Geoffrey Landward says he’s wanted a career in higher education since he was an undergraduate student working in his institution’s admissions office. His path, however, from that point to his recent appointment as Utah’s newest Commissioner of Higher Education, was not a straight line.  

After his undergraduate studies, Commissioner Landward pursued and completed his law degree at Brigham Young University. He has spent decades practicing administrative, employment, and education law and also has executive leadership experience. 

Commissioner Landward started working for the Utah System of Higher Education eight years ago, serving as deputy commissioner and secretary to the Utah Board of Higher Education. In September 2023, he was selected as interim commissioner and appointed as Commissioner of Higher Education in March 2024. With this unique background and experience, he’s confident he’ll help higher education in Utah succeed. 

What motivated you to take on the role of Commissioner of Higher Education? 

I was hesitant at first to take the job because this is a particularly difficult time for higher education, and I liked the work that I was already doing for the System. However, I was supportive of them finding a great leader and agreed to serve as the interim as they did that.  

Having been interim commissioner for a few months, I realized that while the work is as difficult as I thought it would be, I have valuable skills to contribute to the role. The Commissioner needs to work with and build consensus among elected officials, Board members, institutions’ presidents, and other stakeholders. I tend to approach these complex issues by simplifying them in terms I can understand. This turns out to be valuable when advocating for something as complex as higher education. 

When the Board suggested that I consider the position, my primary concern was to see higher education in Utah thrive and the Board succeed in its charge as the governing body of higher education. If I could play a role in ensuring that success, then I felt like that would be an honor. Ultimately, I was motivated to take the job because I wanted to help higher education succeed. 

What attracts you to higher education, and have you always been interested in it? 

I’ve been interested in higher education for decades. My father worked in academic advising and was the Dean of Students at Salt Lake Community College. I was interested because that’s what my dad did.   

Being an undergraduate student sparked my love for learning, and fostered my belief in the transformational power of the imagination. I saw that demonstrated over and over again throughout my studies, as I gained exposure to different fields of knowledge.  

I had never felt such excitement or optimism. I can honestly say my years completing general education were some of the most exciting and inspiring of my life—I was captivated then and remain captivated today by the thrill of higher learning.  

College was also my first experience working in higher education. I spent much of my time in the admissions office, working for an Associate Dean of Admissions, and I really enjoyed it there. 

I ended up going to law school and was focused on my legal career, but I’d hoped that I would end up working in higher education with a legal perspective, which is what happened. I never lost hope that I would end up working in higher ed. 

What are your priorities for higher education for the upcoming years? 

One of my biggest priorities is to remain competitive and valuable to the state of Utah. The changing demographics of our country mean that the trend of high school graduates enrolling in college will start to drop sharply. Fewer students will go to our colleges, which means a loss of revenue, so colleges will have to either adjust or, as some will likely not survive. 

We need to review and assess what we are as a System, what each university and college needs to be, and who we’re trying to serve, and design it in a way that remains competitive and viable. I don’t think that can be done as institutions compete with each other and with the rest of the nation. It needs to happen at the systemlevel. 

I also want to flip the conversation that’s been building around higher education. People’s diminishing trust in higher education and the political disharmony have started to creep into our campuses—the questions about the value of a degree or a certificate harm higher education. I still firmly believe in the importance and value of higher education in improving people’s lives and the state. I want to take meaningful steps to bring the conversation back to recognizing the value.  

I don’t think it’s a matter of simply saying higher education is perfect and that we should just talk about it more. There are great things happening in higher ed that should be heard, but there’s also a need to innovate what higher education is and how it’s delivered. I don’t think that we can sit and say that higher education, as it’s traditionally been for the last hundred years, is going to work for the next hundred years. 

What makes Utah’s higher education landscape unique? 
Utah’s technical colleges serve every region of the state and are supported by the legislature, so they’re exceptionally valuable and affordable. Our tech colleges are designed to be responsive to industry needs, so there’s a high demand for graduates. Students can get one of our certificates in a matter of months and enter the workforce quickly.  

Another unique aspect of Utah’s eight technical colleges is that they are under the same umbrella as the state’s eight public colleges and universities, so the System can design curriculum and programs from the tech colleges that are built to feed right into degree programs. This makes Utah very unique.  
 

You have two kids entering college this year. What do you hope they will get out of college? What do you hope to learn from them? 

I hope that they have the same experience that I did. For me, going to college was life-changing because I was being exposed to ideas and subjects that I simply didn’t have access to before. General education sparked my imagination, curiosity, and love for learning, and that hasn’t left me since. I hope that college sparks the same kind of imagination in them. 

I would also like to learn from them. Because of my position as Commissioner, I have a unique opportunity to hear about their experiences. I will also be able to learn from my own experience as a parent working with my kids, navigating how to get into college, and going to college. I hope to see where students are struggling and where a parent would struggle and use my own experiences as a parent with kids in college to improve the process while making it easier and more accessible.