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CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah University on Friday will choose between three finalists to appoint the 17th president in the university's history after an "extensive" national search.
The search, which started in March, resulted in the SUU presidential search committee recommending three finalists to the Utah Board of Higher Education for the position. Those candidates are Mindy Benson, Mablene Krueger and Alan Utter.
"The Southern Utah University Presidential Search Committee is pleased to recommend these three candidates to the Utah Board of Higher Education," said Nina R. Barnes, search committee co-chair, said in a press release. "Each candidate will have the opportunity to be considered by the Utah Board of Higher Education as the next president of Southern Utah University. Our extensive national search has produced quality professionals, any of whom would be an outstanding choice to lead SUU."
Here's a quick overview of each candidate, one of whom will be chosen to represent SUU as its 17th president.
Mindy Benson
As SUU's hometown candidate, Mindy Benson brings extensive experience at the university to the table.
A Cedar City native, Benson graduated from SUU in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in zoology before receiving her master's degree in professional communication in 2008.
Benson has worked on campus in various roles for nearly 30 years, teaching courses, serving as the vice president of Alumni and Community Relations and, most recently, serving as the university's interim president since last July — becoming the first woman to hold the title of interim president.
A release from the university credited Benson with leading "one of the most successful legislative sessions in SUU's recent history."
In addition to her work at SUU, Benson is a professional event consultant and planner with clients throughout the nation, with experience producing hundreds of high-level productions including concerts, events, political conventions and gubernatorial and U.S. presidential inaugurations.
In her cover letter applying for the position, Benson said that she realizes she is "not a traditional presidential candidate" but that "the shifting dynamics of higher education call for a different kind of president with a distinct and unique set of skills and capabilities, many of which I have developed throughout my career."
Mablene Krueger
Hailing from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she serves as the vice president of Strategic Planning and Partnerships, Krueger hopes to bring over 40 years of higher education experience to SUU.
Along with serving as the chief operating officer for the Schaumburg Campus, Krueger also has presidential experience, as she served as Robert Morris University's president for nearly five years.
While in this position, Krueger spearheaded a plan to refocus the university on its core mission and student outcomes. These efforts led to growing programs and degree levels, strengthening services, more tightly aligning programs to career opportunities through experiential learning, and restructuring the institutional discount model to more closely align with the mission.
A release from SUU said that Krueger is "especially passionate about the strengths and challenges of first-generation students, having been the first in her family to earn a college degree."
Although she would be new to the West, Kreuger looks at that as an opportunity, saying in her cover letter that she "would use the distinction of being new to the geographic region to reach out to prospective partners and community members to learn of their needs and diagnose complementary opportunities."
Alan Utter
In his role as provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and research for Arkansas State University, Utter led an international initiative to evaluate all 160 academic degree programs to prioritize, transform or grow high-impact academic programs to optimize recruitment, retention, resource allocation and demand.
Additionally, he led a process to create and gain faculty approval for a universitywide holistic admission policy to support the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives of the university.
He also holds many research and professional associations in the field of sports medicine, previously leading National Institutes of Health grant-funded research as well as being a patent holder and co-inventor of a body weight and nutrition monitoring system.
A first-generation college student, Utter holds both a doctorate in exercise physiology and a master's degree in public health in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Along with his role at Arkansas State University, Utter previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Texas Woman's University as well as being a professor at Appalachian State University.
"While I would like every student who enters college to graduate, I am passionate about leading a university that is committed to students with the odds stacked against them," Utter said in his cover letter. "I want to ensure that we as an institution of higher education are providing opportunities and access for all students to succeed independent of race, cultural or socio-economic background."
The Utah State Board of Education on Friday will interview the finalists in a closed session. Following this session, it is anticipated that the board will hold a public meeting at Southern Utah University in the Great Hall of the Hunter Alumni Center at 3:30 p.m. to select the president.
