Building opportunities in Monument Valley
The USU Monument Valley statewide campus is constructing a new facility on the Navajo Nation reservation that will provide access to opportunities in an underserved part of the state.
Kristian Olsen, senior associate vice president for USU Blanding and Moab, has overseen USU’s campuses in San Juan County for five and a half years.
USU Monument Valley originally operated out of a leased space in an old hospital building that was not serving its purpose.
“The building is functional, but it’s not good,” Olsen said. “There’s a lot of taboo in Navajo culture around being places where people have died.”
Located in the Southeast corner of the state, along the border of Utah and Arizona, the campus was not getting the same attention other campuses get.
“We have to figure out how to build a building that people feel really comfortable in — that they want to come to — that they feel like they are valued in,” Olsen said. “Not an afterthought.”
About five years later, in August 2024, ground was broken for the new facility on the reservation next to Monument Valley High School on a plot of land belonging to San Juan School District.
Getting approval to build on a reservation was challenging due to its federal land status.
“It is tremendously difficult to get property, even if you’re a member of the tribe,” Olsen said. “It’s a multi-year, extraordinarily difficult process, so we approached the school district because it would be much easier.”
The location is also ideal for creating a pipeline for high school students.
“Having it right next to the high school will allow us to expand some concurrent enrollment offerings and help those students feel comfortable in a higher education setting so they can go on to pursue college after they graduate from high school,” Olsen said.
Don Mose is the project coordinator in Monument Valley. He is from the area and has been working for the university for 18 years.
“We’re very limited in our services here,” Mose said. “The only thing we really have, as far as jobs, are mostly tied to government positions with schools or hospitals. The biggest moneymaker around here is tourism.”
According to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau Report, San Juan County is one of the poorest counties in Utah, with 18.4% of the population living below the poverty line, compared to the 9% average of the entire state.
“There is a sense that we are underserved here,” Mose said. “We’d be able to have something that we’re proud of here in Monument Valley, and a state-of-the-art facility is just one step in the right direction for our community to be more informed and more educated moving forward into the future.”
According to Mose, Navajo students make up more than 90% of enrollment at USU Monument Valley.
“This new building is going to open doors for a lot of opportunities for our Native students or Indigenous people,” Mose said.
Olsen believes the project speaks to USU’s land-grant mission.
“One of the most awesome things about Utah State and its mission is it’s all about trying to bring education to where people are at and open up access to people that don’t have the ability to relocate somewhere to go to school,” Olsen said.
Olsen said the impact will be greater than adding another facility along the Wasatch Front.
“To build something in such a remote part of the world that doesn’t have access, the impact of it is exponentially greater than if we built another building in Salt Lake, Provo or St. George,” Olsen said.
Mose said this is a small step in the right direction for the students and would like to see other developments like museums and archaeological sites dedicated to the area.