Utah
Utah Tech University reflects on 10 years of university status
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ST. GEORGE — Ten years ago, Utah Tech University gained university status when former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed it into legislation.
Since then, the university — formerly known as Dixie State University — has gone through many changes including a name change, a different mascot and a total campuswide rebrand.
University leaders on Wednesday reflected on the accomplishments and progress over the past decade during a State of the University address.
“There’s just literally thousands of people that have worked so hard to make all this happen,” Utah Tech University President Richard Williams said. “In the last decade, Utah Tech University has grown in every measurable way thanks to countless students, alumni, community members, faculty and staff who have dedicated their time and effort to build a distinguished university that will continue to benefit our community for generations to come.”
Since securing its university status, Utah Tech has added 204 programs across all academic disciplines, including humanities, arts, education, health sciences, business and STEM, marking a 200% increase in academic programs since 2013.
Prospective students certainly took notice of the expanded academic programs, and the university has seen a 42% enrollment increase in the last decade, growing from 8,863 students to 12,556 students. To accommodate this influx of students, Utah Tech has built or renovated 42 different spaces throughout the last 10 years.
More students are earning degrees, too. The number of degrees awarded has increased by 60%, and the university has awarded 24,409 degrees since 2013.
“We had hundreds of town hall meetings. We wanted to hear, ‘What is it that you need from your university?’” Williams said. “And we heard what we needed. We needed career readiness. We needed our students to be ready for careers right here in southern Utah. We knew that we could educate them here. They could find great jobs here.”
Additionally, the change to Utah Tech University signified more than just a different moniker; it was a philosophical shift as well. Speaking at last year’s Silicon Slopes tech summit, Williams and board of trustees member Dave Elkington said that the change represented a commitment to being a polytechnic institute.
“We looked at all of the universities that had this polytechnic focus. We mapped it out in the United States map and there was this huge hole in the western United States, and right in the middle of that hole was St. George, Utah,” Williams said.
“We all know there’s just not enough engineering talent (and) there’s not enough computer science talent,” Elkington added.
Elkington said that the university’s transition aims to fix this shortage, noting that the school isn’t going through a name change only, but a “focus change.” He pointed to the $100 million science, engineering and technology building that was built on Utah Tech’s campus in 2020.
In 2022, the university struck a partnership with Pluralsight aimed at enhancing career and future trajectories for students, regardless of area of study. The partnership granted all current university students, faculty and staff unlimited access to Pluralsight Skills, an online platform aimed to help them learn the technology-based skills they need to succeed in today’s digital world.
Williams said that despite the progress of the last 10 years, the university has no plans of slowing down.
“We just spent the last 10 years proving that when we come together as a community, as a legislature, as donors, as alumni, as faculty, staff (and) administration, we can accomplish anything we put our mind to,” Williams said. “I am proud of the comprehensive, quality education we provide thousands of students every semester through these efforts.”
More information about the State of the University address and additional milestones from the last 10 years can be found at utahtech.edu/stateoftheuniversity.