Utah State University Eastern Magazine - Spring 2019

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

EASTERN Magazine

SPRING 2019 | VOL. 4 NO. 1

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MANAGING EDITOR Susan Polster

NEWS EDITOR

CONTENTS Vol. 4, No. 1 | SPRING 2019

Renee Banasky

CONSULTANT John Devilbiss

PHOTOGRAPHER Tyson Chappell

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Peczuh Printing

INTERIM CHANCELLOR/VP REGIONAL CAMPUSES Dave Woolstenhulme

ASSOCIATE VP Greg Dart

ASSOCIATE VP CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Internationally Acclaimed Sculptor

Gary Straquadine

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USU EASTERN REGIONAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Erroll Holt, Chair Renee Banasky Jason Dunn Jeremy Redd Frank Peczuh, Jr.

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY EASTERN MAGAZINE is published biannually by Utah State University Eastern Institutional Advancement. Periodical postage paid at Price, Utah and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to USU Eastern Office of the Chancellor, 451 E. 400 N. Price, Utah 84501

Legendary Coach Neil Warren

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Publishing Kindness

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PLUS:

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the official position of USU Eastern.

10 A Flicker of Hope

22 A Map Maker’s Route to Happiness

14 KC Smurthwaite’s 10-year Journey

31 A Soldier’s Education

USU Eastern is committed to equal opportunity in student admission, financial assistance, and faculty and staff employment.

15 Coach Brandi Taylor Johansen

34 A Wolf at the Door

18 USU Eastern honorees

31 A Soldier’s Education

20-21 USU Eastern’s campus

36 2018 @USU Eastern

Special thanks to Peczuh Printing Price, Utah for the printing in-kind of this biannual magazine.

COVER: (L-R) Nathan Milch, Copper Hills HS, SLC, Utah; Kalli Prendergast, Spanish Springs HS, Sparks, Nevada; Beruke Mekasha, Bonanza HS, Las Vegas, Nevada; and Airam Melendez, Timpview HS, Orem, Utah. See 10•24•25 story, page 38.

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Cami Carlson

Carbon School District Teacher of the Year “A woman in her 20s walked up to me one day and said she owed her life to Cami Carlson … during high school, she was at a really bad place in her life and if it was not for feeling loved and accepted in Cami’s class, she would have committed suicide,” Diane Potts Carlson, Cami’s mother, said.

The reason Carlson, an English and history teacher at Carbon High School and College of Eastern Utah class of 1998, won the 2018 Carbon School District’s Teacher of the Year award is her bona fide kindness. Though she shies from accolades, she draws recognition because she reaches out personally to every teen who enters her classroom. It is life changing.

Carlson with her Utah Teacher of the Year plaque at the awards program.

The Secret

“I just show that I’m interested in them and have genuine conversations with them about what they care about. For me, especially lately, it is about finding the kids and meeting them where they are instead of forcing them to be where I want them to be,” Carlson said.

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Her conversations with students include infinite topics: theater, scientific theories, sports, clothing brands, art, books, movies and shoes. To high school students, it is irrelevant what the topic is because what they see and hear is a teacher making an effort to connect.

Caring sounds like a natural concept, but with over 100 students, secondary teachers struggle to connect with individuals. Carlson puts in the effort to know each person she teaches and to give them a reason to look forward to school. The small things that make a big difference to students, like knowing every student’s name after the first day.

Carlson loved CEU and playing for the Eagles.

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“Cami’s kids know that she cares, especially those who have a hard time making connections, or are hard to get along with.

Sometimes she has to work really hard, but she finds a way.

It might take a whole school year, but she does it,” Chelsa Roberts, Carlson’s best friend, said.

A Fierce Guard

To set a standard, Carlson makes it clear that she has no tolerance of students putting each other down, and if they do, she will permanently dismiss them from class. Her little corner of the world is a safe place and she guards it fiercely.

Before every class, she stands outside her classroom and welcomes everyone.

This might look like a nice motion; however, it is also her way of making sure that the halls stay safe. To her, fighting is just another form of putting someone down. However big or strong the kids are, when she shows up, the fight is over.

That is how Carlson has always been. She has a strong sense of the innate worth of every person- especially the underdog. One time when Cami and her mother, Diane, CEU class of 1976, were driving home from a parade, Carlson stopped the car and jumped out to protect a kid who was surrounded by a group of bullies.

Her father, Steve Carlson, CEU class of 1976, reminisced about when Carlson was in middle school, she came home with bruises and a black eye. A student attacked a teacher - Carlson stepped in to stop her peer and took the brunt of the beating.

Robert Potts, Cami’s grandfather, influenced her outlook on life. He grew up in Price’s melting pot with Italians, Greeks, Slovenians and Japanese. Laboring at the coke ovens (near Sunnyside, Utah) and the coal mine, Potts was side-by-side with workers who did not look or talk like him - and he loved it.

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“When I was a kid, he told us stories about his friends from all over the world. He taught me that everyone has much to offer, especially people who are different from me,” Carlson said. She believes that different perspectives are an important part of our shared history and if we don’t listen to other people’s stories, we will lose our own identity.

Stop? Never

Some might assume Carlson is a softie, but she combines compassion with a crazy work ethic. Carlson can push her students because she exerts herself equally as hard. Robin Hussey, vice principal at Carbon High, said, “She is not teacher that works from 8 to 3:30. She is working hard on weekends and evenings. She digs deep and wants kids to think deeply.”

From the first bell to the last bell, her students know that it is time to work. Even though her students metaphorically punch-in and put in a hard hour and a half, they are able to punch-out, while Carlson never punches out.

It’s a Competition

Tammy Pope-Rigert, a teacher in a neighboring classroom, describes Carlson as extremely competitive - with herself, “She is constantly pushing herself to create something amazing for her students. In return, her students want to perform well.”

Her lessons are fast paced and full of variety. One day, history students find their

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Carlson and her best friend, Chelsa Roberts, on a dream trip to Norway.

Dressing up for Homecoming as “old folks” is one of Carlson’s favorite days at CHS.

desks on the sides in rows to simulate trenches that soldiers fought in during World War I. The next class might be analyzing a rock song to learn about poetry, or create an art project. The mixture of activities is inspired by Carlson’s love of learning.

“When I’m doing a fun activity that day, I wake up excited knowing it’s going to be fun and they are going to learn a lot,” she said.

“I Loved CEU”

It was Carlson’s dream to play on the court as an Eagle; while she was growing up, her parents took the family to nearly every CEU men’s and women’s ball games. The dream came true when she played as a guard for CEU from 1996-98. She led the conference most of her sophomore year for the best three-point-field-goal percentage and earned Most Improved Award her sophomore year. Most importantly, the team gave her a place to be herself.

“I had some really fun teammates. We were together all of the time on and off the court. We made some lasting friendships,” she said.

In her college classes, Carlson was competitive in academics. She knew she wanted to be a teacher and her professors in English and history catalyzed her growth.

“I loved CEU. English professor’s Curtis and Carrie Icard had a passion for literature and taught me how to interpret it.

Carrie shared her love of women’s literature with me,” Carlson said.

After graduation, Carlson continued her education at Southern Utah University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and history. She returned home to Price and taught in the Carbon School District since. The main reason she returned to her roots, she said, is to be close to family.

100 Percent Family First

Family occupies the No. 1 spot in Carlson’s heart; her parents are a major part of who she is as a person and professional.

They are hard working, relentless, humble, supportive and accepting; they are proud of each other, their children and grandchildren.

“Through their example, they taught me by showing me instead of telling me. They love me unconditionally and taught me to love,” she said.

Students at school are adopted into her extended family. Even though she is an amazing teacher, academics will not be her sole legacy.

“Any kind of interaction with Cami Carlson makes you a better person, Roberts said.

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~ Jon Banasky & Renee Banasky

Patrick Dougherty

I n t e r n a t i o n a l l y a c c l a i m e d sc ulpt or Utah State University Eastern’s assistant professor of art, ceramics and sculpture joined USU’s art professors in Logan in September to build an outdoor structure designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor, Patrick Dougherty.

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astern’s Chris Kanyusik spent a day with Dougherty and his son working on the giant sculpture. “When we arrived on campus, all the vertical posts were in place for the eventual three-or four- room structure. The central cylinder was already constructed of woven willow branches.

“We built the exterior wall of one of the outer rooms by similarly intertwining branches, building a structure first and then filling in the gaps by interlocking smaller, more malleable boughs. The branches were entwined to create a structure held together by tension only, no screws, nails or other mechanical fasteners were used,” Kanyusik said.

Dougherty selects where he wants to build the sculpture on campus and uses crumbled pieces of paper and electrical cords to create the circles for the footprint of the sculpture.

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Building the structure . . .

One stick . . .

At a time . . .

Sticks and love best describe the sculptures Doughtery has spent the past 30 years creating throughout the world. A North Carolina native, he is best known for weaving tree saplings into whirling, animated shapes that resemble tumbleweeds or gust of wind. He calls them woolly lairs and wild follies, gigantic snares, nests and cocoons, some woven into groves of trees, other lashed around buildings.

Branch by branch and stick by stick, a dozen or so volunteers help the artist construct each sculpture which usually lasts two years outside in the elements. Dougherty acts as both sculptor and team coach for the volunteers who show up for either a four-hour shift or all 21 days of the build. He likes the mix of people who assist with his build because he says it adds to the energy of the group.

A dream come true for USU dean Craig Jessop, founding dean for the USU Caine College of the Arts, dreamt of having a Dougherty sculpture on the Logan campus for the past 10 years. He first saw one of Dougherty pieces at St. John’s College in Minnesota and immediately wanted to bring the sculptor to Cache Valley to build one on USU’s campus. Since all the USU campuses were celebrating the Year of Arts in 2017-18, he thought this would be a major pillar of the celebration.

“People of all ages identify with Dougherty’s pieces, “Jessop said. “His work brings out the child in all of us. We look at this work, walk through it and feel his fanciful world.”

On Labor Day weekend in 2018, he describes an 18-wheeler truck filled with 16 tons of willows arriving in Logan from upstate New York. Jessop said the willows were stacked 15-feet tall. “We took three hours to unload them on campus so Dougherty could begin the build the next day.”

Volunteers from the campus and community worked in shifts as everyone on campus watched the sculpture take shape. The weather was perfect throughout the build, Jessop said.

After two years, the sculpture must be dismantled and the landscaping restored on campus. Jessop acknowledged that the durability and longevity of the statue depends a lot on the weather in Logan. However, Dougherty’s contract requests the statue be taken down two years from the build.

