OREM — Utah Valley University's senior vice president of academic affairs Jeffery E. Olson announced Monday that he will retire at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
A search for Olson's successor is underway.
Olson has served the university for five years, helping to guide UVU through significant enrollment growth and rapid expansion of the university's offerings for master's, bachelor's and associate degrees, as well as graduate certificates.
"Dr. Olson has played a pivotal role at UVU over the last five years," said UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez.
"He served as interim president when President Matthew Holland stepped down and worked tirelessly to make sure UVU was meeting the educational needs of our service area, including making higher education available to our nontraditional, first-generation, and minority students," Tuminez said in a statement.
During Olson's tenure, UVU's enrollment increased from 31,331 in 2014 to 39,931 in 2018.
Under his leadership, master's degrees increased from three to eight; graduate certificates from two to four; bachelor’s degrees from 75 to 90 and associate degrees from 63 to 67.
More than 300 additional full-time faculty were hired, bringing the total to 730, which was a university goal set a decade ago to have 55 percent of class sections taught by full-time faculty.
Olson also oversaw development of the university's academic master plan, which outlines the university's commitment and strategies to meet all postsecondary educational needs of Utah, Wasatch and Summit counties. The plan addresses credit and noncredit courses; high school concurrent enrollment and enrollment of traditional and nontraditional students; and one-year certificates, associate degrees, bachelor degrees, and graduate degrees and certificates, according to a UVU press release.
"It has been an honor for me to help lead this university in its remarkable upward trajectory," Olson said in a statement.
"I believe in the power of higher education and its ability to change peoples' lives for the better. We were able to accomplish much, and I now look to my colleagues to continue to lead UVU to even higher levels of success."
Prior to working in UVU's administration, Olson served as the associate provost at St. John's University for 16 years, and as an assistant and then associate dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah for seven years.
A search committee is in place with the goal of having the new provost and academic vice president in place by June 2019.
For more information about the search, visit uvu.edu/provost-vpaa/.