As part of the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the University of Utah, President Taylor Randall led a road trip of several days in northern Utah on June 23 and 24 aimed at strengthening collaborations on the scale of the State.
Focus on partnerships in higher education, research and public service, UA managers have visited key institutional and community partners, including the Weber State University (WSU), Utah State University (USU), Hill Air Force and a variety of local businesses.
President Randall stressed that, even if the birthday commemorates a long legacy of excellence, it is also an opportunity to look to the future. “For us, it is very educational,” he said about the Ogden stop tour in Logan, which helped expose a more unified vision of a future for Utah higher education establishments.
The president of the University of Utah, Randall and the president of the Weber State University, Brad Mortensen.
“I believe that there are ways to succeed, as well as all other state institutions,” said Randall during breakfast with the president of the WSU, Brad Mortensen and the management of the university. “How can we understand how each institution can have the resources to achieve their goals?” What we have to do is think about our roles and missions, and how each of us can be great in these roles and missions. ”
The tour arrives at a time in charge of higher education in the state, with leadership transitions and increasing recognition that institutional collaboration is essential to meet the emerging challenges of research, the development of labor and the improvement of the well-being of the state.
“We have a real opportunity to modify how we design and operate as a system of institutions that are unified in their vision of providing the best higher studies to students,” said Geoffrey Landward, higher education commissioner, who joined the first day of the tour. “I am delighted that we have presidents who are ready to hire these conversations, who are ready to explore what real partnerships look like.”
Geoffrey Landward, Higher Education Commissioner.
“What I see is the potential for magnitude in a system that brings together and understands what a system can be if you play on the forces of each individual party of this system and find a strong alliance of institutions that recognize what they can all contribute to the improvement of the Utah State, to its students and to understand what each individual role of this institution can play in the most part,” said Landward. “We have not exploited the potential of a higher education system intelligently designed on the confidence and mutual success of institutions.”
Throughout the tour, Randall expressed its assessment for the legislative allies, in particular the president of the UTAH Senate, Stuart Adams and other legislators working on higher education credits.
State Senator John Johnson, R-North Ogden, a former member of the USU faculty, joined the university delegation in Logan with the USU leadership, Senator Chris Wilson, R-Logan and local officials to explore widening research opportunities and institutional alignment.
Randall stressed that the responsibility of guiding Utah to the future lies strongly on the two flagship research institutions of the State. “It is up to us to understand how we direct the State – in terms of policy, in terms of technology, on economic development in the coming decades.”
The two institutions represent approximately 95% of federal funding for research in UTAH. “If we can find ways to accelerate the translation of this research in our communities, we can have a massive impact,” he said. “We believe that our two institutions can create power for this state.”
One of the highlights of the Northern Voyage was a visit to the Grand Salt Lake, alongside Brian Steed de l’USU, executive director of Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water & Air and the Commissioner of Great Salt Lake of UTA. Randall called it “an excellent example” of collaboration. “Our two universities do incredible things” with regard to environmental research, in particular by approaching urgent threats to the lake ecosystem and UTAH environmental challenges.
He has congratulated the ongoing efforts of the two universities to collect data and model solutions that can shed light on long -term conservation strategies. “It is a question of putting science to action and quickly.”
In Hill Air Force Base, the U team explored the means to support defense innovation and the development of labor during meetings with Major-General Kenyon Bell, commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex in Hill Air Force and its management team. Stressing the growing state of the state in national security, discussions focused on science, engineering and technology programs that directly support the needs of the Air Force and Defense industry and its civil workforce.
Tours at Western Zirconium in Ogden and Campbell Scientific in Logan presented the diversity of the Utah economy and helped university leaders better understand the industries stimulating UTAH growth. Discussions on the most urgent needs of these employers will help shape innovations and educational priorities in the years to come.
Randall said that the northern Utah tour served a broader objective: strengthening relations and the construction of infrastructure for an impact on sustained policy. “Much of this for us is the establishment of relationships, so when problems arise and we have to talk about collaborations, we know who calls.”