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OREM -- There's a new president at Utah Valley University. The State Board of Regents, Friday selected Dr. Matthew S. Holland as the sixth president of Utah Valley University (UVU). Dr. Holland will officially begin his new responsibilities at Utah Valley University on July 1.
The school became a university last summer and within weeks, the university's president, Dr. William Sederburg, resigned to become the commissioner of Higher Education for Utah. Friday, he returned to campus to announce his replacement.
"As former president of UVU, I welcome Dr. Holland as the next president of an institution that is personally dear to me," commented Commissioner Sederburg. "I am excited to introduce Dr. Holland to the UVU community."
Dr. Holland joins the growing school at a time when UVU has just made the transition from a state college to a university and is beginning to offer graduate degrees.
Holland promises to keep the community college feel at UVU, but also look for opportunities to broaden its graduate degrees, even though there have been deep budget cuts and enrollment continues to grow. Right now, UVU has more than 26,000 students.
In accepting this appointment Dr. Holland said, "We are absolutely honored and thrilled by this appointment. This is institution plays a vital role in a community and state we care about deeply. We look forward to throwing all the energy we have in serving the UVU Community well.
"It's had a great history as a community college with a focus on trade education. We're not going to lose that, that will continue to be a strong core of what we do, but we are going to take the institution to the level of a university. We're going to be serious about ideas and undergraduate teaching and baccalaureate programs and targeted master programs that will be a terrific service to this state, which needs higher education right now more than ever."
Dr. Holland has held several leadership positions in higher education. He currently serves as the chairman of the American Heritage Faculty Group at BYU and was the associate director of BYU's London Study Abroad Program in 2008.
Dr. Holland has taught a variety of courses including American heritage, modern political philosophy and public ethics. Since 1996, Dr. Holland has worked as a part-time independent management consultant. He also worked as a special assistant to Gov. Michael O. Leavitt from 1992 to 1994 and as Chief of Staff to the CEO of the Monitor Group in Cambridge, Mass., from 1992 to 1994.
Dr. Holland holds doctorate and master's degrees in political science from Duke University and a bachelor's degree in political science from BYU.
From 2005-2006, he served as a Fellow in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, and as the Raoul Wallenberg Scholar at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1991.
Dr. Holland's work has been published in several articles, books and presentations. He has also received several professional awards and recognitions.
He and his wife, Paige, are the parents of four children: Jake, Mitzi, Grace and Daniel.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