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A window into sculpture “It was a great opportunity to take part in such an interesting project. Watching Patrick work, manipulating the branches, creating an enclosure and then stepping back to evaluate the overall form, was a fantastic window into his method for building large-scale sculptures. Patrick was both very purposeful and planned, as well as open to letting the work evolve naturally as it progressed,” Kanyusik said.

Dougherty’s work received international attention with awards from the Factor Prize for Southern Art, North Carolina Artist Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, Japan-U.S. Creative Arts Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

He combines carpentry skills with his love of nature using primitive techniques of building and experimenting with tree saplings as construction material. Dougherty has built over 250 of these works from Scotland to Japan to Brussels and throughout the United States.

Usually booked two years in advance, Doughtery returned to Utah from Oct. 29-Nov. 20, 2018, to build an indoor sculpture titled “Windswept” in Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art. ~ Susan Polster

A view from inside the sculpture being built.

Volunteers on scaffolding weaving in the twigs.

photos courtesy Andrew McAllister

Patrick Dougherty selecting twigs for the base.

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Dr. Clyde Larsen, CEU Alumni

A flicker of hope

Spontaneously, he comforts a Uganda baby upset because her mother is getting dental work.

At a specialneeds school in Sainshand, Mongolia, Larsen gave away gloves his daughter, Amy Olsen, sent.

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Writer’s note: I’d given up on asking Dr. Clyde Larsen (CEU alumni 1966, and past Alumni Association president) if I could write about his service adventures to places most of us haven’t heard of. His firm “no,” came with a follow up that he absolutely did not want the recognition. It just wasn’t a possibility- ever. Then one day, he sent a text, “I’ll cooperate...it might help someone in their life learn the benefits given from God to those that lose their life in service to others…”

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o feel the poiniance of Clyde Larsen’s joy, one must understand the depths of his sorrow. He was alone, distraught and uncharacteristically lost. His wife, Sheila, passed from liver disease (nonalcoholic cirrhosis).

They’d only known about her illness for four short months and Clyde’s world came crashing down. Just before the diagnosis, Sheila and Clyde were having the time of their lives serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Delemar Valley Cattle Ranch in Hiko, Nevada.

The day they came home from their mission, they drove into the driveway of their house just outside Price, and Sheila couldn’t get out of the car, so Clyde carried her in. Thus began hundreds of trips to doctors and hospitals. In Sheila’s typical humor, she quipped that she was, “not going to be some doctor’s science fair project.” She lived true to her decree and passed just hours before getting a liver transplant on Dec. 20, 2014.

A Flicker of Hope

Clyde felt a deep affection for the people, a tenderness. They called him “Coconut Clyde,” the white Samoan.

“I didn’t look at them as someone different from me, I looked at them as someone I love,” he said.

An Addiction

While in Samoa, Clyde received a text asking if he wanted to volunteer at the LDS Church’s high school on Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, a group of atolls (islands made of coral) in the Pacific Ocean.

Even though there were immense highs on his trip to Samoa, there were also many difficulties. Clyde asked himself, “Do I want to do this again?” His cell phone wasn’t working, so he borrowed another dentist’s phone to answer the text, “yes.”

Caught in a whirlwind of heartache, Clyde needed to find his place in the world. Retired from his dental practice, grieving and wondering where he fit, “I had a choice, I could sit home and be bitter, draw into myself and say, ‘why did this happen to me?’ I chose to serve God’s children around the world and he has healed my broken heart.”

After volunteering in Tarawa, Clyde knew he wanted to continue serving on dentistry trips for as long as he could.

Today, he has been on eight trips - and is Larsen, was joined by Catherine (his second daughter) planning more. He on a humanitarian trip to Bogata, Columbia. hopes others will be inspired to find ways to serve, “Not everyone can fix teeth around the world, but everyone can do something to make life better for someone else - especially their family and the people closest to them.”

There were other complications preventing Clyde from going to Samoa...his hands weren’t working well and he had limited vision in his right eye (a horse bucked him off- he suffered a concussion and blindness… but that is another story). He told Chisholm that he was, “washed up, but if you get in a bind, call and I’ll try to fill in.” Chisholm felt in his heart that Clyde should go to Samoa so he worked it out so Clyde could work three months not as a missionary, but as a volunteer dentist at the dental clinic run by the LDS Church.

Goat Fat in Mongolia

Clyde began looking for opportunities to serve others. One day he received a phone call from Dr. Wayne Chisolm, asking if he was ready to serve another mission for the LDS church doing dentistry work. Clyde wished that he could go, but church policy calls for retired couples to serve missions, not single men.

A Moment of Terror

Working on his first patient, fear shot through Clyde’s hands and down his spine. He sat frozen holding a syringe over his patient’s mouth. His worries that he was “washed up” as a dentist felt like a reality. “It was more stressful than when I gave my first injection back in dental school,” he said. He gripped the syringe, said a prayer and pressed forward. After a just a few patients, a miracle started to happen.

“My hands worked phenomenally well, I could remove teeth that I couldn’t have removed when I was in private practice. I could do restoration work on teeth faster and better than ever before. My fingers got their dexterity back,” he said.

Years before he started going on volunteer dental trips, Clyde had a feeling he would go to Mongolia someday. After the trip to Tarawa, Clyde couldn’t get Mongolia out of his mind, so he called the Academy of LDS Dentists and asked if they had any opportunities for service there.

The young woman with Larsen and his assistants was rescued from the streets of Uganda.

Wendy Whittle replied that she had just received a request for American dentists to serve in Mongolia. Mongolian LDS Charities and Alan Maynes (a Price native and past Church Educational System director who was serving an USU Easter n

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LDS mission in Mongolia) worked out the logistics, and the city of Choibalsan invited Clyde to come to work on children’s teeth in the elementary schools as well as visit the dental students.

Dr. Duane Orchard agreed to come to Mongolia with Clyde. Making their way through customs was a nightmare.

Somehow, Clyde and Orchards made it into the country with their dental supplies. They worked on children for six weeks. In Mongolia dentists do not use anesthesia on baby teeth. Carefully, the two dentists fixed hundreds of Mongolian student’s cavities. The tots sat quietly, without numbing shots.

Mongolians eat a sugary diet (thanks to Russians bringing them sugar and vodka), and do not brush their teeth.

Dental clinics are so busy, that people can’t get appointments. Clyde traveled to primary schools and spread his message, “You don’t have to floss all of your teeth, just the ones that you want to keep,” in hopes of preventing future cavities.

While in Mongolia, Clyde learned that he can eat pretty much anything.

Mongolians invited him over for traditional meals of goat meat, skin and fat. They are so poor, Clyde could not refuse the humble gifts.

Clyde made a second trip to Mongolia in 2018 to reunite with friends from his first trip, and work on the mayor’s goal to have every elementary student be cavity free.

Dr. Larsen and other dentists visit the children living at the We Can Smile Again Rescue House.

smile.” The visits continued. Each time the woman arrived dressed in her best dress, patiently waiting all day long for Clyde to work on her teeth. He made her six-upper-front teeth. When Clyde finished, she smiled a genuine smile of a woman who feels beautiful.

“I learned that every woman, no matter her culture, shines when she feels beautiful and they feel prettier when they have white-front teeth,” he said.

African dentists know how to remove teeth amazingly fast. Clyde learned from their techniques - improving his practice.

Uganda

While in Africa, Clyde and his daughter, Catherine Larsen (CEU Alumni 1995), visited an orphanage housing 19 children. When the dental work unexpectedly ended early, he decided to stay at the orphanage eight days.

In Masaka, Uganda, a beautiful lady came in to the dental clinic with rotted teeth. She would not smile because she was embarrassed. Clyde overheard one of the other dentists, Dr. Eroni, say that she wished she could fix the woman’s smile. Clyde ran to catch the patron as she was leaving and said, “you come tomorrow, and I will give you a pretty

“I ate with them every day. They had little to eat: a small bowl of porridge for breakfast and a small bowl of rice or noodles for dinner… that was it,” he said.

Playing with the kids every night, Clyde grew to love them as his own. “I was the oldest orphan there and I learned

In 2016, Dr. Drew Cahoon was looking for another dentist to go on a trip to Uganda. Clyde readily agreed to the six-week trip.

At first Robert, manager of the orphanage, tried to give Clyde better food than the kids were eating - he protested, arguing that he was one of the family.

to love them with all my heart.” The children call him “Papa” and they continue to stay in contact.

Remote Atolls

On his previous trip to the atoll, Tarawa, Clyde traveled two-hours by boat to visit another atoll: Abaiang. There, the people live without power or running water in grass huts. There is not a dentist on the island and most people don’t have cash to pay for the $100boat ride to Tarawa. Clyde decided that he would make a return trip to work at Abaiang.

There were desperate needs because most people had never visited a dentist.

Clyde brought a generator, a portable chair and everything he needed. He worked without an assistant and sterilized his tools in a rice cooker with Clorox water. He spent 11 days working the hardest he has worked in his life. Many people needed 5-8 teeth removed. Running low on anesthetic, miraculously, Clyde was able to numb patients mouths using less anesthetic than usual.

Eating in the morning and night, Clyde lived off coconut juice, boiled rain water and raw tuna. Sleep came after long days of work, in a little grass hut on the ocean. The temperatures were a humid 86 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 82 at night. One evening, Clyde

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brought a coconut home with him for the next morning’s breakfast and set it just outside his mosquito net before going to sleep. He was too tired to awaken when he heard scratching sounds during the night. In the morning he saw the source of the rasping sounds, a foot-long rat that had been eating his coconut all night long.

“I gave everything I had to Abaing,” he said. He removed over 800 teeth, restored 350 surfaces (filled cavities, etc.), gave 600-fluoride treatments and taught oral hygiene lessons to 600 people with the help of the full-time LDS missionaries in the area. When he stepped on the boat to return to Tarawa, he was completely exhausted.

or harsh words. Everyone cared for someone else more than themselves,” he added.

Volunteers rally on a house-building trip in Bogota, Columbia.

The 15-foot-square houses are constructed out of precast cement slabs, epoxy and recycled plastic.

The foundations are a cement pad poured on the steep mountainsides.

Because the ground is dramatically sloped, there is not enough flat ground to create 15 feet of space.

Ingeniously, the foundations are poured partly on ground and the other part spans out into the air, supported by pillars connecting to the slope below.

“It was definitely not me. I received immense strength, knowledge and ability from on high,” he added.

There was an energy present as volunteers worked together. They talked about how they felt, and before leaving, volunteers committed to come back and personally fund six more houses.

Without the Dental Tools

Greatest Lesson

Clyde’s daughter, Catherine, helped with his travels, including flying with him at times and sharing her air miles to pay for some of the flights. She is the vice president of Service at 4Life, a world-wide supplement business headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. On the most recent trip, Clyde helped Catherine’s group build four houses for people in Bogota, Colombia, to replace their shanty, tin-covered shelters.

