Close Up with Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr.

I have followed Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr.'s policies, programs and ideas for the last four years, and I finally had the good fortune to meet him at our Digital States Awards Ceremony and press conference in October 2008. I was completely impressed. In fact, he was one of the most intriguing and inspirational leaders I have met. I was so excited by his concept of education that we are featuring him in Converge.

Huntsman truly understands the vital link between education and economic development. He sees the true ties that bind academic achievement and workforce development. A multicultural governor, he's helping to make Utah education globally minded through a critical language program, bringing Chinese lessons into the classroom. This idea is gaining momentum, and Utah has more students in public education studying Chinese than in any state in America. The governor himself is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Huntsman's state is also producing twice the number of engineers per capita than the rest of the country -- a promising statistic with the steady decline in engineering graduates during recent years.

He understands the burdens and responsibilities of teachers.

"They are tasked, no less, with educating and bringing up the next generation of leaders and contributors to our economy," he said, adding that parents do play a role, but no one does it quite like a teacher. "They stimulate minds, create a learning environment and impart wisdom and knowledge."

Huntsman has three main goals for recruiting and retaining teachers: putting more money into teachers' hands to re-establish the understanding that educators are at the pinnacle of our society; encouraging more young people to go into the profession; and thanking the people who do so much for our young kids. These are admirable, as are all the goals and aspirations he speaks of in the following interview. And as a multicultural leader in today's society, he's working hard to accomplish them.

We've been so impressed with the governor over the years. Utah ranked first in our Digital States survey in 2008, ranked number one in our Best of the Web competition in 2007 and is setting the stage for true educational transformation in his state. There is no doubt Utah is on the move, setting ideas in to action.


How does being such a multicultural governor inspire you as a leader in today's world?

It's at the very foundation of everything I do as a leader -- recognizing our place in the world and our place in history. Our world is moving very quickly, and with it, the changes in technologies and the ways we need to adapt as societies -- whether it's education policy or economic development policy -- it's all set in a global context these days. If you miss that point, then you've missed our time and place in the world today. And sadly, there are a lot of governors who are completely tone deaf to that reality.

But the biggest challenge today is really trying to articulate globalization in ways that a) don't scare people; and b) allow folks to recognize the huge opportunities that we have in this ever-changing world and marketplace. Being a multicultural person -- or at least a citizen of the world -- is in the very foundation of everything we do here.

How have your experiences abroad shaped or impacted your ideas about education policy and programs in Utah?

It has caused us to focus on more of a global dimension. I've had my kids in international schools in Taiwan and Singapore, and they're among the best education systems in the world. You find kids who are learning English and who are learning about our political system, and in many cases, they are more conversant in our form of government and way of life than kids who are growing up here. And why is that? It's because they need to be globally minded.

In countries such as Taiwan or Singapore, 75 percent to 80 percent of the GDP is reliant upon engagement with the rest of the world. It's their export portfolio that gives them their standard of living. They have no choice -- they have to understand the rest of the world. To reach out, you have to understand who your trading partners are.

Our GDP has increased from the negligible category to what will be 15 percent to 20 percent to 25 percent as we export more to the rest of the world. With that, we have to keep pace with the younger generation in terms of understanding the trends around the rest of the world. For example, in Utah, we have included a 21st-century Critical Language Program, which, over the last four years, has provided public education students the chance to learn Chinese. We have more kids in public education studying Chinese in Utah than in any state in America. You must be conversant in a foreign language in order to understand the meaning of their culture and the way in which they view the world. It's impossible to understand another culture unless you speak their language. This need to speak other languages has helped develop educational programs that are going to be excellent for the emerging generation in the state.

How does the coordination between economic development and the education community work in Utah?

We're knee-deep in discussions about a 21st-century workforce initiative. We're melding decision-makers from education, economic development and departments of state government to develop a common vision for the next generation of workers. Out of this, we're probably going to have a 21st-century workforce commission that has the key policy-makers -- higher education, public education and economic development -- who try to identify deficiencies in our system. There are huge walls that separate all of these institutions, and they never communicate. For example, the commission may recognize shortcomings in terms of training, curriculum or the handoff from public education to higher education.

