Commencement 2023 Tooele

USU TOOELE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY

ACADEMIC HERALDRY

The history of academic heraldry reaches back into the early days of the university. A statute of 1321 required that all “Doctors, Licentiates and Bachelors” of the University of Columbia wear gowns. When American colleges and universities decided to adopt some suitable system of academic apparel, it seemed best to agree on one that all might follow. From a conference of various institutions’ board representatives held at Columbia University in 1895 came a code of academic dress for higher learning institutions in the United States, which most adopted.

GOWNS

The academic gown for the bachelor’s degree has pointed sleeves and is designed to be worn closed. Master’s degree gowns have an oblong sleeve, open at the wrist. The sleeve base hangs down in the traditional manner. The rear part of its oblong shape is square cut, and the front part has an arc cut away. It is designed this way so it can be worn open or closed. The gown for the doctoral degree has bell-shaped sleeves and may be worn open or closed.

COLORS

For all academic purposes, including trimmings of doctoral gowns, edging of hoods and tassels of caps, the colors associated with the different academic disciplines are as follows:

• Agriculture, Maize

• Arts, Brown

• Business, Drab

• Education and Human Services, Light Blue

• Engineering, Orange

• Humanities and Social Sciences, White

HOODS

• Natural Resources, Russet

• Science, Gold-Yellow

• School of Graduate Studies, Black

• Associate Degrees, Black

• Integrated Studies , Black

Academic hoods are worn by recipients of advanced degrees. Master’s degree hoods are three-and-one-half feet in length and lined with the official color(s) of the college or university conferring the degree, which at Utah State University are navy blue and white, displayed in the heraldic chevron. The doctoral hood consists of a larger and longer assemblage of institutional color draped over the recipient’s shoulders, falling well down the back. The binding or edging of the hoods is of velvet or velveteen, three inches wide for the master’s degree and five inches wide for the doctoral degree.

CAPS

Academic caps come in two forms: the traditional mortarboard (from Oxford) or square cap, and a soft cap that resembles an oversized beret (from Cambridge). The mortarboard used by Utah State University is worn with a tassel.

ACADEMIC PROCESSION

The commencement procession is composed of three divisions: (1) color guard, University President, Utah Board of Higher Education members, Board of Trustees, administrative officers and special guests; (2) the faculty; and (3) candidates for degrees.

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY TOOELE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY

PROCESSIONAL

PRESENTATION OF THE COLORS

National Guard Junior Leaders Training Course, JLTC

NATIONAL ANTHEM

Debbie Winn Mayor

STUDENT SPEAKERS

Hayden Bell

Logan Merkley

ADDRESS TO GRADUATES

Gary Straquadine

Professor Emeritus, USU

CONFERRING OF DEGREES

Noelle E. Cockett

President, USU

PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS

Jennifer Cowburn

Associate Vice President, USU Tooele

GREETING TO GRADUATES

Steven L. Palmer

President of the USU Alumni Association & USU Trustee

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Rich Etchberger

Interim Vice President & Vice Provost, Statewide Campuses, USU

RECESSIONAL

GARY STRAQUADINE PROFESSOR EMERITUS, USU Commencement Speaker

Gary Straquadine came to the Tooele Regional Campus in 2009 as the first dean and executive director after working for nearly three years as the associate dean of the College of Agriculture at USU. Previously, he was vice provost of academic and faculty services at USU, and he served as the head of USU’s Department of Agricultural Systems Technology and Education. Straquadine served as USU Eastern’s interim chancellor from July 2018 until his retirement in 2022, and he was appointed associate vice president/vice provost for Career and Technical Education (CTE). In this role, Straquadine oversaw CTE in Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan counties. Straquadine has been responsible for program design and development for USU in southeastern Utah and has served in many leadership roles at Utah State.

As a former dean for the Tooele Regional Campus, Straquadine is well acquainted with the place-bound teaching and learning in Utah. He also served three years as a department chair at the Ohio State University before returning to USU at the Eastern campus.

Straquadine earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New Mexico State University in agricultural and Extension education and his doctorate in 1987 from The Ohio State University in agricultural education. Straquadine has published more than 70 professional manuscripts and scientific articles on agricultural and science education and related areas and has been awarded nearly $750,000 in extramural funding.

