Southern Utah University President Gerald R. Sherratt announced Wednesday that he is retiring at the end of the current academic year, his 15th at the helm of the Cedar City school.
Sherratt, who is credited with transforming the small community college into an important regional university, said he is leaving office because he will reach the policy-mandated retirement age of 65 in November.Gov. Mike Leavitt, a former member of the Board of Regents and a close personal friend of Sherratt, said, "It would be impossible to overstate the positive impact Gerald Sherratt has had on Southern Utah University, Cedar City and, in fact, the entire southern region of this state."
Sherratt also won praise from Cecelia H. Foxley, commissioner of higher education, who called him a great asset to education in Utah.
"We are very pleased with the job Jerry has done," Foxley said. "He has been a great advocate for Southern Utah University and has made wonderful contributions to the school, community and entire system of higher education."
The system's Board of Regents will now organize a presidential screening committee to begin the search for a replacement. A new president will likely be named sometime in the spring and assume the office on July 1, 1997.
Sherratt will be the second president in the nine-school Utah System of Higher Education to leave office in a two-year period. Earlier this year, College of Eastern Utah president Michael A. Petersen resigned to accept a job in the higher education office. Regents selected his replacement, Grace Sawyer Jones, in July.
During Sherratt's tenure, enrollment at SUU grew from 1,800 to more than 5,500. At the same time, the campus blossomed into one of the Southwest's most visible academic and social centers.
Southern Utah State College achieved university status in 1991, expanding its academic framework, adding graduate programs and constructing a number of new facilities in the process.
Sherratt oversaw the development of a new library that has been described as a major regional academic resource as well as an "architectural jewel," the R. Haze Hunter Conference Center, Science Center, Centrum, student center, Harris Center, Coliseum of Southern Utah and Randall L. Jones Theater.
In athletics, Sherratt worked to move SUU from the NAIA to the NCAA Division I Mid-Continent Conference, and he founded the Utah Summer Games, the state's largest amateur sports festival. He also brought the American Folk Ballet to Cedar City.
Born in Los Angeles, Sherratt was schooled in California, Las Vegas and Cedar City. He received an associate's degree from Southern Utah State College in 1951, bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Utah State University in 1953 and 1954 and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1974.
After serving as an Air Force training officer and commander of a basic training squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Sherratt returned to USU in 1957 and was named adviser to student activities.
He continued to work in administrative capacities at USU until 1982.