Stanford Cazier

Stanford Orson "Stan" Cazier (June 11, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American educator, university administrator and scholar. He was president of California State University, Chico from 1971–1979 and Utah State University from 1979–1992.^[1]

Biographical background

Cazier was born in

While an undergraduate, Cazier met Shirley Anderson at the University of Utah. They were married June 11, 1952 in Salt Lake City and had three sons. Shirley died in Logan, Utah on February 16, 1999.^[4]

Professor

Returning to Utah, Cazier became a professor of history at Utah State University (USU) in 1960,^[5] where he was the Teacher of the Year for 1966.^[6] In 1967 he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship by New York University's Academic Administration.^[6] During this time he was also an administrative intern and Assistant to the President of New York University.^[7]

Before completing his

While at Utah State University, he later served as assistant to the president[9] and vice-provost.^[10]

University president

In July 1971, Cazier replaced Lew D. Oliver as president of

As university president, Cazier confronted issues at the school during the period between the political unrest of the 1960s and the community disruption of the 1980s. In late 1975 and early 1976, student protesters occupied the administration building while upset about the arming of campus security personnel. Cazier also experienced continual budget problems at the university. At his departure in 1979, the school suffered through a state budget crisis, potential budget cuts and continued student political protests. Despite the problems, Cazier was admired by student leaders, faculty, staff, and system-wide officials as an accessible leader and supporter of the academic community.[3]

In 1979, Cazier began a new position as president of

At the end of Cazier's tenure at USU, his wife Shirley developed Parkinson's disease, coupled with dementia. In November 1998, his son Paul developed glioblastoma multiforme, a fatal brain cancer. A week later, Cazier's sister was killed in an automobile accident while traveling to help care for Shirley, who died three months later.^[12]

Amidst this loss, a newspaper article quoted USU's research vice president, Peter Gerity, who said Cazier left the university with debts of three million dollars. In a telephone conversation, Cazier heatedly argued with and challenged Gerity to meet him to "help him get a clearer focus on the truth," to which Gerity called the campus police.^[12]

After this, Cazier worked to rebuild his life by volunteering with