November 5, 2002 News Releases
Released 11/1/02 & 11/4/02
STUDENTS
RAISE MORE THAN $16,000 IN MEMORY OF THE LATE UTAH STATE ALUMNUS
JEFF HOBBS
LOGAN — A tragedy in the life of a local family has touched
the hearts of students at Utah State University. Fourteen students
formed a committee known as The Legacy of Life and raised more
than $16,000 in goods and services to aid the Hobbs family.
Utah State alumnus, Jeff Hobbs passed away September 15, 2002,
from complications of cancer, leaving behind his wife and young
son. Hobbs was 27 years old. The Legacy of Life committee is
holding a banquet, sponsored by Cafe Sabor restaurant at 600
West Center Street in Logan, Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 5:30 p.m.
They will present the donations to Jeff’s wife, Haley,
that night. An informal press conference will be held prior
to the dinner beginning at 4:45 p.m. at the same location.
Nearly three years ago, Jeff and Haley were married. Shortly
after their honeymoon, Jeff was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
In an effort to treat the cancer, Jeff underwent chemotherapy
and the family spent thousands of dollars on trips to Portland,
Oregon, for treatments by a world-renowned specialist. Despite
all efforts, Jeff passed away leaving behind his wife and little
boy.
The Legacy of Life committee held a benefit concert Oct. 10
at Utah State University where three local student bands donated
their time and talents. More than $2,300 in cash was raised.
Approximately $14,025 was also donated in goods and services
from Cache Valley companies. All donations will go to Haley
Hobbs. Among the donors were radio stations KVFX and Q92, Coca-Cola,
Lees Market Place, Al’s Sporting Goods, Lowe’s Hardware,
Chile’s restaurant, Staples and Kinko’s. Other sponsors
included the Utah National Guard, Utah State ROTC, The College
of Business, Department of Management and Human Resources and
The College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.
November 4, 2002
Contact: Legacy of Life Committee
Benjamin Pedersen, bdpedersen@cc.usu.edu, (435) 232-6623
Neal Jeppson, nbj@cc.usu.edu, (435) 764-3990
UTAH STATE
RESEARCHER RECEIVES HUMANITARIAN AWARD
LOGAN — Utah State University professor Vijendra Kumar
Singh took home honors recently as one of 12 recipients of the
O. Spurgeon English Humanitarian Award from the National Foundation
for Alternative Medicine and Temple University in Philadelphia.
Singh, a research associate professor in the biology department
and Biotechnology and Genomics Research Center, was honored
for his distinguished autism research.
The English Humanitarian Award is given annually to recognize
special contributions to science and medicine. Those honored
have toiled years, or even decades, to bring forward new knowledge
for the benefit of people.
“The people honored with this award are pioneers who are
on the frontier of science and medicine,” said Clancy
McKenzie, chairman for the department of behavioral medicine
at the Capital University of Integrative Medicine in Washington,
D.C. “Many of them have encountered harsh resistance in
bringing forward their new works, yet the frontier is where
new discoveries are made. We want to bring more public awareness
to their unique revelations, so that the multitudes might benefit
sooner from their findings.”
Singh is an internationally recognized authority on viral-autoimmunity
and autism connection who is committed to finding the cause,
treatment and cure for people with neurological diseases and
psychiatric disorders, said the organization’s committee
members.
“I was surprised and satisfied to receive this award,”
said Singh. “As a scientist you want to see that your
research has direct application. It is nice to know that my
research is making an impact on mankind. It truly is a humbling
experience.”
Dr. O. Spurgeon English was professor and department chairman
of psychiatry at Temple University from 1933 to 1964, and continued
to teach as a guest lecturer until his death in 1993. He was
dedicated to a career of teaching and helping people in his
practice of psychiatry for more than 65 years. The awards began
in 2001 to honor English.
Singh received the award along with former First Lady Betty
Ford and Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash, Jr.
For more information on Singh and his research, call him at
(435) 797-7193.
November 4, 2002
Contact: Vijendra Singh (435) 797-7193
Writer: Maren Cartwright (435) 797-1355
UTAH STATE JOURNALISM
PROFESSOR EXAMINES WAR AND THE PRESS
LOGAN — After September 11, 2001, when the National Geographic
Society wanted a close look at how we learn about war, the editors
called on Mike Sweeney.
Sweeney, a Utah State University journalism professor and media
historian, teamed up with the National Geographic Society to
produce a stunning and comprehensive picture of how journalists
go to war, and how they tell the rest of us what horrors and
heroism they see there.
The result is “From the Front: The Story of War,”
a compelling, 320-page examination of war and the role of journalists
and photographers who have risked their lives to record the
images and stories of conflict from the front lines and send
them back home.
“For two centuries journalists have gone to war,”
Sweeney writes. “Many … have fought their own battles
against government and military officials because they think
the public has the right to know the news. … When they
succeed — when they get it right despite all obstacles
— war correspondents can shake the world.”
