August 21, 2025

I always love the beginning of the academic year. Our students bring us so much excitement, anticipation, and joy, that they can wash away, if even for a short time, the pressures and worries of the world. The students this fall are entering as our sesquicentennial class (so if you haven’t mastered saying “Sesquicentennial,” there’s still time). We’ve celebrated our past, and now we’re on a path to sustain our momentum into the future.

This fall we’ve welcomed approximately 260 new undergraduates, about the same as last year. We expect our first-year retention rate to be close to 84%, which puts our undergraduate headcount a little above last year’s. Thank you to our staff and faculty advisors, student affairs professionals, and everyone who has helped our students thrive and belong at Westminster.

Graduate enrollments are solid, a bit up in tuition revenue and down in headcount, resulting in overall student enrollment that will land above 1100, similar to last year. This coming year we will have a fully staffed admissions team, who along with our financial aid professionals, provide an excellent group to be led by a new Vice President of Enrollment Management, Dr. Caroline Randall. Dr. Randall hails most recently from St. John’s College and will be joining us in less than 3 weeks. Thank you again to Spencer Potter and the faculty and staff serving as search committee members: Jessica Brazell-Brayboy, Christie Fox, Karen Henriquez, Sheryl Steadman, Sheila Yorkin, and Brian Wierman. We launched this search in May and will have it filled in 4 months, which could be a record for a Cabinet-level search.

Our students are coming back to a campus enlivened by many campus improvements. The newly stocked and reimagined W Shop is now in Nightingale Hall. This store is entirely owned and operated by Westminster, and under the direction of Sheila Yorkin. The Writing Center is now located in the Giovale Library and should be fully moved into a new space by Fall break. Campus dining has had a big uplift, with renovations that enable more food options and all-you-care-to-eat meal plans designed to provide greater choice, value, and food security for our students. It wouldn’t have been possible without the work of Kenton Gregory, Nikki Hardinger, and Chef Cynda Patterman-Asaf, and of course the leadership of Vice President Jessica Brazell-Brayboy. The “garden” floor of Shaw has created opportunities for our athletic staff, while the former bookstore is being turned into a community-building space for all students, housing organizations such as the Associated Students of Westminster as well as student identity groups. We’ve accomplished this with modest investments that include financial support from Sodexo, contributions from donors, and a lot of sweat equity from partners across campus. Our enhancements to student support include new staffing and leadership in Integrated Wellness. And, in addition to in-person counseling appointments, students will have access to 24/7 virtual care from licensed, qualified mental health providers.

These are some of the changes that students, particularly returning ones, will see immediately. They won’t be changes for our newest students; for them, the changes we’ve made over the past few years are expected parts of a Westminster experience. Community time, our lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is now just what we do. Leadership and career confidence are cultivated in every student and embedded in our academic programs and campus activities. Online and hybrid courses are part of our regular course offerings for both undergraduate and graduate students. Student Showcase is a long-standing Westminster tradition, open to students in programs across campus. We’ve always been a powerhouse in mountain sports and NCAA athletics. Commencement has always been held on campus. Learning in and from the world beyond Salt Lake City, from Sophomore Study Away, to May Term travel, to international experiences in our graduate and professional programs, to our alumni travel opportunities are all part of our real-time, real-world approaches to learning. And diversity in our people, programs, and support is simply who we are.

One of our key campus leaders in cultivating and championing our journey of inclusive excellence is our Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Tamara Stevenson. After a 2-year, nationally competitive process, Dr. Stevenson has been named as one of 25 American Council of Education (ACE) Fellows for 2025-26. The ACE Fellows Program is “the longest-running leadership development program in the United States,” a “unique and transformative opportunity” for aspiring leaders in higher education.”  During this academic year, Dr. Stevenson will be hosted by the University of California at Davis. Please know that the key events and initiatives directed by her, as well as the values and commitments reflected in her position, will continue despite her temporary absence from campus.

Living our values and commitments, showing up with energy and passion, can be difficult when we’re assaulted by the 24-hour news cycle, with daily, and sometimes hourly changes in federal directives, troop movements, resurgence of infectious diseases, and unfolding climate disasters (that’s the most depressing I’ll get today, I promise). The higher education news that dominates state and national conversations weighs on many of us at Westminster, as we monitor the ever-shifting ground beneath us and experience the whiplash of federal actions taken, and then taken back.

For instance, last spring 2 federal guidance documents told colleges to “eradicate all programs that had anything to do with identity or risk losing federal funding” (CHE 8.18.25). But late last week, a federal judge struck down those directives. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed this summer makes changes such as eliminating or limiting federally subsidized loans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Employees in public service can now lose access to loan forgiveness if their employer engages in something perceived as “aiding or abetting discrimination” (which some people equate with DEI policies and programs).

