Martha Bradley Evans

First and foremost, Dr. Martha Bradley Evans is a teacher. She is a professor in the College of Architecture + Planning who teaches history and theory classes. An award-winning teacher, Bradley is the recipient of the University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award, the University Professorship, the Student Choice Excellence in Teaching Award, the Bennion Center Service-Learning Professorship, the Park Fellowship, the Borchard Fellowship and the Sweet Candy Honors Distinguished Professor award. She is devoted to students.

She is a scholar whose books include: Kidnapped from that Land: The Government Raids on the Short Creek Polygamists; The Four Zinas: Mothers and Daughters on the Frontier; Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority and Equal Rights; Glorious in Persecution: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1839-1844, and, Plural Wife: The Autobiography of Mabel Finlayson Allred, and Glorious in Persecution: Joseph Smith, American Prophet 1839-44 and in 2020 An Architectural Handbook to Utah among others.

She is a leader. Between 2002 and 2011, Dr. Bradley served as the Dean of the Honors College and in July 2011 became the Senior Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate Studies. In 2008, she received the Honorary AIA Award from AIA Utah and in 2014 the Outstanding Achievement Award from the YWCA. She is the past vice chair of the Utah State Board of History, a former chair of the Utah Heritage Foundation and was made a fellow of the Utah State Historical Society.

In her role as Dean of the Honors College, Bradley Evans created the engaged learning initiative with the centerpiece—Honors Think Tanks or Praxis Labs, Honors Scholars groups, and community-based learning curriculum. She led on the design and creation of honors living and learning communities and the construction of the new Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Community. Under her leadership, Honors launched departmental and college honors tracks, the Eccles Distinguished Scholarship and Early Assurance programs. She led the effort to change the Honors Program into the Honors College.

As Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Bradley-Evans leads a diverse leadership team that includes the Office of General Education and Learning Outcomes Assessment, the Office of Undergraduate Research, the LEAP and BlockU programs, University College, Orientation, the MUSE Project, the Student Success and Empowerment Initiative, the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, the Academic Advising Center, the Dream Center and First Gen Scholars Program, the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Capstone Program, the Bennion Center, the Office of Engagement--all programs that have contributed to the University’s increase in the retention rate between 2011 and 2020 from 86% to 90% and completion rate from 58% to 79%.