By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of Utah State University

Marking the third major leadership shake-up at Utah State University Eastern since 2023, Kristian Olsen fully assumed his role as vice president for statewide residential campuses on July 1.

Stepping into the position at a tumultuous time for universities statewide, Olsen joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss his vision for USU Eastern, his return to the Price campus and what may lie ahead for the university.

Opening our conversation, Olsen recounted his feeling as he received the call that he would be taking over as vice president for statewide residential campuses: “To be honest, I felt lucky because I lived here for six years on the Price and worked on the USU Eastern Campus. And it is just a great campus, a great community. Carbon and Emery counties are filled with a lot of incredible and special people in ways that I haven’t seen in other places that I’ve lived.”

He continued,” I didn’t think I would ever come back to the Price area. And so when my supervisor called up and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be making these changes, we’re going to have you take over, oversee all of the operations for USU from Price South. And we anticipate that you’ll want to live in Price.’ So I jumped on the opportunity because it was a chance to come back to somewhere that I enjoyed being.”

Olsen is no stranger to the USU system. Previously, he worked as the director of enrollment and admission services at USU Eastern for six years before being promoted to associate vice president of the university’s Blanding campus.

Reflecting on his experiences throughout the USU system, Olsen explained how he believed these have shaped him for his new role. “One of the things that I love about Utah State University is how they work with people to help them be able to grow within their careers, to be able to learn and to develop leadership skills. I’ve been fortunate enough to serve in a wide variety of roles at Utah State University. When I first came to the Price campus, I oversaw recruiting, admissions, advising, student services, and several other areas. When I moved out to Blanding, I moved more into a senior leadership role and was over all of the operations down there and the Moab campus as well. “

Olsen added,” One of the things that I feel like I’ve had the ability to do is understand USU from the ground up in a way that maybe somebody else doesn’t have that opportunity because they perhaps moved in from a senior leadership position from somewhere else and then came into the area. But I’m able to understand everything from the day-to-day life of a recruiter and how much time and effort that takes that they spend on the road to admissions challenges, to enrollment, to advising and everything in between there. And so it gives me a pretty global perspective.”

Olsen begins his tenure during a time of change not just in Utah’s higher education system, but also in a national shake-up of higher education. Navigating legislature-mandated cuts from HB265 is no small feat, but Olsen provided his mindset going into the process. “I feel like COVID came along five years ago. And it feels like it tipped over the apple cart, and we’ve never put it back upright. Like it’s just been one change after another. And it’s just constant. And it’s hard to keep up with. However, what I found during a time of change is that there are tremendous opportunities. So you can take the approach like, ‘Oh, my gosh, everything’s changing. Will it just please slow down and let me catch my breath?’ Or the way that I like to approach it is, ‘Holy cow, there are a lot of things changing. What are the opportunities that we can take advantage of within this time of change?’ And that approach allows you to be a little bit more optimistic.”

He continued,” It’s exciting because there are a lot of opportunities in a time of change that can really make fundamental differences in how things operate and improve things for the future. And so, that’s the way I’m approaching this time of change: yes, some of this is external. It’s being asked of us by other entities. But those entities, I think, have our best interests in mind. And they’re asking us, ‘How can you do things a little bit better? How can you improve?’ And so we’re having the opportunity to take a close look at those things and be able to evaluate, hey, are there some things that we can do a little bit better, that we can get more efficient at? How can we better serve our local regions and our students? “

Within Olsen’s position, he oversees USU’s statewide residential campuses, which comprise Price, Castle Dale, Blanding, Moab, Monticello, Montezuma Creek and Monument Valley. With each of these areas presenting a diverse set of needs, Olsen explained how he plans to balance each of these areas. “I’ve got a couple of really good people down in Blanding and Moab that we elevated their roles, and they are just fantastic individuals. As I was pulling up today to speak with you, I was on the phone with somebody down in Blanding working through a bit of a challenge that we have. And she’s just fantastic and outstanding and is a great leader – the same in Moab. And I’ll spend time down there. So I’ll head down there a few times a month to Blanding and Moab, and stay connected. And then I retain quite a few duties in those areas as well. So it’s not like I can’t just forget about them because I’ve got those responsibilities.”

“But the key is working with those individuals that are in place, helping to nurture them, helping them to grow their capacities and their abilities, and then leaning on them when I need them. And the great thing is, they’re just outstanding people in Blanding. They are outstanding people in Moab, and they are picking up in areas that I’ve had to shift off my plate so that I could focus on the USU Eastern campus,” added Olsen. “Because, as you know, USU Eastern is about three times the size of Blanding and Moab put together. And so it just requires a little bit more attention as it should. And so with that shift of focus, it is putting a little bit more responsibility on the people down in the south. But they are also willing to step up to the challenge. And they are some of my favorite people in the world because they are good at what they do.”

Closing our conversation, Olsen previewed some exciting developments coming to USU Eastern,” It’s an exciting time on the campus right now. We’re doing some great things in athletics. We’re doing some fantastic things in our academics. We’re hiring more faculty members who now have a research component. We are tasking those faculty members with conducting research that serves the local communities. Not just esoteric research or research that will help people in another state, but research that benefits people affected by challenges in their community. We also recently announced we’re going to build some new housing on campus, which will allow us to host more students.”