USU Announces New Leadership for Statewide Residential Campuses as Part of Statewide Redesign

As part of the redesign of the Statewide Campus Enterprise, Utah State University has named Kristian Olsen as vice president for Statewide Residential Campuses, overseeing Price, Castle Dale, Blanding, Moab, Montezuma Creek, Monticello, and Monument Valley. Olsen will begin transitioning to the role on June 1 and fully assume the appointment beginning on July 1.

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Kristian in this role,” said Ken White, senior vice president of the Statewide Enterprise. “His leadership and experience will be a great asset to USU in this new role.”

Doug Miller will return to his faculty assignment in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, where he will continue to focus on growing entrepreneurship degree programs.

“We appreciate Doug’s service as senior associate vice president of USU Eastern,” White said. “USU Eastern has seen continued growth in enrollment under Miller’s leadership.”

This leadership change increases administration efficiency for the residential campuses, which will provide more rapid and responsive oversight and leadership for the residential statewide campuses, as well as elevate the Southeastern Region within the USU hierarchy. Early input from the statewide campus redesign process indicated a need to provide more control locally while also becoming a more responsive and adaptive system with shared regional efficiencies. This change aligns with the previous consolidation of the Southwest and Wasatch regions, led by David Vernon, earlier this year. The university launched the redesign of the Statewide Enterprise in January 2025.

Most recently, Olsen has served as the senior associate vice president of the Blanding, Monticello, Montezuma Creek, Monument Valley and Moab campuses. In his new role, he will report directly to the senior vice president for the Statewide Enterprise.

James Y. Taylor will continue to serve as vice president for Statewide Regional Campuses in the USU Statewide Enterprise and will continue to provide leadership and oversight to the non-residential regional campuses of Uintah Basin, Wasatch-Southwest, Tooele, and Brigham City.