Takara Petersen transferred to the University of Utah in 2019.

She dreamed of being an engineer. After receiving her associate degree from Weber State University, she was searching for a way to specialize in materials science and engineering—a degree only offered at the University of Utah.

A week ago, the Class of 2022 graduate started working at Northrup Grumman, designing engineering solutions that avoid using hexavalent chrome or cadmium for the defense contractor based just outside Hill Air Force Base in Roy. Petersen is one of 900 U alums with 1,200 degrees among Northrup Grumman’s 8,000 employees in the state. She’s also a perfect example of the impact of the university on the state around it, said President Taylor Randall.

“We have a lot of reach, but tremendous responsibility at the same time. The state invests heavily in us, and that carries with it an obligation. Utah State University has the same responsibility,” Randall told a group of Cache County leaders gathered for breakfast at Herm’s Inn in Logan. “We’re here to listen and understand how we have to change the way we deliver higher education to the state.”

On the first leg of his statewide Utah Across Utah tour, Randall and a group of U leaders traversed Northern Utah from Logan to Farmington and back to Ogden: meeting with elected leaders from Cache County and the Utah Legislature; talking internships and recruitment with business executives from aircraft battery manufacturer Electric Power Systems and carbon fiber bicycle component maker ENVE Composites; organizing a discussion about the Great Salt Lake’s future; and wrapping up with an alumni dinner in the downstairs lounge of the Union Grill on Ogden’s 24th Street.

“This tour is a good idea,” said Amy Anderson, a member of the Logan City Council. “In general—even at Utah State University—there’s the perception of the ‘university on the hill’ that doesn’t come down off the hill as often it should. So the fact that you’re coming all the way up here—we appreciate it.”

The tour comes as Randall rounds out his first year leading Utah’s flagship institution of higher education. Other legs of the tour later this summer will include Southern Utah and St. George; Utah County; Tooele County; and the Eastern Utah towns of Moab, Price and Vernal. Throughout the tour, the president will highlight the U’s partnerships and collaborations with other state colleges and universities in an effort to redefine and rededicate to the university’s unique role in Utah. At the same time, Randall is laser-focused on the overarching goal of making the university a top 10-ranked public university, or one with similar community impact.

“A lot of universities get to top 10 by being exclusionary. We’re not going to do that,” he told alumni gathered in Ogden. “We are actually going to be the university that coaches up. We are going to lift our students and their families. If we can do that, we will change society.”

Those founding principles are captured in Six Commitments signed by the president and the Board of Trustees.

The numbers tell a story of that statewide influence :

In addition to those contributions to the state, the president has pledged to disperse university administrative jobs throughout Utah, particularly in rural communities. At the same time, he is asking business leaders to work with beefed-up career and professional services operations at the U that will help interns and graduates find jobs throughout the state.

President Taylor Randall at Northrop Grumman.

At Northrup Grumman last week, U graduate and director of special projects Justin McMurray said his company is ready to capitalize on the relationship. Already, Northrup Grumman provided 19 grants this year totaling $90,000 for offices across campus and has offered another series of grants worth up to $500,000 to university colleges and departments. About two dozen U students are currently working as summer interns at the company. And Northrup Grumman currently has nearly 1,000 job openings.

“There is a huge opportunity to get more people from the University of Utah,” said McMurray, an engineering graduate who started as an intern at the company 20 years ago. “It’s not just about a summer. It’s a career.”

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