TART GIRL TO UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: THE STORY OF MINDY BENSON

Before this year, Mindy Benson never wanted to be the president of Southern Utah University.

In July 2021, Benson was asked to serve as interim president after former president Scott Wyatt was chosen to fill a new position within the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. At the time, she was serving as SUU’s Vice President of Alumni and Community Relations and teaching event-planning classes in the communication department.

“Never did I think I would be president,” said Benson. “That’s not where I saw myself — I’m the events person, right?”

Having worked on campus for almost her entire adult life, Benson planned three presidential inauguration ceremonies prior to her own appointment: Steven D. Bennion in 1997, Michael T. Benson in 2006 and Scott L. Wyatt in 2013. She stated that it was “completely surreal” to attend her own, especially as she watched her own students — whom she instructs in an event-planning course — put on the show.

“To see all of [my students] blossom from ‘I'm not sure what this class is’ to ‘This is what I want to do with my life’— I loved it. It was really neat to watch,” Benson said.

For most of her time as interim president, though, Benson looked forward to returning to her role in the alumni office. She didn’t even think about submitting an application for the permanent position until February 2022 when she led one of SUU’s most successful legislative sessions in recent history. Multiple voices from the legislature and commissioner's office persuaded her to reconsider.

“[Applying] was nowhere on my radar,” Benson said. “But as the right voices were starting to say, ‘You at least need to consider this,’ I thought, ‘Okay, I at least need to think about this.’ So, honestly, it's only been seven months of me thinking about this, not years.”

Benson is not only the first female president of SUU but also the first to be born, raised and educated in Cedar City, Utah. She was born at the local hospital and spent her childhood tagging along to SUU student activities. As soon as she was old enough to work, Benson got a job with the Utah Shakespeare Festival as a “tart girl,” someone who sells concessions such as the festival’s famous fruit tarts.

During her undergraduate years as a student, Benson was involved in student government and student alumni. After she graduated with a bachelor’s in zoology in 1994, she vowed to leave Cedar City for good.

She didn’t stay away for long.

“Pretty quick, I realized how much I missed this great campus. A year and a half later, I came back,” Benson said. “Sterling Church, who was my mentor, called and offered me my dad’s job. That’s a really hard thing to turn down.”

Benson’s father Ken served as the director of student activities for 14 years, starting back when SUU was Southern Utah State College. Ken Benson passed away in 2002, seven years after Mindy Benson took over the role he helped create.

“If he were here today, he’d be crying like a baby, like he always did,” Benson said of her father at her appointment announcement.

Benson remained in her father’s former role for 11 years, planning and carrying out dozens of events for the students of SUU. In addition to her work on campus, Benson became a professional event consultant and planner throughout the nation, producing hundreds of productions, concerts, conventions and even U.S. presidential inaugurations.

“Events are high-stakes, high-stress and everchanging,” Benson said. “Many skills from the events side of the world transfer over to my role as university president.”

In 2014, Benson was appointed Vice President of Alumni and Community Relations. In that role, Benson used her skills as an event planner and leader to create a new division for community outreach and a number of SUU’s public-facing entities, including Alumni & Community Relations, the Southern Utah Museum of Art and the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games.

Now, Benson is determined to fill the role of university president without giving up what she loves most: her students. She loves them so much, in fact, that she would have refused the position if she couldn’t remain in the classroom.

“If I couldn't teach my class, then that would be the deciding factor on applying for the presidency,” Benson explained. “[The interviewers] said, ‘How can you do it all?’ And I said, ‘I'll figure it out.’”

Benson did figure it out. She has now been successfully teaching and fulfilling her presidential duties for over a year.

“I think a lot of people have thought, ‘Surely Mindy will change. We expect her to be aloof now that she's president,’” Benson said. “But if anybody changes, it's them. I'm never changing. This is who I am.”

Benson will continue to teach classes, help plan campus events and mentor her beloved students. In her presidency, she will focus on five areas to enhance SUU’s future: increase access and affordability, cultivate a culture of caring, enhance well-being and student success, enrich the academic experience and expand alumni and community engagement.

Most importantly, though, she is done trying to hide or tone down who she is as a woman and as a leader.

“Especially being a single woman, I think that I often don't fit in,” Benson said. “But the number one mistake female leaders make is leading like a man and changing who they are and trying to lead like their colleagues and not being authentic to who they are.”

The new president is determined to serve as a role model for other women and girls, especially her elementary- age nieces. Benson has already been overwhelmed by an outpouring of support from not only the community but also students on campus who have been inspired by her example of student-focused leadership.

“The impact this has had on young women on our campus has made me want to do this more,” Benson said. “It has made me aware of the role model I need to be.”

Although Benson’s rise to the presidency has been far from conventional, she reflected that she is uniquely situated to continue SUU’s legacy. Perhaps, she remarked, her eventplanning background has prepared her for this all along.

“I can make a difference,” Benson said. “It hasn't been what I've aspired to in my lifetime, but it's the honor of my lifetime. I won't take that for granted.”

-Written by Aspen English