New MWC Alliance Creates Research and Academic Opportunities as well

While Utah State University was heralding the news about joining the Mountain West Conference from the athletics side of the equation, USU administrators also pointed out that the new conference affiliation serves to highlight the academic strengths and prestige the university brings to the conference.

Raymond T. Coward, USU’s executive vice president and provost, said the new affiliation with the Mountain West Conference will create more than just new athletic opportunities for USU. Because of the similarity of purpose and mission that USU shares with many of its new conference peers, this new alliance will create academic opportunities for students and faculty to join with their counterparts at these institutions to engage in collaborative research, exploration and discovery.

“We are joining a conference comprising institutions that are our intellectual and academic equals,” Coward said. “The Mountain West Conference includes a distinguished set of institutions of higher education with highly respected academic programs.”

Mark R. McLellan, vice president for Research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, said he is excited about the new relationships and closer connectivity with these top-notch research institutions in the Mountain West Conference.

“From the graduate training side, we see this as a chance to showcase our world-class graduate training opportunities to students in these schools,” McLellan said. “We hope it will lead us to attracting some of their best and brightest students to consider graduate training at USU.”

Provost Coward said USU shares many institutional characteristics with its peers in the MWC:

Four of the institutions in the MWC share USU’s heritage as a land-grant university and, therefore, embrace a mission to serve their state in the same way as USU
The vast majority of the institutions in the MWC are research intensive universities with robust portfolios of external research funding
All of the institutions in the MWC have a strong and vibrant commitment to high-quality undergraduate programs

In fact, President Albrecht and Athletics Director Scott Barnes said USU’s academic prestige and its numerous faculty achievements were a significant factor in the minds of MWC university presidents involved in the decision to invite USU.

President Albrecht lobbied for joining the conference in a letter to the MWC university presidents that highlighted the high quality USU brings to the table as a Carnegie Research I institution, and the letter detailed just some of the numerous academic accolades received by USU.

Utah’s Land-Grant and Space-Grant University
Number two position in Aerospace Engineering research funding (behind Johns Hopkins)
Top five universities in Education research support
Research funding is at $213 million, a 47 percent increase over the past two years
Faculty recognitions: current 12 NSF CAREER Awards and 11 Carnegie Professors of the Year in the past 17 years place USU well ahead of its peer institutions

President Albrecht also praised the academic accomplishments of USU’s student athletes. USU’s student-athlete graduation rate is an impressive 84 percent, and the university has led its conferences in academic all-conference honorees 12 of the past 13 years.

In addition, the president said the success of USU’s first-ever comprehensive campaign was a major highlight that signaled the strong, upward trajectory of the university as a whole, and it also was a positive sign of the exceptional support from USU’s alumni and its entire constituent community. He made the case to the MWC presidents that the campaign success has allowed USU to change the face of campus and of its athletic enterprise, noting, in particular, that the university has constructed, has underway, or is in the design phase for 23 new buildings during the campaign.

Contact: Tim Vitale, 435-797-1356, tim.vitale@usu.edu