After a multitude of community nominations for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Price City, USU Eastern Chancellor Joe Peterson has been announced as the grand marshal for this year’s parade. This was the first year in the parade’s history that nominations were accepted by the community as a whole.
After much deliberation from the parade committee, it was deemed the Peterson would take the prestigious seat on the Tony Basso GM car in the parade as grand marshal.
Peterson was named Eastern’s first chancellor on July 1, 2010 following the merger of Utah State University and the College of Eastern Utah.
“During Peterson’s tenure at USU Eastern, the Price and Blanding campuses experienced significant improvements in facilities and academic programs,” USU shared earlier this year. “In Price, Peterson oversaw the development and construction of a large classroom building and the remodeling of the Geary Event Center. Peterson also contributed significantly to the expansion of student housing on the Blanding Campus.”
Peterson has also been a key leader in expanding academic programs with significant increases in numbers of degree-completers in four-year and masters programs as well as in high-demand technical degrees.
Earlier this year, Peterson announced that he will retire on June 30.