<\/p>\n
Astrid Tuminez, Utah Valley University\u2019s seventh president, will step down at the end of the semester. She announced the decision on Wednesday during a State of the University<\/a> address, speaking to a packed audience of students and faculty.<\/p>\n Tuminez, 61, said in an interview that the decision to step down had been building for some time. \u201cThere\u2019s never a good time,\u201d she said. \u201cI love UVU so much.\u201d The choice, she explained, came with a mix of grief and relief. \u201cIt is a swirl of emotion. I am heartbroken on one hand, but also happy and excited on the other, because life has its rhythms.<\/p>\n \u201cI cried a lot last night, and I am not crying today,\u201d Tuminez said<\/a>, as she told the crowd she plans to leave the role in early May.<\/p>\n The decision follows a year marked by personal grief and institutional crisis. Her husband, Jeffrey Tolk, died suddenly in February 2025. \u201cMy heart was broken. There\u2019s no other way to describe it,\u201d Tuminez told the Guardian<\/a>. In a later interview, she described the loss as leaving her \u201cdisconsolate and desolate\u201d.<\/p>\n Months later, on 10 September 2025, the day that would have marked her husband\u2019s birthday, Tuminez was travelling to Rome on a planned spiritual pilgrimage when news broke that Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old far-right commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, had been assassinated on campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur bodies feel these things,\u201d Tuminez later told the Guardian<\/a>. \u201cJust utter shock, like my whole body was on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n The killing thrust Tuminez and the university into the centre of a national political crisis, as political violence in the US intensified<\/a> and the Trump administration escalated pressure <\/a>on universities over campus speech.<\/p>\n Utah Valley University is still reckoning with the aftermath of Kirk\u2019s death. Many faculty, students, and state officials remain divided<\/a> over how to remember Kirk, with some Republican leaders and university officials<\/a> pushing to memorialise him, while others have warned against politicising the campus tragedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tuminez, who became president in 2018, was the first woman, the first person of colour, and the first immigrant to lead Utah<\/a> Valley University, located in one of Utah\u2019s most conservative counties. She has described her ascent to the role with characteristic understatement. \u201cI\u2019m an accidental university president,\u201d she said. \u201cI never planned for this. It wasn\u2019t even on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n Trained as a scholar of Soviet politics, Tuminez has worked across academia, government, and international institutions, an experience that shaped her approach to leading the university through an increasingly polarised national moment. She has argued that universities remain central to the American project, describing them as \u201cfacilitators of the American dream\u201d, and has said they should prepare students to grapple seriously with questions of civic discourse.<\/p>\n Her nearly eight years as president, one of the longest tenures in Utah\u2019s public university system, were marked by significant growth and institutional change. During her time in office, enrolment increased by more than 20%,<\/a> the university\u2019s endowment more than doubled from $55m to $129m<\/a>, graduation rates rose sharply<\/a>, fundraising expanded, and new centres were established in applied artificial intelligence, fintech, and constitutional studies.<\/p>\n Her departure comes as universities across the US face mounting political pressure <\/a>from the Trump administration, including heightened immigration enforcement and deportation of many students<\/a>, visa restrictions affecting dozens of countries<\/a>, and growing fears among international students<\/a>. Tuminez, herself a former international student, said she remained concerned about what a more closed US could mean for higher education.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the superpowers of America is our influence globally,\u201d she said. \u201cWe educate people who go back and lead in their home countries.\u201d She said she had hoped to expand UVU\u2019s international student population, arguing that openness benefits both local students and those who come from abroad. \u201cI had to get my own F-1 visa,\u201d she added. \u201cIt was very, very difficult. \u201cI think it\u2019s good for Utahns, and it\u2019s also good for these students, to have this experience, to be educated here.\u201d<\/p>\n She framed the moment as political flux rather than sound policy, suggesting decisions driven by fear or politics risk long-term harm. Tuminez said she was concerned that fear among international students and a more closed immigration posture could erode one of the US\u2019s defining strengths: its openness to the world. When asked about her next chapter, Tuminez was clear about one thing: she plans to pause. \u201cI need a break,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not the kind of job you do for seven and a half years and feel rested.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #President #Utah #university #Charlie #Kirk #killed #resign #role #Utah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astrid Tuminez, Utah Valley Un… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}