by Tim Gillie

STAFF WRITER

This year's graduation for the USU Tooele Regional Campus will be the last one for campus Executive Director Kathleen Robinson.

After 18 years with USU, Robinson, will be resigning on April 30. She has been at the helm of the university's Tooele campus for five years.

Robinson's tenure has seen the USU Tooele Regional Campus through a period of rapid growth in enrollment, degree offerings and facilities.

"Our enrollment has been growing at a steady pace of 20 percent each semester for the last couple years," Robinson said.

The first graduating class after Robinson's arrival in Tooele was 23. This spring, the school will graduate over 100 students. Currently there are 35 different degrees available through USU Tooele, including a new masters degree in social work. A new bookstore was just completed last year and on April 14, USU will break ground on an addition to its current facility.

Robinson, who has a Ph.D. in Education, said she will be replaced by the equivalent of a full dean as USU reorganizes the administration of regional campuses throughout the state.

"A dean is an experienced academic leader, we expect the search to last about a year as we are looking for a well qualified, experienced dean," said Dr. Ronda Menlove, Utah State University Vice Provost for Regional Campuses and Distance Education. "This is an exciting time for the Tooele campus, the campus is maturing. We are bringing in more full time faculty and need an experienced academic leader."

In the meantime, Vince Lafferty has been appointed interim director of the Tooele campus. Lafferty is currently the director of the Logan Center. He was serving as the director of the Tooele Regional Campus when the current facility was built in 1995.

"The future for USU Tooele is great, and it will continue to grow and serve the community well," Robinson said. "I have been in Tooele longer than I planned. This reorganization is a good nudge for me to move on."

Robinson worked as the director of USU's distance education programs in southeastern Utah before taking the executive director position in Tooele. Her family has been living at their home in Price while she commutes from Tooele on weekends.

"My husband just retired as a police officer, so now we can relocate together," she said. "I had the opportunity to stay with USU, but I am looking for a new challenge."

tgillie@tooeletranscript.com