“Of all of the things I’ve done, the best spirit I’ve found was fabricating those houses. Everyone there working on the houses sacrificed something. There were no ill feelings

More trips are in the works for Clyde, his undaunted desire to serve is growing. “There are opportunities to serve everywhere, I see friends serving in Price just as powerfully,” he said.

Working on people who live in balmy grass huts, cold yurts, cement houses, who are atheists, Buddhists, Christians, white, brown or yellow, Clyde learned one powerful lesson, “It is amazing how much you can love people and they love you back. It is a miracle.”

~ Renee Banasky

The Catholic Church in Abaiagn became Larsen’s portable dental clinic - the only care available on the remote atoll.

Patients wait hours to be seen by Dr. Larsen.

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KC Smurthwaite Immersed in sports W

hen KC Smurthwaite started his freshman year at College of Eastern Utah in 2008, his involvement in sports was making the baseball team and writing sports for the college newspaper, The Eagle. Fast forward 10 years and Smurthwaite’s life is immersed in sports after being named director of development for Aggies Unlimited, the fundraising unit for the Utah State Athletics in July.

“I’ve benefited greatly from being surrounded by great people throughout my life,” Smurthwaite said.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without my Price family. They gave me the tools and opportunities to build a resume while working on a degree: Scott Madsen, Dave Paur, Alex Herzog and Susan Polster. I know I am missing so many more that impacted me positively while I was a student. They all changed my life.”

Prior to his promotion, Smurthwaite’s resume included graduating with an associate degree from Utah State University Eastern, bachelor’s degree from Southern Utah University and master’s degree from USU. By the time he was a sophomore in college, he was an assistant baseball coach, editor of The Eagle newspaper and outstanding communication student. He also earned the title of Mr. USU Eastern.

Transferring to SUU, it took him one year to graduate with a degree in communication studies and left with a plaque naming him outstanding communication student. He worked in association with the athletic department as the sports director for KSUU, the home for Thunderbird athletics.

KC Smurthwaite

Smurthwaite said, “I often ask myself, ‘would I have done this any other way?’ and it is always a no.” He enrolled at USU in Logan fall 2014 to pursue a master’s degree and help coach the Aggie softball team, working with the outfielders and assisting with recruiting. “The path I took was definitely less traveled, but well worth it.”

During the 2016 season, Assistant Coach Smurthwaite helped Utah State to its best season in 20 years, posting a 26-25 overall record while going 12-12 in Mountain West action. In his three seasons with the softball team, he helped the outfield to improve statistics across the board, while coaching four outfielders to all-Mountain West honors. The Aggies also set program records in runs scored, doubles, home runs, total bases, RBIs, stolen bases and slugging percentage.

Smurthwaite was promoted to the athletic administrative staff as a major gifts officer where he managed a regional portfolio that helped the Aggies Unlimited team generate a record-breaking $6 million during the 2016-17 academic year. The following year, he increased major gifts by 120 percent from the previous fiscal years and assisted in the creation of the Blue A Society, Utah State Athletics’ first-ever major giving society.

He helped coordinate the cultivation and solicitation of the Merlin Olsen Fund, which set new highs in giving during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Sport-specific giving doubled with help of an outreach program that communicates with all former student-athletes.

With the addition of the newly renovated Maverik Stadium, Smurthwaite assisted in growing premium seats giving from $430,000 to $1.4 million.

In his role as director of development he will oversee the day-to-day operations of the athletics’ development office, including annual giving, stewardship and special events, while also serving on the external leadership team. He will also manage a portfolio of major gift prospects.

“As a team, we must build relationships with our alumni, community and friends of the university,” Smurthwaite said. “Ultimately, we need to make philanthropic asks, whether it be for an entry-level $50 donation or a major gift. There is a place for everybody – participation is powerful.

We want to get everybody on board and headed in the right direction. We will consistently challenge the way we do things in order to be successful.”

For his work in the last fiscal year, Smurthwaite was recognized as a “Prime Officer,”

by Reeher. Through analytics, Reeher identifies and recognizes the top 15 percent of fund-raisers in the nation.

Recently, he was selected to be the representative for the Mountain West Conference for the National Association of Athletics Development Directors (NAADD).

“I have always had a love for the sports industry,” Smurthwaite said. “I have aggressive plans for my career and Utah State has consistently supported them. From Logan to Price, there are great people ~ Susan Polster at this university.”

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From coaching a successful high school drill team at Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City to developing a successful college dance team at Utah State University Eastern in Price defines Brandi Taylor Johansen’s drive to be the best.

In her third year at Eastern, Johansen continues to develop a successful dance program along with almost 40 students involved on her 2018-19 spirit squad. Her stakes for success are higher this season because her dance team placed first in hip hop and second in dance, respectively at the United Spirit Association’s Collegiate Nationals competition held in Anaheim last February.

She returns to the collegiate competition in February 2019 to defend her team’s title.

Her dance resume reads like the classic goal-driven coach who excels in everything she sets her site on. While coaching drill at Cottonwood HS in

Brandi Taylor Johansen

2008, her team was named the 4A Drill Team Region Champions in Region 6 after taking first in military, dance and novelty. Her team placed third in the UHSAA state drill competition.

In 2009, her team again became the Region 6 Champions sweeping the competition by placing first in military, dance and prop, then placing second in state. Johansen was named 4A Coach of the Year for the Utah Dance and Drill Association. Her team traveled to Florida to compete in the Champion Drill Nationals competition, walking away as the overall Grand National Champions.

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Brandi’s 5A drill team: Cottonwood HS

UDA dance camp in Las Vegas, Nev.

Brandi’s team performs at Odessay Dance Company’s “Thriller” performance

2018-19 Dance Team

In 2011, Cottonwood moved to the 5A division and Johansen’s team was named 5A Region 2 Champions, placing second in military; first in dance and kick. They placed second in the state competition that season and she was again recognized as 5A Coach of the Year for the Utah Dance and Drill Association plus presented with the 5A Sportsmanship Award. Johansen and her team traveled to compete in California and were named the Small Division Overall Champions for the Champion Drill Nationals competition.

Her final year of high school coaching was in 2012 where her team placed fifth at the Utah High School Athletic Association’s Drill Competition, given the 5A Sportsmanship Award and named the overall Grand National Champions at the Champion Drill Nationals in California.

Her own personal repertoire of awards include Miss Drill Top-Ten solo finalist, Ririe-Woodbury Step-Up Program scholarship, UHSAA Drill Team AllState member and Deseret News Sterling Scholar Dance Finalist to name a few of the awards she has earned. Johansen has taken training from Repertory Dance Theatre, Salt Lake Community College, Utah State University and the University of Utah along with master class trainings from companies across the United States including Alvin Alley American Dance Theatre, Broadway Dance Center and Behind the Curtain Broadway Productions, in New York; Southern Strutt, in South Carolina; and Tremaine, in Los Angeles, California.

She choreographed many winning region, state and national routines for drill teams in Utah and Idaho plus won innovative choreography awards for studios and soloists across the state.

In reality, she’s been involved in dance since she was 4 and started teaching as a sophomore in high school. Johansen has always lived to choreograph and teach dance throughout the Western U.S. So when she met her husband Jonathan, from Castle Dale, Utah, while country dancing at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, she thought her dance world would end.

Jonathan recently graduated in civil engineering from USU in Logan and wanted to move back to his hometown to

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work as an engineer in the family business.

Besides engineering, he wanted to raise cattle and live on a farm like his father and grandfather had done.

Brandi was raised in the Salt Lake Valley and loved everything about living there.

In fact, she loved every aspect of city life including spending weekends in downtown SLC, taking classes at the Rose Wagner Theatre and engaging in the urban dance scene. Her favorite vacations were visiting cities and never envisioned living in remote Utah on a ranch.

Jonathan and Brandi dated for the next few years because she said, “I thought I could not move to a rural area and be happy.”

When she finally took the plunge and married Jonathan, the two moved to Castle Dale so he could pursue his dreams.

“It was a culture shock moving here,” she said. “I’ve always thought I had to live in a community surrounded by dance.”

Brandi continued choreographing for high school drill teams, dance companies, colleges, studios and dance camps in Utah and surrounding states, raking up to 40,000 miles each year in her car. Her salvation came from a small university 40 miles north of Castle Dale: Utah State University Eastern.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Greg Dart, hired Brandi to bring a spirit squad back to the athletic program and recruit students to fill the slots. She took over the dance team, hired Kelly Bradley to be over the cheer program and started a drumline with Ben Jones at the helm.

Recruiting for the program included establishing spirit squad social media accounts, plus performances at the UHSAA’s drill team competitions and Epic Dance officer clinic college fair where dancers look at colleges to attend. “The dance community is big, but small when networking. We always find a connection in Utah’s dance community,” she said.

Designing unique costumes for her dancers is another priority. Brandi tries to be on the cutting edge because the dancers always perform better if they feel good about how they look in the costumes they wear. “It’s kind of a superficial analogy, but I believe it is true.

I follow fashion to help design ideas, but also have connections in the dance world if I need to rent or trade. Costuming has to portray the theme or mood, it pulls it all together.”

Constantly on the go, she begins practice at 6:30-8:45 a.m. M-W-F and on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. with soccer, volleyball and basketball games to cheer at on weekends. In February, her team competes at nationals in California and in March they perform their spring concert. She brings choreographers in some weekends to teach additional classes.

Every routine she designs is based on her creativity. “Creativity for me comes from my surroundings along with music that can inspire me. When I designed the video of my students dancing at the San Rafael’s Wedge (Little Grand Canyon), I found the music while on vacation walking through a Starbucks. “I was standing on a table with my phone to the speaker trying to Shazam the song. I knew immediately this was going to be the music I used. While listening, the entire piece came to me.

“When we came home, my husband and I scouted locations to film the video which also provided some inspiration. My cousin, Logan, had the equipment and editing skills. He filmed my dancers late in the fall as I directed it. The video turned out better than I ever expected; the response to it has been amazing.”

“I love challenging myself to create new ideas and to push myself as a choreographer.”

She used the backdrop of Joe’s Valley in her dance video this year which debuts at her concert in March. All the dances this year will revolve around the perception of art. “Every piece represents a painting, sculpture or photo,” she said. “I challenged all my students to be creative with more in-depth thinking. I want them to incorporate story telling in their student choreography pieces.”

Many genres of dance will be showcased at their concert to show the versatility of what these dancers can do.

