April 22-25, 2003 Highlights
Utah
State Alumnus Awarded Business Professional Achievement Award
 February's
Customer Service and Marketing seminar at Utah State University
had an added feature when alumnus Kay L. Toolson was given the
Business Professional Achievement Award for his extensive work
in the recreational vehicle industry.
"Kay Toolson has had an extraordinary career and has helped
set the standard for excellence in the recreational vehicle
industry," said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of the College
of Business. "We are pleased to give him this award, and
we hope that many other Utah State graduates will follow in
his footsteps."
Toolson, CEO and chairman of Monaco Coach Corporation, completed
his bachelor's degree in business administration from Utah State
in 1968. Following his graduation, he accepted a position with
Xerox corporation and returned to Utah State in 1970, earning
his master of business administration through Xerox's continuing
education program.
In 1972 Toolson started his career in the recreational vehicle
industry as product manager for Kings Highway Mobile Industries
in Los Angeles, where he later held positions of national sales
manager and vice president. In 1982, Toolson joined motorhome
manufacturer Executive Industries as a minority owner and executive
vice president of operations.
Toolson moved to Eugene, Ore., in 1986 where he joined Monaco
Coach Corporation (MCC) and completed a management buyout of
the company in 1993. Following the buyout, MCC conducted an
initial public stock offering with shares listed on NASDAQ,
and in 1996 the company completed a $60 million acquisition
of Holiday Rambler Recreational Vehicles, a brand previously
owned by Harley-Davidson. MCC joined the New York Stock Exchange
in 1998, and, as part of the listing ceremony, Toolson and his
management team were invited to New York to ring the NYSE opening
bell.
During Toolson's tenure with MCC, the company has grown from
a small, specialty recreational vehicle manufacturer, recording
$17 million in annual revenue, to a 5,000-employee company producing
a broad spectrum of recreational vehicles with annual revenues
in excess of $1.2 billion.
Utah
State Extension in Duchesne County:
Solving
the Cattle Feed Equation
 Lee
Carter went to Utah State to University and received his degree
in computational mathematics, but like many people he was drawn
back to the family ranching business when his father died.
He and his brother raise about 300 head of purebred Angus beef
cattle on 320 acres that border the Ute reservation and the
High Uintahs near Mountain Home.
"My undergrad degree in mathematics helped me learn how
to think and solve problems, which has come in handy managing
the ranch in these tough times," Carter explains.
"This has been the worst drought in at least the last
80 year, and Extension has been helping me get the most out
of my pastures and feed resources," Carter continues. "Troy
Cooper, the Duchesne County Extension agent, has helped me balance
rations and find new sources of food so that I don't have to
buy so much hay. If I had to rely on hay I probably would go
broke this year.
"He has helped with soil tests and had some of the campus
Extension specialists down here to help me get a grant from
SARE [Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education],"
Carter says. "Extension has been both proactive and reactive.
They help answer my questions when I have them, but they also
come by and offer solutions that I hadn't even thought of."
To find out more
about Duchesne County, click
here. For more about Extension in other counties take the
Extension
tour of Utah.
Utah
State University Names 2003 Undergraduate Research Mentors of
the Year
The Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award fosters
and rewards excellence in involving and guiding students in
scholarly research. To qualify for the award, faculty members
must demonstrate a sustained record of mentoring undergraduates
in research projects, working with students to disseminate the
results through professional meetings or publications, and having
an impact on students' careers as they move to graduate school
or employment. At Utah State University, a Carnegie designated
research-intensive institution, research is not a distraction
from undergraduate education but an enhancement. Unlike many
other research universities, undergraduates have not been forgotten
but engage in hands-on learning, working with faculty experts.
College of Agriculture: Jeanette Norton -- Plants, Soils,
and Biometeorology
Since 1996, Dr. Norton has mentored 12 undergraduate students
in soil microbiology research activities. Students have been
involved in a variety of projects related to the ecology and
molecular biology of nitrifying bacteria in agricultural soils.
The research opportunities in the field and laboratory have
enabled Dr. Norton to pen excellent letters of recommendations
for students to pursue graduate studies in soil science, medical,
dental, and other fields.
College of Business: E. Bruce Godfrey -- Economics
Dr. Godfrey has a number of applied research projects funded
by various groups and agencies that has allowed him to employ
advanced undergraduates so that they have real-world experience
in using economics in solving problems. A number of the projects
have resulted in publications and research reports published
in annual issues of Utah Agricultural Statistics. Two of Dr.
Godfrey's students have won awards from the American Agricultural
Economics Association.
College of Education: Tamara Ferguson -- Psychology
Professor Ferguson is not only a premier scholar but involves
undergraduates extensively in scholarly activities. The list
of undergraduates who have worked directly with her on their
own original projects is extensive, dating back to the start
of her career at USU. Dr. Ferguson has promoted the research
efforts of undergraduates at national and international conferences
and in publications in undergraduate research journals, as well
as the premier journals in social and developmental psychology.
College of Engineering: Robert E. Spall -- Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Spall exemplifies the true academic researcher. His classroom
teaching is amplified and illuminated by his extensive research,
and he inspires large numbers of undergraduate students regarding
the excitement of discovery. He has regularly involved undergraduates
in his research throughout his career at USU. Prolific and successful
at writing proposals and obtaining outside support for his research,
Dr. Spall has also financially supported undergraduate students.