As befits a National Geographic product, this history of how
humans have recorded and told the story of war is stunningly
illustrated with some of the most famous — and some much
rarer — images of some of the greatest armed conflicts
of all time. What is different about war in recent times is
that it is often not only recorded by journalists in the line
of fire, but almost
instantaneously reported back to the home front.
“From Homer’s ‘Iliad’ to ‘The
Song of Roland’ to Tolstoy’s epic ‘War and
Peace,’ the story of war has always been a central part
of the human narrative,” observes the book jacket. “Only
in the past century and a half has this story been told as it
unfolded, by a close-knit yet highly competitive group of brave
men and women who have ventured to the front lines armed with
a notebook or a camera to record history as it happens.”
The photographs that accompany Sweeney’s overview of the
press at war are stunning — photojournalists prone on
the ground as they aim cameras at armed rebels in South Africa
in 1994; beautiful and regal lines of troops, cannon and cavalry
in the 1800s; pipe-smoking reporters in suits — like William
Shirer, reporting on Adolph Hitler during the early days of
World War II; children in wartime rubble.
Sweeney’s book examines journalists at war from the Crimea
to Kuwait to the terrorist attacks of September 2001. His work
tells the story of the wartime storytellers from Richard Harding
Davis and publisher William Randolph Hearst’s “splendid
little” Spanish-American War in the late 1800s, to correspondent
Ernie Pyle, Edward R. Murrow and Margaret Bourke White’s
coverage of WWII, to the journalism of the Vietnam era to how
the world came to know the events of 9-11.
The theme throughout Sweeney’s book focuses on how we
— those who were left back at home or who studied war
in later generations — heard the news and, eventually,
learned the truth of war.
“From the Front” offers extraordinary photography,
maps, artwork and compelling text, including firsthand accounts
by journalists on the scene. Among many memorable moments, the
book reveals a close-up view of the ill-fated charge of the
Light Brigade and, later, Custer’s last stand; it remembers
the Spanish Civil War, including accounts of Ernest Hemingway;
relives the London Blitz, with a focus on broadcaster Edward
Murrow; and documents the horrors of the Vietnam conflict.
The book contains often graphic photographs from the archives
of “Life” magazine, from London’s Imperial
War Museum and from dozens of archives and private collections.
Also featured are photo essays by renowned photojournalists
such as Robert Capa, Margaret Bourke-White and Larry Burrows,
as well as text essays by several noted journalists, including
Morley Safer of CBS on the torching of Cam Ne and Paul Steiger
of the “Wall Street Journal” on the death of his
former colleagues Daniel Pearl, Dial Torgerson and Joe Alex
Morris. Award-winning author and journalist David Halberstam,
no doubt reflecting on his own experiences under the guns in
Vietnam, honors those who have brought home the story from the
front.
“[T]hey do it for a combination of reasons,” Halberstam
writes in the foreword to Sweeney’s book. “It is
a great story and it’s where the action is, and it is
for and journalist the ultimate test of resourcefulness and
courage, and it puts you in the company of other exceptional
people taking extraordinary risks.
“But in the end,” Halberstam says, “there’s
something more than that at work, and though it’s often
unstated ... it is about a larger purpose and a belief that
where there is violence and suffering the rest of the world
needs to know.”
Sweeney, whose 2001 book “Secrets of Victory” examined
censorship and the press in the United States during World War
II, says this wider look at the press during wartime has opened
his own eyes and understanding of the potential and responsibility
of journalists during times of crisis.
“As this book shows, some journalists have had a profound
impact, becoming as famous and influential as generals, admirals
and world leaders,” Sweeney says.
“But there are many little-known figures just as important.
“Doing this book has helped me appreciate the sacrifices
that sometimes are made in the name of God and country. Not
just by soldiers and sailors, but also by journalists. They
never have to go to war. They do so voluntarily, because they
believe that the public that decides to fight, should know what
it is fighting for. Take the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
Did you know that through the end of 2001, more journalists
had been killed by hostile forces in Central Asia than American
soldiers?”
Sweeney, a top U.S. expert on issues of press, censorship and
wartime, is a veteran newspaper journalist. He joined the Utah
State journalism faculty in 1996.
(Sweeney, Michael S. FROM THE FRONT: The Story of War: Featuring
Correspondents’ Chronicles (Washington, DC: National Geographic
Books, November 2002) ISBN 0-7922-6919-5)
November 4, 2002
Contact: Michael S. Sweeney (435) 797-3292
UTAH STATE
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WIN AWARDS IN JOURNALISM COMPETITION
LOGAN — Utah State University TV journalism students have
won three awards in regional competition sponsored by the National
Broadcasting Society, including one first place.
Nine Utah State students and two faculty members from the school’s
Journalism and Communication Department attended the NBS-AERho
regional conference Oct. 23 at Weber State University, along
with representatives of colleges across the West, from Arizona
to British Columbia.
