The University of Utah Board of Trustees announced that Clark Ivory, Ronald Rasband and Meeche White will receive honorary doctorates from the university this year.

Ivory has been Utah’s number one homebuilder for more than 30 years and has created millions of dollars in scholarships for University of Utah students. Rasband is a longtime business and faith leader who has served as an essential advocate of the university. White has dedicated her life to advocating for disabled athletes and access to adaptive athletics and recreation opportunities.

The three recipients will be honored at the General Commencement ceremony on Thursday, April 30, 2026, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

“Honorary degrees recognize individuals whose work has created lasting, measurable impact,” said University of Utah President Taylor Randall. “Clark, Ronald and Meeche have built, led and served in ways that strengthen communities, expand opportunity and change lives. They represent the kind of leadership we hope our graduates will carry forward, grounded in purpose, driven by innovation and committed to serving others.”

Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals who have achieved distinction in academic pursuits, the arts, professions, business, government, civic affairs or in service to the university. The Honors Committee, which includes representatives from the faculty, student body and Board of Trustees, reviews nominations and then consults with an advisory group of faculty, staff and administrators for additional input. Finalists are presented to the university president, who then selects the recipients.

“This year’s honorary degree recipients have lived lives of incredible achievement in business innovation, selfless service and passionate advocacy for those with disabilities,” said Jamie Sorenson, chair of the Board of Trustees Honors Committee. “It is our privilege to highlight their accomplishments and hopefully inspire our graduates to follow in their footsteps.”

About the honorees

Clark Ivory

There was never a question in Clark D. Ivory’s mind about attending the University of Utah. “We were a red family from the beginning,” he says.

A self-described slightly above average student in high school, Ivory credits his time at the U with teaching him how to focus, build meaningful relationships, and balance competing priorities. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in political science and went on to earn his MBA from Harvard Business School four years later.

In 2000, Ivory purchased Ivory Homes from his father and has since grown it into Utah’s largest homebuilder. Under his leadership, the Ivory Companies have built more than 25,000 homes and 4,000 apartments, helping shape communities across the state.

His commitment to housing extends beyond homebuilding. In 2017, he and his daughter Abby founded Ivory Innovations, dedicated to advancing solutions to housing affordability. Through initiatives such as the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability, Hack-A-House, and the Ivory Prize Summit, the organization works with students, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to identify, support, and scale impactful ideas. They are also putting those ideas into practice—currently building seven affordable housing projects in Utah.

Together, Clark Ivory and his wife Christine have also made a lasting impact in education. They established the Ivory Homes Scholarship for first-generation students and have championed innovation, sustainability, and expanded access to higher education. Their broader philanthropic work, carried out through the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation, reflects a deep commitment to strengthening communities and creating opportunity.

Ivory has served in numerous leadership roles, including as chair of the Salt Lake City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, chair of the Salt Lake Chamber Board of Governors, and as chair of the University of Utah Board of Trustees. He currently co-chairs the advisory board of the Ivory-Boyer Real Estate Center and serves on the advisory board of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

Following the couple’s return from serving as mission leaders in Romania and Moldova, they expanded their philanthropic efforts, providing more than 4,000 scholarships to Utah students and establishing Ivory University House, which houses 623 students at the University of Utah. All proceeds support scholarships, internships, and housing stipends.

Above all, Ivory says he values family and relationships. He is a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He encourages students to build trusted relationships, seek out opportunities to learn, and find ways to make a lasting impact. “If students focus on those three areas,” he says, “they’re going to love life.”

Ronald Rasband

Elder Ronald Rasband has achieved the highest of heights in his professional career and calling as a world faith leader.

But one thing has always felt unfinished.

In 1976, he left the University of Utah just shy of a degree in business to join the Huntsman Container Corporation. He likes to joke—kind of—that’s he’s a college dropout.

Which is why receiving an honorary degree from the U means everything is “coming full circle,” he says. “This is very humbling. For the University of Utah to offer me an honorary doctorate means so much because I had to leave when I was within sight of getting my degree.”

The son of a truck driver and a homemaker, Rasband grew up in Cottonwood Heights, always conscious of his family’s moderate means. He passed on recruitment to the Olympus High school football and wrestling teams, choosing to get a job instead.

In college, Rasband studied pre-med for a time before shifting to business. Then, three years in, Jon Huntsman came calling with a job in Ohio.

Rasband uprooted his young family, making his career with the petrochemical billionaire and philanthropist—in Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey and Salt Lake City. In 1987, Huntsman named Rasband president and COO, a position he held for nine years before being called in 1996 to serve three years as a mission president in New York City for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He currently serves as a member of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a position he has held since 2015.

Since being named a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the church, Rasband has become a critical advocate for higher education in Utah. He served on the advisory boards of the U’s International Center and Marriott School of Business at BYU. And he served as the chairman of the LDS Church Board of Education’s executive committee, overseeing all education facilities and operations.

In 1995, Utah Valley University awarded Rasband an honorary Doctor of Business and Commerce degree.

“I used to have kind of a fun time saying to our employees and even our church members that, ‘You’re looking at a college dropout here’,” he says. “I have felt that that side of me has been deficient. Even though I was given a great opportunity to go with the great entrepreneur, Jon Huntsman, I have always had a little bit of a sad part of my heart.”

Rasband advises the Class of 2026 to take the world with love. “Look for the good in people. Build up their good points and you’ll always be blessed in return by how you treat people with love.”

Meeche White

Meeche White knows first-hand the power of nature and sports to transform and build self-confidence.

Shy and self-conscious when she was growing up in Connecticut the youngest of three siblings, White searched for an education and career to match her life experience.

“I had a dream that if we could get kids into an environment where they would be outside and building self-esteem and self-confidence through outdoor activities, all of a sudden, the world of possibilities opens wide,” she says.

After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in recreational therapy, she quickly moved west—first to Colorado for an internship at an adaptive ski program, and then to Park City, Utah to build her own. In 1985, she and her husband Pete founded the National Ability Center.

Over the years, they added mountain biking and horseback riding to adaptive skiing. The sports equipment improved, but duct tape and padding remained essential. Under her leadership, the center grew from providing 45 adaptive ski lessons in 1985 to more than 25,000 lessons each year in more than 12 different sports in 2015. The center is one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Over time, White expanded her reach internationally. In 1993, she was the head coach of the U.S. Special Olympics Alpine Ski Team. And in 2002, she served on the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) manager.

After 23 years, White retired as the center’s executive director in 2008. Retirement has not changed her advocacy. She continues to work in developing international adapted sports programs for people with disabilities in Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Italy and Chile. And since 2023, White has directed Tierra Village in Leavenworth, Washington—a retreat for adults with mental disabilities.

“People with disabilities want to be treated like everybody else,” she says. “They don’t necessarily want to be special, but they want to be able to do what everybody else does,” she says.

White urges the Class of 2026 to find their passion. And if it doesn’t come quickly, keep searching for it.

“You help yourself when you help others,” she says. “For me, it’s all about individual moments with participants or their families. The reward is deep in the intrinsic value of one person. That’s where the depth and the richness of what we do is: In those one-person experiences where it’s life-changing.”

• Chris Nelson Chief University of Utah Relations Officer
  801-953-3843 christopher.nelson@utah.edu