Monday, Jan. 31, 2011
Utah Statesman The
Campus Voice since 1902
Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com
USU looks toward professional school on campus here to establish a center of expertise in veterinary medicine,” Baldwin said. “We have counties in Utah where there In Utah there is one vetare no veterinarians that erinarian for every 6,000 practice large animal or food people, which is why Ken animal medicine.” White, department head of There will be 20 slots open animal, dairy and veterinary to pre-veterinary students sciences (ADVS), is thrilled to studying in Utah and 10 for see Utah’s first professional those studying out of Utah, veterinary school established White said. at USU. Facilities, equipment and USU administrators are knowledgeable faculty are aiming to have the postalready in place at USU, White undergraduate program ready said, which makes it a prime to accept applications this location for this semester and start classes in “We have coun- type of professional school the fall of 2011. ties in Utah makes the The program has where there are and program less been made posexpensive than sible by partner- no veterinarit would be to ing with Washing ians that pracState University’s tice large animal create one from the ground up (WSU) vetor food animal at another Utah erinary school, school. so students will medicine.” Noelle – Tom Baldwin, take their first two years of vet associate professor Cockett, dean of the College school at USU of Agriculture, and the followsaid the next step in building ing two at WSU, said associthis program is securing fundate professor Tom Baldwin, ing from the Utah legislature, who is also director of the which is currently in process. Utah Veterinary Diagnostic “With the ever-increasing Laboratory. costs of professional education, “The importance of animal we just place fewer and fewer agriculture are driving forces By CATHERINE MEIDELL news editor
kids, and that has repercussions down the road,” Baldwin said. White said six new faculty members will be hired to incorporate their expertise into the program, while at least seven of USU’s current ADVS faculty and staff will be used to teach the program requirements. “We will be hiring new faculty and staff, but we will be using existing facilities including several at the USU Animal Science Farm and on campus,” Cockett said. “Also, the new agricultural building will have labs and offices used by faculty and students in the program.” Pre-veterinary majors, such as Dionna Scharton, are excited about the chance this program will give them to be accepted into veterinary school, Scharton said. At Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, the veterinary school makes 15 positions available for out-ofstate students, she said, while approximately 85 are left for those in-state. “We’re an agricultural school; we are sending a lot of students out of state to try and get their veterinary degree,” Scharton said. “This is going to be cheaper and easier in the
VETERINARY SCIENCE RESOURCES are readily accessible at USU, whicih makes establishing a veterinary school less expensive than it would be for other schools in the state, said Ken White, head of the animal, diary and veterinary sciences department. ARMEN HOVSEPYAN photos
long run. This is needed. I have no doubt that it will be successful.” As a mother and wife, Scharton said she is grateful to be able to stay in Cache Valley for veterinary school so she does not have to readjust to a new city and help her daughter adjust to a new school. She
said she ultimately hopes to become an antiviral researcher for large farm animals. This interest was sparked when she tried to revive an Iraqi farmer’s sheep after they were shot during her military service as a lab technician. “We basically took some picnic tables, laid out some
sheets and cloths to try and save them and we actually did save one of them,” Scharton said. Currently, there are approximately 150 pre-veterinary students at USU, White said, and last year nine of 11 veterinary
- See VET, page 3
Nurse practitioner says venereal disease on the rise at USU
TECHNOLOGY FOR LOCAL RANCHES and farms was recently updated due a monitoring system powered with solar energy that allows farmers to check their irrigation systems without travelling. BRECK BYINGTON photo
Irrigation system alleviates farming stresses By RHETT WILKINSON staff writer