Utah State students Mike Chidsey and Claire Dunn won first place
in the 13-state region in the comedy video category, for a segment
on Jell-O wrestling that aired on A-TV News, the campus cable
news program produced in the journalism department. Chidsey
and Dunn's entry goes on to national competition.
A-TV News itself won third place in the region for news programs
produced by broadcast news classes. And in its very first program
ever, the new Kickin’ Aggie Sports Show and its student
producer Michelle Weston won second place in the region for
best sports show. “Kickin’ Aggie Sports Show”
was launched in late September.
Broadcast journalism professor Penny Byrne said she was very
pleased with the showing of her students, even though she had
learned of the contest only three days before the entry deadline.
“It was a scramble, but we know how to perform well on
deadline,” Byrne said. “These kids work hard and
deliver quality programming every week. We’ll do even
better next year.”
The students write, report, shoot and produce two editions of
the 30-minute A-TV News program each week, covering the Utah
State campus and the Cache Valley community. The new half-hour
sports show, which focuses on Utah State athletics, airs weekly.
Byrne said that the contest required students to enter their
first-ever Aggie Sports Show in the sports category, and that
subsequent editions have improved sharply from that award-winning
entry.
Region Seven of the National Broadcasting Society has chapters
in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Texas, plus Alberta and
British Columbia, Canada.
November 4, 2002
Contact: Penny Byrne (435) 797-3289
UTAH STATE PUBLIC
RELATIONS STUDENTS HOST STATEWIDE CONFERENCE
LOGAN — The student public relations society chapter at
Utah State University is hosting a statewide conference this
week, bringing together professional PR practitioners and students
for a half-day series of panels, competitions and idea-exchange.
The program at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, co-sponsored
by the Utah State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society
of America and the Richter7 agency of Salt Lake City, also will
include PR students from the University of Utah and Brigham
Young University.
Utah State senior Jennifer Hawkins, president of the student
PRSSA chapter, said the event will showcase the best and brightest
in Utah. “This is a great chance for PR students to get
together and show off their talents, and a wonderful opportunity
to meet some top PR professionals in the state,” Hawkins
said.
Among the PR professionals who will participate in the conference
are David Allred of the Utah Jazz, Bill Barnes of Primary Children’s
Medical Center, Rob Brough of Zions Bank, Tim Brown of Richter7,
and Randy Ripplinger of the LDS Church public affairs office.
Janet Kacskos, president of the Greater Salt Lake chapter of
the professional Public Relations Society of America, will be
a guest speaker.
Teams of PR students from Utah State, the University of Utah
and BYU compete in an impromptu case study contest, offering
public relations plans responding to scenarios provided on the
spot by members of the Richter7 agency. The teams will be judged
by professionals and university professors.
Utah State public relations professor Les Roka, the advisor
of the student PRSSA chapter, helped set up the first-ever state
conference.
“Bringing students together with professional mentors
for both formal and informal exchange is a valuable learning
experience for everyone,” Roka said. “We are grateful
to our friends at Richter7 and the professional PRSA chapter
for giving students across Utah this
opportunity.”
November 4, 2002
Contact: Les Roka, Ted Pease, Journalism &
Communication Department, 435-797-3292
AWARD-WINNING
PHOTOGRAPHER AND WRITER TO SPEAK AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
LOGAN—Naturalist, writer and photographer Stephen Trimble
will speak at Utah State University as part of the Natural Resource
and Environmental Policy Program Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m.
in the Eccles Conference Center.
Trimble, who lives in Salt Lake City, will read from his book
“Becoming Earl: Landscape, Community and Honor in the
American West.” In this book, he looks at Earl Holden's
efforts to expand the Snowbasin ski area on Mount Ogden through
a controversial land exchange with public lands managed by the
U.S. Forest Service. He also looks at his own purchase of land
near Capitol Reef National Park and what it means to become
a “land developer.”
Trimble has won significant awards for his nonfiction, fiction
and photography, including the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra
Club. His 17 books on western wildlands and native peoples include
“The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin”
and “Testimony: Writers of the West Speak on Behalf of
Utah Wilderness,” co-compiled with Terry Tempest Williams.
“The Natural Resource and Environmental Policy Program
series seeks to stimulate the search for innovative, workable
solutions to challenges involved in developing environmental
policies and to facilitate public involvement in decision-making,”
said Director Joanna Endter-Wada.
Upcoming seminars will feature Lee Austin and Howard Berkes,
with National Public Radio, and Dianne R. Nielson, executive
director of Utah's Department of Environmental Quality.
The series is sponsored by the College of Natural Resources,
the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and the
S.J. and Jesse E. Quinney Foundation.
For more information, contact Judith Kurtzman at 435-797-0922.
November 4, 2002
Writer: Nadene Steinhoff, nadene.Steinhoff@usu.edu, 435-797-1429
Contacts: Shauna Leavitt, 435-797-2797, sleavitt@cc.usu.edu
and Judith Kurtzman, judyk@cnr.usu.edu
UTAH STATE’S
VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM SPONSORS ART CRITIC
LOGAN — Jerry Saltz, New York art critic with “The
Village Voice” and contributing editor for “Art
in America,” is the final speaker for fall semester as
part of the Utah State University Visiting Artist Program, announced
Director Marilyn Krannich. Saltz is a 2001 nominee and finalist
for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism and advisor for the 1995
Whitney Biennial.
