Dean's Message

November 19, 2018
Doug Anderson

On November 2, 2018, I had the great privilege to announce the establishment of the Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center at the Huntsman School of Business. I want to begin with the end in mind, as Stephen would say, to relate how and why this center came to be.

 Developing leaders is our reason for being.

— Stephen R. Covey






I feel deeply fortunate to count myself as one of Dr. Covey’s millions of admirers and friends. I was a student of Stephen’s— first through his books, then by teaching his principles, and later through a deeply meaningful personal relationship. Stephen and I began talking about a leadership program in the fall of 2009, when he came to Logan to speak to our students. He then served on our faculty for two years as the inaugural Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair in Leadership. After his death, we had many conversations with members of the Covey family, several of our alumni who were also close to Stephen, and university leadership, all culminating with the announcement of the Covey Center.

Huntsman Alumni Magazine Covers

Our Fall 2018 cover is a nod to Stephen R. Covey and Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. appearing on the cover of our Spring 2010 issue announcing Covey's selection as the Huntsman Presidential Chair in Leadership.

As Stephen taught and as I believe, an organization’s purpose and mission are an expression of its most important aspiration or goal. Our purpose at the Huntsman School is to be a career accelerator for our students and an engine of growth for our community, the state of Utah, the nation, and the world. Our mission is to develop leaders of distinction in commerce and public affairs.

Purpose and mission must guide our every decision, our every action. Leadership is central to our mission. Developing leaders is our reason for being. We hope to make ethical, principle-centered leadership a core part of the Huntsman School brand and a core part of the brand of Utah State University.

In establishing this center, we acknowledge Stephen’s profound role and contribution to fostering principle-centered leadership, and our own desire to become better practitioners of the principles he taught. We honor and are inspired by his legacy. But we want to do more. We want to build upon it. We want to influence the lives of all students who graduate from the Huntsman School, from USU, and extend this influence beyond this campus to our state, the nation, and the world. The cover of this magazine shows two of Stephen’s sons, Stephen MR and Sean, as well as David Huntsman, the son of Jon and Karen Huntsman and the president of the Huntsman Foundation. As you will note from the cover story in these pages, they are all committed to our purpose and mission.

We are honored that this center could be established here at the Huntsman School. We know we have a great responsibility now to live up to that privilege. In the words of Jon Huntsman, who clearly shared a deep vision with Stephen, “no exercise is better for the human heart than reaching down and lifting another up.”

Doug's Signature

Douglas D. Anderson Dean and Professor