USU Eastern He displayed that perseverance and dependability as a boy delivering papers in Price through rain and snow, a route that took him up and down Main Street and marked his earliest association with the business leaders of the town. In his teens, he worked at Logan’s old Valley Discount grocery store — VD, for short, an endearing reference that he and his high school friends loved to joke about. He also knew somber times, such as watching his 21-yearold childhood friend die from Hodgkin’s lymphoma after 15 years of constant suffering. “We were good, good friends,” he said. “When we were four we ran away from home together. He had a dime in his pocket and he told me that if I got hungry, he’d buy me a Coke.” When Peterson’s son, Michael, was born eight years later, it was his friend’s name that he gave to him.
His loyalties flow deeply. They include family, friends and all things rural. And coursing throughout is an abiding belief that everyone, like that great wash of his childhood days, holds treasures and mysteries awaiting discovery. He said education is nothing less than such a portal. His large hands create sweeping gestures while he sits in his office arm chair framed by pottery he created. Those are hands that speak of how raw earthen material can be shaped and formed into objects of lasting beauty. It’s no stretch for him to talk about education as a power to shape, mold and transform lives and communities. It is not difficult to understand how that notion motivates him every day and how it led him to the office of the chancellor. “I have a sense that every person has within him or her some latent and unrecognizable
capacity,” he said. “It informs a lot in how I look at students, particularly students from rural Utah.” He sees the same capacity for the community and surrounding region. It’s almost visionary, said Alex Herzog, associate vice chancellor over student services. One of the first things he remembers Peterson doing when he became chancellor was to lead an effort to rewrite the college’s mission statement, transforming a two paragraph description down to one line:
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He said Peterson also understands the new role that Utah State plays in all of this, having lived in Cache Valley and having once taught for USU in Roosevelt and Vernal. “He’s in a unique position to see both of those important aspects,” King said. “He is able to draw on them to forge a bright future for us.”
Looking back, one can see many mile markers along the way that pointed Peterson to the position he now occupies as chancellor, but destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a choice, said William Jennings It’s a vision to grow not only Bryan. “It is not a thing to be the college but the community waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” in a symbiotic relationship, Herzog said. Preparing people to create “That new mission statement and sustain the region is the was all him,” he said. “He real- destiny he envisions for USU ly gets it. He gets that his role Eastern and the community. is to not only think about the And he is not waiting around college but also the community for that to happen. He’s charging forward with the surrounding it.” same unwavering focus and dogged discipline that got him King said his friend from to where he is today. boyhood came into the job ______________ knowing where the college “With efficiency, innovation and excellence, USU Eastern prepares the people who create and sustain our region.”
and community have been and where it needs to go.
Joe Peterson, charging forward at USU Eastern.
ever lose sight of those things that have been our history – those things that are important to both the college and the community.”
“He always thinks about our heritage as we’re moving forward and transforming,” he said. “He does not want to
Writer/photos: John DeVilbiss