Governor nominates Utah Tech trustee to state higher education board

In a file photo, Danny Ipson speaks at a media day as Dixie High School baseball coach, St. George, Utah, March 3, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Danny Ipson, a member of the Utah Tech Board of Trustees and also known as the longtime baseball coach at Dixie High School, has been nominated by Gov. Spencer Cox to the Utah Board of Higher Education. 

In a file photo, Utah Tech Trustee Danny Ipson, far left, looks on during graduation ceremonies at what was then Dixie State University, St. George, Utah, May 6, 2022 | Photo by Ammon Teare, St. George News

The state’s Board of Higher Education oversees the state’s 17 public universities and colleges, including Utah Tech, Southern Utah University, Dixie Tech and the University of Utah. 

Ipson’s nomination still needs to be approved by the Utah Senate. Regardless of that result, Ipson told St. George News he feels “extremely honored” to be considered, and that he aims to not only represent Southern Utah’s institutions.

“I look forward to the opportunity to further the opportunities for all students and institutions in all manners of higher education throughout the state of Utah,” Ipson said in an e-mail.

Ipson is an alum of both Utah Tech, when it was the junior Dixie College, and SUU. He received a distinguished alumnus award from Utah Tech last year and has been serving in leadership roles at the university for more than two decades.

Danny Ipson, location and date unspecified | Photo courtesy of Utah Tech University, St. George News

In his day job, Ipson is the CFO and managing member of Hurricane-based DATS Trucking/Overland Petroleum. But local sports fans are used to seeing him in a dugout as the baseball coach at Dixie High for the last 26 seasons.

Ipson also comes from a public service family. His father, Don Ipson, is a longtime state senator and the founder and CEO of DATS Trucking/Overland Petroleum.

A bill, SB146, passed in the last main session of the state legislature required the Board of Higher Education to be reduced from 12 to 10 members and also tasked Cox with selecting 10 new members. The bill also merged the governing of the state’s technical colleges like Dixie Tech with its other public higher education institutions.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

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