborhood stores each year.”
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The statement is nearly identical to one Rohde issued in December, after the mayor of Riverdale announced that a Trader Joe’s store was coming to that Weber County town this summer. The opening date for that store is not listed yet on the company’s website.
The last Trader Joe’s store to open in Utah was in Sugar House last October. The grocery chain also has stores in Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Orem and near downtown Salt Lake City. The Riverdale and Holladay locations would bring the total of the company’s Utah stores to seven.
SALT LAKE CITY — Ever heard of an air economizer? It’s something some HVAC systems have, and a recent study The University of Utah found in certain conditions these systems could impact indoor air quality.
“We get different kinds of pollution events here, especially wildfire smoke, winter time inversions and dust,” said Kerry Kelly, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering At The University Of Utah
The College of Engineering teamed up with facilities management to put their research into action throughout Salt Lake City’s campus. “We spend about 80% of our time indoors, we find that wildfire smoke has the biggest impact on indoor air quality,” said Kelly.
Kelly explained that one of the key takeaways was the type of HVAC system that impacts indoor air quality. “Something called an air economizer we found that under certain conditions those can really dry in a lot of wildfire smoke,” said Kelly.
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She explained what an air economizer does: “It’s more common on commercial buildings and it’s a really good strategy that can be really efficient. So, for example, you know it’s kind of hot here in the summer but at 3 o’clock in the morning the temperature is beautiful so at 3 o’clock in the morning, it can pull in more outdoor air because you spent a lot less energy conditioning.”
She explained it’s a good way to save energy, but not so great if it’s bringing in pollution.
So, what can you do then? “Particular matter sensors are pretty good. I mean it gives you a relative indication of what your indoor air quality,” said Kelly.
She also uses portable air filters, which you can find just about anywhere. “They can be really effective but if you decide to do one of these portable air filters, make sure that you only get air filtration. You just want a simple filtration device,” said Kelly.