Discussing the future, Brandi hopes that her program builds to a team of 20 and continues to be reputable, recruits itself and competes in Daytona, Florida. “That competition is televised on ESPN and has some big name dance programs from colleges and universities from throughout the United States competing there.”

What still drives her is the creative process and seeing her work come to life. “I love challenging myself to create new ideas and to push myself as a choreographer. I live by the mantra, ‘Leave your heart out on the floor’ and I tell my dancers this each time they go out to perform. If they do that, then they’ll be happy with their performance and that’s all I can ask of them. It all comes down to having passion for what we do.”

Music continues to inspire me, but film, poetry, current events, props, lighting…I am just open to my surroundings and can be inspired to whatever comes my way, she said.

Dancer, Sam Hall, from Springville, Utah

When extra time is on her side, she loves to travel and visit other cultures. She quoted Alan Watts, “It’s better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.”

~ Susan Polster *The San Rafael dance video can be seen at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXLmFXBBqY

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SU Eastern honored five individuals

with ties to College of Eastern Utah at its Legacy dinner hosted in the Jennifer Leavitt Student Center in April.

Dean Walton and Stan Martineau were named the recipients of “Upon Their Shoulders Awards” while Brittney Hawks, Bryan Griffin and Bob Taniguchi were inducted into Eastern’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Dean Walton Born in Salt Lake City and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Walton joined CEU as director of high school relations in 1962. His service included stints as director of financial aid, dean of students, dean of instruction, dean of students and administrative services and director of athletics.

He has many memories, but none more exciting than the Eagle basketball team’s success in the late 1960s. Dean treasures his experiences of traveling with the team to the national championships in Kansas, where CEU placed third and he broadcast the play-by-play back to Price. After 25 years, he retired in 1987.

He and his wife Sharee raised five children, all who graduated from CEU.

Stan Martineau Martineau headed CEU’s automotive technology program from 2000-17 and has many hobbies including a passion for horses and riding as well as his love for camping and exploring. However his devotion to and passion for education outweighs all others.

His favorite memories about education were when students began to grasp a difficult concept and truly understood what he was trying to share.

He always reminded his students to keep learning. “The more you know, the more valuable you become. The more you learn, the more you know, the better off you are going to be, professionally and in your home life.”

Under his leadership, USU Eastern gained accreditation to administer automotive certification exams that previously had required students to travel to the Wasatch Front to take. He also served six years on the board of directors for the North American Council of Automotive Teachers (NACAT) and published many articles about the automotive industry.

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Brittney Hawks Born in Rexburg, Idaho, she was a three-sport athlete at Madison High and scored 47 points her senior year at the state tournament. She attended CEU on a basketball scholarship and averaged 17 points per game as a freshman and 21 as a sophomore. During her sophomore year, she averaged 11 rebounds per game and earned 19 double-doubles.

At CEU, she served as team captain and named All-Region, All-Tournament and All-American.

She transferred to the Washington State Huskies where she led the Pac 10 Conference in doubledoubles and named All-Conference.

Looking back on her basketball career, she recognized Dave Paur as her favorite coach. “Coach Paur believed in me, taught me how to push to reach my potential and taught me how not to drive.” She lives in Texas, and together with her husband, raise their six children.

Bryan Griffin A native of Escalante, Utah, with a graduating class of 14, he still holds the state 1A-track records for the mile (4:28) and the 880-yard run (1:59:15) from 1977. After receiving a track scholarship to CEU, he continued to excel in track, earning All-American honors in the 1500m and finishing third at the NJCAA National Championships in San Angelo, Texas.

He continued his education and track career at USU in Logan where he qualified for the NCAA indoor-track championship and ranked 13th in the nation in the 800m. After graduating from USU, Griffin’s track and field career continued as a coach in Idaho and later in Ogden.

He accepted the head coaching job at Richfield High School, a position he held for 25 years.

Griffin lead Richfield to 11-state championships with more than 25 of his athletes competing at the collegiate level. Many of his athletes are current state record holders, with one group breaking a 25-year-old, 400-meter relay record in 2014. Beyond his athletic career, he worked eight summers as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. He and his wife, SueLyn, raised a family of five and are the proud grandparents of five.

Bob Taniguchi Born in Price, in1945, Taniguchi spent his entire life in academia. Starting in high school, he was active in student government, clubs and athletics. He served as sophomore and senior class presidents and student body vice president. He performed in the choir, competed in debate and played on the football, track and basketball teams.

In 1979, Taniguchi returned to CEU, where he taught math and worked closely with the athletics department, later serving as the college’s athletics director. During his 10 years at CEU, he won the State Regents Award for Outstanding Teaching, received two Teacher of the Year Awards and hosted the athletic department’s first fund-raiser, bringing in more than $25,000.

His favorite memories about CEU are helping struggling students overcome their fears and do well in his math classes.

After CEU, he moved to California where he continued to teach math. His proudest memory outside the classroom was chairing a project in Mercer, California, to build a monument to commemorate the 4,500 locals who were among the 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, primarily American citizens, imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. He helped raise $375,000 to build the memorial dedicated in 2010.

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USU Eastern campus photo by Tyson Chappell USU Easter n

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Jonathan Thayn

A Map Maker’s Route to Happiness

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“I

’m living the dream: I have four kids, an amazing wife and a broken-down minivan,” quipped Jonathan Thayn, CEU alum ‘97.

He’s joking about the minivan, but is genuine about his wife and children. Having a family like the one he grew up in has always been Thayn’s first ambition. That destination was clear. Jonathan’s journey to find the right career to support his family has taken a circuitous route.

“When you don’t know what you’re going to be when you grow up, you end up living in a lot of places,” Thayn said.

Jonathan and his wife, Debbi Frame Thayn, CEU alum ‘96, had patience in the process and enjoyed the expedition. They cherish the experiences wandering brought: Mexico, Cuba, Panama, the Amazon Basin and Illinois (not quite as exotic as the Amazon, but still an adventure).

Now, Jonathan is firmly grounded as an associate professor of geography at Illinois State University, based in Normal, Illinois, but he isn’t done wandering. He uses his profession as a launching pad to help others discover the world the way he has- by traveling and soaking in every detail. As an expert in remote sensing, Thayn works to show his students the Earth with views from afar through satellite images and up close using expeditions into nature.

As a geographer, Thayn is also a map maker.

He fastidiously keeps an adventure journal.

This hand-bound book (made by Jonathan) details every trip with written accounts and Jonathan’s own watercolor paintings and hand-drawn maps. The books are almost as magical as the trips. The most recent entry in the adventure log is the “Thayn Family’s Six-Month Stint in Mexico.”

Eligible for a sabbatical, Thayn looked for a place to conduct academic research while exposing his children to a new way of life.

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Geography + marine biology=exciting plankton

Laying in a tent on the seashore at a whale camp, Jonathan and Debbi drifted off to sleep to the sound of whales coming to the surface, exhaling and taking in new air before plunging deep into the sea.

“The silence, broken by the whales’ whooshing sounds, was magnificent.

I was on the edge their world, trying to understand it. There is so much that goes on underwater that we just don’t know about. It’s intriguing,” Thayn said.

During the day, Jonathan and his family boarded small boats to “meet” the whales. The mother whales swam up next to the boat and gently lifted their calves to the surface for the Thayns to caress. It seems unimaginable to be able to touch a whale calf in the ocean, but that is exactly what they did.

“Most wild animals do not want their babies to be anywhere near humans.

Grey whales bring their babies up and say ‘Hi!’” Thayn said.

“It was breathtaking,” said Jonathan’s wife, Debbi.

Grey whales, blue whales, humpbacks and fin whales travel across the world to birth their young in the Sea of Cortez’s placid waters. They spend the winter months comfortably in the sheltered oceans between the Baja Peninsula and Mexico to give birth, then mate before returning to the cold arctic waters for the summer.

Little is known about the whales, their migration and habits. Scientists theorize that this is the only place in the world that grey whales go to bear their calves.

Jonathan’s hand-drawn map chronicles his family’s journey to LaPaz, Mexico

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What does a professor of geography have to do with whales? Jonathan was looking for a sabbatical opportunity when in popped an email from Jaime Goméz-Gutierréz, a marine biologist in Mexico. The whales in Mexico’s seas are losing weight. Their undernourishment is alarming and marine biologists are investigating possible causes. Breaking new ground,

Mexican scientists thought out of the box and approached Thayn hoping that his use of satellite imagery would be an asset. Jonathan liked the idea and got approval for a sabbatical to Mexico.

After planning meticulously, on Jan. 2, 2018, the Thayn family packed their van in snowy Illinois and headed south. They drove through U.S. State Department red zones (do not visit regions) to get to La Paz, a small town on the south interior of the Baja Peninsula.

When the Thayns pulled into town, the immigration officials informed them that they were missing the proper paperwork. Arguments, discussions and consulting an immigration attorney didn’t do the trick, so they loaded up the family to drive two and half more days back to the border to get the correct papers. Jonathan’s map of this car trip shows quite a few loops.

Settling into a little house two blocks from the beach, Jonathan spent the next few weeks on a research cruise with the National Autonomous University of Mexico and with the Center for Interdisciplinary Marine Science learning about marine biology and teaching them about satellite imagery.

Then, Jonathan began studying and mapping photographs taken from space of plankton in the ocean to look for trends that might impact the whales.

They did discover that plankton masses are shifting. Water temperatures are increasing and affecting the quality of the whale’s feed.

“We know that colder water is better for photosynthesis than warmer water,” he said.

It was exciting for him to study how far satellite imagery can see into the ocean and work closely with marine biologists to find solutions. The questions are just beginning and Thayn will continue to work with scientists in Mexico to help the whales.

A life map with loops

Living in Price, Utah, was the seedbed for Thayn’s passion for all things outdoor. His parents took the family on

many camping adventures growing up. When he graduated and started attending College of Eastern Utah, Thayn kept up his communion with nature.

A close friend, Jeff Goodrich, and Thayn made a goal to go camping every Thursday. After classes finished and often late into the night, they set off for an expedition to somewhere. Often they invited friends along and mishaps were common.

On one trip, they drove many miles on Wood Hill overlooking Price to camp. In the morning, their vehicle wouldn’t start. Jonathan had a test that morning, so he and his friend walked to the college. Unkept, stinky and dirty, Jonathan made it to his test on time.

On another trip, they invited a friend who tried to study as they drove over pot-holed dirt roads for hours on end. Jonathan enjoyed the camping trip without studying and he outperformed his worried camp-mate on the test. It was her last camping trip with the group.

Experimenting

Wise parents, J. Boyd, CEU alum ‘69, and Mary, CEU alum ‘70, had two requirements for Jonathan’s time in college. Boyd required him to keep a high grade point average, Mary requested Jonathan take an art class every semester. Following their advice has molded Thayn into a well-rounded person.

