Huntsman to speak at last UVSC graduation

Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. will speak at UVSC's graduation this April, which will be the college's last graduation under that name.

Governor to speak at UVSC's commencement (Deseret Morning News, March 14 2008)

The governor, along with United Way of Utah County president Bill Hulterstrom and president of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Lane Beattie, will receive honorary degrees from UVSC. And after July 1st they can turn in their crappy UVSC honorary degrees for swank UVU honorary degrees.

UVSC offers a diploma upgrade (Deseret Morning News, March 9 2008)

UVSC scores another supporter on Board of Regents

The Salt Lake Tribune reports today that former chair of UVSC's Board of Trustees Jack Zenger has been nominated by Gov. Jon Huntsman to the all-powerful State Board of Regents. Zenger will be replacing Michael Jensen, a lawyer from Price. His nomination will need to be confirmed by the state senate.

Zenger will join Marlon "No High School Diploma" Snow on the Board, and the two will be the only representatives from Utah County. Still, that is one more than UVSC had yesterday.

According to the Board of Regents website Snow's term is ending this June. It will be interesting to see if Huntsman replaces him with another Utah County resident. Might we recommend Jeff "Pee Wee" Alexander, who recently retired from the legislature and probably wouldn't mind working a few days a month.

Regents get paid next to nothing (a travel per diem for their monthly meetings) but they hold positions of incredible influence and are treated like kings by schools looking to curry their favor. They also get to rub shoulders with Utah's best and brightest...in other words, it's a pretty good deal.

The Board is made up of fifteen regents, each appointed by a governor to a six-year term. The Chair appoints two non-voting members to serve unspecified terms. There is also a vote for the student regent, which is chosen every year and is usually a former student body president. Historically Salt Lake City has had the most representation on the board. Currently there are eight regents from Salt Lake serving on the Board.

UVSC graduates to university status

It isn't quite official just yet but Utah Valley State College has been given the greenlight to become a university. Utah governor John Huntsman will be on the campus Monday March 19 to sign the bill that will make UVSC a level II institution effective July 1, 2008.

Along with the name change comes a commitment of $8 million more in ongoing funding, money that will be used to hire more full-time faculty (about 60) and to develop the school's first graduate programs.

UVSC president Bill Sederburg said he hopes the hires will decrease the school's dependence on adjunct faculty, increase the number of professors with terminal degrees, and reduce the average teaching load of existing profs on campus.

College administrators have made it quite clear that the first master's degree programs will be in nursing, education, and business administration. Sederburg said recently that he does not want to be flooded with degree proposals. He seems more interested in shoring up existing programs and rounding out the catalog to include a more comprehensive list of undergraduate offerings.

That $8 million is a bit short of the $10 million that the school was hoping for, and Sederburg has already told the local press that he'll be back on the hill next year to lobby for the remaining $2 million. In the meantime he will put new Vice President of Academic Affairs Liz Hitch to work when she gets to town just one year before the school switches over.

Along with overseeing all the new faculty hires (which is usually handled at the dean and department level), Hitch will need to hire a new Dean of Technology and Trades, a school that will probably feel the growing pains more than any other. Tom McFarland's replacement will have to deal with the problems associated with integrating an entrenched, and often stubburn trades program into a new university setting. And with Sederburg wanting new grad degrees that meet market needs don't be surprised if Technology isn't first in line with a new master's program (after a few years of course).

Don't be surprised either if in a few years the all-powerful school of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences doesn't come begging at the postgrad door. HASS is the biggest school on campus, and they will soon be itching to prove themselves.

Of course it is easy to get lost in all of this university hoopla and forget that there are many other things happening at UVSC. Ira Fulton has raised $10 million in the last two months (kicking in $5 million of his own). The new library is inching out of the ground and steel work will begin this month.

And while ther are many good things it also worth noting that UVSC has its share of problems. The faculty is underfunded when compared to professors at other colleges. Athletics is running out of time on their provisional NCAA Division I status, and seems no closer to finding a conference. Utah's warm economy is keeping many students in the workforce. Infrastructure woes like registration and advising still cause a lot of student frustration.

Sederburg still has a lot of work to do before UVSC can become UVU.