A public lecture is part of Saltz’s activities at Utah
State. He speaks Monday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Conference
Center room 216. The lecture, “The Good, the Bad, and
the Very Bad: Several Years in the Life of an Art Critic,”
is free and open to the public.
Saltz refers to this talk “as a slide lecture, a ramble,
a rant.” He will discuss work that he likes and some that
he doesn’t. A reception follows the lecture in the Eccles
Conference Center foyer. Organizers remind regular visiting
artist patrons that this is a location change from the usual
Fine Arts Center site.
The Visiting Artist Program brings nationally and internationally
known artists and art writers to campus to lecture about their
own work and to interact with students, faculty and members
of the community. It is based in the Department of Art.
“Each of these art critics and writers explores the humanities
in their work, writing about relationships between the arts,
philosophy, religion, literature, history or aesthetics,”
Krannich said. “They help us understand the arts as they
relate to our complex society. Offering the perspective of an
art critic such as Saltz adds a great deal to the breadth of
the program.”
Saltz has lectured at numerous schools and museums, including
Harvard University, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American
Art (New York) and the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis). Saltz
currently teaches at Columbia University’s School of Art,
the School of Visual Arts, Yale University’s Department
of Photography and serves as adjunct professor at his alma mater,
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to “The
Village Voice” and “Art in America,” Saltz
has written for “Frieze,” “Parkett,”
“The New Art Examiner” and “Rolling Stone.”
The Visiting Artist Program is supported by a generous grant
from the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. Additional funding is
provided by the Utah Humanities Council, an affiliate of the
National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Utah Arts Council,
an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information about the Visiting Artist Program at Utah
State, contact program Director Marilyn Krannich, 435-797-7373.
November 4, 2002
Contact: Marilyn Krannich (435) 797-7373
UTAH STATE NEWS RELEASES FOR 11-01-02
LOGAN, USU,
PARTNER TO BUILD PORTION OF SHORELINE TRAIL
LOGAN — Logan City and Utah State University have signed
an agreement providing Logan easement across university property
for what will eventually become the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
This two-mile segment, located east of the Logan Golf and Country
Club, is pivotal in the eventual linking of Logan Canyon to
Green Canyon in North Logan. Once completed, it will be the
Cache Valley extension of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, expected
to be completed by the fall of 2003, said Russ Akina, Logan
City Parks and Recreation director.
The Bonneville Shoreline Trail was designated as Utah’s
Millennium Legacy Trail by Gov. Mike Leavitt and the Utah Legislature
in 1999. The purpose of the trail is to link communities that
today fall along the ancient Lake Bonneville shoreline terrace,
including communities in Juab, Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber,
Box Elder, and Cache counties.
Over the past 10 years, a coalition of trail advocates have
already successfully established trail segments in many of these
communities. When completed, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail
will extend from Cache County to Juab County.
However, several hurdles lie ahead before the trail can be completed
including land ownership and development, Akina said.
Locally, the trail will connect the Logan city limits along
the east bench with its neighbors to the north and south. The
trail runs along the deer fence trail on the southeast bench
to Logan’s Dry Canyon. From Dry Canyon, the trail enters
surface streets and city rights-of-way, reaching the mouth of
Logan Canyon. From the mouth of Logan Canyon, the trail heads
north along the bench parallel to the Mount Naomi Wilderness
and continues to the north city limits of Logan ending at Green
Canyon.
“The Cache portion of the trail is not without its landowner
and development issues,” Akina said. “The trail
corridor takes into account private property concerns, looks
at alternatives, and establishes appropriate linkages with respect
to these concerns.”
The Logan segment of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail is designed
to be a public non-motorized recreation trail. The segment from
Logan Canyon north is progressing well, Akina said.
In addition to the recreational values associated with the trail,
Akina said it will also serve as a fuel/fire break for controlling
wildfires. This will be done by planting native low-fuel burning
vegetation on the shoulders of the trail as recommended by the
Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands and the U.S.
Forest Service. A list of recommended low-fuel burning plant
species was developed by Mike Kuhns, Utah State University Extension
forester with the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
The joint effort between the university and the city of Logan
is a good example of cooperation in areas of mutual interest
that ultimately benefits the community, said Dale Huffaker,
USU director of Real Property.
Akina said the city hopes to work cooperatively with Utah State
in developing a native plant arboretum to grow low-fuel burning
plants that will shoulder the trail. Land for the proposed native
arboretum is being donated to the city by the Thurston Family.
