A Utah Board of Higher Education member announced Shane B. Smeed as the 19th president of Utah Tech University Feb. 26.
After this announcement, Smeed spoke to the audience, and he shared his goals and aspirations for his role at UT.
Smeed said, “This is where I will spend the rest of my career, and I hope to come in as a leader, as a president of this university… to lock arm in arm with each of you to ensure we continue this great momentum.”
The new president of Utah Tech was announced in a room filled with alumni, faculty, staff, students and community members eagerly waiting.
As previously reported by Sun News Daily earlier this week, the three presidential finalists participated in an open forum to allow the campus community to meet and ask each candidate questions.
After a month of deliberation, the presidential search committee finalized three candidates: Philip A. Cavalier, Steven J. Hafen and Shane B. Smeed.
Deven MacDonald, presidential search committee co-chair, gave a speech describing the process of finding a new president. Macdonald was a moderator for the forums on Monday and explained that interviews continued until Wednesday.
When asked for a comment during the announcement for Sun News, Interim President Courtney White declined to comment.
“You have my commitment as the 19th president of this university, to make sure I will lead with great honor, with integrity, with great charity, all for the betterment of our university,” Smeed said.
