Keeping a community commitment at Southern Utah University

Executive summary

From the start, Southern Utah University (SUU) has been synonymous with Cedar City, Utah, and the loyalty of its students runs deep. Since launching online programs with Risepoint, SUU has expanded its service to the Cedar City community, nurturing professionals in nursing, business, communication, cybersecurity, and music across Southern Utah and the country.

Key results

An institution rooted in and built by the Cedar City community

Southern Utah University was founded as a teacher training school in 1897, when Cedar City residents united with the goal to “enhance educational accessibility for underserved populations.” Community members — including both great-grandfathers of current university president Mindy Benson — contributed resources and physical labor to build the university’s first building.

From the start, and continuing today, SUU has been committed to serving Utahns through access to education, especially in the fields that are most important to the community, like nursing, business, and the performing arts.

In this community, there’s a huge gap in health care. We’re in a rural area, and there are doctors, but there are very few. And so, I feel like our healthcare system is a little bit overwhelmed here. Family nurse practitioners can step in and bridge the gap between people being seen or not seen…. Having nurses pursue an advanced degree helps your own community to strengthen their healthcare system.

Taylor Harris

FNP student (online) and BSN graduate (in-person), Southern Utah University

Expanding service to the community through online learning

Offering programs online has helped Southern Utah University expand to new students but also serve local graduates who want to continue to learn at SUU. With the flexibility of online learning, adults who previously graduated from SUU’s face-to-face programs can return to school to reskill or upskill, while working full-time and managing their personal responsibilities. Through its partnership with Risepoint, Southern Utah University is better equipped to offer the same high-quality, career-connected, and supportive education that in-person students receive, just in an online format.

SUU’s nursing program partners with local hospitals so that in-person and online nursing students can receive training in real-world applications. This helps to ensure that nursing students are better prepared to serve rural Utah’s healthcare needs, while also expanding access to healthcare in areas where shortages are most severe.

[The MMMT program] was great because it gave me a lot of flexibility to do it on my own time, being an asynchronous program. So just the ease of that, and setting up my schedule, because there were times that I was doing 10 shows a week.

Kit Chatham

MMMT Graduate and Director of Graduate Music Technology programs, Southern Utah University

Once I’m done with the FNP program, I want to help out the Hispanic community. I’ve been able to learn some medical Spanish and I speak Spanish myself. So, if I can get into that community and not have them rely on an interpreter, that would be one of my main goals.

Salvador Rodriguez

FNP student (online) and BSN graduate (in-person), Southern Utah University

Beyond access, SUU’s online programs are creating a real impact for the southern Utah community by improving the economic wellbeing of its graduates. The institution’s online MBA students reported an average payback period of only 1.4 years after graduation and, on average, online MBA students are reporting a 20% increase in salary one year after graduation These figures prove that SUU is a real economic driver for its graduates and their families.

As a regional institution, that’s part of who SUU is and what we do: we’re the economic driver, we’re the cultural center, and we try to provide access where others wouldn’t have it.

Mindy Benson

President, Southern Utah University

Our role here at the SUU Dixie L. Leavitt School of Business is to raise the overall economic condition of individuals and families that live here in Southern Utah, and to be able to increase the economic output of this region… Because of the affordable program, the high-quality education, and the flexibility that we provide, I think that we are making a real significant impact in our communities today.

Ken Hall

Dean, Dixie L. Leavitt School of Business, Southern Utah University

Our partnership with Risepoint has gone back about six years, and they really helped us have a vision for what we could be in the online space. Their expertise, their professionalism, their ability to help us understand ourselves better is one of the most valuable things. They’ve helped us with market research, so we know what students are interested in. They’ve helped us align our academic programs to what the industry needs. They’ve also helped us deliver our programs in meaningful and efficient ways. Risepoint has really helped us to take our programs to scale online.

James Sage

Associate Provost, Southern Utah University

Conclusion

As a regional university, Southern Utah University was built to serve its community and region. Through its partnership with Risepoint, SUU is able to continue to deliver on that promise, offering all students career-connected and high-quality education, regardless of modality.