Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has appointed 18 members to the new board that will oversee both public universities and technical colleges in the state.
The unified system, now called the Utah Board of Higher Education, begins its work in July. And it will be tasked with helping students find the right school, graduate and find a job.
The structure came out of a bill from this past legislative session, SB111, that combined the Utah System of Higher Education for traditional universities and the Utah System of Technical Colleges so there would be one governing body over both pathways. The idea was to allow students to seamlessly transfer between the two models for learning.
Most of the members of the new group previously served on one of those earlier boards. They are:
• Jesselie Anderson
• Crystal Maggelet
• Mike Angus
• Arthur Newell
• Jera Bailey
• Shawn Newell
• Nina Barnes
• Aaron Osmond
• Stacey Bettridge
• Harris Simmons
• Lisa-Michele Church
• Scott Theurer
• Wilford Clyde
• Sanchaita Datta
• Alan Hall
• Patricia Jones
There are also two student members: Glen Rivera, representing technical education, and Candyce Damron, representing traditional universities. All were confirmed by the Utah Senate earlier this month.
Newell, who will be a new addition to the board, currently serves on the Utah State Board of Education, which governs K-12 schools. He will finish out his term there — after also being appointed by the governor — at the end of the year and continue on with higher education. Nothing in the law, though, stops him from being on both boards at the same time.
The new Utah Board of Higher Education will oversee the eight public universities in the state and the eight technical colleges.