HAYDEN BELL Student Speaker

After he graduated from Box Elder High School in 2008, Hayden Scott Alfred Bell entered higher education at Weber State University, where he studied radiology and nuclear medicine. Soon after, Hayden started working in the IT department for Utah State University and decided to transfer in the spring of 2015 — and change his major from pre-med to business and technology systems.

Hayden is also a business owner and started his first business “Sanctuary Saunas” in 2021, building custom off grid backyard saunas using some of his own inventions. Hayden has more hobbies than most, from 3D printing toys and fidget devices that he donates to a children’s therapy office to playing the guitar and bodybuilding. Hayden enjoys exploring the outdoors and studying Noetic and Neuroscience in his free time. His fascination with technology is behind every hobby and interest pushing him towards his lifelong aspirations to change the future for the better.

Hayden graduated with his associate degree from USU in 2020 and his bachelor’s in technology systems in higher education with a minor in management of information systems in December 2022. Since graduation, Hayden has accepted the role of Technology Specialist and representative for facilitator broadcast support for USU statewide campuses, and he continues to grow his personal business.

LOGAN MERKLEY Student Speaker

Logan Merkley is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in information systems. Growing up in the Uintah Basin of Eastern Utah, Logan loved being in smaller towns where he could see the stars at night. Part of what drew him to Tooele was the darker night sky compared to Salt Lake City’s. Logan worked for the Utah State University Tooele campus from 2017 to 2018 as a classroom facilitator. He would spend his evenings assisting faculty and students after working at his full-time job during the day.

He has been married for 15 years and has six wonderful children. Logan has lived in Tooele for the last 10 years and has enjoyed every minute. He enjoys fishing, hiking, traveling, and playing video games. Now that he has finished his degree, Logan is looking forward to spending nights with his family instead of cooped up in his office doing homework.

2023 CANDIDATES FOR GRADUATION

Names listed in this program do not constitute graduation.

INSTITUTIONAL CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY

COMPUTER SCIENCE

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Jacob Smith

ASSOCIATE DEGREES

PROVOST’S OFFICE

Laurens H. Smith Provost & Chief Academic Officer

ASSOCIATE OF APPLIED SCIENCE — AVIATION TECHNOLOGY

Maria Anderson

ASSOCIATE OF APPLIED SCIENCE — NURSING

Haley Bentley

Abbie Blair +

JaneAnne Colovich +

Gwen Fischer +

Michelle Fitzgerald

Lizbeth Hernandez-Flores

Ashley Johnson +

Kellie Myer

Monica Porter +

Brooke Quinn

Amy Rasmuson ++

Alyssa Rogers ++

Kai Antoinette Winkler

ASSOCIATE OF ARTS GENERAL STUDIES

James Bigger

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE — CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Sarah Lawrence

Nayelli Lomeli

Westley Melton

Kyle Quarnberg

Rachel Stone

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE GENERAL STUDIES

Vienna Aagard DeAngelo

Taylor Bryan ++

Emma Frank ++

Rylie Heuser

Luna Hoffman

Bailey Levensailor

Vance Luna-Trujillo

Amanda Meek ++

Talia Norris

Rebekah Roberts ++

Myleigh Scott ++

Dominic Silvestri

The quality of performance in academic work enables those indicated to be graduates with distinction: ++High Honors .......................................................................................................... grade point average of 3.75 to 4.00 +Honors grade point average of 3.50 to 3.74

BACHELOR’S DEGREES

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE & APPLIED SCIENCES

Kenneth L. White, Dean

BUSINESS EDUCATION

Blake Hervat *

TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS

Hayden Bell

Shante Fox

Dack Ragland

JON M. HUNTSMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Douglas D. Anderson, Dean

