The University of Utah is delighted to welcome Ruth Watkins as the 16th president of the University of Utah. President Watkins has served as senior vice president for academic affairs at the U since she arrived on campus in August 2013 after 20 years in faculty and leadership roles at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She officially began her tenure as president on April 2, and will be inaugurated on September 21.

Watkins received a bachelor of arts in speech-language pathology from the University of Northern Iowa, and her master’s degree and doctorate in child language from the University of Kansas.

Watkins is the first woman to serve as president of the university in its 168-year history.

Jerilyn S. McIntyre served as interim president of the U twice, for two months in 1991 and all of 1997.

Watch for an in-depth profile of President Watkins in the summer issue of Continuum, due out in June.