USU Cooperative Extension introduced a type of solar-powered, round-the-clock ranching technology to the state of Utah that could change farm operation forever. The technology, known as the satellite-radio-stock-water monitoring system, came to Utah last year and its awareness and production are still ongoing. Designed by Automata, Inc., a California-based company, the system can help ranchers monitor their stock water – privatelyowned irrigation water – through e-mail and phone alerts. This helps limit the trips that ranchers need to make – some can be as long as six hours round-trip – in order to make sure that their stock water is still at appropriate levels. “When you realize that you can check your stock water and not even start your pickup, it’s pretty amazing,” Heaton said. Kevin Heaton, a USU cooperative extension agent for Kane and Garfield counties, is the principle investigator responsible for writing the Conservation Innovation Grant, a bestowal that allowed the technology to come to Utah. The system has the capacity to assist southern Utah ranchers in saving both time and money, and is being utilized by ranchers throughout Kane, Garfield and Washington counties. Heaton said that a great advantage of the system is the luxuries it affords to focus on other tasks that don’t require such time and distance. “If (a rancher) has the option where he can check his water during the day, he can do other things in his schedule that are
Inside This Issue
more important than just checking his water,” he said. The monitors send data via satellite radio, powered by a solar battery. “It’s accessible anywhere, as long as you have access to the sky,” he said. The unit has a mini-satellite that transmits data generated from a transducer, or energy-converting, sensor to a website. The system is powered by a solar panel that charges the battery and operates the system 24 hours per day. “A rancher can use the Internet to monitor the stock water,” Heaton said. “If the water is depleted, or there is some other abnormal change to the water level, caused by something like a leak, break or vandalism, the satellite-radio-stock-water monitor will email the rancher or his cell phone with an alert.” Escalante rancher Todd Phillips is one consumer who has benefited as much. “I was wary at first,” said Phillips of the monitors. Phillips was approached by Heaton about trying it on Phillips’ own land. “I know that some of the monitors have had problems, but we’ve had no problem with ours,” he said. Phillips said he is grateful for the stock-watering system because it allows him to pay more attention to several important matters home on the range. “With a ranch, there’s always many things to be concerned about,” he said. “I now have more time to focus on those sorts of things.”
- See WATER, page 4
1/31/11 Missy Brent and Megan Rhoads are two of many students who use the Study Abroad program to travel. Page 5
Hockey wins a pair of games over BYU with a 9-0 win Friday and 7-5 win Saturday. Page 8
By ROUCHELLE BROCKMAN 2009. Bear River’s figures do not staff writer necessarily represent Utah The number of reported as a whole. The total number cases of some STDs, also known of gonorrhea cases in Utah as STIs or venereal diseases, has decreased from 477 in 2008 to risen slightly on Utah State’s 341 in 2009. The total number campus as well as throughout of HIV cases has increased from the state and nation. 106 to 112 and the number of There has been an increase AIDS cases has increased from in the number of genital herpes 66 to 77 reported cases. Cases and HPV cases diagnosed at the of Chlamydia, one of the most health center, as well as a small common STDs among collegeoutbreak of gonorrhea that age people, have increased from occurred during 6,019 in 2008 to the Fall semester, 6,152 in 2009. said Mary Orians, “I have seen stu- Utah had one family nurse the lowest case dents at health of practitioner with rates of chlamydia fairs on campus and gonorrhea student health services. in the United who thought According States in 2009. sample lubricant Utah’s case rate to the Utah Department of chlamydia was was some kind of of Health website, 225 cases per candy and tried 100,000 residents; the Bear River Health District, compared to the to drink it.” which includes low, 159.7, in New Ryan Barfuss, Hampshire and Logan, reported the number of prevention specialist a high of 802.7 gonorrhea cases in Mississippi. increased from Utah’s case rate three in 2008 to six in 2009. in gonorrhea was 12.5 cases per 2009’s number is not as high 100,000 residents. Compared as 2006’s 10-year record of to the low, 7.2, in Idaho and the 26 cases. Also, the number of high, 246.4, in Mississippi. reported HIV cases increased 2010 figures are not yet availfrom one in 2008 to two in able. 2009. The number of reported Any increase in the numbers AIDS cases increased from zero of cases may just be a matter of to one in the same year. The perception, said Alfredo Novoa, number of chlamydia cases has, sophomore in psychology and however, decreased from 190 cases in 2008 to 176 cases in - See STD, page 3
www.utahstatesman.com Check out Big Blue’s Best Calendar, the best master calendar on campus. Send something in ... let people know what you’re up to. Official Student Newspaper of Utah State University • “It’s All The News You Need!”