Smokeless campus: Will USU's recent vote inspire UVU to ban tobacco

Student Government leaders at Utah State University have recently voted to ban smoking and all tobacco products on campus. If administrators approve the ban USU will join another hundred or so smokeless college campuses in the nation.

USU tries to snuff out campus smoking (The Daily Herald, February 7 2008

If the ban does indeed pass muster with the administration don't be surprised if other campuses in the state consider the move. And with UVSC having the highest percentage of LDS students of any public college in the world a tobacco ban seems to make a lot of sense.

Will there be a fight with the more liberal elements on campus if such a ban was considered by student government at UVSC? No doubt. If student leaders act unilaterally (like USU did) by not asking for a student referendum you could bet there will be a fierce battle. But those same liberal elements might not want to have it put to a full school vote, because there is little doubt that a tobacco ban would be approved by the majority.

And if such a ban was approved at UVSC you could count on Campus Police enforcing the letter of the law with all due diligence.

More College Consolidation? Will USU absorb CEU?

While the particulars between the possible University of Utah/Dixie College merger are still being ironed out, two other Utah colleges are talking about taking the plunge.

Price school a part of Utah State?
Area legislator: There are many questions to be resolved first
(Salt Lake Tribune, February 8 2008)

USU President's Response to Draft Bill Calling for Merger of CEU with USU
(USU website)

Sen. Mike Dmitrich of Carbon County has drafted a bill that would make the College of Eastern Utah in Price part of Utah State University in Logan. And while the bill has not been formally introduced, USU president Stan Albrecht is already entertaining the idea.

This merger also comes about as the legislature considers the merger of the Salt Lake Tooele Applied Technology Center (SLTATC) with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).

Both moves would potentially shake up Utah's Board of Higher Education and may very well affect UVSC. These transitions would cost money...which means the pie gets a little smaller when UVSC comes asking the legislature for a slice.

All about the Benjamins: looking at college presidents' salaries

Here is a nice little article about how Utah college presidents' salaries compare with their peers from around the country.


College presidents well paid in Utah
But they are way behind their national colleagues
(Deseret Morning News, November 13 2007)

Building a High-speed data link between Utah collleges

Utah State University and the University of Utah are discussing the possibility of building a high-speed data link between the two schools. The link would allow for greater collaboration and data sharing and would be a step closer to connecting all of Utah's public colleges and universities forming a "Utah Grid".

Data link proposed for Utah State, University of Utah
(Daily Herald, November 13 2007)

The Utah Education Network will be asking the state legislature for funding to start the program, but as of yet hasn't released any more details.

Does mandatory health insurance make sense for college students?

Utah State University's student government will ask the Board of Regents to make health insurance mandatory for students enrolled in any of the state's public colleges and universities.

Salt Lake Tribune - USU student group to approach Regents over insurance

For years BYU has required all of its students to either be enrolled under their parent's policy or pay for campus health insurance.

But how could UVSC possibly afford to offer low-cost health insurance to its nearly 24000 students? How about dumping athletics?

UVSC bucks statewide trend with positive enrollment numbers

The state Board of Education has released enrollment numbers for Utah's public colleges and universities, and while overall the numbers are flat UVSC gained the most students and had the second highest percentage of growth over last fall's numbers.

Enrollment remains flat at Utah colleges
Recruitment to become more competitive as numbers stay steady
(Salt Lake Tribune, October 12 2007)

While this news is no big surprise for UVSC, it is nice to see what numbers other schools are posting. Here are the headcounts for all nine schools:

U of U: 27,685 -2.15%
USU: 21,455 +1.10%
Weber: 17,089 -1.16%
SUU: 6,410 +4.94%
Snow: 3,202 -9.65%
Dixie: 5,209 -2.43%
CEU: 1,799 -3.95%
UVSC: 20,959 +3.44%
SLCC: 23,824 +0.01%

Higher Ed
Total: 127,632 -0.09%

If that number seems a little low for UVSC, who usually boasts of having 24,000 students we can only assume the state is not counting high school students taking in concurrent enrollment classes.