The 8.33 acres of donated land along the bench in Logan will
contain a portion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail east of
the Castle Hills subdivision in Logan. The vegetation development
area will be named the LaMar and Bonnie Thurston Native Plant
Arboretum. The city hopes to work closely with Utah State’s
extension services in growing the vegetation. It is an area
considered ideal for native plant growth, Akina said.
Local trail advocates such as the Bear River Association of
Governments, Utah Conservation Corps, Bridgerland Mountain Bike
Patrol, Cache Valley Joyriders, among others, have assisted
in the trail project.
For more information about the project, contact the Bear River
Association of Governments at 435-752-7242 or the Logan Parks
and Recreation Department at 435-713-9240.
Nov. 1, 2002
Contacts: Russ Akina, 435-713-9240
Dale Huffaker, 435-797-1148
John DeVilbiss, 435-797-1358
UTAH STATE POLITICAL
SCIENCE STUDENTS PREDICT U.S. ELECTION RESULTS
LOGAN —Utah State University political science students
will find out Nov. 6 if their forecasts for the 2002 U.S. congressional
and gubernatorial elections are as accurate as they hope they
are.
Political science students confidently predicted the outcome
of 32 of the most competitive political races in the United
States, whose outcome will determine the majority in the House
of Representatives and Unites States Senate next week.
Professor Michael Lyons created this project for students in
his “Political Science Research Methods” class (Poli
Sci 3000) to encourage them to make educated predictions based
on careful research and political intuition.
“This election has been the most analyzed congressional
race in history,” said Lyons. “It is exceedingly
difficult to forecast this year’s election results, where
there are so many factors that will affect voter decisions.
I suspect the student’s predictions are as accurate as
any other analysts could be in a year like this.”
Students, in their research, discovered that Democratic or Republican
control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on the election in Minnesota,
where incumbent Democrat Paul Wellstone died in an airplane
crash Friday, Oct. 25. Otherwise, the Democrats appear to be
likely to control 50 Senate seats after the election, with the
Republicans controlling 49, the students predictions show. Several
Senate races are, however, excruciatingly close, and are still
described as “too close to call” by analysts, including
congressional election expert Charlie Cook.
In addition to Minnesota, Senate races warranting particularly
close attention include South Dakota, where Democratic Senator
Tim Johnson faces Republican Rep. Tom Thune; Colorado, where
Republican Senator Wayne Allard could lose his seat to Democrat
Tom Strickland; and New Hampshire where Democratic Gov. Jeanne
Shaheen and Republican Rep. John E. Sununu appear to be locked
in a dead heat.
If class predictions for the other 30 Senate races hold up,
Republican victories in three of these four contests would result
in a 50-50 partisan division of the Senate, handing the Republicans
control by virtue of Vice President Cheney’s tie breaking
vote. Currently, the students give the nod to Thune, Strickland
and Sununu, leaving Minnesota as the state to decide the majority.
These conclusions were drawn from independent research conducted
by each student. Students in Lyons’ class began their
research by evaluating the political history and demographic
composition of their assigned districts or states. They then
assessed personal strengths and weaknesses of the candidates;
their finances, their campaign strategies and their use of television.
Their assignment involved 8-10 pages of writing plus the compilation
of an extensive appendix of newspaper articles and source materials.
Students familiarize themselves with the use of political science
research sources and organized the information into cogent political
analysis.
Student Jamie Nelson has been studying Minnesota and the Senatorial
race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Paul Wellstone.
Many feel the Minnesota race will most likely determine whether
Democrats or Republicans will have the majority in the Senate,
which will affect how the U.S. government will function over
the next two years.
Nelson explains that Coleman was St. Paul’s mayor, and
Wellstone had been the Senator for Minnesota for the past 12
years, up until his recent death.
“Before his tragic death in a plane crash, Wellstone had
gained a slight lead in the polls that have been neck and neck,”
said Nelson. “Now the Democratic party will run Walter
Mondale in his place. Historically sympathy votes have given
dead candidates and their parties significant leads. In a similar
situation in 2000, Missouri’s Carnahan was also very close
in the polls to his competitor. When he died in a plane crash
a few days before the election, his support base expanded significantly,
and he was, although dead, still elected .”
Nelson has kept her eye on Mondale and his Senatorial appointment,
hoping to anticipate every move he and the Democratic party
will make. So far Nelson has been right on the money with her
predictions and, if she is correct, Mondale will win his electoral
race. This prediction echoes Lyons’ statement that “dead
congressional candidates seldom lose.”
Nelson is not alone in her predictions. Other students see daily
polls that coincide with their predictions.
“I have excellent students in my class,” said Lyons.
“They have demonstrated enthusiasm that has greatly impressed
me .”
Lyons and his students have made tentative plans to throw a
pizza party the night of elections, so they can compare their
predictions to actual results. They all have a feeling they
are going to be right on.
November 1, 2002
Writer: Mykel France, (435) 797-1351
Contact: Public Relations & Marketing, (435) 797-1351
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS DONATE OLYMPIC MONEY FOR SCHOLARSHIP
LOGAN — Hundreds of Utah college students had the opportunity
last February to work at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City,
in the process taking home valuable experience to use in both
their personal and professional lives. Some Utah State University
students decided to give something back.
