Utah State University celebrated the establishment of its first endowed deanship on Monday. The honor awarded to Dean Alan Smith will provide resources to the school’s Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.
For the past 24 years, USU’s College of Education and Human Services has consecutively ranked number one in graduate school programs in education for the state of Utah and is listed in the top 30 graduate school programs in the nation. Now, the college’s success and leadership has been rewarded.
An endowed deanship provides discretionary funds to both current and future deans of a college to support their goals. According to USU Provost Larry Smith, who spoke at the event, an endowed deanship holds “immense significance for a university,” and reflects the college’s impact on education and human services.
“This financial security supports long term planning and ambitious projects with far reaching impacts on both our students and the broader community,” Smith said.
Matt White, the president of the USU Foundation, said the deanship will provide the faculty of the college with the resources and stability needed to pursue groundbreaking research and innovative teaching methods.
“This translates into expanded opportunities for students engaged in cutting edge projects, helping them prepare for successful careers,” White said.
Dean Alan Smith said the honor will contribute to the college’s overall success.
“The resources will enable us to innovate and cultivate excellence as we tackle problems in arenas such as early childhood wellbeing, K-12 education, mental health, the harmonization of human and machine intelligence, personalized healthcare, human relationships, and others,” he said.