This means that now, when we invest in an engineering initiative -- and Utah is producing twice the number of engineers per capita than the rest of the country -- we have to make certain the state takes the proper steps beforehand to ensure that we have a quantitatively competent group of students who can logically migrate into engineering or the quantitative sciences without missing a beat. This led us to backfilling into public education, where we now have the Utah Science Technology and Research initiatives that started as a higher education initiative. We're giving kids the opportunity during the summer months to remediate -- or get ahead -- in math and science, so we can have kids better prepared to move into the engineering initiatives that we're funding.

What do you think the focus should be for school leaders around literacy, numeracy, and standardized testing and reporting?

We need to identify with great clarity what tomorrow's industries are going to be, then we need to prepare for them. If you were to go on to our higher education campuses, they would tell you that tomorrow's industries are going to be bioscience, health science, information technology, aerospace design and engineering, just to name a few. You start bolstering and fortifying those programs at the higher education level, which allows a competent student body to migrate into those industries. We've had the aerospace industry invest in Utah, and with that, we need a level of competence in aerospace science and engineering -- so we've started that.

This is a backward integrative for our public school system. It's also a way of keeping our math and science teachers in public schools. The last three or four years, we've had a lot of math and science teachers stolen from public education at three times the salary level because the industry is hungry for them. The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative calls for year-round programming, making better use of the summer months for math and science education. It allows us to hire math and science teachers not on a nine-month contract, but on a year-round contract, which affords them $45,000 to $50,000 per year instead of $32,000 per year. It allows us to keep the science and math teachers in classrooms, and it makes better use of summer months for the kids who need to catch up or want to get ahead as they approach college.

As chair of the Western Governors Association (WGA), can you comment on the intersection of climate and energy issues with careers of the future and economic development? Has the WGA talked about a blueprint in this area?

When I took over as chair of the WGA last June, we identified the single, cross-cutting issue for the 20 Western states: energy. The concerns included:
• being behind in terms of infrastructure;
• looking to the future about the ways we power ourselves;
• technologies or lack thereof;
• emissions issues;
• transportation-related energy;
• power generation and distribution of that power in rural areas; and
• how to tie into renewable energy sources.
We developed a road map for the next presidential administration that would a) speak to the substance of energy, the environment and climate; and b) be seen as a bipartisan offering. I, along with my vice-chair Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana, delivered it to John Podesta, the head of the Obama transition team, and his top people. They have a very important document representing Western states.

As you look at the one area that could revitalize our economy over the next 20 to 40 years, it's probably going to be energy -- if we do it right. There's a huge need to develop the technologies that will power our nation and our states in a cleaner way. If we don't do this, then the Chinese or Indians will, and we'll buy technology from them. This is a highly competitive industry -- one that will have global implications in needs and uses. The first one to the finish line with the kind of technologies that are clean, affordable and allow countries to be more energy independent is going to be a huge economic driver. We must get busy quickly and reorient our thinking around new energy technologies, the role of universities and the ways we can incentivize the private sector to start moving aggressively.

What lies ahead in Utah as you look to maximize technology across the classroom and the administrations in schools, colleges and universities? How are you going to impact schools a little bit more?

Technology will play a more significant role as we go forward. Already, we have more than 800 online citizenry services. There are powerful educational implications when you look at distance learning and what universities can offer rural areas -- not only here, but everywhere else in the country -- by providing more educational opportunities for kids who otherwise couldn't access a traditional classroom. It also has implications from an overall cost standpoint because it doesn't cost any more. You can have an incremental increase in learning and in kids who access learning, and not have an incremental increase in funding involved. Increasingly, this kind of technology as it relates to distance education, which we're doing quite a bit of now, is going to be extremely powerful and critically important.

Can you talk about the progress you've made with regard to attracting and retaining teachers?

