Dixie State College of Utah
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | September 19, 1911 |
| President | Richard Biff Williams |
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Academic staff
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423 |
| Students | 8,993 |
| Location |
St. George, Utah, United States 37°5′43″N 113°34′40″W / 37.09528°N 113.57778°WCoordinates: 37°5′43″N 113°34′40″W / 37.09528°N 113.57778°W |
| Campus | Urban main campus: 100.11 acres, campus off-site property: 97.1 acres, total campus: 200.99 acres |
| Colors | Red, Blue, Gray, White |
| Nickname | Trailblazers |
| Mascot | Brooks the Bison |
| Website | www |
Dixie State University (also referred to as DSU or, colloquially, Dixie) is a public comprehensive university located in St. George, Utah. The university offers 44 bachelor's degrees, 19 associate's degrees, 27 minors, and 15 certificates/endorsements. As of Fall 2016, there are 8,993 students enrolled at DSU, and the university has a 100% acceptance rate. The student body is 53% female and 47% male, and DSU is in the top three for diversity in the state of Utah, with 22.3% of the student body being minority students.
The institution was founded as St. George Stake Academy in 1911 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), but it is now part of the Utah System of Higher Education. In February 2013, the former Dixie State College (DSC), as it had been known since 2000, officially became Dixie State University.
DSU's 15 athletic teams compete in Division II of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Dixie State University Trailblazers. The Trailblazers football team joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2016, and the Women's Swimming team competes in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference, but DSU's 13 other teams belong to the PacWest Conference.
The institution was founded by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) on September 19, 1911, as St. George Stake Academy. In 1916, the academy, located in a region called "Utah's Dixie" by Brigham Young and local settlers, became Dixie Normal College, and then, in 1923, the name was changed to Dixie Junior College. In 1933, the LDS Church discontinued its support of the college, and rather than give up on it, the local citizenry came together and maintained the school’s operation through donations and labor for two years.
In 1935, the State Board of Education took over the funding for the school, but wanted to split the college students from the high school students, with the high school moving under the direction of Washington County. The community resisted, feeling that the approximate 200 college students and similar number of high school students needed to be combined to provide a good-sized student body for the many social and academic programs. Another concern was that the county did not have the funds to build a new high school.
Between 1935 and 1963 there were close calls when various state leaders proposed closing the college, but the local citizens were fiercely loyal to the college and willing to donate to keep it alive. These local citizens, particularly the Dixie Education Association, raised the funds to purchase four blocks of land on 700 East and 100 South for a new campus. They presented that land to the state which, in turn, agreed to fund a few buildings for a new campus there. In 1957 the gymnasium was finished and by 1963 four other buildings were ready for college students with the high school students remaining on the downtown campus.
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