Regents rank Colleges' wish list for building projects

Last Friday, representatives from Utah's public colleges and universities met with the state's all-powerful Board of Regents and asked for a combined $328 million in construction projects. And while everyone wants something built, chances are only four projects will see funding this year.


Regents pare wish list
Higher ed pitches $328 million in projects; top 4 ranked
(Deseret Morning News, September 15 2007)

No surprise that the University of Utah and Utah State's projects top the list; both schools are looking to replace or renovate buildings that are several decades old. Salt Lake Community College is looking to add a classroom building, and Southern Utah University wants one building to house all of their science departments and programs.

Of course UVSC wants a piece of the funding pie, and they are looking to get the dough necessary to build an addition to the Pope Science building. But the competition between other schools, and the fact that UVSC got the library wanted two years ago, will likely knock the project off the list when it goes to the State Building Board. The remaining projects will then go the legislature, which approved $88 million worth of building projects during the 2007 session.

USU drops the spatula

Put down your forks everyone, because Utah's only four-year culinary arts program is being dumped.

Kitchen closed: USU eliminating culinary arts degree
(Deseret Morning News, September 12 2007)

Only 9 students were in the program this semester, and they will be allowed to finish their degrees with classes be offered until 2009.

UVSC's own Culinary Arts program (which offers a two-year associates degree) recently upgraded to a larger facility, moving off the main campus and into the old Novell facility in Orem.

USU investigates renting textbooks

Utah State University's bookstore has found an interesting way to save college students a little moolah.

Beating the high cost of school books (Daily Herald, September 5 2007)

Basically the school rents the book to students instead of selling it to them. A $130 biology textbook can be rented for the semester for just 30 bucks. Not bad.

The service is in its second year of a three year trial. Mentioned in the article is UVSC's Ron Hammond who has essentially given up on assigning texts and instead uses journals found in the library and articles from the internet.

Sederburg gets biggest raise among Utah's college presidents

Next time you see Bill Sederburg he just might have a big ol' grin on his face. That's because yesterday he and the other nine Utah public college presidents received a pay raise. And Big Bill's smile might be particularly wide because of all the raises handed out by the Board of Regents he got the highest percentage, no doubt reflecting the school's move to university status.

For all the details check the story out here:
Utah college presidents getting raises (Deseret Morning News)

Utah college presidents, commissioner to get raises (Daily Herald)

School presidents getting a pay raise (Salt Lake Tribune)

It is nice that UVSC's growth is being recognized and compensated accordingly. Now let's hope that this raise means Sederburg will be making more than Men's Basketball coach Dick Hunsaker.

UVSC's maturation ruffles some feathers around the state

When Gov. Jon Huntsman signs SB 70 next week and makes Utah Valley University a reality there will be a big celebration in the school's Grande Ballroom. But in other parts of the state residents won't exactly be dancing in the streets.

A recent editorial in the Ogden Standard-Examiner had some thoughts on how UVSC's progression might harm Weber State University and Utah State University:

We're also nervous about what granting "university status" to Utah Valley State College -- soon to become Utah Valley State University -- might do to funding at Utah State and Weber State universities. That initial $8 million bump to get the UVSU ball rolling has to come from somewhere, as will further allocations in future years. We can't help but suspect the Top of Utah's universities are being harmed by legislative leadership's Utah County mafia. We expect a building and development frenzy at UVSC/UVSU now, possibly at the expense of Weber and Utah State.



A Cedar City blogger expressed much of the same frustrations, as she feels then when the higher education pie gets split up the pieces will be smaller now that UVSC is at the table.

Of course people around the state said the same thing when Southern Utah State College made the jump to university not so long ago. And small players like Weber and SUU will always feel overshadowed by the bigger, more visible schools.

The thing UVSC must remember as it transforms to UVU is to be a good neighbor, especially to smaller schools like Weber and SUU. While the University of Utah and Utah State University get the lion's share of the funding (and as the state's research universities, they deserve it) UVSC often competes for scraps with SUU, Weber State. But fostering an adversarial relationship with these schools is counterproductive.

