Heidi Woodbury, vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Utah, is pleased to announce that Sarah B. George will join her office as campus chief advancement officer. George is currently the executive director of the Natural History Museum of Utah.
“We are delighted to have Sarah join the university’s advancement team in a senior leadership position. For the past year, Sarah has spent a portion of her time working with deans and directors on campus to develop successful fundraising strategies. She is a highly respected and valued leader at the University of Utah. Her strong knowledge of our campus and community combined with her leadership and fundraising skills makes her the perfect candidate for this position,” said Woodbury.
George will continue serving as executive director of the museum while the U conducts a national search for her replacement. Alberta Comer, dean and director of the university’s J. Willard Marriott Library, and Karen Hale, Salt Lake County’s deputy mayor of community and external affairs, will lead the search.
“It has been such an honor to lead the team that envisioned and created the Natural History Museum of Utah’s new home, the Rio Tinto Center,” said George. “Together we have crafted an exciting future for the museum focusing on our expanding and important research in sustaining biodiversity, our commitment to provide the best possible science education statewide and our ongoing testing and development of engaging exhibits and programs.”
“The museum is in a great place, with a wonderful staff and board so this is a good time to step away. I am looking forward to working with the terrific advancement team and leadership of the university,” said George.
George joined the museum staff in 1992 and also serves as an adjunct professor of biology at the university. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Puget Sound, received her master’s degree at Fort Hays State University and earned her doctorate at the University of New Mexico as a mammalogist, field biologist and evolutionary geneticist.
George is a leader in her field as president of the Association of Science Museum Directors and serves on the boards of the Natural Science Collections Alliance and the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Her impact reaches well beyond the walls of the museum. In 2012, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce recognized her as a “Pathfinder,” in 2013, the Western Museums Association awarded her the Director’s Chair, and in 2016 she received Utah’s highest civilian award, the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology.