It's a pretty simple philosophy. My grandfather was a public education teacher, as was his father, and to my mind, these are the people who are probably shouldering the greatest responsibility of any professionals in society today. They are tasked, no less, with educating and bringing up the next generation of leaders and contributors to our economy. Obviously, parents play a role, but no one does it quite like a teacher, and I see that with my kids. They stimulate minds, create a learning environment, and impart wisdom and knowledge.

It gets down to a simple proposition: Are we paying them what they're worth? And the answer is no -- a resounding no. There are all kinds of ways you can put teachers back on a pedestal, but nothing speaks louder or clearer than compensation. We've had a serious initiative for all four years that I've been in office to try to get teachers more pay. Let's at least get it up to a reasonable level, then we can have the conversation about what metrics ought to look like. My goals are to:
• put more money into teachers' hands to re-establish the understanding that educators are at the pinnacle of our society;
• encourage more young people to go into the profession; and
• thank the people who do so much for our young kids.

When looking at your second term here, what are you most excited about as you tackle four more years?

The one thing that excites me most is the idea that we can continue to do what we, as Americans, do better than anybody else: We create; we innovate; we dream; we scheme; and we bring things to the marketplace that nobody else can. Once our products become a commodity, anyone can catch up with us.

I have no doubt that the next big thing is out there in somebody's garage or is in a laboratory in one of our universities or colleges. I think some of the next big things are going to come out of our state. Over the next four years, we're going to do everything we can to try to nurture and seed those next big things, and I have the feeling that it will be related to eradicating human disease and promoting greater health on a preventative basis. This will also have tremendous implications for healthcare costs. These kinds of things sound a little space age, but they're right on the cusp of commercialization.

We're going to see some of that come out of Utah, along with things such as new technologies and breakthroughs for the environment -- for example, how you capture carbon and store it underground, or traditional coal fire, or natural gas power plants. The need is there, and we're on the cusp of making this a reality at one of our universities. Once this becomes commercially viable, it will revolutionize the way we power ourselves. The Chinese are going to need it, and every developing country that wants to take emissions seriously will have to look at doing something along those same lines. I'm most excited about the nascent technologies that exist in people's minds, in garages and in laboratories, and in a few short years, they will be a reality and will truly revolutionize our economic basis in this country.

What is your vision for art, culture and music in Utah and its educational institutions? What do you think about the importance of these subjects?

Music is another way of expressing American values. Jazz and rock 'n' roll could have never been born or developed in any other country other than America because it speaks exactly to what I mentioned earlier: our sense of creativity and innovation, and our willingness to want to develop new things. What would jazz be without improvisation? What would our economy be without improvisation? It's the same kind of thing. We just never connect them logically.

Exposing young kids to art, music and culture really does stimulate their creative genes. My younger daughter who just turned three, she's suddenly becoming an artist because she sees her older sister pull out markers and paint brushes. Now in her little mind, she wants to do the same things. It's all about art and culture. They're being stimulated, and they're being nurtured at a very young age in a creative context, and they'll carry that sense of creativity with them the rest of their lives. We benefit -- as an open, free and highly mobile economy -- from the creativity that is hatched in the minds of young kids at an early age.

What makes a leader like you? What should others be thinking about in terms of the way you look at education?

It would be totally presumptuous of me to say that I'm a leader in the sense that I'm doing anything better or above and beyond my colleagues. However, I will tell you that there is such a thing as listening and using the ears on the side of your head -- which is what most politicians don't do. They don't listen to the good ideas that the average citizens have out there. I have endless conversations with people about ways to do things better. I'm just kind of a facilitator -- I'm the vision guy. Nobody else can set a vision for a state: It's up to you. You have to craft something that's intelligible, comprehensible, and is in line with what your state can be and achieve for the years to come.

But how you fill in that vision has a lot to do with the extent you're willing to go out and listen to other people who work in the trenches and are close to the great ideas out there. I kind of see myself as a catalyst, bringing out the goals and aspirations of the everyday people in the state who have thought about these big issues for a long time. They've just never had anyone to whom they could express them or make them a reality. If we're doing anything right, it's probably listening more closely and more clearly to the people in the state who have a pretty good sense of direction on their own.

*This story is from Converge magazine's Winter 2009 issue.

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