While SUU and Weber may whine about UVSC's big move now, eventually they will get over it, and it behooves all three schools to work together to show the legislature that Type II schools get the job done. UVSC could also use the support of the Regents from the Ogden and Southern Utah areas, especially when it comes time to grant new degree programs.

And that is a big issue. There is no doubt that constituents loyal to SUU and Weber were let down that UVSC's move came with virtually no opposition from the house or the senate. When it comes time to approve new degrees (especially those pesky new master's programs) it is easy to envision Regents from both areas giving the new guy some trouble. And you can count on departments and deans at both schools scrutinizing UVSC's new degree proposals with a fine-tooth comb.

If Big Bill doesn't mend some fences soon you can count on hassles down the road. UVU would also be smart to avoid overlap in master's programs currently offered at SUU and Weber. That being said there should be some wiggle room when it comes to market driven degrees like nursing, education, and business.

Sederburg gives short list for new V.P.

UVSC President William Sederburg has tipped his hand and shown us all his final candidates for the VP of academics spot vacated by Brad Cook. An e-mail went out to employees this morning with the names of the three candidates, their bio information, and times of various meet-and-greets.

The bios are included below:

Dr. Elizabeth J. Hitch

Liz Hitch came to the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (UW-L) in July 2002 as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs after serving for seven years as Dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois. She served as Interim Chancellor for UW-L from July 1, 2006, to February 1, 2007. Previous to her work at Eastern, she served for 15 years as a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Studies (achieving tenure and rank of full professor) at Central Michigan University. At CMU, she also held positions as Director of Teacher Education; and Associate Dean of the School of Education, Health and Human Services. Before entering the faculty ranks at CMU, she was Manager of Instruction Design in the School of Medicine at The University of Michigan. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Ecology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from The University of Michigan.


Dr. Bill Evenson

Bill Evenson has been a university administrator for 11, an administrator at Utah Valley State College for 3 years, and a faculty member for 37 years, most of which he has been deeply involved in teaching and research in his field of physics. He is currently Associate Dean of Science & Health and Professor of Physics at UVSC, where he also led the College General Education Committee for the past two years. He was Interim Associate Vice President for Scholarship and Outreach in 2004-05. He was Professor of Physics at Brigham Young University for 34 years and served there as Associate Academic Vice President in charge of General Education, Honors, Continuing Education, Religious Education, the BYU Jerusalem Center (overseeing the establishment of programs there when the new building was first occupied), and with shared responsibility for international programs. He was also Dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and Dean of General Education. One of his strengths as an administrator has been the ability to work effectively with all constituencies – students, staff, faculty, advisors, and administration – in a collegial relationship to strengthen the institution and solve problems as they have arisen.

Evenson received his Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from Iowa State University in 1968, and B.S. in physics from Brigham Young University in 1965. He was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania with J. R. Schrieffer. His physics research now deals mainly with studies of surfaces, nanostructures, defects in materials, and inverse problems in statistical physics. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar (research) at University of Konstanz, Germany, for 1998-99. He has had other visiting appointments at University of Hawaii and Oregon State University, and he was George and Caroline Arfken Physics Scholar in Residence at Miami University (Ohio) in November, 2002. He continues his research in physics and work in history of physics along with his current administrative position. He has published approximately 95 papers and one book in physics.

Evenson is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).and has been an officer for many years of the APS Forum on History of Physics and the APS Four Corners Section. He was editor of History of Physics Newsletter for 6½ years from 1997 to 2003. He is a current member of the Editorial Board of the journal Physics in Perspective. His long-standing interest in the history of physics continues in parallel with other activities in the physics community: founding chair of the APS Four Corners Section, where he instituted and promoted a strong focus on student participation and a successful program of public outreach lectures connected to the annual section meeting; currently Chair-Elect of the 3,500-member Forum on History of Physics; APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) from 2001 through 2003.