“I loved the art and photography classes at CEU. When I went to Brigham Young University, I wanted to take more and they required a student to be an art major for two semesters before they were eligible to try to enroll in a photography class,” Thayn said.

His last two semesters at CEU, he had enough credits to graduate, so he could take whatever he wanted: river rafting, photography, sign language, astronomy and botany.

“It was a lot of fun, I loved going to CEU,” he added.

Carrying on to BYU, Thayn graduated with a bachelor’s degree in geographic information systems (GIS) and cartography. Struggling to know what profession to pursue, he decided to take the Graduate Record Examination at the last minute and enroll in a master’s of public administration program. Graduating in 2002, Debbi and Jonathan moved their family to Lake Forest, Illinois.

Jonathan landed an exciting apprenticeship with the CEO of a large hospital north of Chicago - an amazing opportunity - that he honestly hated.

Jonathan and Debbie reminisce as they flip through his adventure journal.

As he watched the CEO work long hours making stressful decisions, trying to balance profit and healthcare, he realized that he did not want that life.

He wondered as he walked home one day how he would tell Debbi. She had sacrificed for Jonathan’s education, they had started their family and he didn’t have the heart to tell her he wanted to start over.

That day at dinner, Debbi said, “I don’t think you like hospital administration, maybe you should go back to school.”

Elated and confused, Thayn tried to figure out what to be a college professor of, as he was interested in several areas of study. A mentor suggested a

Hundreds of hours go into Jonathan’s detailed entries and watercolor paintings.

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her calf to the A female gray whale lifts yns.

Tha the et me to surface

Mary Kathryn reaches out to caress the whale calf.

foolproof way to decide, so Jonathan drove several hours to the nearest research university and spent the day reading research articles in the subjects he was thinking about. His adviser was right, though Jonathan enjoyed reading all of them, he didn’t want to stop reading the geography papers.

His decision was made.

“It was breath ta

king,” Debbi

e Thayn said .

It wasn’t easy to apply to doctoral programs with an MPA, but he contacted Kevin P. Price at the University of Kansas.

They made a connection, became quick friends and Price mentored him. Jonathan traveled to Brazil for another amazing adventure to research for his dissertation on locating dark earths in the Amazon. ~ Renee Banasky

What adventure is next? It’s hard to tell - but surely every future trip will include: family, Jonathan’s adventure journal and Mother Earth.

Meet the Thayns: (L-R) Lucy, Debbie, Boyd, Jonathan, Benjamin and Mary Kathryn.

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Neil Warren Legendary debate coach At 90, College of Eastern Utah’s legendary debate coach Neil Warren, still misses teaching every day. “If it wasn’t for my macular degeneration eye problem, I probably still would be teaching a class every semester, he quipped, “I enjoyed my life in the education world.” Warren’s memory is like a walking encyclopedia as he fondly remembers his teachers, colleagues and students who impacted his 43.5-year teaching career.

W

arren lives in his hometown of Price, Utah, with his wife Ora, whom he married 70 years ago when he was 19 and a sophomore at Carbon College.

Neil Warren

Students who were lucky enough to have Warren as their teacher, mentor, coach and friend, know how truly distinguished he really is.

His father worked in road construction, so the family moved to wherever the jobs were located. “We lived in Logan, Randolph, Delta, Loa, Hurricane, Washington, Moab, Salina, Charleston, Wendover, Green River, Moroni and Wendover,” he said.

He attended two or sometimes three different schools each year and it was always a challenge to keep up with his education.

“Traveling that much was an education itself and it taught me to adjust to circumstances and people. It also taught me how to make friends easily.”

By the time he entered junior high, his parents had settled in Price and Warren enrolled in Price Junior High School. He loved the old building and his years there.

The memories that stick in his mind include his seventh grade English teacher and all students being herded into the gymnasium to hear President Franklin Roosevelt’s radio speech declaring war on Japan. Track, football, boxing, basketball, plays and a Dorothy Brown musical also are part of his memories.

“When I entered Carbon High School, I wanted to do everything . . . and they let me,” he said. After sustaining a broken arm in football, his interests turned to theater, choir, speech and debate where he excelled in each. He was part of the newspaper and yearbook programs, appeared in assemblies, homecoming, special programs at CHS and in the community, plus sprinted in the 100- and 200-yard dashes and leaped in the high jump.

He was president of the Senate club, awarded the meritorious achievement award (most participation in co- and extra-curricular activities) in high school and college where he continued chasing the arts.

Since Carbon High School and Carbon College

shared the same campus, it was an easy transition for him to stay home when enrolling in college and pick up where he left off.

As a freshman as CC, he held the leads in many plays, qualified for the national junior college debate championship, elected president of the International Relations Club and edited the 1949 yearbook.

Warren wanted to become an attorney, but decided it was financially out of the question.

His next choice was a civil engineer because he had taken most of the math classes. Then he spent a summer working for the Bureau of Reclamation carrying a transit in the Uintah Mountains. It was that juncture in his life when he decided to continue in the performing in the arts.

After earning an academic scholarship to the University of Utah in speech and drama, he majored in broadcasting, radio and TV, being the voice of KUER Radio. He still had the bug to appear in plays so his favorite U of U professor, C. Lowell Lees Ph.D., cast him in touring and summer-festival plays.

College was expensive, and Warren remembers working jobs at the Golden Rule Men’s Clothing Store where he learned to cuff men’s trousers, a meat packing plant, Carpenter Paper Company, a night clerk at Belvedere Hotel, truck driver for W.W. Clyde Construction and night watchman for the First Security Bank. .

By 1952, the Korean War was in its second year and Warren was inducted to serve basic training and signal school at San Luis Obispo, California. At that time, all soldiers were in a pipeline to Korea.

Because he was the top student in his class, he was sent to headquarters to see if he could be retained at the camp as an instructor in the school.

Headquarters had a different idea; they pulled him from the pipeline and assigned him a job in Battalion Headquarters. “Ora and I loved living there because of the beautiful beaches, mild climate and no outside distractions.”

His next assignment was in San Antonio, Texas, Fourth Army Headquarters. Nine months later, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant with medals and a letter of recommendation that helped him get a direct commission in the National Guard. He moved from second lieutenant to first lieutenant to acting captain. He served as company commander of Company “A” of the 1457 Engineer Battalion.

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After his discharge, the Warrens returned to SLC where Neil started graduate work in fine arts at the U of U. Back in his hometown of Price, his father became ill and would not move to SLC so Neil could help take care of him. The Warrens moved home to help.

He also taught in a master’s teaching program on the reservation at Ganado where he got a crash course in Navajo and Hopi cultures, including the famous snake dance at Second Mesa.

When Neil was hired to teach at the college, Elmo Geary was the drama director, and Neil offered to build scenery for “Oklahoma” in the Price Civic Auditorium because the college did not have a theatre at that time.

While in Price, CC President Aaron Jones found Neil and asked him if he ever thought about teaching. Jones told him that he voted with the faculty to name Warren and Henry Rachele as the two most likely Warren at a debate meet in Texas. students to succeed Quickly the two out of their graduation class. He asked became best friends and collaborated to Warren to come home and succeed here. organize a community theatre program “Try it,” he said, “you might like it.” which continues to produce a production Warren liked it and for the next 43.5 years, all at the college except two years at the high school, one year at the U of U and one year at the University of Arizona, he taught thousands of students.

His repertoire of classes included interpersonal communication, public speaking, group communication, debate and forensics, parliamentary speaking, intro to theatre, acting, theatre production, readers theatre, voice improvement, makeup, stagecraft, storytelling, English, American lit, the novel, poetry, Shakespeare and sociology.

An 18-year old Kelly Andersen accepted an academic scholarship and position on CEU’s debate team in 1970. He broke the record for winning the most trophies in his two years at the college.

After law school, he moved to Oregon where he was named 2014 Distinguished Trial Lawyer.

In the “Sidebar” publication of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, the feature said Andersen’s peers revere and respect “the impeccably ethical gentleman lawyer from Southern Oregon. His stellar professionalism is highly regarded and his reputation elevates the image of the practice of law as a whole.”

He was named an Oregon Super Lawyer, denoting he ranks in the top-five percent of all attorneys six different times. He authored numerous articles and legal publications, plus works in the Boys Scouts of America program.

Anderson said that of “all my college professors, from my freshman year until the end of law school, he was the best by any measure. Neil deeply enriched my life in so many ways.”

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each year. Geary thought the community theatre idea would fly because they could meet three needs: a facility, money and professional help.

Warren figures he has directed and/or performed in 130 theatrical productions throughout his career. However, his favorite performances were when he played professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” and Polonius in “Hamlet” in Price; and Mortimore in “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the U of U.

It was during this time that Warren set up his career to be the director of the best two-year college debate program in Utah and the United States. He became a legend of sorts in the forensics world, but it came at a personal cost.

“My first year, we were given $200 to fund the debate program. We sold cookies, sponsored dances and a Las Vegas Night to earn extra money. I had a station wagon and we used my car to take the students to five tournaments that year.

“We would often leave after classes on Thursday, drive all night and compete Friday through Sunday. After the tournament, we would load everyone into my car, and drive all night so everyone (including myself) could be in our Monday morning classes,” he said.

One of his first debaters in 1960 was the late Val Halamandaris, who was the former director of the National Council on Aging in Washington, D.C. He was one of the four Carbon College students who qualified for nationals in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Warren did not have a travel budget and asked Pres. Claude Burtenshaw to fund the competition. The president would not agree to the college funding so Warren asked if the students paid their own way, would he let them attend? Shaking his head yes, Burtenshaw agreed to let four students go along with their coach.

Halamandaris’ dad lent the squad his car to drive to Kansas while Warren agreed to pay for gas, lodging and tournament fees.

The students had to pay their meals.

“Everyone did well with Val and Mike Orphanakis losing in the final round to the champions. Julie Olsea placed in extemporaneous and Saundra Thomas just missed the finals of oratory. I was elected vice president of Phi Rho Pi’s Region 3,” he said.

Under his expertise, CEU’s debate

program continued to grow and get better every year. They were invited to the national cross-examination debate championship at George Mason University in Virginia and placed third with one team.

They returned the next year with two teams and placed first and fifth.

CEU was the perennial champs in the regional junior college ranks, but also did well at the junior level in senior tournaments. CEU won the U of U’s Great Salt Lake Tournament, Arizona State Tournament and Southern Utah University Tournament many times.

Warren’s debaters won 54 trophies in 1967, which was a record they thought would last. It was dwarfed in 1992 when the squad won 272 trophies and in ’93, they won 273 trophies. The individual trophies were kept by the students and the team sweepstake trophies and plaques are crowded in a display case in the Western Instructional Building.