Students in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department
at Utah State joined together to use some of the money they
earned at the Olympics to start a $10,000 scholarship for other
students at the university.
“This is a truly important moment: students were willing
to give up their own earnings to help fellow students,”
said HPER Department Head Art Jones. “This is an example
of students who became selfless in a world that is full of cynicism.”
Jones said 70 students from the department worked as event service
coordinators for a month at the Olympics. He said that the department
decided that because of its interest in health, physical education
and outdoor recreation, the Olympics would provide a perfect
opportunity for students to practice what they preach.
Jones contacted the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, and the
Olympics staff made a deal with the Utah State interns —
those who stayed the full duration would receive an extra dollar
an hour. The students, in turn, decided they would donate that
extra money, along with a portion of department money, to establish
the scholarship endowment.
“This endowment shows how the Olympics benefitted Utah
State,” said Nate Trauntvein, a senior parks and recreation
major. “It’s a way for us to give back to the department.”
Funds for the endowment are being kept in the university scholarship
account and will be available to deserving students in the HPER
department.
“We put in a lot of long hours,” said Trauntvein.
“I met a lot of great people and great athletes and had
a lot of fun. We decided that now it was time to give something
back.”
In honor of their donation, a plaque was presented to the students
at a recent ceremony in the department. For information or to
donate to the scholarship fund, call College of Education development
director Frank Stewart, 435-797-1611, or Jones, 435-797-1499.
Nov. 1, 2002
Contact: Art Jones (435) 797-1499
Writer: D’Artagnon Wells (435) 797-1350
EDUCATION AND
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENTS AWARDED $1.5 MILLION GRANT
LOGAN — The National Science Foundation awarded the
Psychology and Elementary Education departments of Utah State
University $1.5 million to build an innovative mentoring program
for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
project directors.
The grant was a collaborative effort between faculty in psychology,
elementary education and political science departments. College
representatives included primary investigator professor Blaine
Worthen, associate professor George Julnes, associate professor
Jim Dorward of the Elementary Education Department and Patria
deLancer-Julnes from the political science department.
This project will address the need for improved evaluations
of STEM projects by establishing collaborations that develop
and test more sophisticated evaluation models. The grant also
supports the development of professional communities of teachers,
researchers, evaluators, cognitive and social scientists for
continued improvement.
“We will be working primarily with project directors within
the Mathematics Science Partnership initiative (part of President
Bush's No Child Left Behind education package),” associate
professor Jim Dorward said. “We will establish an Evaluation
Assistance Network and convene regional working meetings to
improve the quality of NSF program evaluation."
There were more than 70 proposals submitted and six were funded.
Utah State was among only two university-sponsored projects
that were funded.
“This award, with its close association with the MSP initiative,
is an endorsement, to some degree, of the national reputation
afforded to USU's evaluation faculty and graduate program,”
said Dorward.
The National Science Foundation funds research and education
in science and engineering. It does this through grants, contracts
and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities
and other research and education institutions in all parts of
the United States. The foundation accounts for about 20 percent
of federal support to academic institutions for basic research.
November 1, 2002
Contact: Jim Dorward (435) 797-0397
Writer: D’Artagnon Wells (435) 797-1350
NOTED LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECT TO SPEAK AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
LOGAN — Noted landscape architect Alan Ward speaks at
Utah State University Friday, Nov. 15, at 2:30 p.m. in the Taggart
Student Center Auditorium on campus. Ward’s visit is sponsored
by a grant awarded to Utah State’s Landscape Architecture
and Environmental Planning Department (LAEP) and the Department
of Art by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. The public is invited
to this presentation titled “On Making Icons: Photography,
Design and the Landscape.”
“Alan Ward is a principal in one of the country’s
most prestigious landscape architecture firms,” said Mike
Petry, a student in the LAEP department and program coordinator.
“His visit benefits many at Utah State, including students
and faculty in the LAEP and art departments, as well as members
of the community at large. We expect students and professionals
from the region, from Park City to Jackson Hole, to attend this
presentation.”
According to LAEP faculty member John Ellsworth, Ward’s
visit and lecture will provide an insight into the relationship
between landscape architecture and art as expressed through
photography.
Several of Ward’s photographic prints will be displayed
in the cases located in the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum foyer
and on the first floor of the northwest wing in the Fine Arts
Visual building. The prints can be seen Nov. 4–15.
Ward’s visit is part of a three-year speakers series supported
by a grant from the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. A goal of
the series is to bring working professional landscape architects
who are also recognized artists to campus. One professional
of note will appear each semester, and Ward’s appearance
is the third in the series that originated with last year’s
visit by Robert Irwin and Andrew Spurlock.
Ward is a member of the internationally recognized landscape
architecture firm Sasaki Associates located in Watertown, Mass.
