Billie Bush Emert


Wife of George H. Emert, President of Utah State University, 1992-2000

Billie Bush Emert is the wife of the thirteenth president of Utah State University, George H. Emert. When she went to Logan in 1992, many individuals associated with USU referred to her husband, George, as the "Fourteenth President." The Emerts realized that someone was delicately trying to circumvent any superstitions concerning the number "13", she helped her husband keep the count correct.

The product of homesteaders on both sides of her family, Billie was born in Greybull, Wyoming. Her father was a career military officer and pilot who flew in three wars. She attended elementary school in Laramie, Wyoming, before her family began moving annually following her father's assignments. After graduating from high school in St. Louis, she returned to Laramie to attend the University of Wyoming where she majored in mathematics and was active in campus activities. During a summer trip to see her family in Okinawa, she met her future husband George, an Army lieutenant resting in Okinawa between tours in Vietnam, on a blind date arranged by her father. They were married two years later after she graduated from the university.

The years that followed were filled with arrivals of four daughters and the development of career paths through both work and graduate school--George's in biochemistry and Billie's in the computer world. After working in university computing centers in Colorado and Virginia, Billie ran an agriculturally based software company from her home for twelve years while being a mostly-at-home mom. She ended her computer career and began writing for adolescents--a lifelong dream--when George became a university administrator and eventually a university president.

Billie now devotes her time to four of her passions--her husband, family, writing, and horses.