ACCOUNTING

Julie Andrews

ECONOMICS

Todd Castagno

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Logan Merkley *

MANAGEMENT

Grayson Denney

EMMA ECCLES JONES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN SERVICES

Alan L. Smith, Dean

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Marnie Davis ***

Valori Layton ***

Rebecca Mitchell

Whitney Reynolds *

NURSING

Kerah Roberts *

Breana Voigt ***

PSYCHOLOGY

Chloe Coon *

Jayden Cooper **

Hailey Hopkins

Ariana Rae *

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Connie Annette Black

Paulette Brinker *

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Joseph P. Ward, Dean

HISTORY

James Hulett *

SOCIAL WORK

Britnie Anderson

Angela Cullimore

Kaitlin Paskvan **

Kristy Rhoades

Rachel Thunnell

Valencina Valerio *

SOCIOLOGY

Westley Melton

Kyle Quarnberg

PROVOST’S OFFICE

Laurens H. Smith, Provost & Chief Academic Officer

INTEGRATED STUDIES

Lydia Bagley

Kimberly Sullivan

Jocelyn Tidwell

The quality of performance in academic work enables those indicated to be graduates with distinction:

***Summa Cum Laude grade point average of 3.95 to 4.00

**Magna Cum Laude. ............................................................................................... grade point average of 3.80 to 3.94

*Cum Laude. grade point average of 3.50 to 3.79

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

Richard Cutler

COLLEGE

Vice

Provost of Graduate Studies

MASTER’S DEGREES

OF AGRICULTURE & APPLIED SCIENCES

Melodyann Jones

Master of Dietetics Administration in Agriculture & Applied Sciences

Zachary Millar

Master of Aviation Science in Agriculture & Applied Sciences

Mats Peterson

Master of Education in Agriculture & Applied Sciences

JON M. HUNTSMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

William Craig

Master of Business Administration

Thomas Goaslind

Master of Business Administration

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Aline De Castro Deus Reis

Master of Second Language Teaching

Andrea Batista-Cacciatore

Master of Social Work

Carol Erekson

Master of Social Work

Rebekah Furniss

Master of Social Work

Michelle Jarest

Master of Social Work

Myra Larsen

Master of Social Work

Lilian Lopez

Master of Social Work

Tennille Miller

Master of Social Work

Sally Morris

Master of Social Work

Austin Myslinski

Master of Social Work

Kendall Paxman-Black

Master of Social Work

Cortney Prestwich

Master of Social Work

Angela Rivera

Master of Social Work

Brooke Rowe

Master of Social Work

Harlee Smith

Master of Social Work

Chelsea Strong

Master of Social Work

Melissa Swan

Master of Social Work

Kolyn Tacy

Master of Social Work

Amber Thornton

Master of Social Work

Jennifer Westover

Master of Social Work

Miriam Wilkinson

Master of Social Work

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

Nathan Edwards

Master of Computer Science

DOCTORAL DEGREES

EMMA ECCLES JONES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN SERVICES

Amanda Plaizier

Doctor of Philosophy

Cody Reutzel

Doctor of Philosophy

UTAH BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Lisa Michele Church, Chair

Jesselie Barlow Anderson, Vice Chair

Grace Acosta

Stan L. Albrecht

Julie Beck

Stacey K. Bettridge

Rich Christiansen

Sanchaita Datta

Hope Eccles

Korianne Gibson

Patricia Jones

Arthur E. Newell

Shawn Newell

Steve Starks

Scott L. Theurer

Richard Wheeler

Xitlalli Villanueva

David R. Woolstenhulme, Commissioner of Higher Education

UTAH STATE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Kent K. Alder, Chair

John Y. Ferry, Vice Chair

Gina Gagon

David H. Huntsman

Kacie Malouf

Wayne L. Niederhauser

Steven L. Palmer

David A. Petersen

Abraham Rodriguez

Jacey Skinner

Tessa White

Janalyn G. Brown, Secretary to the USU Board of Trustees

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY TOOELE ADVISORY COUNCIL

Jennifer Cowburn

Jim Gowans

Robert Gowans

Jared Hamner

Melissa Lawrence

Alison McCoy

Sharlynn Mueller

Scott Rounds

Doug Sagers

Scott Wardle

USU TOOELE LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT

We recognize Utah State University Tooele resides on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Aipimbaa Newe, the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, and the People of Deep Creek Valley, who today are the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute. In offering this land acknowledgment, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, history, and experiences.