He has active collaborations with scientists in Germany, China, and several universities in USA. He is Chair of the Executive Committee for International Conferences on Hyperfine Interactions and Nuclear Quadrupole Interactions (2004-present). He was on the Program and Organizing Committees for the 13th International Conference on Hyperfine Interactions, Bonn, Germany, August 2004, and he chaired the Program and Organizing Committees for the 12th International Conference on Hyperfine Interactions, Park City, Utah, August 2001. He participated in the Hydrogen Initiative Workshop Panel of POPA in San Francisco, December 5-7, 2003, writing one of four major sections of the report on research required for hydrogen energy development. He currently shares an NSF grant focused on undergraduate research experience with a colleague at Northern Kentucky University that now involves two UVSC physics majors and one other faculty member.

Evenson published a small book dealing with science and religion at the end of 2005: Mormonism and Evolution: The Authoritative LDS Statements, William E. Evenson and Duane E. Jeffery (Kofford Books, Salt Lake City, 2005).


Dr. Steven H. Hanks


Dr. Steven H. Hanks is Vice Provost at Utah State University. He began his academic career teaching at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University). He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Utah, specializing in the areas of Business Strategy and Human Resource Management. He joined the faculty at Utah State University in 1988 where he has taught extensively at the graduate and undergraduate levels, courses related to strategic management, global business, applied research, and entrepreneurship. His research has centered on issues related to strategy, structure and leadership in emerging business ventures and his work has been published in the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, the Journal of Small Business Management, as well as other journals, reports and conference proceedings.

In addition to his faculty roles, Dr. Hanks has carried numerous administrative assignments, including service as Director of the Utah State University Small Business Institute, Associate Dean in the College of Business, Faculty Senate President, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of Distance Business Programs. During the 2001-2002 school year, Dr. Hanks was on assignment in the West Bank where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Administrative and Financial Sciences at the Arab American University in Jenin. In his present role as Vice Provost, Dr. Hanks carries a broad portfolio of assignments related to international and academic affairs. He is familiar with critical issues in higher education in the State of Utah and the Utah System of Higher Education, serving as point person for USU in communications with the Commissioners Office and the State Board of Regents in areas related to academic affairs.

A University by any other name would smell as sweet

In all of the hoopla over Utah Valley State College becoming a university the thing that garners the most attention is what to call it when it happens. Utah Valley University is supposedly the working title that the administration and the legislature are working under now, but things could change. Recently, The Daily Herald ran an editorial calling for the name to honor UVSC's founder Wilson Sorensen.

While we sort of like the sound of Sorensen State University one problem might be that SSU sounds a lot like SUU (Southern Utah University). And for a school that has always had an identity crisis, not having its location in the name doesn't exactly put them on the map. But Sorenson State might still have a chance as one administator mentioned the possibility in passing last month.

Others have suggested Utah Valley State University or UVSU as a viable candidate, and keeping the shorthand Utah Valley State (a moniker that Bill Sederburg insisted on when he came to UVSC...going so far as to chip the word college off of signs around campus). One problem with the abbreviation UVS is that it is already used by the Utah Valley Symphony.

Still others claim that the school should honor its technical roots and go by Utah Tech (like Georgia Tech or Texas Tech). This actually sounds pretty cool and it is easy to see students calling it U-Tech. But an administrator told The Pipeline some time ago that they had investigated the other Techs and had found that in order to be called a Tech you need a certain ratio of technical degrees to regular degrees, something UVSC doesn't currently qualify for. It also ignores the very reason most believe the name change is happening anyways. People want "University" on their diploma. You could call it Utah Technical University, but then it starts to sound like a unaccredited private college like ITT or Devry. Besides www.utu.edu is already taken by the Ulster Teacher's Union in Ireland.

Most who oppose the name Utah Valley University claim that that it is too location-specific, and that the school wants to be seen as a viable option from people outside Utah Valley. But Utah State University and The University of Utah, the two most general names, are already taken.

In the end it will be the State Legislature that will decide the name change, and you can count on legislators from Salt Lake, Ogden, Cedar City, and Logan protecting their turf. Most of them don't want to share "University" with UVSC in the first place. But if State Sen. John Valentine forces the issue and they are backed in a corner, look for the name game to be a big part of the negotiating table. In which case a dark horse like Sorensen State University might have a chance.