Long-Time Dean will Transition Back to the Classroom

After 20 years Douglas D. Anderson, who became dean of the College of Business at Utah State University on July 1, 2006, announced today that he will step down effective July 1, 2026, to return to classroom teaching.  

Anderson made the announcement in a letter to the Huntsman School community earlier today, in connection with a statement honoring Jon M. Huntsman, who died February 2, 2018.  

“Today marks the eighth anniversary since our dear friend and greatest benefactor, Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. passed away on February 2, 2018, just two months after we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the renaming of the College of Business at USU in his honor. Jon was a giant in the affairs of our community, state and nation, and in the worlds of philanthropy, business, and higher education. He was generous, full of integrity, and kind—all qualities each of us should hope to emulate.  

“Serving as dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business has been the honor of a lifetime and a labor of love. I am looking forward to returning to the classroom where it all began. My love for learning about economics and business leadership was first kindled by excellent teachers and mentors in the College of Business at Utah State University more than 50 years ago. I hope to see if I can have a similar impact on the great Aggie students of today. I can think of no finer way to conclude a career.” 

Anderson was serving as Vice Chairman of the USU Board of Trustees when he was tapped by President Stan L. Albrecht to become dean of the College of Business in 2006. A political science and economics major, Anderson transferred to USU as a sophomore student after a freshman year at Stanford University and a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Germany. While at USU Anderson was editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, Student Life, for which he was recognized with the Robins Award in 1973, for “Achievement of the Year.”  

His family has deep roots in Cache Valley and USU.  He was born in Logan and is the fifth generation of his family to live in Cache Valley. Both his parents, Desmond (from Logan) and Loila Funk Anderson (from Benson), graduated from Utah State, as did all four of his younger siblings-- Lyle, Rae Louise, Mondell, and Janis. His mother, a 1948 graduate of USU’s College of Education, is still living, and recently celebrated her 100th birthday.  

Following completion of a bachelor’s and master’s at USU, Anderson was awarded the Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1975 and a PhD in political economy and government in 1979. He joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 1978 as a professor and spent a decade on its faculty. In 1981 he took a two-year leave of absence to serve in Washington as Deputy Counselor to the Secretary, US Treasury, and then as director of corporate strategy at Bendix Corporation in Southfield, Michigan. In 1987 with three former Harvard faculty partners he established a firm, the Center for Executive Development (CED), which quickly established a reputation among the country’s largest corporations for transformational executive education. He would serve for twenty-five years as managing partner for the firm. He and his family returned to live in Utah in 1989.  

Shortly after his arrival in Logan as dean, and drawing on his experience with transformational change, Anderson set out to find allies on a bold journey to elevate the college around a vision of excellence and a simple strategy of “better finances, better faculty, better facilities, and better students.” Among the first to become his partners in this endeavor were Jon M. Huntsman and his family. In December 2007 the college was renamed Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. It has been on a steep, upward climb since. It now employs an extraordinary faculty, enjoys world-class facilities, provides exceptional learning experiences to a fast-growing student body, and has built an enduring culture of self-confidence and service that places student success at the top of the School’s priorities.   

“Jon Huntsman gave us the model, the inspiration, the wisdom, and the confidence to dare to aspire to greatness,” Dean Anderson says. “He was also the greatest partner the first dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University could possibly have. My wife, Kathy, and I are so grateful to the Huntsman family and to all the many friends we have made at USU in the last twenty years. It has been a treasured privilege.” 

Reflecting on the last two decades of Anderson’s leadership, David Huntsman, president of the Huntsman Family Foundation and USU Board of Trustees member, remarked:  

“My father would be exceedingly proud of the progress under Dean Anderson’s leadership. Were he with us today, he would say he has never worked with a finer dean—and he worked with some great ones! The entire Huntsman Family is gratified and honored that Doug and his wife, Kathy, would devote 20 years of their lives to launch the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. They have made a wonderful and lasting contribution.” 

Speaking of the progress of the Huntsman School, USU President Brad Mortensen observed: “The leadership Doug Anderson has provided as the first dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business is visible comparing my time as a student at USU to today. This shows up not only in world class facility improvements, but more importantly in the positive influence Huntsman School programs are having on USU students. USU will miss Doug's entrepreneurial and creative leadership as dean, yet I’m confident the strong team at the Huntsman School will carry on the vision and culture of excellence that the Huntsman/Anderson partnership has fostered.” 

