November 19-22, 2002 Highlights
Golden Mouse Award
 The
third presentation of this year’s Golden Mouse Award sounds
pretty golden as well, thanks to the efforts of Music Department
Head Bruce Saperston and faculty member and associate HASS Dean
Nicholas Morrison. The endeavor was supported by the entire
music department and the FACT Lab. In a major undertaking, the
department is working with Sony Classical Music and FACT to
digitize more than 2,000 CDs with 50,000 tracks, making it available
online to professors and students in the department. The music
was converted from CD Audio to a Real Networks format for secure
delivery via streaming technology.
Music students converted the files and then entered data about
each CD — track, titles, composers and soloists, etc.
The Faculty Assistance Center for Teaching provided the technology
support and developed an online database, search engine and
shopping cart.
The system allows faculty to search the database for songs,
and then create a listening list for their students. From anywhere
on the Internet, students are able to log in and listen to any
of the songs on the list. The music is secure and requires students
and faculty to enter a username and password.
The Golden Mouse Awards are presented for creative use of technology
at Utah State. University Vice President and Provost Stan Albrecht
recognizes the importance of technology use and presents the
award. The Music Department is the only department to receive
the award this year.
"We give this award annually for outstanding innovation
in technology, teaching and learning," said Provost Albrecht.
SDL
Dedicates New Facility
 When
hundreds of community and business leaders, faculty, students
and staff joined the dedication of the new Calibration and Optical
Research Laboratory (Nov. 15), they were not celebrating the
dedication of a building, they were celebrating an investment,
said President Kermit L. Hall. "It’s a bet on the
future," he said.
The facility, part of Utah State’s Research Foundation’s
Space Dynamics Laboratory, is Innovation Campus’s newest
addition. The 43,000 square foot facility, built without state
funding, is an investment for the university in the same way
SDL has proven to be a highly successful investment for the
university since the 1950s. As the world has changed, SDL has
adapted accordingly — today, the lab sees some $50 million
annually in research dollars. It is expected that number will
more than double over the next decade. "It is a springboard
for greater returns for the university," President Hall
said.
Students have benefitted the most from those returns, with
400 undergraduates annually participating in unique hands-on
research not available anywhere else. This new laboratory signals
that "the best days of Utah State are ahead, not behind,"
he said.
President Hall said it is easy to fall into despair when the
economy struggles, but "great institutions persevere."
The dedication of this building serves as a reminder to all
that "we are not only a success now, but will be even more
of a success in the future."
The facility is SDL’s fifth building, bringing its total
size to 173,000 square feet. The new building, that took a little
over a year to complete, houses a large calibration facility
donated to SDL by Boeing and features a vacuum chamber with
cryogenic capabilities. It allows SDL to calibrate systems such
as small satellites and optical sensors in a simulated space
environment.
Utah
State Hosts Statewide Rehabilitation Professionals
 The
Utah Rehabilitation Association and the Utah Rehabilitation
Counseling Association held their annual 2002 conference at
Utah State University last weekend, the first time the organizations
have met in Logan.
Keynote speaker Dr. Christine Reid, president of the National
Rehabilitation Counseling Association, told the audience that
rehabilitation professionals are empowered to make positive
changes in the field of rehabilitation. Reid is also the chair
of the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth
University.
"The conference brings even more recognition to our program
and the rehabilitation professions," said Dr. Hal Cain,
an assistant professor in the special education and rehabilitation
office. "It brings many of our graduates back to campus
and gives them a professional boost in their field."
The Rehabilitation Counselor Education program at Utah State
has been ranked as the 12th best rehabilitation program in the
country by ‘U.S. News and World Report’ for three
consecutive years. Utah State’s Rehabilitation Counseling
program graduates more master’s students than any program
in the nation, Cain said.
Since 1990, the program has prepared students to enter the field
of rehabilitation, as well as to upgrade the skills and knowledge
of practicing professionals. In addition to traditional on-campus
courses, the program is offered through distance education.
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