A new name...that is all I am commiting to right now

Yeah...so I switched the name of the UVSC Pipeline to the UVU Pipeline. That is not to say that I am jumping back into the blogging game. Recently I have noticed that the college marketing department has done such a fine job telling everyone that UVSC is now UVU that folks just don't even search the old name anymore. And it would be a damn shame if folks interested in UVU news, no matter how outdated it was, missed out on finding the Pipeline.

So for now at least I'll keep the old banner up and everything will pretty much just stay the same. But with all the crazy stuff happening around campus right now it might be hard for me to stay quiet for long.

On a personal note I have recently changed positions, moving from The Woodbury Art Museum to the brand new School of the Arts. I had been at the museum for nearly 2 and half years, and while I really enjoyed my time there, it was time for a change. I have been at SOA for less than a week and I can already tell that I made the right decision.

Also, the wife and I are the Resident leaders for the new Honors residential cohort at UVU.

So on the eve of a new semester, the first as a new university, I wish you all luck.

So long Pipeline

Well...we all knew it had to end someday, so why not today? For the past year and a half I have experimented with sharing the news of UVSC via blogging. For those of you who took the time to read my posts I thank you...both of you.

Frankly I have been too busy lately to keep up with regular postings. I also dreaded migrating over to a new UVU Pipeline come July. So with UVSC sailing off into the sunset, so shall The Pipeline. I will still be interested in the news and gossip of UVSC (man it is going to be hard to stop calling it that) but I just don't have the energy or the inspiration to keep it going.

If any of my regular readers want to pick up the torch and keep The Pipeline rolling send me an e-mail (vegorpedersen@gmail.com) and I'll gladly hand over the reins. In the meantime I am extremely happy to see that my old rag, The College Times, is in very capable hands as it makes the transition to UVU Review. That is where I'll be going to get my fix of UVSC news, and I suggest you do the same.

Laters,
VEGOR

UCAT seeks real degrees, will this sink UVSC trades?

Once again top administrators at the Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT) are asking the state legislature's higher ed committee to consider giveing them the ability to grant credit-bearing trades degrees, and thus be able to offer more applied associate degrees.

UCAT campuses seek degrees with credit
Higher-ed official says that would create overlap with what is already being offered (Slat Lake Tribune, May 20 2008)

Last summer the state's Board of Regents rejected a UCAT proposal to grant such degrees citing the fact that the system's eight campuses don't offer transferable credits. Now UCAT is asking the Higher Education and Applied Technology Governance Committee to circumvent the Regents decision.

This of course does not sit well with interim Regent chief David Buhler, who fears that a credit-bearing UCAT would compete with the state's traditional schools. Of course UVSC would be at the top of that list. For the past several years UVSC has lost market share as more and more Utah County trades students have chosen to get training at Mountainlands Applied Technology Center (MATC) located just across the street. If MATC started offering the same degree programs it would not be long before trades at UVSC would go the way of the Dodo.

Woodbury Art Museum presents "The Da Vinci Experience"

In the interest of full disclosure I should note that I work for the Woodbury Art Museum.

Starting this Friday and running through the first week of October folks throughout Utah will get a chance to see over 60 machines inspired by the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

Experience Leonardo Da Vinci at the Woodbury Art Museum (Press Release)

UVSC bumps summer pay for full-time faculty

Professors who choose to work the summer semester are in for a nice surprise: administrators have approved a raise.


UVSC boosts pay for summer
More students creating bigger faculty workload
(Deseret Morning News, April 29 2008)

Former UVSC student making movie about movies

Former UVSC student Josh Ligairi and his co-director Andrew James are putting the finishing touches on a documentary that explores the distinctly Utah phenomenon of edited movie clubs. For years local video store proprietors have played a game of cat and mouse with Hollywood as they try to work around the legal issue of editing videos for content. The story got a lot more interesting when one of the biggest champions of edited movies, Daniel Dean Thompson, was arrested earlier this year for allegedly paying two under-aged girls for oral sex.


Court case extends documentary film project (Daily Herald, April 29 2008)

Suspect in Coach's murder will stand trial

The man accused in the shooting death UVSC Hockey Coach Ken Dolezar late last fall will stand trial. A judge ruled last week that there was sufficient evidence against Eugene Christopher Wright to hold him over for trial. Wright will be back in front of the judge later this week for a pretrial hearing.


Shooting suspect to stand trial (Daily Herald, April 26 2008)

Even as Regents pull the reins is UVSC headed to Eagle Mountain?

