DEl Beatty leaves after 14 months at CEU

This archived article was written by: Kellie Henderson

[email protected] DEl Beatty, dean of student life, leaves the College of Eastern Utah with a bright legacy and a thankful student body after serving 14 months. He leaves the college to be the new dean of students at Dixie State College October 1.
According to Beatty, “I’ve had a wonderful time at CEU and would not trade the past 14 months here for anything in the world. I made life-long friends, loved the students, my colleagues were wonderful and I was able to develop job skills here that I could not have developed anywhere else.
“The main reason I accepted the position at Dixie was primarily based on family matters. My wife and I both attended Dixie and our families are from Washington county. It is a sort of ‘Homecoming’ for us.
“It’s strange, because several of the employees that were new at Dixie when I was a student there, are still working in student services and will now report to me. Also, my high school football coach, my high school counselor, and the former principal of Pine View High School will be on the student services staff; so might be different at first, but it will be fun to work with them again.
“We also have a foster/adoption daughter that is currently placed back with her biological mother and they live in St. George. This move will give our family the chance to see her more frequently, and to maintain a relationship with her in the event she returns to us.”
The opening of the dean of students position at Dixie fostered a very competitive atmosphere, and Beatty went through a series of six interviews before he was hired, “A preliminary round phone interview, and then personal interviews with President [Stephen] Nadauld, the search committee, the vice presidents and deans, a group of students, and then another final interview with President Nadauld.
“Without a doubt the most challenging questions came from the students. One student asked me, ‘We read your resume, and have visited with you as you sit here giving us all the right answers; But what can you do to assure us that you are not just going through the motions — and that you will actually follow through with what you are saying?’ That was a tough one!”
Taking another job as a dean ensures he will resume responsibilities similar to his position here, including some additional duties considering Dixie’s larger student body. “I will also supervise the recreation center at Dixie, as well as the intramural and outdoor recreation programs … But it is interesting, because they have also been without a dean for five years, which is the same scenario I accepted when I came here.”
When Beatty first arrived on campus, “My short term goals … were to get to know each of the departments I worked with, and to support them in their goals. Long term, I wanted to develop one of the best student service