Former USU president dies at 79

George Emert, president of Utah State University from 1993-2000, died Wednesday.

“He was a dedicated Aggie who was a dynamic leader,” Noelle Cockett, USU’s current president, said in a statement released by the university.

Emert served as the 13th president of USU and during his eight years of tenure, scholarships at the university rose from $6 million to $29 million, student enrollment increased from 17,000 students to 21,000 and contracts and grants to USU increased from $89 million to more than $140 million.

Emert helped establish the creation of 47 alumni chapters, with at least one in every county of the state of Utah, and the rest spanning across five other states and four countries.

The George and Billie Emert Auditorium, named after Emert and his wife, was dedicated inside the Eccles Science Learning Center in 2002.

Photo courtesy of Utah State Today.
-news@usustatesman.com