And finally, the recent push for “institutional accountability” means that colleges and universities could lose the ability to provide direct federal loans to students if student earnings are too low 4 years after graduating. That’s consistent with the moves already made in the Utah higher education system, where public colleges and universities will be assessed based on the earnings of their graduates and will be funded based on the extent to which students contribute to the workforce.

These actions, and so many others like them, fuel longstanding anxiety about college affordability, narrow the purpose of education to personal financial gain, and reduce curriculum to training and transactional learning.

But there’s some good news, too, and reasons to be cautiously optimistic. There are signs that public sentiment is shifting, with recent polls showing some renewed confidence in higher education.
At Westminster, we’ve taken important steps to restore confidence in higher education and demonstrate responsiveness to students and their families. We are getting better at cost transparency on our web pages and admissions materials, with tools like a cost of attendance breakdown and net price calculator. We are getting more intentional in connecting current classroom learning with future career opportunities, embedding career exploration and strategy into our curriculum. We are getting more fluent in the distinct value of a Westminster education. We are becoming more engaged as a community in connecting with and supporting our students, and students are increasingly expecting greater engagement with each other.

I know the power of a Westminster education. One viewing of Drew Menifee’s documentary of the Outdoor Education and Leadership Field Semester, one conversation with an ecstatic new parent, one student performance in Courage theater, one class visit is enough to remind me of the importance of what we do, and why we must do all that we can to ensure Westminster’s future.

That isn’t getting easier. Living anywhere in this country, but particularly in Salt Lake City, has become increasingly expensive. The costs of providing education keep escalating, our infrastructure is aging, and our expenses continue to outpace our revenue. As we look to the future, we will continue to explore ways to find efficiencies, stretch our resources, and generate new revenue. I, in partnership with our Advancement team, will continue to seek increasing support from our donors.

As we conclude a sesquicentennial year-long celebration, we will focus on increasing the value of Westminster’s endowment through new gifts, capital priorities and important renovations, increased scholarships and unrestricted support, all of which could make up the structure of a comprehensive fundraising campaign, pending Board approval. We have the momentum, as our success with philanthropy continues to grow. We previously announced the results of our 150th gala in June, with $1M raised for student scholarships. This drive for scholarships is critical, as financial aid is our single largest expense besides personnel, as most student scholarships are unfunded.

I’ve gotten great feedback from those who were in attendance that evening, which was a spectacular event and a heavy lift from so many people on campus, and an effort largely coordinated by Sheila Yorkin. I’d like to share some of my remarks from that evening with you now.

I know that students like Quincy (our recent student body president) was a neuroscience major, and Max (our current student body president) is a philosophy major. I’m sure their degrees, regardless of where they end up and throughout their lives, will bring that return on investment, that ROI, that everyone is talking about these days. It’s usually talked about as a wage premium, that million or more you make if you have a college degree.

Westminster students certainly get a wage premium. We have the highest 4-year graduation rates in the state, and nearly all of our graduates say that their Westminster experience helped advance their professional goals.

But Westminster students get more than a wage premium; they get a life premium. There’s plenty of research showing that college degrees bring greater health, happiness, job stability and autonomy, bigger social networks, and higher levels of civic engagement and purpose.

And a better life premium is good for everybody. When students know how to live well, with open minds, generous hearts, and infinite learning, everyone wins.

Here’s the future we’re building for our students.

  • We’ll stay small by design, so students can find each other, and faculty, and the resources that help them thrive.  Small enough that they can’t help bumping into someone they don’t know, or be challenged by a new idea, or discover a community they didn’t know existed. Small enough to build career confidence for the big opportunities that await.
  • We’ll keep pushing the boundaries of ideas and disciplines, because that’s where creativity is unlocked, problems get solved, and people learn to collaborate on shared goals. We’re bringing research experience, global travel, and multidisciplinary learning communities to every student, from sophomores studying in Italy and Columbia to our doctoral candidates in nurse anesthesia providing medical care in Ghana.
  • We’ll bring our distinctive commitments to integrated wellness, outdoor learning, and ethical leadership to all students. Here’s where wage premium meets life premium: to thrive in an increasingly complex and artificial world, students need to connect with more than ideas and devices. They need to connect hearts and minds, values and actions, people and planet. There is no one I’d rather have care for me, our natural resources, our community organizations, or our financial investments than a Westminster graduate.
  • And the frequency with which Westminster students outshine larger, better resourced institutions is simply mindboggling. Westminster students don’t just do well, they excel, winning business case and ethics competitions, fellowships, and national leadership awards.

At Westminster, we don’t tell students what they can’t think or do. We show them what’s possible. And armed with knowledge, insight, skills, and experience, they achieve greatness. They inspire us to build better futures for all.

We’ll continue that theme of building the future, learn from the inspiring summer Imaginable book group conversations facilitated by Peggy Cain and Michael Santarosa, and hear from author Jane McGonigal during Westminster Weekend next month. Thank you all for joining me, as together, we build the future of Westminster.  

Regards,
Beth Dobkin
President