LOGAN – Utah State University’s 18th President, Brad L. Mortensen, stood before hundreds of staff, friends, faculty and supporters Friday in the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall on campus to map the future of his alma mater.
“Our university must transcend the familiar or risk becoming a relic of the past, rather than the propulsion of the future,” he said.
After his 21 years at Weber State University (approximately seven as its president), he said he is proud to re-join the USU community to pursue goals which are beyond question: first, to expand USU’s statewide reach, second to enhance student success with unabashed advocacy, third to drive world-changing discovery and fourth, to instill the values of authenticity, integrity and civic mindedness and champion the pursuit of peace in all USU does.
He said the work of dismantling education barriers, accelerating research and empowering every Aggie from the first generation to the sixth generation, are heavy matters for years to come.
“May my commitment to be a listening, learning president be matched by USU emulating a learning university,” he said.
Governor Spencer Cox, himself a USU graduate, shared memories of his time as an undergraduate in Logan and the confidence he has in the school’s future under President Mortensen.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the new president explained that when he attempted to play USU’s traditional Scotsman song by ear on Instagram he fell short, but several followers sent him the original music. Since then he practiced the piece, and he concluded the inauguration by sitting at a piano on stage to play a rousing — and flawless — rendition of it, to enthusiastic applause.