University of Utah announces finalists for presidential search

Fall Campus Life. Photo: University of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. — The University of Utah Presidential Search Committee has recommended three finalists to the Utah Board of Higher Education for the position of the University of Utah President.

The finalists are Jayathi Y. Murthy, Taylor R. Randall, and Carrie L. Byington.

Murthy is the current Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Under her direction, the engineering school has focused on areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.

Randall joined the university in 1999 and has served as dean of the David Eccles School of Business for 12 years. During his time as dean, Eccles garnered top 10 entrepreneurship rankings for both undergraduate and graduate programs.

Byington is the executive vice president for the University of California’s health enterprise and a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. She leads the country’s largest public academic health care system.

All three of the finalists will be on campus Wednesday, August 4, to meet with groups representing students, faculty, and staff. They will also each participate in an afternoon public meeting, where the community will have open opportunities to ask questions (University of Utah Marriott Library Gould Auditorium; 295 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City).

You can also attend or watch the sessions online at utah.edu/live.

You can submit feedback by emailing utahpresidentialsearch@ushe.edu or providing written comments on the 4th. You can also anonymously submit your thoughts on each of the individual candidates online: Jayathi Murthy, Carrie Byington, Taylor Randall.

On August 5th, the Utah Board of Higher Education will interview each of the finalists in a closed session. They plan told a public meeting at 5 p.m. that day at Rice-Eccles Stadium (4th floor) to announce their selection.