Utah Tech University announced a significant 4% increase in student retention rates while unveiling plans for innovative interdisciplinary learning programs during its Fall 2025 Academic Convocation held Monday morning at the campus Eccles Fine Arts Center. The convocation featured presentations from university leadership focusing on strategic improvements to student success and new educational approaches designed to better serve modern students.
University President Shane B. Smeed addressed the gathering, emphasizing this as a pivotal time for both higher education and Utah Tech specifically. "With a shared vision, we are forming a strong foundation for strategic planning, resource allocation and long-term decision-making," Smeed stated. He expressed the university's commitment to attracting top talent, driving innovation, inspiring academic excellence, and fostering community engagement to fulfill their mission of preparing future leaders throughout the academic year.
Provost Michael Lacourse provided detailed insights into the university's retention improvement efforts, explaining that various programs and communication strategies implemented since 2017 have enabled staff to work more effectively in coordinated support of students requiring additional assistance. "All of that has led to, overall, a 4% increase in student retention," Lacourse announced to the department heads present.
The retention challenges primarily affect underclassmen, with 60% of departing students being freshmen and sophomores. However, academic performance isn't the primary issue, as 46% of students who leave maintain GPAs between 3.0 and 4.0. This data led university leadership to conclude that engaging freshmen and sophomores in distinctive academic experiences related to their majors earlier in their college careers is crucial for improvement.
"Students need to engage in meaningful, challenging work related to their majors and interests earlier in their academic career," Lacourse told department heads. "We believe this is the significant opportunity for us to improve student retention, is by engaging students at your level, at a department level, at a much earlier point, because many of them don't see you until they're juniors or seniors."
To address these challenges, Utah Tech plans to embrace and expand interdisciplinary teaching and learning opportunities. This approach would provide students access to resources across the entire university rather than limiting them to single departments or disciplines. Currently, the university offers only two programs in individualized studies within one field and integrated studies across multiple fields.
The university is considering implementing Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP), a framework originally developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) that has since been adopted by other institutions. VIP gives students investment in year-long projects pertaining to their areas of interest, creating real-world impact rather than purely academic exercises. One example Lacourse cited from Georgia Tech involved students collaborating to design a smart football stadium that incorporated technology for data collection and personalized interactive multimedia experiences for attendees.
Executive Director of Career Services Dottie Catlin spoke about the university's career services mission to prepare students for workforce entry with knowledge, experience, and confidence through faculty mentorship. "To our returning faculty and staff, thank you for your ongoing collaboration with career services," Catlin said. "Your partnership has been instrumental in connecting classroom learning to real-world career opportunities, and we're excited to build on that foundation this year."
Lacourse emphasized the benefits of interdisciplinary education, noting that such programs typically focus on solving real-world problems requiring solutions across multiple disciplines. "Through interdisciplinary education, students gain integrated thinking, communication and collaboration skills. And they foster creativity, adaptability and systems-level understanding," he explained.
Moving forward, Lacourse plans to seek feedback on these innovative educational concepts from Utah Tech's faculty. If the response is positive, the university may implement between two and four pilot projects to test the VIP model and determine its effectiveness at Utah Tech, potentially revolutionizing how students engage with their education from the earliest stages of their college experience.