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences: John
Seiter -- Languages, Philosophy, and Speech Communication
Students testify that Dr. Seiter "takes the initiative
to approach students regarding conference paper submissions
and graduate school opportunities." As a result, over a
short period of 6 years, 23 of Dr. Seiter's students have published
or presented research at professional conferences—20 of
them undergraduates. Another 30 are conducting research this
summer in what students call a "challenging and rewarding"
environment of learning. "He is an amazing and generous
mentor, a true role model."
College of Natural Resources: Mark Brunson -- Environment
and Society
Dr. Brunson works with students interested in understanding
relationships that exist between society and natural settings,
and how public information and education can be designed to
help people live in better harmony with nature. His undergraduate
research assistants have worked in locations both familiar and
exotic, from the College of Natural Resources itself (studies
of the benefits of the Rhetoric Associates program, and of the
motives and career goals of CNR students) to the jungles of
Puerto Rico (knowledge and attitudes of freshwater shrimp fishers)
and agricultural villages of northwestern Mexico (factors influencing
poor families' use of straw-bale home construction methods).
College of Science: Dennis Welker -- Biology
Dr. Welker has engaged undergraduates in research efforts for
the past 18 years, leaving a positive impact on their lives
and careers. He has guided the research activities of 32 students,
often two or three at a time. His students have been the recipients
of numerous awards and fellowships as well as co-authoring a
number of significant journal articles and presentations at
professional meetings.
University Extension: Richard Etchberger -- USU-Uintah
Basin
One of three USU nominees for the 2001 Carnegie Professor of
the Year, Dr. Etchberger is one of those unique individuals
who see opportunity at every corner. His students experience
research in wildlife management and wildlife resources firsthand
through his extensive research program. State and federal natural
resources personnel consistently remark on Dr. Etchberger's
joining of teaching and research that involves undergraduates
in meaningful ways. He is an excellent role model for his students,
exemplifying excellence in teaching, research and service.
Utah
State Students Join the Ranks of Phi Kappa Phi
The Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) Honor Society held its spring initiation
ceremony on Monday, April 21 at the Taggart Student Center,
and Utah State students were there to be inducted in droves.
Invitations to the society are based on academic achievements
and exemplary character. Candidates are selected from the upper
five percentile of last-term juniors and the upper ten percentile
of seniors. Also eligible are outstanding students, professional
staff, faculty and alumni.
PKP is a selective honor society and is dedicated to recognizing
and promoting academic excellence within all fields of higher
education. It has more than one million members and includes
former President, Jimmy Carter; Nobel Prize Winner, George Olah;
Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation; and
Merlin Olsen, NFL Hall of Famer.
Phi Kappa Phi awards $380,000 annually in national fellowships
for first-year graduate study. Since 1980, sixteen Utah State
nominees have won national fellowships.
This year, Marriner Merrill, Utah State's candidate for 2003,
is a PKP National Fellowship winner and will be awarded $8000
for graduate school. Merrill is currently working on his B.S.
in mechanical engineering and will graduate from Utah State
this May. He is a University Club Scholarship recipient and
was recognized as one of the top students in his class with
an academic excellence award in the department of mechanical
and aerospace engineering. He has served as an Engineering Ambassador,
working with local high school students, as an E- Council member
and as a tutor and research assistant.
During his time at Utah State, he has researched thermoacoustics,
a new science that uses sound waves to transfer heat, creating
refrigeration with no moving parts. He plans to further his
education, working toward a master's and a doctorate degree.
The following are listings of PKP Honor Society inductees from
Utah State:
College of Agriculture --
- J. Earl Creech
- Jacqueline Vollmar Freshwater
- Kimberly K. Harper
- Heather Elizabeth Nemanic
- Annemarie Wanagel
College of Business --
- Michael J. Baker
- Kristin Galloway
- Beth M. Anderson Gard
- Judy H. Gibbons
- Matthew A. Klingler
- Taylor S. Leavitt
- Mark Richard Seely
- Brian Kent Smedley
- Ann Song
- Debbie F. Spafford
- Christopher Alan Tryba
Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
- Vanessa Ballam Brenchley
- Tori Edwards
- Bruce Willard Esplin
- Kathryn A. Fifield
- Alisha A. Geary
- Jerilyn Hansen
- Joanna Hooste
- Marianne Noyes
- Cassandra E. Orr
- Stacie Palmer
- Brit C. Petersen
- Sarah C. Wegener
College of Natural Resources
College of Science
College of Education
- April Ann Aston
- Janice E. Becker
- Joseph M. Chambers
- Sharon R. Dover
- Valerie Demonja Elder
- Karen Jo Morgan Kamalu
- Robert Samuel Naylor
- McKinsey T. Robertson
- Nanci L. Saurdiff
- Cindy Rohde Stokes
- James R. Taggart
- Michael R. Thompson
- Kelli Anne Witt
College of Engineering
- Nicholas Robert Alley
- Robert L. Blaser
- Travis K. Bodily
- Yaroslav V. Bogatov
- Zachary J. Casper
- Sachin Ramesh Chandra
- Spencer Fugal
- Rebecca Rae Goode
- Michal Hradisky
- Erick R. John
- Jason R. Mckellar
- Marriner Hyde Merrill
- Kody L Nelson
- Kevin M. Nielsen
- Eric C. Olsen
- Karen Perry
- Brad D. Petersen
- Jeremy James Shaffer
- Bassell N. Timani
For more information on Phi Kappa Phi, see the national Web
site at www.phikappaphi.org.
utah
state today/archives/April
2003/archives
prior to Sept 2002/
Brought
to you by Utah State University Public Relations and Marketing
|