September 2025

Hello, I hope the start of your fall semester is going well.

As another way of keeping you informed – I’m starting these Recaps – to give you insights into the things we’re working on and thinking about from the Park building.

First, I want to welcome everyone back to campus.

The energy is palpable—you can feel it the moment you walk across Presidents Circle or step onto Library Plaza. I’m thrilled for the year ahead.

I can’t wait to join students at Rice-Eccles Stadium for our annual Block U photo, it has become one of my favorite traditions.

And while the final enrollment numbers aren’t in, we expect the Class of 2029 to be our largest ever, marking the sixth straight year of growth. This tells me that students and their families see the value of the University of Utah as the place to launch futures.

This fall we’re also celebrating milestones. Our 175th birthday continues through the end of the year with special events and activities. We’ll also be marking the 10th anniversary of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute—our state’s trusted voice for data and policy research—and the 60th anniversary of the Hinckley Institute of Politics, which has shaped generations of public service leaders.

Provost Montoya and I recently presented our final H.B. 265 Strategic Reinvestment plan to the Utah Legislature.

To keep nearly $20 million in state funding, we had to make difficult choices—cutting and reallocating resources in just six months for the next three fiscal years. It wasn’t easy, but it was an important fiscal exercise. And the process has set the stage for the mission-aligned planning that will guide us over the next three years.

This means new investments in engineering, responsible AI, nursing, biotech, behavioral health, civic engagement and more. It also means improving the way we run the university—being efficient, effective, and good stewards of public resources.

Over the summer I took time to reflect on our value as a university. What I realize is this: the University of Utah is one of the state’s most effective value creation engines.

• We create value by instilling in our students knowledge, breadth, and inspiration.
• We create value in our research by saving lives, finding cures, solutions, and expanding human understanding.
• And we create value in our more than 300,000 alumni and 45,000 employees—faculty, staff, health-care providers, and students—who take their talents into communities across the globe.

We’ve been creating value for 175 years. And we will continue to do that for the state, the nation, and the world. I am certain of it.

At the same time, we can’t ignore the moment higher education is in.

Across the country—and across Utah—people are asking hard questions. This summer, as we traveled the state, we heard concerns about declining trust in higher ed, the rapid rise of AI and its effects on education, the deepening political polarization of society, and the elimination of federal research funding, as well as the revolutionary changes happening in college athletics.

These challenges concern me too.

But I believe moments of disruption can also be moments of reinvention.

And I believe the University of Utah is uniquely positioned to lead.

As the flagship university of this state and one of the nation’s leading research universities and health systems—we have the people, the ideas, and the momentum to come out of this period stronger than ever.

So, thank you—for your work, your creativity, and your commitment to the U.

Whether you are a student, faculty, staff, caregiver, researcher, or alum—you are vital to the U’s success.

And together, we will continue to climb. Thank you and…

Go Utah!