Farewell, Brad
Last November, Weber State University President Brad Mortensen stepped down to become the president of Utah State University. While the Wildcat family misses Brad dearly, those close to him are proud to see him become a leader of his alma mater, where he graduated as a first-generation college student.
Brad’s departure will allow the next president to build on the many ways he helped WSU become a more integral part of the northern Utah community.
Opened as Weber Stake Academy in 1889, the institution grew from 100 elementary and high school students to the open-enrollment public university it is today, serving more than 33,000 students. During the 1950s, when the Utah Legislature and governor planned to end Weber’s status as a public institution, Ogden residents led a movement to reverse the decision. Brad detailed that story during a discussion with higher education leaders at the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute in 2024, saying “We know that Ogden rose up and fought to keep an institution in their community at that point of time, so, at Weber, we have this deep commitment to realize we need to reciprocate that back to Ogden and the greater region.”
As president, Brad acted on that idea. He supported the College Town Coalition, an ongoing partnership established during the previous presidency to foster opportunities and collaborations between Ogden City and WSU. Brad established the Miller Advanced Research & Solutions Center, partnering with the Utah Legislature, the U.S. Air Force, and the aerospace and defense industry, to create opportunities for students and faculty to discover real-world solutions to national defense challenges.
During his presidency, WSU’s concurrent enrollment program, which allows high school students to take courses for both high school and college credit, became the largest among four-year institutions in the U.S. The institution also pioneered the first accelerated bachelor’s degree programs in the Utah System of Higher Education, allowing WSU to launch 90- to 94-credit bachelor’s degrees; launched TechTransfer, which allows anyone with a Utah technical college certificate to earn up to 21 elective credits toward any undergraduate certificate, associate, or bachelor’s degree program; and joined Davis Technical College and Ogden-Weber Technical College in automatically admitting high school seniors in Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties.
Brad boasted about WSU’s Center for Community Engaged Learning, which allows students to work with nonprofits and other groups to better the community; and Ogden Civic Action Network, a community development initiative that brings WSU and other local institutions together to address health, education, housing, and financial stability for residents in Ogden’s East Central neighborhood.
At a Utah Board of Higher Education meeting to announce Brad as the new USU president, he took time to acknowledge Weber State during his speech.
“For over 21 years and the last seven years, almost, as president, I have been blessed to work with amazing individuals there who are so passionate about the work that we do together, and I just had a tremendous opportunity at that institution,” he said.
Wildcats everywhere wish Brad all the best as he moves forward in his new position and helps strengthen Utah’s higher education landscape.
He is always welcome back to the community he helped build.