ST. GEORGE, Utah, March 31, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Dixie State University is offering the community an opportunity to provide input on DSU’s name exploration process, as the Name Recommendation Committee is launching an open survey, a statement from the University says.
The survey, created by Love Communications in Salt Lake City, will be available for public input between April 1 (Thursday) and April 13, the statement says.
The survey is a way for the committee to collaborate with residents of southwestern Utah, institutional partners and university faculty, staff, students and alumni, as the Utah State Legislature outlined in House Bill 278S01, Name Change Process for Dixie State University, it says.
“As a DSU alumna and descendent of some of the very first pioneers to settle in this region, I profoundly understand the desire to preserve and share Southern Utah’s revered heritage,” said Julie Beck, a DSU Board of Trustee member and chair of the Name Recommendation Committee.
“That is why it is so important that the Name Recommendation Committee hears input from the community throughout the entire name recommendation process.”
The survey asks participants to rank the importance of various factors and theme options, in addition to providing a space where respondents can suggest any new ideas not already included in the survey.
After the survey closes at midnight on April 13, the Name Recommendation Committee and Love will review the resulting data and scrutinize different name themes to consider strengths and weaknesses in areas such as trademark and website availability, uniqueness, compatibility to the institution’s history and academic focus, abbreviations and connotations.
With this information, Love will present focus groups to a wide variety of stakeholders, and the committee will narrow the search down to a finalist theme. To identify a final name to present to the DSU Board of Trustees, the committee will present specific name options within the final theme in one last round of focus groups.
If the Board of Trustees votes in favor of the name recommended by the committee, it will be forwarded to the Utah Board of Higher Education for a vote. The Utah Board of Higher Education has the potential to pass it on to the Utah State Legislature for a final vote. Otherwise, it is returned to the committee for further deliberation.
The committee, composed of 19 members who represent students, university employees, community members and industry leaders, was approved by the DSU Board of Trustees on March 25 after being recommended to the full board by the body’s Executive Committee. The committee’s members, charge and timeline were established in consultation with the Utah Board of Higher Education.
To participate in the survey and learn more about the university’s name recommendation process, visit dixie.edu/nameprocess.