If one adds all of Warren’s achievements and awards as a coach, they include 24-national-championship-first-place awards, four-second places and 12-third places. He said all his student successes could not have happened without the supportive administration, faculty, staff and community.

His service to the National College Speech Association includes regional governor, membership vice president, vice president and national president. He spent his final

15 years as comptroller, ombudsman and archivist.

He described two elements that made his program successful: the first is to love what you do because he did. “It must be a challenging and worthwhile activity, one that will hold your interest and make you feel good.”

The second element was to love the students. “Each one of these young people who come under your direction are special, they are different, but full of potential. Some need to be treated gently while others need some degree of discipline. If you love your students, you will help them learn to do research, to understand and organize material and present their materials to an audience.

Remember to help them, not to do the work for them. This is their opportunity to learn and grow.

“I call the next step ‘expectation.’ We trust the students, we encourage them, we expect them to win. Somehow that converts to confidence, an essential ingredient for a performance.”

Awards were not only won by Warren’s students. His CV is filled with page after page of local, state and national awards including Price Junior Chamber of Commerce “Distinguished Service Award, The U of U Outstanding Service Award, Intermountain Region Phi Rho Pi “Speech Teacher and Debate Coach of the Year,” Weber State University, Southern Utah

The 1969-70 debate team consisted of (L-R) front: Kathy DeSimone, Trudy Skerl, JoAnn Tryon, Shanna Semken. Back row: Jim Platt, Dennis Deaton, Coach Neil Warren, Roger Allen and Keven Brockbank.

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University Western Debate Conference and California State Forensics Association each named him “Debate Coach of the Year.”

CEU awards included “Outstanding Achievement and Quality Teaching,” “Exceptional Community Service,” Teacher of the Year,” and “Upon Their Shoulders.”

The Utah Board of Regents presented Warren with the “Regents Award for Excellence in Teaching,” the Utah American Federation of Teachers “Community College Teacher of the Year” and the Utah State Board of Education “Recognition for Quality Teaching.”

Many teachers get burned out, but Warren said he was too busy to get burned out. He admits everything has its limits, but he loved what he did every day.

“I’m concerned that some teachers seem more interested in themselves rather than their students. They need to leave their egos behind, be fully prepared, respect their students and talk honestly and directly to them,” he said.

Warren admitted to not having many regrets in his life. However, he did feel remorse after Carbon College and CEU won 24-national-first-place championships, four-second place and 12-third-place championships, plus all the other awards and honors, and the college unceremoniously terminated the program in 2002. “That broke my heart,” he said.

Recently, Warren’s grandson asked his grandpa if he did anything special before he retired. Always prepared, Warren answered, “I was a hometown boy who stayed home, but kept very busy.

“I spent a good deal of my life going to schools and taking workshops to be better prepared to be a teacher, taught a heavy teaching load, coached debaters in the afternoon and traveled them all over the nation on long weekends, spent nights practicing plays and building scenery, spent time with meaningful organizations, enjoyed every day I went to work, became a world traveler and then sat back fondly remembering all my colleagues and the wonderful young people it was my privilege to know and love.

Is that special?”

“Distinguished” somehow does not do justice to describe the legend Neil Warren is to Carbon College and College of Eastern Utah. All those students who were lucky enough to have Warren as their teacher, mentor, coach and friend, know how truly distinguished he really is. ~ Susan Polster

1989-90 (L-R) Daren Fairbanks, Dan Esperson, Aimee Anderson, Brian Hunt, Wendi Mawhorter, Troy Hunt, Brian Hall, Joe Carver, Derald Anderson, Coach Warren, Brian Dawes, Dustin Latimer, Nathan Coulter and Jennifer Olsen.

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Edward A Salzetti

man, whose education was cut short when he was drafted into World War II, is giving back to Utah State University Eastern by establishing an endowed scholarship at the Price college.

Education changed direction after being drafted in WW II

Edward Salzetti of Sunnyside, Utah, was barely 18 when Uncle Sam sent him enlistment orders to report to Fort Douglas in 1942. “I was in my freshmen year at Carbon College when I received my draft notice,” he said. “I was majoring in business and working towards my associate degree taking college-prep courses.”

Carbon College was just four years old when Salzetti enrolled in classes fall semester. He graduated from Carbon High School in spring 1941 where he played basketball and saxophone for the Dinos.

“At the college, I was playing on the basketball team under Coach George Young, who was also my genetic’s instructor. I had J.W. Bingham for chemistry and was enrolled in history and journalism classes taught by Omar Bunnell.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States officially entered the war, Salzetti and most of his friends received draft notices within the next few months. “Uncle Sam called me and told me to report to duty. I tried to go into the Navy, but ended up in the Army.”

The now frail 95 year old lives by himself on the east bench in Salt Lake City. His wife Paula Salzetti died in 2014 after 67 years of marriage. With a clear mind and numerous historic war mementos in pristine condition from the war, Salzetti proved to be a wealth of information while describing his life. He quips he has to keep correcting his relative’s memories which are all slipping.

Boxes of photos, magazines and newspaper articles are delicately saved to preserve Salzetti’s heritage.

Starting in high school documenting his goals and aspirations, he cut and mounted newspaper articles pertaining to achieving success in the business world in a scrapbook.

He chronicled his time in the service with hundreds of black and white photos, remembering where each photo was taken and identifying most of his comrades. He talked about being inside a tank in France when a Germandeveloped jet bomber dropped a bomb, killing his best friend, Dalton Morrison from Hodgenville, Kentucky. It destroyed a house and killed a well-dressed French couple who were leaving for church. Salzetti’s life was saved by being inside the tank, however his arm was wounded from the flying shrapnel when the bomb exploded.

Discussing his bronze star in his collection of mementos, Salzetti said his 14th Armored Division was in Southern France near Lyon fighting enemy troops when they traveled east towards Germany in the depths of winter 1944. “It was one of the coldest winters on record.”

Top photo: Salzetti’s WWII dog tags.

Middle: Leaning on an Army Jeep in Europe.

Bottom: He is flanked on each side by friends.

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Now known as the infamous Battle of the Bulge, Salzetti and his division were instructed to rescue a platoon of American soldiers in enemy territory. As the tank commander, his comrades traveled by night without lights to not be detected.

Winter was unusually harsh that year with biting-cold wind and record-setting snow. “It was so cold that we found a portable stove and lit it in the tank to stay warm.”

Salzetti’s crew that was sent to rescue the American troops were bogged down in the ice and mud. His crew modified a Sherman tank, removing the turret to facilitate a “wrecker arm.” The special hoist would lift vehicles out of the mud, snow and ice. The tank did not have a hatch cover thus making it even more dangerous and bitter cold inside of it.

Top: Salzetti played ball at Carbon High School.

“We reached the stranded American soldiers in the middle of the night and brought them back to safety,” he said. That was one of my fondest memories of the war, if there is such a thing as a fond memory of war. He recalls throwing hand grenades into lakes and watching fish blow onto the shore. He would pick up the fish to give to the people in the villages to eat.

As the war ended, Salzetti and his division were patrolling the Autobahn in Germany when an attractive female on a bike passed him. She stopped and talked to him, even though he had orders not to fraternize with Germans. The war had taken out all the trains and busses, so everyone rode bikes for transportation. Not many Germans had vehicles and the military was trying to determine who was friend or foe.

Middle: A young

In Munich, a few weeks later, Salzetti spotted the same female he had met on the autobahn at a military dance. The rest is history and after the two-year courtship, the former Paula Gah became Mrs. Salzetti at Dreifaltigskeitskirche Catholic Church in downtown Munich.

Salzetti in his military

He was discharged in 1945, but stayed in Germany to help displaced persons from the war in a 1,000-bed United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration facility. His team consisted of a doctor from France, plus nurses from England, Puerto Rico and Great Britain. He said most of the people came from the concentration and labor camps to the NRRA. Bottom: Salzetti showing his Eagle award.

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While at work, he researched historical albums from the concentration camps, plus filled 50-gallon barrels of ashes from those who died in the camps.

Salzetti and his friends modified a Sherman tank to help pull vehicles out of snow and mud.

By 1946, he was hired to work for the Army Exchange Warehouses in Western Germany. This is where he began his keen business sense that would serve him well when he returned to the states. At the Army Base Retail Store warehouses, he received merchandise from throughout the world and filled orders to all the European PXs. The merchandise were items of value including jewelry, art, furniture, etc. Due to Salzetti’s integrity and trustworthy nature, he excelled in this position.

The couple returned to Utah two years later and wanted to move to Salt Lake City.

He whispered that as a “Catholic couple,” they could not find an apartment for rent because all the apartments available were advertised for LDS couples only.

The Salzettis ended back in Carbon County where Edward secured a job at Kaiser in the maintenance department. They rented the attic of a house in Spring Glen, using orange crates for cupboards and used furniture. They eventually purchased a house a block from Carbon College. Itching to own a business, Edward contacted Orson Gigi in Salt Lake City and purchased a drive-in restaurant with the funds he made from the sale of his house in Price.

On 2340 South State, the Salzettis built a Polar King.

While he ran the Polar King, Paula managed the snack bar at O.P. Skaggs grocery store on 400 South.

Top: Salzetti in the mountain snow in Europe.

The Salzettis continued to work and save and invest their money. They purchased real estate, hotels and several businesses. “I did all the bookkeeping until two years ago. I had to stop because my eyes are getting bad,” Edward said.

Travel became their pastime as they returned to Europe many times.

They also loved traveling to California and even purchased properties there.

However, the one place they never visited was Hawaii and that is on Edward’s bucket list. He hopes to visit Pearl Harbor some day.

The Edward & Paula Salzetti Ticket Booth in the Geary Event Center.

But for now, he says his life is content. On this day he smiled when USU Eastern announced the naming of the Central Instructional Building’s theatre ticket booth is being named the Edward and Paula Salzetti Ticket Booth to honor the couple who has and will continue to give to educational institutions so students can complete their education . . . something Edward was never able to do. ~ Susan Polster

Middle: Some of the awards Salzetti earned in WWII.

~ photos by Greg Dart Bottom: Edward Salzetti at 95 years young.

Edward and Paula Salzetti dressed for an evening night out.

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A Wolf at the Door an Interview with Frank Peczuh

T

here are different types of crisis. Some walk up and slap us in the face. They draw media vans from all over the country, these times are shocking and horrific.

Other emergencies come along gradually, creeping up, with as much danger, but without any pageantry.

