Utah Governor Gary Herbert to Sign “Dixie State University” Bill in St. George This Saturday Morning
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert will visit the Dixie State campus this Saturday, February 16th, to sign House Bill 61, which will immediately grant the institution university status and change its name to Dixie State University. The official bill-signing ceremony will begin at 9 a.m., in the Grand Foyer of the DSC Dolores Dore’ Eccles Fine Arts Center.Prior to the bill-signing ceremony, DSC will host a special free community breakfast at the DSC Gardner Center Ballroom beginning at 7 a.m. Following the breakfast, all attendees will be invited to attend the bill-signing ceremony. Both the breakfast and the ceremony are free and open to all Dixie State students, faculty and staff, alumni, and the community to attend.”Saturday is going to be a historic day for our institution, our students, our faculty and staff, our alumni and our community,” DSC President Dr. Stephen D. Nadauld said. “We are pleased to welcome Governor Herbert to our campus to sign the bill to officially make us Dixie State University.”We hope that the entire community will join us in celebrating our new university status,” President Nadauld added. “We invite everyone to join us for our first breakfast as a new university.”President Nadauld, along with Governor Herbert, Dixie State Board of Trustees Chair Steven G. Caplin, Representative Ipson and Senator Urquhart will speak at the ceremony.
This past Wednesday afternoon, both houses of the Utah State Legislature overwhelming passed House Bill 61, sponsored by Utah State Representative Don Ipson and State Senator Steve Urquhart, which called for Dixie State College to attain university status and change its name to Dixie State University.
Once signed by Governor Herbert, Dixie State will become the third open enrollment regional university in Utah, joining Weber State University, which serves the northern part of the state, and Utah Valley University, which serves the central part of the state. In addition, Dixie will continue its community college mission in providing two-year and certificate programs to meet the needs of all students and the community.
Dixie State’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the institution “Dixie State University” at their meeting held this past January 18th. Then the following week on January 25th, the Utah State Board of Regents formally approved university status and the new university name recommendation for Dixie State.
This is Dixie State’s seventh name since its founding as the St. George Stake Academy on September 19, 1911. The name changed to Dixie Academy in 1913; then it became Dixie Normal College in 1916, before becoming Dixie Junior College in 1923. The name was shortened to Dixie College in 1970, and the current name of Dixie State College of Utah was adopted in 2000, to coincide with the institution’s new mission to begin offering baccalaureate degrees.