May 21 & 23, 2003 Highlights
LAEP
Faculty Member Receives National Award
 The
board of trustees of the American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA) recently announced the recipients of its 2003 medals
and awards, and Craig Johnson, a faculty member in Utah State
University's department of landscape architecture and environmental
planning, was included. The announcement was made in Washington,
D.C., and in an ASLA press release.
Johnson will receive the Jot D. Carpenter Medal for his sustained
and significant contribution to landscape architecture education,
the ASLA press release said. This prestigious award is named
for Jot Carpenter, an educator and advocate for landscape architecture
education. His legacy is remembered through this national, annual
award.
A faculty member in LAEP at Utah State for 36 years, Johnson
has influenced the education of hundreds of landscape architects.
He has received university teaching and advising awards five
times and is the recipient of 14 professional awards. In 2002
he won the Wildlife Society's Book of the Year Award for "Conservation
Corridor Planning at the Landscape Level: Managing for Wildlife."
ASLA was founded in 1899 and is the national professional association
for landscape architects, representing more than 13,500 members
nationwide. ASLA promotes the landscape architecture profession
and advances the practice through advocacy, education, communication
and fellowship.
Utah
State Extension in Carbon County:
Reclaiming
the Land and Weeding Out the Invaders
 If
Johnny Pappas does his job right, four years from now you shouldn't
be able to tell that the Startpoint coal mine was there. Pappas
works for the Plateau Mining Corporation restoring mountain
sites to what they would look like if there had been no coal
mine. This is not only important aesthetically, but it is also
a requirement before the mining company can get its $10 million
bond returned.
Carbon County's past and future is tied up in coal mining.
As the old mines play out, reclamation projects begin, and Pappas
relies on Extension to help fight off the noxious weeds that
could spread in and ruin this project.
Pappas and Carbon County Extension agent Marlon Winger are
both on the county weed board constantly monitoring new invasive
species of weeds and testing new methods of control.
Pappas and Winger are united in their mutual hate of weeds.
"This area is ripe for a weed invasion," Pappas says.
"Mining brings in heavy equipment from all over the country,
which brings with it weed seeds from all over the county. Add
to this all the new road the equipment plows up, and you have
a perfect recipe for weed outbreaks."
These weeds can not only ruin all Pappas's hard work, but they
can take over range and farm land and cause more economic and
biodiversity loss than wildfires. Since weeds don't respect
state or county boundaries, Extension has been a key player
in organizing weed control across the state.
To find out more about Carbon
County, click
here. For more about Extension in other counties take the
Extension
tour of Utah.
Utah
State University Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Programs
Receive Morse Gift Agreement
 Linda
Morse and her husband, Wendell, recently announced the formation
of the Morse Gift Agreement, an irrevocable, two-life insurance
policy gift worth $100,000. The gift will benefit Utah State's
department of English, theatre arts department and the Nora
Eccles Harrison Museum of Art.
"Fifty thousand dollars of the gift will support cultural
outreach endeavors and faculty development in the department
of English," Linda said.
Her involvement with the department over the past several years
has been deep and varied, and includes teaching, developing
curricula and coordinating the undergraduate internship program.
She currently serves as the department's development director.
Her husband has a long relationship with Utah State as well.
Not only did he earn his degree in landscape architecture here;
of his 31 years at Utah State, he spent 18 as director of Campus
Planning. One of his proudest accomplishments in that capacity
was helping secure funds for the restoration of the Caine Lyric
Theatre. "I wanted to continue my support of this great
resource for our campus and community," he said.
To that end, $25,000 of the gift from the Morse Gift Agreement
will be used to support capital improvements to the Caine Lyric
Theatre.
The remaining $25,000 of the endowment will be used to support
the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum's public school outreach programs.
"Our lives have been enriched in many ways through our
association with Utah State, both its programs and its wonderful
people," Linda said. "This gift is an expression of
our gratitude for all we've received from being part of this
great institution. And we can also help Utah State to continue
enhancing the cultural life of the community.
Eccles
Foundation Helps Launch Touchpoints Site at Utah State University
A $200,000 gift from the George S. and Dolores Eccles Foundation
has provided the initial funding for a Touchpoints site at Utah
State University, the first such site in the intermountain region.
Eventually, as more funding is raised, the site will expand
its services into surrounding states without Touchpoints sites.
Touchpoints was conceived by Harvard pediatrician T. Berry
Brazelton, known worldwide for his advice about the touchpoints,
or transitions, that occur throughout a child’s development.
Because of his dual training in medicine and psychoanalysis,
Brazelton has greatly influenced parenting styles and public
policy.
"Ideal baby," "energy sink," "rebel
without a cause"— Brazelton has labeled each transition
as memory aids for today's harried parents. The first three
years of life are especially critical, according to Brazelton.
These are truly the formative years, when 90 percent of the
neurological connections are made that determine language, sight
and hearing.
The Western Regional Touchpoints Site in Utah State's College
of Education and Human Resources will pass on Brazelton's advice
in workshops with Early Head Start staff. Eventually these same
services will be offered to Baby Watch and health-care agency
staff. The goal is to educate the educators of Utah's parents.
Educating the educators will help improve Utah's statistics,
said Annette Thompson, who wrote the grant for the project,
which will be overseen by Utah State's Emma Eccles Jones Early
Childhood Center.
What are the statistics for Utah that Touchpoints site administrators
hope to modify?
• The percentage of child-bearing adults with mental
health problems exceeds the national average by eight percent.
• A child is abused or neglected every hour.
• Teen suicide rate is twice the national average.
• Eight children under age nine committed suicide in
2001.
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