Frank Peczuh feels that Carbon and Emery counties are in a silent crisis that is just as serious as a dramatic catastrophe. Why is he an expert? As a member of USU’s Board of Trustees the past seven years, he has spent fair amount of time thinking and studying the local economy and future of the university in our area.

“We need to act as if the wolf is at the door, because it is. We have this amazing ability to unite quickly when there is a disaster or flood. We need to do it now,” Peczuh said.

His fears stem from the quiet shift happening gradually in the local economy. Like a landslide, it is gaining momentum and clearing a

wide path. His argument that Castle Country is in perilous times as a community affirms that seasons of transitions are dangerous.

What is this abstract danger looming over the area? Economic change.

“We have the opportunity to address and fix our economic crisis, or we can slowly spiral downward into a ghost town,” Peczuh added.

Clamoring For Growth With great local clamoring over reductions, budget cuts and decreased revenues, Peczuh understands the risk, “our local government’s structures could crumble under their own weight.” Instead of pointing fingers or feeling angry, he is focused on the essentials of the problem: creating growth is a necessity.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Peczuh has great hope for the future as, “we change Price from a coal mining town into a college town. When people think of Ephraim, they think of Snow College. It is a ‘college town.’ When they think of Price, USUE doesn’t come to mind. We need to make the university part of our town’s identity,” he said.

His argument is that as time passes, and things change around us (coal and energy production), Utah State University Eastern can provide a constant pillar of support. Even though the university is not perfect, it will become better as the community rallies and embraces it.

Peczuh, local business owner, served as a USU Trustee seven years.

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This process of reflection about the economy started years ago when a client from Salt Lake City called Peczuh on a Friday afternoon. When a client telephones Peczuh Printing with concerns late in the day at the end of the week, Peczuh braces himself for an emergency.

He was surprised when the client asked, “Why do you stay in a rural community? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Growing up in a family where business and homelife were intermingled, Peczuh takes counsel from his father’s success model. He taught his children that if they did all that they could, God would provide for them. He was very careful to do his “part.”

“It is an understatement to call him financially and morally conservative. He never danced close to the line he felt divided right and wrong. It has served us so well as a family,” Peczuh said.

“ I t ’s n o t a b o u t m o n e y, i t ’s a b o u t p e o p l e ” The replies came to Peczuh’s mind: This is my home, it’s where my roots are, I want to raise my children here and this is a great place to live, why would I leave here? Citizens feel comfortable working across cultures, religions and belief systems in this community and Peczuh could not see himself leaving it.

Watching his father strictly follow his internal principles, created a business and community leader who is not afraid to express his conscience. From him comes the call, it is time to unite as a community… just as we do when there is a disaster. It is time for heroic efforts to create a strong, vibrant economy. It will take everyone, especially the university.

An Economic Engine

~ Renee Banasky

Stackable credits are the most exciting development Peczuh points to at the college. What do credits have to do with fixing the economy? They produce flexibility and a qualified workforce.

“We need to develop entrepreneurs who provide an economic engine for the community. Students can get a four-year degree, certificates and training to enter the workforce. It is exciting to see students flow into the technical, truck driving and business fields with the skills they learn at USUE,” he said.

It’s not about money, it’s about people The “why” for his concerns is not profits; he wants to alleviate the suffering caused by poverty.

“The best way to lift our people is to bring growth and stability to our region, it makes people’s lives better,” he said.

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2018

@USU Eastern The tail end of 2018 brought a new era to Utah State University Eastern campus, with Greg Dart taking the helm and many exciting changes afoot.

Dart, who was serving as the vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management, took over as a USU associate vice president and campus administrator responsible for day-to-day operations of the campus.

“I could not be more excited to be involved at USU Eastern,” Dart said..

He came to USU Eastern in 2012 and served in multiple roles in enrollment management and student affairs. He also as a vice president and director at several other institutions. He attended Snow College and the University of Alaska Anchorage for undergraduate work, before attending USU for his master’s degree and Northeastern University for doctoral work.

“When I came to campus first, I immediately felt at home,” said Dart. “I have been on lots of campuses across the country and never been on one quite like USU Eastern. There is something here that is special.”

Dart is an avid sports fan and can be found cheering on the Eagles in the gym, on the field or on the diamond. Outside of work, he said he loves to spend time with his wife and children. He is originally from Alaska, but said his family has found a home in Price.

“We have never felt so at home in a community as we do in Price,” Dart said.

“This is a very special place.”

Other changes at Eastern include USU President Noelle Cockett appointing VP Dave Woolstenhulme to oversee operations at all campuses outside of Logan, and faculty were given clear reporting lines to department heads. Gary Straquadine, who served as Eastern’s interim chancellor will stay in Price as the vice provost and associate VP of career and technical education for the university.

“We are seeing explosive growth in upper-division enrollment. More students are staying for baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Add that to redesigned career and technical education, and there has never been a better time to be part of this amazing institution,” Dart said.

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2 HUNDRED

With a goal of getting the community involved with the Utah State University Eastern Athletic Program, Scott Madsen told a gathering of community recently that “our programs need the community support.”

He is in the process of organizing an athletic club for USU Eastern and brought the community, faculty, staff and administration together to explain why he sees this as important for the university and area.

Madsen, assistant athletic director, told those present that athletics gives hundreds of students the opportunity to continue their athletic career while pursuing a USU education. “We have over 200 student-athletes at Eastern that can each benefit from support of

20,000

With almost 3,000 students contributing nearly 20,000 volunteer hours in the 2017-18 academic year, USU Eastern’s Serving Utah Network Center continues to make Eastern Utah a better place to live.

As many as 60 students volunteer on projects like picking up garbage on Wood Hill or the San Rafael Swell, to cleaning the yards at the low-income housing units in Price. On the annual week-long spring breaks, students repair corrals, remodel houses, build handicap ramps, install water collection and distribution systems for irrigation and home use, construct fences, clean trails and build sidewalks throughout Southeastern Utah.

During Eastern’s Utah Leadership Academy, 300 students helped the BLM with projects throughout the Swell. Terry Johnson, SUN Center director, said the BLM was grateful for the help students gave.

SUN Center volunteers help clean up Nine-Mile Canyon.

the athletic club.”

Madsen explained that the school provides an on-site academic counselor, academic-study lounge, full-time athletic trainer, strength and conditioning coach to help each student-athlete succeed.

Eastern athletics is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and hosts seven sanctioned NJCAA teams including men and women’s soccer, volleyball, men and women’s basketball, softball and baseball. The rodeo team competes in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association against other colleges and universities throughout Utah.

The membership levels are broken into the captain at $100, MVP $250, Conference Champion $500, All Region $1,000, National Champion $1,500 and All American $2,500.

During Eastern Utah’s Day of Caring, he sent dozens of volunteers throughout the area to help with projects sponsored by United Way. Late fall, Johnson’s students hang angels on the United Way’s Angel Tree, which provides Christmas presents to needy children in Carbon County. They serve at the annual Bread ‘n’ Soup night with funds donated to the Carbon County Food Bank. They sew quilts for hospitals and collect plastic bags to make bed rolls/blankets for the homeless. If anyone needs volunteers, the SUN Center is always there.

This semester Johnson has 15 student leaders, 120 enrolled in the service-learning class, and over 400 volunteers signed up in the SUN Center program, but admits he never has enough students to take on the hundreds of projects requested. It’s daunting to realize how many projects need help with the SUN Center always finding the ways and means to accomplish its goals, he said.

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Utah newspapers.

USU Eastern’s “The During the ceremony, the staff was Eagle” newspaper staff won 17 awards, the most awarded three first-place awards, 10 secondplace awards and four third-place awards. The ever, at the Utah Press staff won first-place plaques for best feature Association’s annual series, best news photo and best feature photo. newspaper contest in AWARDS Salt Lake City April They won second-place certificates for best editorial, best circulation promotion, 14. The staff competed against student best sports photograph, best use of ad color, newspapers from Utah State University, best editor’s column, best Utah Valley University, digital breaking news Weber State University, story, best photo page, Brigham Young USU Eastern The Voice of the Students Price, Utah 84501 best advertising idea, best University and the staff produced ad and best University of Utah. sports column.

The awards are given to newspapers The staff also won third-place certificates excelling in 30 categories determined for best news series, best sports story, best by professional press associations from feature story and special section. throughout the United States. “The Eagle” The UPA is an organization representing competes in Group 5 of the competition 46 newspapers and is Utah’s oldest trade which pits it against collegiate newspapers association. The USU Statesman newspaper from Utah. It has the smallest circulation of won 11 awards all professional

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Two new aviation programs debut at Utah State University Eastern’s campus 2019 fall semester: aviation technology (pilot’s license) and aviation maintenance management.

The Price program will be an extension of the Logan campus program which has grown to capacity of 300 students, 15 instructors and 15 aircraft. USU administrators have crossed all the T’s and I’s and are waiting for Federal Aviation Administration approval of the Carbon County Airport, classrooms, hanger space and security. They teamed up with the Carbon County Civil Air Patrol who already has classrooms and hanger space for the program.

According to Dr. Jamie Cano, associate vice chancellor of professional and technical

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The tradition of

training the best welders

in the country continues

at Utah State University Eastern

as their students cleaned house at

the SkillsUSA Competition in Salt Lake City in the summer.

Jordan Wynn, Roosevelt, placed first in the welding competition while the team of Davis Thompson, Emery; Tosh Davis and Ben Warnick, Spanish Fork; won first place in the welding fabrication team competition.

Other SkillsUSA winners included Chloe Wilson, Springville, who won first place in Job Skills Demonstration for blue print reading in welding and Marriah Peet, Price, who won second place in Job Skills

education, Eastern’s program will admit between 25-100 students. He could not say enough positive statements of how well the local airport lends itself to the new program, “it’s has one of the longest and best maintained runways in the state. The capacity at this airport is tremendous for our students.”

Eastern will start by offering an associate of applied science program using cuttingedge technology with exceptional training to produce high quality pilots and technicians the industry needs. Upon graduation, students will transfer to the Logan for their bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

The professional pilot students can choose an emphasis in fixed wing or rotorcraft. Upon completion of the program, student receive FAA certifications and are trained to be commercial pilots. Maintenance-management students complete courses required for FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) licenses.

Demonstration in phlebotomy. Wilson was also elected as a state officer in SkillsUSA. Parker Humes, Price, won second in small engine repair for the automotive department while Kolton Rhodes, Price, won second in diesel equipment technology and Kayden Gibson, Price, won third in the same category.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. According to its website, “We provide educational programs, events and competitions that support career and technical education (CTE) in the nation’s classrooms.”

9’ 6”

One of the world’s greatest musical instruments found a home at Utah State University Eastern’s music department Nov. 15.