He joined the firm in 1978 and is a design principal on planning,
landscape and urban design projects. He has provided design
leadership and overview on a variety of projects ranging from
resort planning and design to large-scale urban development.
His professional practice includes the design of new and historic
urban open spaces; downtown development feasibility studies;
district-wide planning and urban design; sports facilities planning
and design and the planning and design of mixed-use centers
and urban waterfronts.
Ward’s design work, teaching and speaking have focused
on town planning and urban design. He has served on national
awards juries for Progressive Architecture and the American
Society of Landscape Architects. He has taught both architecture
(Ball State University) and landscape architecture (Harvard
Graduate School of Design) and is the author and photographer
of “American Designed Landscapes: A Photographic Interpretation,”
published by Spacemaker Press in 1998.
“We’re excited to have Alan Ward join us at Utah
State,” Petry said. “He will bring insights that
are multi-disciplinary and his lecture will appeal to many.”
Sasaki Associates is the firm working with Utah State to develop
a master plan for campus.
The next speaker in this series is Martha Schwartz, head of
Martha Schwartz, Inc. (MSI), a firm formed in 1990 to provide
a full range of landscape design services. The practice has
evolved from providing landscape design services primarily for
private sector urban environments to large-scale public projects,
land reclamation and planning studies. MSI is based in Cambridge,
Mass.
For information on the LAEP speaker series sponsored by the
Marie Eccles Caine Foundation that features landscape architect
artists, contact John Ellsworth at (435) 797-0500.
November 1, 2002
Contact: John Ellsworth (435) 797-0500
Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH PROF AND VICTORIANIST TAKES A LOOK AT “WESTERNS”
LOGAN — Taking a break from his scholarly work on the
Victorian novel, Utah State University associate professor Brian
McCuskey will present “The Wild West on Film” Nov.
12 at high noon in the Utah State Haight Alumni Center. A light
lunch will be served during this free presentation, and the
public is invited. The event is part of the Utah State Department
of English Speakers Series.
When asked how he got from the novels of Charles Dickens to
films of John Wayne, McCuskey replies, “When I moved west
to join Utah State’s English Department, I decided to
expand my knowledge of nineteenth-century Western American culture
and its representations.”
And he finds that the Western film is full of surprises. “We
tend to think of Westerns as very simple, repetitive morality
plays that pit good guys against bad guys,” says McCuskey.
But closer inspection reveals a different story. “You
realize that the films are less about conflicts between cowboys
and Indians, and more about conflicts within the civilizing
process itself.”
McCuskey notes that John Wayne’s film roles do not always
coincide with his status as American icon. “Wayne often
plays highly conflicted male characters, whose attitudes and
beliefs must ultimately be rejected. Many John Wayne films end
with him being shut out from his community, with him walking
away from the audience.”
McCuskey, who chairs Utah State’s Literary Studies Program,
says that looking at Westerns critically is one way to practice
what he preaches. “I often tell my students that a great
way to hone literary critical skills is to apply them to pop
culture. You can practice being a literary critic while watching
TV or reading magazines, and that, in turn, makes you a sharper
reader of canonical literature.”
The department’s Speaker Series was establish to promote
the value of arts and the humanities in American public life,
said Department Head Jeffrey Smitten. The series features faculty
research accomplishments and noted visiting authors sharing
their work. Next in the series is award-winning poet Pattiann
Rogers. She’ll read from her works at 7 p.m. Dec 5 in
the Eccles Conference Center Auditorium.
November 1, 2002, 2002
Contact: Brian McCuskey (435) 797-0262
Writer: Marina Hall (435) 797-3858 mhall@english.usu.edu
FOURTH ANNUAL
“SOUNDS OF THE STADIUM” CONCERT AT UTAH STATE
LOGAN — The Utah State University Aggie Marching Band
presents its end of the season concert, “Sounds of the
Stadium,” Saturday, Nov. 16, in the Kent Concert Hall
of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus. The concert begins
at 7:30 p.m. and includes musical highlights of the Aggie Marching
Band’s 2002 season, as well as traditional school songs
and fan favorites.
Concert admission is $3, with a family rate of $10. Tickets
are available at the door. Utah State students and school-age
music students are admitted at no cost.
The 2002 edition of the Aggie Marching Band began with preseason
drill in mid-August. The band, numbering 100 members, continues
its annual tradition of striving for the best musical experience
for its students as well as the finest in entertainment for
the Aggie faithful. Season highlights this year included halftime
performances for all Aggie home football games, numerous pep
rallies and the Aggie Homecoming parade.
The band’s percussion section reported to campus Wednesday,
Aug. 14, to audition, establish fundamentals and to prepare
drum cadences before the band at large arrived the following
week. First-year band members arrived Monday, Aug. 19, and were
taught marching fundamentals and traditional school songs by
the band’s student leadership staff — a group of
15
upperclassmen selected through interviews in the spring, representing
each section. The band also includes a student managerial staff
that coordinates clerical items, the inventory of more than
100 instruments, 150 uniforms and the band music library.
