The Dixie/UofU Partnership

In early 2007, the Utah State Legislature appropriated funds to support an academic partnership between Dixie State College and the University of Utah.  Under the terms of this partnership, the U is now teaching three of its masters degree programs (Business, Nursing and Education) on the Dixie campus.

In Fall 2007, the Dixie State College Board of Trustees approached the University of Utah Trustees with a proposal to create a much closer alliance between the two institutions.  The main purpose of the proposal is to secure the funding and expertise to expand educational opportunities for students in Washington and Kane counties to complete their bachelor’s degrees, while at the same time strengthening Dixie State’s role as a regional community college. Under the terms of this proposal, the name of Dixie State College would be changed to The University of Utah, St. George (The Dixie Campus), and the Chancellor of the Dixie Campus would be hired by and report directly to the President of The University of Utah.

The University of Utah Trustees agreed to explore the possibility of forming this stronger alliance, and the two institutions have formed a joint Task Force consisting of representatives from both institutions as well as the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.  The Task Force is now beginning its work to develop a blueprint for the proposed alliance and to identify the resources that would be required in order to implement it  The Task Force will be exploring the requested full affiliation as well as other alternative affiliations, which may or may not involve use of the University name or complete University governance

The Task Force will require several months to complete the first stage of its work, and we will use this space to keep the public informed of our progress.  We expect that by mid-2008 we will be able to provide guidance to the presidents and trustees of the two institutions as well as the Utah State Board of Regents and the Utah State Legislature on how best to accomplish the goals of the proposed alliance.

Joint Task Force

Dixie State College

Donna Dillingham-Evans (co-chair)

Frank Lojko

Stan Plewe

University of Utah

Chuck Wight (co-chair)

Laura Snow

John Francis

Kirtly Jones

Paul Brinkman

Commissioner’s Office

Lucille Stoddard