Dixie State University President Stephen Nadauld announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon to his Dixie State family.
Nadauld plans to stay the remainder of the school year, enjoying his last eight months as president. A committee will be organized to search for a new president to take his place.
“It has been an extraordinarily difficult decision to make emotionally,” Nadauld said.
He said he is retiring because he has some dreams he’d like to fulfill while he still has the chance.
“I have some . . . endeavors I would like to do, and I want to write a couple of books if I can,” Nadauld said. “There’s some things that I really want to do, but I don’t want to leave people I have really grown so fond of.”
Nadauld said he feels as though the construction of the Holland Centennial Commons and the change to university status made him feel more accomplished than he had anticipated.
“I thought, ‘This place can be a university, and we don’t have to lean on anybody else,’” Nadauld said. “‘We can have our own faculty hires, our own Ph.D.s, and we can have our own bachelor’s degrees.’ When I caught that vision, I realized that this was going to exceed any expectation that I had when I came more than five years ago.”
Nadauld said he will spend the next eight months enjoying the time he has left at Dixie.
“These next eight months are going to be fun,” Nadauld said. “I’m going to plan on coming to work every day to have a great time. If there are any tough problems, we’ll just save them for the next president.”
The audience laughed with him as he continued to inform everyone on the timing of his announcement.
“I didn’t want to do it before Homecoming because I didn’t want Homecoming to be about me,” Nadauld said. “I just wanted it to be about the institution.”
Business instructor Bryon Geddes raised his hand when Nadauld asked for questions.
“I hate to make this personal, but it is personal for me,” Geddes said. “I want to honor you as president.”
The entire audience rose for a standing ovation, honoring Nadauld for his Dixie legacy.
The board of regents arrived on campus Nov. 4 to finalize the search committee and begin the process of finding Dixie’s new president.
Nadauld said out of everything he has accomplished at Dixie, he couldn’t have achieved it without his wife, Margaret Nadauld.
“I could not have come here and handled this assignment without her 100 percent support…” Nadauld said. “We’ve had an enormous amount of love for this institution and for this city.”
Nadauld and his wife are planning on moving to Heber, but they have expectations of moving back to St. George for the winter season.
Margaret Nadauld said they are most excited about having more quality time with family.
“We’re just going to spend even more time with our children than we’ve been able to do the last six years,” Margaret Nadauld said. “That means a lot to us. We have 29 grandchildren to watch over, love and go to their games.”
She also said she feels more content than excited about this change because she has fully enjoyed her experiences with the Dixie institution.
“I’ve loved every minute of it—I really have,” she said. “We haven’t had a family at home, so I’ve personally put everything into it. It’s been what has filled my spare time, and it has been my interest. I have really enjoyed promoting the college and the community. I’m going to miss that.”
She said out of everything she and her husband have been through, her biggest advice to students is to love the college life.
“Be sure to take full advantage of this period of time when you’re in college,” she said. “Make the most of it because it’s one of the most glorious times of your life. When you’re mostly free of responsibilities, all you have to do is develop your skills. Take advantage of every opportunity you can find while you’re in college.”
