SUU Provost Bradley J. Cook Named President of Snow College

Published: January 11, 2019 | Read Time: 4 minutes

In a vote of the Utah Board of Regents today, Dr. Bradley J. Cook was selected to be the 17th president of Snow College.

Cook has served as the seventh Southern Utah University Provost and a professor of history since 2009. During that time, he worked to establish SUU as a national leader in student-centric, highly engaged learning environments. He is an alum of Snow College and a native of central Utah.

“I’m so honored to be selected for this position in this amazing incredible place that gave me a start and believed in me,” said Provost Cook. “I owe a lot to Snow College and I commit to give back to it… Let’s be bold, let’s be imaginative, let’s be creative and innovative. Let’s be smart. Let’s work hard and most of all - let us continue to keep students and their successes at the very heart of our enterprise.”

After an extensive national search, the Snow College Presidential Search Committee recommended four finalists to the State Board of Regents for the position of Snow College President.

The 22-member search committee spent several months soliciting input through public meetings and in-person interviews. The finalists participated in a public meeting on January 10 where attendees from the Snow College Ephraim community and the general public asked questions to each candidate. On Friday, January 11, the Board of Regents interviewed the four finalists in a closed session. The announcement was made at Snow College at 5:30 p.m. that same day.

“I look forward to working with Brad for many years to come as my peer in the Utah Council of Presidents,” said SUU President Scott Wyatt. “He has been an outstanding provost and has envisioned and supported so many of SUU’s recent successes. It will be difficult for us to find an equal replacement for him.”

“I can’t fully express my gratitude for my faculty and staff colleagues at SUU who work so hard in mentoring and caring for our students,” said Cook. “SUU is a special place, truly a crown jewel of Utah’s higher education system.”

Prior to his current position, he served as President of the Abu Dhabi Women’s College in the United Arab Emirates. In 1993 he served as an assistant to the president for special projects at then Utah Valley State College (UVSC), a cabinet-level position. While at UVSC, Cook also taught in the Department of History and Political Science, teaching courses in Middle East politics, international relations, and global communities.

In 1995, Cook returned to the classroom, as a student, at the University of Oxford in Great Britain where he earned a doctorate degree in Middle East Studies as a Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow at St. Antony's College. Upon completion of his doctorate degree in 1997, he became an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations at Brigham Young University.

Cook returned to UVSC in 1999 as the Vice President for Advancement and College Relations. In this capacity, he spearheaded many fundraising projects to further advance the college. He also managed the successful transition of the college's athletics program from the junior college ranks to the Division I level of collegiate competition. He later advanced to the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs at UVSC, serving as the chief academic officer and the senior vice president responsible for the academic affairs of the college and providing leadership for all educational planning, administration and academic program development.

Cook holds the rank of full professor within the Department of History. He has more than 25 years of administrative experience in higher education, fourteen of which have been spent as a provost or president. His scholarly work, “Democracy and Islam: Promises and Perils for the Arab Spring Protests,” in the “Journal of Global Responsibility,” was recognized by the Emerald Literati Networks as 2013’s Outstanding Paper. He is also the author of the book, “Classical Foundations of Islamic Educational Thought,” published by Brigham Young University Press.

He has special research interests in Islamic educational theory, comparative religion, and international and comparative education. Dr. Cook is active in his academic field, chairing and presenting regularly at international conferences and symposia as well as maintaining a consistent research and publication agenda. His publications can be found in a variety of academic journals.

At Stanford University, Dr. Cook earned a B.A. degree in international relations and an M.A. degree in social science of education. At the University of Oxford, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy, Middle East Studies.

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