“Dr. Prince is a tremendous business leader to the southern Utah community.  His previous service as a board member of the Dixie College Alumni Association has given him grass-roots experience in higher education,” said Regent Chair David Jordan. “I am confident that his contribution to the Board of Regents will prove invaluable.

Prince grew up in St. George where his father was Southern Utah’s first orthodontist.  He holds degrees from Dixie College and the University of Southern California. Prince currently owns a private orthodontic practice with offices located in St. George and Beaver. He is past president of the Utah Association of Orthodontists and currently serves on the Council on Orthodontic Health Care for the American Association of Orthodontists. Prince is known throughout Utah for his high standard of dental care; in 1999 he received honors for excellence by the Utah Dental Hygiene Association.

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.

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To download .pdf of this news release, click here.

Clyde, a top Herbert campaign contributor, replaces Brent Brown, another Utah County businessman, on the board that sets policy for the state’s system of eight public higher education campuses. A major auto dealer and Utah Valley University benefactor, Brown stepped down in July.

Clyde, a Brigham Young University graduate, is president and CEO of Clyde Companies, Inc. the parent company of W.W. Clyde and Co., Geneva Rock Products, Sunroc, Gorge Rock and Beehive Insurance.

Clinger, a 1967 U. graduate, replaces long-serving trustee Randy Dryer, a Salt Lake City media lawyer who now is a professor in the U.’s Honors College. Clinger currently serves on the flagship’s National Advisory Council and Financial Advisory Committee. More…

Jerry Atkin completed his third and final four-year term and Brent Brown, a regent since 2009, is leaving to serve on the board of the Governor’s Office for Economic Development.

“The tough part is I’m leaving this board just when I was figuring out what you all were talking about,” Brown, a Utah County auto dealer, told his colleagues Friday at his last regents meeting in Logan. “I feel passionate about education. Our businesses are worth nothing unless we have educated people to work at them.”

Dixie State College student Tom Leavitt joins David Smith, a University of Utah graduate student, as a nonvoting student regent.

Gov. Gary Herbert has appointed Bob Prince to succeed Atkin, subject to Senate confirmation.

To read this article in the Salt Lake Tribune, click here.

Agenda highlights for the day include:

• Introduction and presentation of new 2011 USHE report on Utah’s national standing on efficiency
• Information on technical education in Utah (CTE)
• Approval of property purchase for married student housing at Dixie State College and other property transactions
• Approval of an updated Campus Master Plan for Utah State University
• New academic degrees, programs and emphases at the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Salt Lake Community College

The complete agenda is on the USHE website at http://www.higheredutah.org/sbr/agendas/ as well as audio streaming during the Committee of the Whole portion of the meeting. Additionally, a portion of the meeting will be covered via live Tweets, which can be followed on USHE’s Twitter feed @higheredutah.

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org. Follow USHE on Facebook and Twitter.

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Young became President at the University of Utah in 2004. Prior to that, he served as dean of the George Washington University Law School, as well as serving for a number of years on the faculty at Columbia University. “This is another testament to the quality of leadership of Utah’s public colleges and universities, and Mike is an excellent choice to lead such a prestigious public institution,” said Commissioner Bill Sederburg. “We very much congratulate President Young, and note that he has set a tremendous standard for whomever is chosen as his replacement.”

During Young’s time as U of U President, the university led the nation in incubating new businesses, expanded international education, had its first Nobel Prize-winning professor, successfully made a bid to join the Pac-12 athletic conference. Chair of the State Board of Regents David Jordan said, “We appreciate President Young’s service and commend the progress that the University of Utah has made under his leadership for the past seven years.” The State Board of Regents will announce an interim president, as well as announce plans for a national search for a new University of Utah president in the near future.

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.

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To download a pdf of this news release, click here.

Officials predict more than 2,000 students will qualify for Regents and New Century scholarships this fall, costing taxpayers about $4.3 million for the 2011-12 academic year.

That’s money well spent, says Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg and other officials, who have lobbied lawmakers in recent years to ensure adequate revenue to support the promised incentives.

Participation in the Regents scholarship program has climbed steeply since its inception in 2008, while students qualifying for New Century scholarships, which requires them to earn an associate degree by high school graduation, dipped this year, thanks to tough new requirements.

The growth in the Regents program is gratifying for the lawmaker who sponsored the enabling legislation and for Rich Kendell, who first championed the idea as Sederburg’s predecessor.

“It’s doing exactly what it should, signaling to young people all over the state that taking rigorous courses means something,” Kendell said. “It not only results in a scholarship, but really prepares them for college.”

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, hopes someday the Regents scholarship will replace New Century. A recent study showed that New Century scholars often take nearly four years to graduate, suggesting the program is not accomplishing its goal of speeding students to their bachelor’s degrees.

“I like the fact that [the exemplary Regent is] tougher to get than the New Century. It is focused on gearing kids for college. This is a way to reach the kids who are in the middle,” said Hillyard.

To read the rest of this article from the Salt Lake Tribune, click here.

“Since 2008, Utah’s colleges and universities have faced yearly budget cuts now totaling roughly 14%,” said Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg. “For years our institutions have had to consistently do more with less, now in order to protect access and quality it is necessary that some of the costs will have to be passed along to students in the form of higher tuition.” Commissioner Sederburg notes, however, that tuition increases would have been much higher if the Legislature had approved an original 7% cut rather than the 2.5% they decided on earlier this month.

“State support for our colleges and universities has been steadily declining over recent years,” noted Board of Regents Chair David Jordan. “We need to reverse that trend so that all of our institutions remain affordable, particularly at the community college level. We can’t continue to cover increasing costs with tuition hikes.” When compared to institutions in surrounding states, on average, tuition is lower at Utah’s colleges and universities.

Tuition at USHE institutions is approved in two tiers: Tier I tuition is an increase applied equally system-wide to assist institutions in covering various needs common to all institutions. The second tier comes as a recommendation from institution presidents only after discussion with Boards of Trustees and student hearings, as a means of covering institutional priorities and initiatives. The State Board of Regents must also approve Tier II tuition.

Below is a table showing the next year’s tuition increases for the state’s eight colleges and universities (based on a full year for an undergraduate student who is a Utah resident):

Tuition increases take effect summer term, 2011.

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.