A 2018 Steinway grand piano measuring, 9 feet by 6 feet, will permanently be housed in the Geary Events Center to be used in choir concerts and by professional touring pianists plus cultural and classical groups.

It is housed in a piano garage complete with padding and vents to keep its temperature moderated.

One of the first musicians from Logan to use the piano was Craig Jessop, Ph.D., professor of music and founding dean for the Caine College of the Arts at USU. He conducted a joint community/university concert in January showcasing the piano.

Jessop is also the former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

“Steinway pianos are the crown jewels of pianos,” Larry Martin, USUE music department chair, said. “They are still meticulously hand crafted, much as they did hundreds of years ago.” They carry a sixfigure price tag because the Steinway piano are made by hand and takes up to 11 months to make. Nothing is compromised when constructing a Steinway.

Over 90 percent of professional pianists only play on Steinways which is a good endorsement of the brand, Martin said.

As a note of reference, for those who prefer listening to pianos in rock ‘n’ roll music, Billy Joel and Lady Gaga play on Steinways in their concerts. The quality and sound do not get much better.

Martin organized a music association with community members that will reap benefits for both the university and community. He sees the piano as an investment in the cultural side of music for those who live in Southeastern Utah.

Jordan Wynn

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HEALTH PROGRAMS

With health professions being one of the fastest growing allied-health careers, Utah State University Eastern is expanding its offerings from three to seven programs beginning spring semester 2019. These programs do not include the LPN and RN programs already offered.

According to Michele Lyman, director of Eastern’s health professions, “In addition to phlebotomy, certified nursing assistant, EMT and medical assistant, the university is offering surgical technician, pharmacy technician and medical lab technician.”

These health care professions work in teams to make the system function by providing a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic and

direct patient care and support services that are critical to the other health professionals; they work with and the patients they serve, according to Eastern’s webpage.

Some programs are two-year programs while others are either one or two semesters and one gives a certificate of completion. Some require prerequisites which can be taken at USU Eastern. Concurrent enrollment students can take the prerequisites while in high school and enter a program their freshman year.

The curriculum is standardized across the three campuses: Price, Moab and Blanding with faculty and advisers located on each campus. Some of the classes will be broadcast across USU’s system, Lyman said. Some of the programs require externships: on the job training.

She points out that USU Eastern’s health professions offers programs for many of the fastest growing allied health careers. The goal of each program is to provide excellent training resources for students to enter the workforce

4 USU EASTERN FACULTY Several USU Eastern faculty were promoted in their academic disciplines at Utah State University in Logan in April 2018. According to the academic ranks policy, tenure and tenure-eligible faculty members hold one of the following ranks: instructor, assistant professor, associate professor and professor.

Rachel H. Walton was promoted from associate professor to professor. A graduate of the University of San Francisco where she earned her doctorate degree, Walton spent 30 years in California law enforcement gaining experience in homicide, cold-case homicide, arson, white-collar crime, elder abuse and fraud investigations. She is recognized as an international expert on unresolved “cold case” homicide investigations and has presented at the FBI’s National Academy, US Naval Criminal Investigative Service, American Academy of Forensic Sciences and International Association

for Identification. Her text, “Cold Case Homicide: Practical Investigative Techniques,” is a bench-mark in its field and was the first academic research in the cold case field utilized by law enforcement and academic researchers.

John Weber was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor with tenure.

He earned his doctorate in analytical chemistry at Colorado State University studying photochemistry and solar cells. Weber developed a collaboration with Mike Christiansen (USU Uintah Basin) to co-author a volume in the American Chemical Society Symposium series describing Internet-based tools for teaching chemistry. He serves on the American Chemical Society Exam Institute creating exams for chemistry departments throughout the U.S. and co-chairs Eastern’s safety committee.

Wayne Hatch was promoted from assistant

as well prepared, confident and professional employees.

Students in any of the seven-health care profession programs are eligible for federal funding (FAFSA) or scholarships to help pay their tuition.

The second-floor west wing of the Reeves Building is being remodeled into labs, classrooms and offices for the programs beginning in January 2019. To apply for the programs or talk to an academic adviser, go to the USU Eastern health professions website: usueastern.edu/health-professions/ “There is a desperate need in rural areas for every program we offer,” Lyman said. “As soon as our students graduate, they have a job.

An added bonus is they do not have to move away from their homes to work in the health profession. Jobs are now available throughout rural Utah plus in metropolitan areas.”

professor to associate professor with tenure.

He earned his doctorate in biology at Idaho State University. While at Eastern, he launched the Small World Initiative where students are mentored in screening soil samples for antibiotic-active microbes. In biology, he focuses on sustainability projects including cutting hair for the homeless, instituting recycling at businesses, carpooling, composting, biking to school, picking up trash, refilling bottles and using less energy.

Susan A. Polster was also promoted from associate professor to professor. A graduate of the University of Wyoming where she earned her doctorate degree, she’s spent her career as a journalist. As adviser to The Eagle student newspaper, her students won 17 awards at the Utah Press Association’s annual contest in ‘18, competing against university newspapers in Utah. She is on the Utah College Media Alliance board, Utah Women in Higher Education Network board and chairs the USU Eastern Women’s Conference. Polster was named Utah College Educator of the Year by the AFT.

10•24•25 COUNTRIES, STATES, COUNTIES The enrollment breakdown at Eastern shows students from 10 countries, 25 states and 24 counties.

A diverse population makes up the student body at Eastern this year with students from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Serbia, Sweden and

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the Ukraine attending classes on campus.

Besides Utah, 24 states are represented in the enrollment including Arizona, Illinois, Alaska, Indiana, Idaho, Colorado, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the Commonwealth

of Puerto Rico.

Students from 24 of Utah’s 29 counties make up its student body including Box Elder, Carbon, Emery, Millard, Sanpete, Uintah, Utah, Weber, Cache, Davis, Duchesne, Grand, Iron, Juab, Morgan, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne and Weber counties.

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After serving eight years at the helm of Utah State University Eastern, Chancellor Joe Peterson retired June 30, 2018.

Peterson took over USU Eastern when it merged with USU. Prior to his Eastern appointment, he worked at Dixie State University and Salt Lake Community College in both teaching and administration.

His responsibility was to integrate the Price campus with the Logan campus… a daunting task to change the College of Eastern Utah name after 50 years which morphed from Carbon College for 22 years. After buying into the name change, he believed the best advantages to the merger was the leveraging of resources not available at CEU and the expanded menu of educational offerings.

Under his direction, Eastern’s four-year

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programs grew in numbers and enrollment.

He also saw the campus’ “curb appeal” significantly improve. The last original building on campus was built in 1937 for the welding and automotive departments. It was torn down and replaced with a state-of-theart instructional building for the art, music, theatre, journalism and criminal justice programs.

The 1957 Geary Theatre received a $6.5 million upgrade and a One-Stop Student Services Building was remodeled from the old Workforce Services Building. Two soccer fields were built on the Durrant property north of the old football field and the campus landscaping upgraded significantly.

The athletic program was increased under Peterson with rodeo, mens and womens soccer and womens softball sports added to Eastern’s athletic menu to compete in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

WELDERS IN UNITED STATES

It’s almost like a broken record when another Utah State University Eastern student wins a competition or is named as one of the top welders in the United States.

It happened again when sophomore Jordan Wynn of Roosevelt, made the cut from the top25 welders in the country to the top six and the top three in November ‘18.

Wynn is following in the foot steps of Eastern’s Chandler Vincent who was named the best welder in the U.S. and fifth-best welder last year at the WorldSkills welding competition in the United Arab Emerites.

This is not the first time Wynn followed Vincent. The two grew up together and attended Union High School where they took welding classes from CEU alumni Kevin Mitchell.

Since both of Wynn’s parents are in the medical field, he planned to become a doctor.

His family owns a 110-acre farm in Roosevelt and his dad suggested Jordan take a welding class so he could repair some of the farm equipment. Thus, Wynn took welding in addition medical field classes.

Smiling, Wynn said he used to be a better student before he started welding. “I miss a lot of school because of practice and competitions.”

He gave up his medical school dreams after he fell in love with welding. “Becoming a top-notch welder was never easy and I wasn’t a natural at it, so with hard work and practice, I

am trying to become the best.”

“For me, Eastern has the best finishing school for welding. Students come in with basic-welding skills and the instructors take them to the next level. You get out of the program what you put into it.

“Plus, Eastern has a low teacher-to-student ratio so students have a lot of time working with each of the three instructors,” Wynn said.

He likes attending Eastern because it is located in a small community and in his spare time, he drives the roads in the surrounding hills of Price. However, his spare time amounts to 30 to 40 minutes each day as he starts welding at 6 a.m. seven days a week and welds until 7-8 p.m. He’s in the lab so much, he has a key to the building to let him in early and locks it when he leaves.

“Jordan is more focused and dedicated than any other student I have taught. Somehow, at his age, he understands that he will be able to leverage this experience throughout his career. I don’t know how this sequence of competitions will end, but, I do know that Jordan is a winner regardless of the final tally.”

Lon Youngberg, Eastern welding professor, said.

Wynn and his instructor Mason Winters, returned from Alabama where his competition went from the top six welders to three. “There were some of the best welders I have ever seen,” Wynn said. “They are all nice guys and I was not nervous because all the guys were laid back and I did not feel pressured.

30 YEARS

USU Eastern’s vice chancellor of academic programs replaced Joe Peterson as interim chancellor until December 2018.

Gary Straquadine, Ph.D., has 30 years of experience in higher education including associate dean, department chair, regional campus dean, and vice provost. He worked on USU’s Logan and Tooele campuses before moving to Price.

A native of New Mexico, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in agriculture and extension education at New Mexico State University. His doctorate is in agricultural education from The Ohio State University.

He has a focus on economic and community development. He believes education is an integral and vital part of economic development. The community should look at the university as an economic growth partner so when new industry considers the area, they realize that employees can be trained here and their families can learn here. “We have to do a better job of promoting the benefit of having a strong and robust university in the community.”

He believes the focus for the future is to attract the best and brightest, traditional and non-traditional learners to USU Eastern. To do so, USU Eastern must position itself as a destination campus with a full display of attributes – such as high quality, career channeling academic programs, on-campus housing, athletics, low tuition costs, and a small-town-campus community.

As the premier USU campus off the Wasatch Front, USU Eastern has grown upper division programs and added 23-bachelor and 19- master’sdegree programs. Closely aligned with Logan campus programs, Eastern is positioned as a major partner in cultural enrichment and economic advancement. It is the place and the right time for USU to impact the southeast region of Utah.

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Office of the Chancellor 451 East 400 North Price, UT 84501

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