After serving as interim commissioner of higher education for the last year, Dave Woolstenhulme was appointed to the position full time. The newly appointed 18-member Utah Board of Higher Education approved the appointment during its inaugural meeting on July 1st. The Utah Board of Higher Education was unified after Utah lawmakers passed SB111 that placed all public technical colleges, degree-granting colleges and universities under a single governing board and system. This new system compromised of eight technical colleges, two community colleges, four regional universities and two research universities. As interim commissioner, Woolstenhulme has been reorganizing the new office, creating new positions, overseeing the launch of the Utah Transfer Guide, and implementing the state’s first needs-based scholarship. What makes this news exciting for the Uintah Basin area is that Woolstenhulme served as executive vice provost at USU and as president of Uintah Basin Applied Technology College, as many surely remember.
