Academic Enterprise Restructure

Leadership Announcements

Provost Smith has been appointed full oversight of the student enterprise (graduate and undergraduate), faculty matters and academic units, a re-envisioned Statewide Enterprise (Cooperative Extension and Statewide academic matters), and USU online. Dr. Laurens (Larry) H. Smith will now serve as executive vice president in addition to his role as provost.

This restructuring brings with it some key leadership shifts. The following leaders will report to Provost Smith and bring their experience, a fresh perspective, and a genuine dedication to the future of USU and of Utah:

• Janet Anderson has been named Vice President and Chief of Staff to the Provost and will also serve as Interim Vice President of Student Success
• Paul Barr has been named Executive Vice Provost managing Academic Affairs and all its associated activities
• Janis Boettinger will continue in her position as Senior Vice Provost
• Richard Cutler has been named Senior Vice Provost of the School of Graduate Studies
• Krystin Deschamps has been named Interim Vice President of Student Affairs
• Ryan Hobbs has been named Vice President of USU Online
• Fran Hopkin has been named Vice Provost and Registrar
• Harrison Kleiner has been named Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education
• Andi McCabe will continue as Assistant Provost
• Katie Jo North has been named Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management
• Ken White has been named Senior Vice President of the Statewide Enterprise

Download the organizational chart

Inclusive Excellence and HB261 Compliance

On January 30, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill that significantly impacts diversity, equity, and inclusion in public institutions in the state: HB 261 Equal Opportunity Initiatives. This law takes effect on July 1, 2024.

In response to the new state law and in concert with our efforts to align operations and integrate programs and activities with our strategic goals, our university will make several adaptations. Visit www.usu.edu/compliance/HB261 to learn more.

Our university deeply appreciates all those who have dedicated their efforts toward supporting the student success of all Aggies. Our commitment to serving, supporting, and lifting all students, faculty, and staff remains the same as does our commitment to USU’s Principles of Community.

USU’s Land-Grant Promise

As a land-grant university, Utah State is part of a proud history whose origins and purpose have never been more relevant.

The first Morrill Land Grant Act, passed in 1862 and signed by President Abraham Lincoln, was an effort by the federal government to democratize higher education, which had been largely the domain of America’s wealthy elite. Twenty-eight years later, scarcely a generation after the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery, the Land Grant Act was amended to address racial segregation in higher education. While the promise of racial equality would take decades longer to fulfill, the Land Grant Act marked the inexorable march to equal access to the opportunities that higher education provides. It is notable that the first student to enroll at Utah State University was a young woman, 30 years before women gained the right to vote.

The Morrill Land Grant Act came in the midst of tectonic changes in the United States: The cataclysm of Civil War. The rapid industrialization of its cities. And the relentless push of its people west. The mission of land- grant colleges was distinct from the other institutions that existed at the time, such as the Ivy League, which provided a classical education not much different in kind from the earliest medieval universities. The land grant colleges would provide an applied education, with particular emphasis in those early days on agriculture (to help feed an expanding nation) and engineering and other so-called mechanical arts (to bring efficiency and innovation to a modern, industrial economy.)

Utah was not even a state when the Morrill Land Grant Act passed, and this very institution predates Utah’s admission into the Union. We were founded at what was once the edge of this nation’s frontier, and we have been on the frontier ever since – the frontier of research, of space exploration, of energy, and of course of agriculture. The Morrill Land Grant Act and its subsequent iterations transformed the higher education landscape in the United States while its people were transforming our physical landscape. It created a system that was far more accessible, diverse, and practical than anything that had come before. That is the tradition we inherit.

Today it appears that we stand at a similar moment in the history of Utah and the United States, at an inflection point, much like the one that spurred our young nation to unleash the dormant power of higher education many years ago.

Just like the original Morrill Land Grant Act was an investment in the future of a young nation that stood at a crossroads, we stand today committed to our mission of excellence, access, and inclusion for all members of our communities across Utah.

At Utah State University, ethical leadership and social responsibility are at the heart of our mission as a land grant and public service university, providing academic excellence and a place where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

Our institution has consistently focused on pluralism - that is promoting the peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions and lifestyles. One example of USU embracing this idea was manifested earlier this year with the President's Forum on Conflict and Conflict Transformation to "foster a culture of respect, open-minded inquiry, and thoughtful dialogue, empowering participants to navigate conflicts as opportunities for academic and personal growth ... to cultivate a campus environment where conflicts are transformed into pathways for positive change, contributing to a community committed to awareness, compassion, and a united pursuit of a harmonious future."