David Jenkins, who has worked closely with Dean Anderson over the years as chair of the Huntsman School National Advisory Board, noted: “The Huntsman School fulfills a profound and enduring need in the State of Utah: The development of leaders who enter the world exemplifying the values championed by Jon M. Huntsman and Stephen R. Covey—excellence, innovation, generosity, and integrity. Under Dean Anderson’s leadership, a clear vision, strong sense of purpose, and unwavering focus on student success have fostered a culture poised to strengthen and endure for generations.” 

A short list of the milestones of progress over the last twenty years includes the following:  

Access to Excellence

Under Dean Anderson's leadership, the college has vastly increased its capacity to provide a world-class educational experience at an affordable price. Undergraduate enrollment at the Huntsman School of Business has grown from 1,600 students in Fall 2006 to 2,884 in Fall 2025, with further growth expected. Nearly three-quarters of all undergraduates in the Huntsman School receive scholarships or grants that they do not have to repay, with an average discount of 72% off total tuition, keeping the cost of college within reach and the American Dream a reality for thousands of Utah students.

Faculty Talent Development

The School has experienced a dramatic expansion of its financial resource base, which has transformed the college’s instructional capacity to deliver world-class curriculum from leading professionals and to support experiential learning programs, all in an effort to ensure student readiness for the modern workforce. More than 100 new faculty have been recruited to the Huntsman School during Dean Anderson’s tenure. These industry experts and academic thought leaders have come from across Utah and the US, and from all corners of the earth including Europe, South America, the Middle East, and Asia. These new faculty have completely modernized and reinvented the business curriculum to align with workforce needs. To attract and retain top faculty talent, the number of endowed chair faculty positions in the college has grown from 2 to 18.

Capital Investment for New Facilities

Shortly after his arrival, Dean Anderson began a $4 million renovation of the 80,000 sq ft George S. Eccles Business Building. After that came the $52 million creation of Jon M. Huntsman Hall, completed in 2016 to serve the classroom needs of the School. This 150,000 sq ft facility is a masterpiece that stands as a tangible expression of the School’s commitment to student success and excellence. Finally, the Carolyn and Kem Gardner Learning and Leadership Building opened in 2025 to bring focus and scale to the School’s collaborative and experiential learning and leadership opportunities. This $32 million, 45,000 sq ft building features a stunning, open-air mass timber design that offers world-class collaborative spaces that will inspire students for generations to come. Together, these three buildings complete the overall business complex at Utah State University and represent $88 million in new capital investment, of which approximately $25 million was funded by the Legislature.

Better Experiences for Student Success

During Anderson’s tenure as dean, the Huntsman School has built multiple new centers and initiatives that provide world-class experiences for students. A partial list includes the following:

• The Center for Entrepreneurship helps to bridge the gap between learning and doing by helping students put what they learn into practice. Over 7,000 students have enrolled in entrepreneurship courses at USU, representing more than 100 different majors on campus. Through the Small Enterprise Education and Development (SEED) program, students travel internationally to teach basic business skills to help people break the poverty cycle in low-income countries. More than 800 students from 50+ majors at USU have participated in the SEED program, with the goal to elevate the household income of their “clients” by 50-100%. 

• The Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center, established in 2018 with the Stephen R. Covey family, develops principle-centered leaders of character and competence, who elevate society. Through numerous activities within the Center, students learn to become principled leaders by teaching the timeless principles of leadership to others (including over 6,000 school children in the Utah public system). 

• Using an innovative education model, students at the Analytics Solutions Center learn and apply rigorous analytical thinking to practical business problems. The ASC provides students with opportunities for work-integrated learning through a focus on hands-on experiences with real corporate clients.  

• The award winning Huntsman Scholar Program is focused on building leaders of distinction who possess the values and behaviors that bring honor to themselves and to the great Huntsman family name. The goal of the program is to create and nurture, in Jon Huntsman's words, "the individual sense of purpose and integrity," in addition to generosity and academic excellence. 

• The FJ Management Center for Student Success was established as an in-house advising and career coaching shop with generous financial support from the FJ Management, Inc., to provide students with a seamless advising experience, including entrance, retention, graduation, and career placement. 

• The Freshman Academy is a fully loaded, full-semester orientation for all first-time students at the Huntsman School. The program is laser focused on belonging and retention, with the goal to ensure that every Huntsman student has the help and inspiration that they need to succeed in college.  

• ProSales is a premier sales education program that is nationally recognized for its student-led, market-driven approach, connecting top student talent with industry leaders through hands-on learning, national competitions, and impactful networking opportunities. 

• Through Huntsman Global Learning Programs, students gain transformational international experiences each year as they explore the commercial and cultural richness of countries on faculty-led trips throughout the entire world.