UVU board of trustees grows by three

This fall, the UVU Board of Trustees welcomed Elaine S. Dalton, Fidel A. Montero and Duff Thompson.

“These three individuals are eminently well-qualified to be Trustees and will have a tremendous impact on UVU,” declared President Matthew S. Holland on September 11.

Dalton comes with five years’ background serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Church Education System, which includes the LDS Church’s three universities as well as their institutes and seminaries.

“I think she’ll be good for the school,” Meredith Baker, sophomore studying elementary education, said. “I know that she’s done a lot for education in Utah already.”

From 2008 to 2013, she served as the general Young Women president of the LDS Church.

“She is a champion of education,” Linda Carlisle, past employee of the LDS Education System, said. “She really believes that education is necessary to strengthen communities.”

Dalton was also a member of the Governor’s Commission for the Education of Women in 2012, where she worked to increase the number of women in Utah who attain higher education training.

The state of Utah currently has the lowest number of women graduating from an institution of higher learning. UVU has the lowest graduation rate of women for universities in the state, a problem Holland has addressed on numerous occasions.

“I think she’ll be good at knowing how to help inspire women to get an education,” Jeni Farnsworth, junior studying business management, said. “I think sometimes the culture around here says that all you can do is get married and have babies, that if you want to be a good woman that’s how you do it. But look at Elaine S. Dalton, she’s amazing and she is educated and works. It’ll be good for a lot of women around here to see, I think. “

Dalton has written and published two books and numerous articles on the importance of values and mentoring, and strengthening the rising generation.

New trustee Montero, principal of Alta High School, located in Sandy, Utah, has focused his career on helping inspire all students to academic success.

Montero is a first generation high school graduate and immigrant to the United States. He said that his experience with the complexity of immigrant life has fostered a desire to create opportunities for others.

“I like that [Montero] is going to be on the board,” George Martinez, a sophomore planning to study nursing, said. “I think the more diverse in experience the board members are, the better for the students. I mean these people are making big decisions for the students here at UVU. The board should reflect the student body as much as possible.”

Montero leads school improvement efforts locally. Drawing from his experience in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and various cities throughout Utah, Montero has worked to change the quality of education for students of various backgrounds. His areas of emphasis include comprehensive school reform, systems development and quantitative analysis.

Dr. Montero received an Ed.D. and M.Ed. from Columbia University, Teachers College; and a M.Ed. and B.A. from Brigham Young University.

Thompson was named to the board after 20 years of service on a number of corporate boards. He has been a managing general partner of EsNet Ltd., a Utah based private investment firm, for the past 19 years. Before that, he was senior vice president of business development and strategic relations at Novell and executive vice president and general counsel at WordPerfect Corporation.

“We welcome them and are looking forward to working together to advance the university’s mission and continue to improve and grow our campus both physically and academically,” Holland said. “I thank them from their willingness to serve our students and anticipate many successful collaborations in the years to come.”