A few weeks ago a three-member committee made a recommendation to Utah's Board of Regents that would place a "moratorium on geographic expansion" for the system's public colleges and universities. The committee hopes that future growth can be handled through schedule juggling and a greater focus on distance education, at least until a statewide plan for expansion can be adopted. As you can imagine UVSC's Bill Sederburg, president of the state's fastest growing college, was none to pleased to hear that the kibosh is being put on his dreams of campus expansion.

UVSC chief pans plan that would limit growth (Deseret Morning News, April 19 2008)

Now on the heels of the Regents plans to manage growth, comes the news that UVSC and the up-and-coming berg of Eagle Mountain are looking into a possible UVSC satellite campus.

Satellite college campus may land in Eagle Mountain (Salt Lake Tribune, April 24 2008)

No mention of the proposed moratorium in the Trib article, but of course any plans for expansion would have to be approved by them, as well as the legislature. An interesting note on that committee that recommended the moratorium; one of the members is Jack Zenger, former Chair of UVSC's Board of Trustees. Fascinating that a man so familiar with UVSC's expansion needs would recommend such action. As Sederburg has pointed out satellite campuses will be absolutely necessary to accommodate the nearly 20,000 additional students the school projects will enroll in the next few decades. Sederburg believes that unless land is banked now there won't be any place to build down the road.

There is another interesting nugget in the Trib article; Val Peterson is quoted as saying that the main Orem Campus could only handle 28,000 students. Considering the recent uptick in growth (Sederburg predicted an additional 500 students this Fall) 28 K doesn't seem so far away.

But will students go to a satellite campus? If the Wasatch campus is any indication, probably not. The tone in the Trib article seems to indicate that they are marketing these satellites (another is planned for the south end of Utah County, most likely Spanish Fork) to working adults. That makes sense, but the question still remains if you build it will they come?

UVSC adjuncts in decline as school hires more full-time faculty

You may remember that The Pipeline reported last month that UVSC adjunct army was getting a slight bump in pay. Over the weekend an article in the Daily Herald looked closer at that pay raise and the declining percentage of adjuncts teaching classes.


UVSC adjunct professors face unsure future (Daily Herald, April 20 2008)

There were a few interesting nuggets in the article, the first being that the school's adjunct faculty organization was disbanded earlier this year over fears that it was acting as a union. God forbid (and so does state law) that these poor folks rally around a common cause like getting paid a living wage. With the pay raise, adjuncts will be making a whopping $1750 per three-credit class taught. If the average adjunct teaches between two and three classes per semester that figures to a bimonthly paycheck of just over $600. No adjunct can teach more than 4 classes a semester. Try scraping out a living on that while paying back grad school loans. Also remember that adjuncts receive no benefits. They would probably be better off managing a Burger King.

But The Pipeline's favorite quote came from adjunct accounting prof (and deposed leader of the now-defunct adjunct "union") Gary Petersen who said, "Most adjuncts won't even know that they've had a raise. Their six or seven paychecks through a semester may go up $10 each. It's a great gesture from the college and all the adjuncts appreciate it. It's just 5 percent of a very small amount -- it doesn't amount to very much."

In other words, even the guy who used to fight for adjunct rights is so used to being pushed around by the school that when a few extra crumbs fall from the table all he can say is "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Adjuncts keep the academic gene pool fresh and diverse, usually bringing real-world experience and the latest trends in their disciplines. As the school diminishes their role there should exist a stringent hiring process that weeds out the slackers and rewards the productive. Adjuncts should make a wage that is competitive to what a professional of their caliber makes in their respective industries.

DLC to include "sanctuary where people can go to meditate or pray"

The Digital Learning Center will feature a very analog idea: A quiet room for students to meditate or pray in. UVSC's chaplain Linda Walton has been angling to get an interfaith chapel on campus for years. This isn't quite that, but probably as close as the campus will come.

Meditation room set for UVSC's new library (Deseret Morning News, April 15 2008)

There might be a little dust up over the fact that a group or individual could step up and put money towards naming rights of the room. The possibility exists that a particular religion could buy the naming rights to the room, setting off plenty of a church and state alarm bells. That seems remote and this is probably a non-issue.

MATC out as UVSC creeps west

UVSC leases space in its west campus (across I-15, directly north of Parkway Crossing) to the Mountainlands Applied Technology Center at the generous rate of $1 a year. But with a rising student population, and an upswing in faculty and staff hires as the college becomes a university, UVSC needs to kick out their tenants.


