Of all the challenges confronting Shane Smeed when he took the reins as Utah Tech University’s newest president last year, the most immediate one was rebuilding trust in the institution and its administration.

The university had not only suffered from negative publicity due to a toxic culture involving harassment and racism stemming from the previous administration’s misconduct, but the faith of both faculty and students in the institution had also been undermined, Smeed said in an interview with The Tribune.

Central to that mistrust was the previous president, Richard “Biff” Williams, who stepped down in January 2024 while under investigation for allegedly leaving a phallic gag gift for one of his vice presidents after the man had surgery in November 2023.

A note Williams left with the present credited the gift to three staff members — Utah Tech’s top two attorneys and its Title IX coordinator, the latter tasked with responding to complaints of sexual misconduct — who have sued the university over allegations of a “culture of hostility,” sexual harassment, and retaliation.

Smeed, who started May 1, spent his first days on the job presiding over commencement ceremonies. Once campus cleared for the summer, he said, Smeed immersed himself in building and repairing relationships.

“I was pleasantly surprised to learn … that there is a great love for the university and that the concern or the tension that was in the community was only because they loved the university and they cared about what was happening within the walls of the college,” Smeed said.

Included in that tension was some lingering resentment in some corners of the community over the July 2022 decision to change the name of Dixie State University to Utah Tech University due to concerns about the negative connotations “Dixie” has to slavery and the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Unlike his predecessor, Smeed argues the Dixie heritage of the school is something to embrace rather than eschew, which is why the campus bookstore now carries a “Heritage Line” of T-shirts, hats and hoodies emblazoned with the old name of the school. Smeed said such controversies should not overshadow the strides the university has made.

A focus on growth

Utah Tech currently has 293 academic programs, 88 of which have been added in the past five years, according to spokesperson Jyl Hall. Sixteen are graduate degrees or certificates, including the school’s first clinical doctorate degree and a recently approved masters program in genomics.

The university has handed out nearly 50% more degrees and certificates in that same five-year span, jumping from 2,658 in 2021 to 4,696 in 2025. Retention rates for freshmen, a common challenge for open-access universities that admit all high school graduates regardless of their academic background, are also on the rise, increasing from 64% to 68% since 2022.

To continue that forward momentum, Smeed expressed enthusiasm for this year’s launch of a new strategic plan designed to promote collaboration among faculty, staff, and community leaders. Its aim is to guide the university’s expansion and influence, while also fostering academic excellence and rigor over the next five years.

Part of that effort is to work with community leaders to promote economic development that will lure more businesses to come to Washington County, which Smeed said will aid Utah Tech in recruiting quality faculty and provide jobs for university graduates who want to stay and raise families in the area. The university will also strengthen existing degree programs but be more deliberate about adding new ones, he added. The focus will be on linking degrees with higher wages and better job prospects.

For instance, the university is exploring a partnership with Dixie Technical College to add a bachelor’s program in construction management aimed at meeting the need for more affordable housing in the fast-growing county. Utah Tech is also proposing to partner with the University of Utah to launch an MD program in St. George.

“The first year of students’ education will take place in Salt Lake City, and then the second year they will come to St George,” said Smeed, adding program graduates would receive a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Utah.

Buildings in the planning stages

Construction on the 117-acre campus is continuing, most notably on the $30 million America First Performing Arts Center which is expected to debut this April. Smeed said there are several other big-ticket building projects in the planning stages.

The state legislature signed off on the $6 million the university requested to draft a design for a $100 million on-campus health sciences building to replace the existing one located off campus. Smeed said the university is seeking roughly the same amount from the state, private donors and student fees to replace the school’s 32-year-old Gardner Student Center.

Student Body President Shellsea Ramirez Fuentes said she is sold on the president’s vision for the university.

“He’s a big idea guy who is working to make sure that vision comes to fruition, and that is something I really admire about him,” she said.

Smeed previously served as president of Park University in Parkville, Missouri. He said he and his wife, Angela, could not have felt more welcome since he became Utah Tech’s 19th president.

As proud as he is of the university’s past, he said his focus is on helping the institution reach even higher academic heights. That’s why Smeed was so pleased when his son-in-law, a pre-med student who transferred to Utah Tech from an Idaho school, told him the chemistry lab he had at the university was the toughest of his college career.

“It shows we can be open access and still teach at an incredibly high [level] and academic rigor,” Smeed said. “That’s what produces graduates who can leave and are ready to be successful.”

Correction • April 1, 2025, 9:45 a.m.: A previous version of this story included an incorrect reference to Smeed meeting with staff who filed a federal lawsuit against Utah Tech. That reference has been removed.