The University of Utah inaugurated David W. Pershing as its 15th president, Thursday. During his inaugural address Pershing said that enhancing the student experience will be his first priority. He outlined a number of ways he plans on accomplishing this including moving towards a more holistic approach to admissions.
“We’re going to go beyond grades and test scores to incorporate the factors that we know impact college success: Such as integrity, motivation, maturity, resilience, and a respect for cultural and intellectual diversity,” he said.
Pershing also said that he plans on making the University of Utah the best value of any school in the Pac-12 by keeping tuition low.
“Our challenge is how to use technology so that we can continue to be the low cost provider while, and this is important," he said, "continuing to offer research opportunities and paying competitive salaries that we need to hire and retain our faculty and staff.”
Pershing joined the university faculty in 1977 and is a distinguished professor of chemical engineering.