MATC, UVSC review building lease (Daily Herald, April 15 2008)


The plan has been approved by UVSC's Board of Trustees, and will still need to be approved by the MATC board. Of course, they really don't have much choice, so they are already making plans for the move. The MATC will still operate out of the first floor of the building, and UVSC will start moving in on July 1st. No word yet on who is being moved to the campus version of Outer Siberia. Whoever the lucky people are, they can choose to see it as a punishment, or revel in the lack of supervision. Just ask the folks in the Faculty Annex...most of them love the lack of pop-ins.

Baloney with Bill

Tuesday Big Bill Sederburg held his annual "Sandwiches with Sederburg" in the Grande Ballroom. No big surprises: sandwiches, cookies, a Power Point presentation, and plenty of courtesy laughs.


Sandwiches and optimism at UVSC (Deseret Morning News, April 9 2008)

Sandwiches with Sederburg event celebrates UVSC budget (Daily Herald, April 9 2008

Bill made a big deal about all the money the school is getting nowadays, which is impressive but still seems woefully inadequate considering the new mission of the school.

One of the few interesting nuggets Bill dropped is the fact that the school is hoping to earn the Carnegie Foundation's Community Engagement Classification. It beats trying to get a football team.

By the way UVSC employees, when you laugh at Big Bill's jokes it only encourages him.

Zoob Discusses UVSC's "Hot" Women

Local Zoobie Greg Vandagriff has come to the "fascinating" conclusion that the women of UVSC are better looking than the women who attend BYU.

UVSC vs BYU - Who’s got the hotter student body? (www.gregvandagriff.com)

Greg bases his theory on the fact that the best looking girls in his apartment complex attend UVSC. He backs up his claim by noting that "a handful of really good-lookers" are usually standing in line at Wal-Mart at 1:00 in the morning. And what soon-to-be-university is right across the street from said Wal-Mart? You guessed it–UVSC. He even conducted a control study by visiting the Lindon Wal-Mart in the wee hours of the morning, "which yielded no good-looking girls, only scary-looking hoodlums and rapscallions of various ethnicities."

Godspeed to you Greg Vandagriff, you connoisseur of the female form. May you weather the storm of various ethnicities and find the Eternal Companion with the nicest rack.

Come support The Sonosopher

As many Pipeline readers know I am helping two UVSC students produce a documentary examining the life and work of Alex Caldiero. Tonight at 7:00pm we are holding an event to raise money to help cover production costs for the film. The event will take place in SC206a and feature Alex performing pieces from well-known Italian poets. There will also be a silent auction of items donated by Alex, his friends, and students working on the film.

Please come and bring your wallets.

UVSC Police Beat: March 2008

March 8th- Medical- A 18 year old was transported by ambulance to a local hospital after he began to complain of feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing while attending the Jordon World Circus.

March 10th- Warrant Service- A UVSC student was arrested by UVSC Police outside of the Sorensen Student Center on a outstanding warrant out of the Utah County Justice Court. The student was booked into the Utah County Jail.

March 11th - Criminal Mischief- A 37 year old male removed a hood ornament from a SAAB as he was walking through parking lot N. The incident was witnessed by another student who confronted the suspect. The suspect was charged with Criminal Mischief.

March 12th- Fight- Officers responded to the MATC on a report of a fight. Upon their arrival, they found the suspects had left the scene.

March 24th- Agency Assist- UVSC Police responded to 600 S 1200 W along with Orem Police and Fire units on a traffic accident involving a pedestrian.

March 24th- Agency Assist- UVSC Police responded to 1300 S Geneva Rd to assist Orem Police with traffic control at a traffic accident.

Nowhere to run: UVSC Track team lacks track

UVSC Athletic Director Mike "A.D. for Life" Jacobsen has been trying to drum up a million dollars for a track facility for the school's track team for the past three years. But unlike the team itself he has had little success.

UVSC track facility still a work in progress (Daily Herald, April 1 2008)

So in the meantime The Wolverines will be doing their running at Mountain View High School, providing plenty of fodder for Zoobies who think the college itself is little more than Utah Valley High School.

Tuition costs for Graduate Program finally released

For those interested in the fledgling graduate program at UVU the website most be a disappointment. Details are few and far between, and most links send you right back to the UVSC site. It was there we found this:

Graduate Tuition PDF

Of course we still don't know things like how many credit hours are required, or the names of any of the courses.