An overview of the band’s season includes its opening
show during the football game Aug. 31. This halftime show celebrated
the 25th Broadway anniversary of “The Wiz” —
a pop version of “The Wizard of Oz.” The Sept. 16
game was highlighted with the style of Mexico, specifically
through the music from H. Owen Reed’s concert band work,
“La Fiesta Mexicana.” The band expanded this Latin
theme for its annual Friday night game versus Brigham Young
University performing “Brazil” and “Mambo”
from “West Side Story,” along with a samba version
of “Seventy-Six Trombones.”
Fans at the Aggie Homecoming game Oct. 19 were entertained with
a Blues Brothers show, including various features and characters.
The final show, scheduled for Nov. 9, is a salute to Superheroes,
including Batman and Spiderman.
The band’s “Sounds of the Stadium” Nov. 16
concert is strictly an indoor, sit down affair, but there will
be appearances by the Aggie Marching Band Colorguard. The band
will also use the occasion to honor its members who made the
outstanding season possible.
As temperatures drop, join the Aggie Marching Band in reviewing
the 2002 football season through music in the comfort of the
Kent Concert Hall. More information on the concert can be obtained
by calling the Utah State band office at (435) 797-3004.
November 1, 2002
Contact: Thomas P. Rohrer (435) 797-3004
GUITARIST WILL
WOW YOU AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
LOGAN — In his role as head of the guitar program at
Utah State University, Mike Christiansen has traveled extensively
and he has heard countless musicians. As a guitarist, he has
performed in Utah and from coast to coast. He’s always
on the lookout for talent and he’s heard a lot of amazing
musicians, he said, but he is rarely stopped in his tracks.
But that’s what happened when Christiansen was in Nashville
this past year.
“I was in Nashville and I walked into a club on Broadway
[a popular entertainment street in the city],” Christiansen
said. “I heard this guy and I couldn’t believe how
good he was. People stood around with their mouths open —
I had to grab some friends so they could hear this guy —
he was amazing.”
That guy turned out to be Johnny Hiland, a musician who has
taken Nashville by storm, winning over fans and critics there
and beyond. Through that chance meeting in the club, Christiansen
struck up a conversation, and Hiland will now travel to Logan
for one concert only. He will also work with guitar students
in Christiansen’s program.
Hiland performs at Utah State Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
in the Eccles Conference Center’s Harrison Auditorium.
Admission is $5 and tickets will be available at the door. Advance
reservations may be made by calling Christiansen’s office
at (435) 797-3011, and leaving a reservation request.
“This is the first time I’ve brought a country picker
to Logan, but when everyone hears Johnny, they’ll know
why I did,” Christiansen said. “He is so entertaining
that even dyed-in-the-wool classical fans will be wowed. Johnny’s
instrumental virtuosity is amazing.”
Hiland has received the attention of the press in Nashville
and beyond, and his story is the stuff of movies. He grew up
in Maine, and first strummed along to television commercials
with a plastic Mickey Mouse guitar before moving up to his mother’s
acoustic guitar. Legally blind, he had difficulty in school
but was an outstanding student, serving as an officer in his
high school honor society. He enrolled in college and faced
challenges there — recorded textbooks would arrive at
the end of the semester rather than the beginning. But through
it all, music was a constant. Finally, in the midst of a term
paper, Hiland closed his books and decided to pursue his dream
— Nashville.
He had a job by the first afternoon he arrived, and it’s
been a steady climb ever since.
In a story in the March 2001 issue of “Guitar Player”
magazine, writer Rusty Russell wrote, “The buzz began
more than a year ago. Down on Lower Broadway — the hotbed
of Nashville’s honky-tonk revival — some kid from
Maine was tearing it up with a Telecaster. Sneaking into Robert’s
Western World to check him out, local hotshots sat slack-jawed
as Johnny Hiland discharged barrages of rapid-fire double-stop
licks, multi-string bends and country-bop lines. Hiland could
even go beyond standard hot-country fare, wrenching emotive
blues from his Tele like a Beale Street homeboy or peppering
a solo with blurs of two-handed tapping.”
In the same article, musician Steve Vai said, “I have
never heard anyone in his genre play with such precision and
virtuosity ... Johnny Hiland stands on the brink of international
recognition for his talents.”
It’s no wonder that Hiland’s resume says he is one
of Nashville’s most critically acclaimed artists, Christiansen
said. By age 27, he has established an industry buzz as a stellar
guitarist, session player, recording artist and master class
instructor.
And yes, Hiland’s dream has been reached. He has appeared
on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry — twice.
Christiansen is obviously pleased to bring Johnny Hiland to
Utah State for this appearance that is part of a guitar program
series supported by a grant from the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation.
Playing off the classic tune “Johnny Be Good,” Christiansen
tells potential audience members they are in for a night of
real entertainment. “Johnny will be real good,”
Christiansen concluded.
November 1, 2002
Contact: Mike Christiansen (435) 797-3011
Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354
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