Utah State University President Stan Albrecht, who is retiring this year, poses for a portrait outside of the Old Main building at USU in Logan on Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
LOGAN — Stan Albrecht's journey from growing up as a ranch kid in Fremont, Utah, to the conclusion of an 11-year presidency at Utah State University is the kind that few have experienced.
But it's a two-way road that Albrecht has traveled many times in the past decade, bringing the influence of the university to rural communities akin to the tiny town of his youth.
That influence is part of the vision for land grant institutions to meet the needs of the state, a vision that began with 19th century federal legislation that has expanded under Albrecht's leadership further beyond USU's trademark agricultural focus.