Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is a public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and associate degrees. As of fall 2022, there are 12,556 students enrolled at UT.
The institution began as St. George Stake Academy, founded in 1911 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Later it became a state school of the Utah System of Higher Education. Until 2000, it was a two-year junior college named Dixie College. In 2021, after controversy over the use of the term "Dixie" in the school's name, the state legislature approved the bill that allowed the school to become Utah Tech University.
UT's 16 athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I and are collectively known as the Utah Tech Trailblazers. Utah Tech reclassified to Division I in 2019 and joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in the 2020–2021 season. Previously, the Trailblazers competed in NCAA Division II, with the football team being part of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while the Women's Swimming team competed in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference, and the school's 14 other athletic teams competed in the PacWest Conference.
History
The institution was founded by the LDS Church on September 19, 1911, as St. George Stake Academy. The academy, located in a region called "Utah's Dixie" by Brigham Young and local settlers, was renamed to Dixie Academy in 1913 Dixie Normal College in 1916, and Dixie Junior College in 1923. In 1933, the LDS Church discontinued its support of the college, and rather than give up on it, the local citizenry came together and maintained the school's operation through donations and labor for two years.
In 1935, the State Board of Education took over the funding for the school, but wanted to split the college students from the high school students, with the high school moving under the direction of Washington County. The community resisted, feeling that the approximate 200 college students and similar number of high school students needed to be combined to provide a good-sized student body for the many social and academic programs. Another concern was that the county did not have the funds to build a new high school.
Between 1935 and 1963 there were close calls when various state leaders proposed closing the college, but the local citizens were willing to donate to keep it alive. These local citizens, particularly the Dixie Education Association, raised the funds to purchase four blocks of land on 700 East and 100 South for a new campus. They presented that land to the state which, in turn, agreed to fund a few buildings for a new campus there. In 1957, the gymnasium was finished and by 1963 four other buildings were ready for college students with the high school students remaining on the downtown campus. In 1970 the name was changed from Dixie Junior College to Dixie College.
On September 7, 2007, Dixie State College Board of Trustees members announced that Dixie State College of Utah would petition the University of Utah to become the University of Utah–St. George. The proposal was approved by the Dixie State College Board of Trustees on October 7, 2007, and by the University of Utah Board of Trustees on October 14, 2007; however, this did not come to fruition.
In 2011, a bill was drafted for the review of the Utah State Legislature and the Utah State Governor to support Dixie State College's transition to university status.
The institution contracted with a local advertising firm, Sorenson Advertising, to investigate names for the institution as a university and found that alumni overwhelmingly supported the name Dixie while less than half of faculty/staff supported the name Dixie (p. 48). Controversy over the name Dixie has arisen many times. In December 2020, the university's board of trustees unanimously voted to recommend removing the word Dixie from the school's name.
In 2013, the Utah Legislature changed the status of the institution from a college to a university and named it Dixie State University. Governor Gary Herbert signed the bill into law in a ceremony on campus, calling the new university into existence on February 16, 2013. President Stephen Nadauld of Dixie State University and others recognized this step as the fulfillment of the dream of the original Mormon pioneers of the area to have a university for their communities. That same year the Board of Trustees approved a student-driven proposed campus-wide tobacco ban. The ban prohibits all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes. The ban went into effect on January 1, 2014.