Happy November! At this time of Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful for relationships with my family, friends, and colleagues. In this current role, I have had the opportunity to form new relationships and strengthen others. As I have met with employees, board members, students, alumni, community leaders, legislators, and others, I have been reminded how many people love and care about our college. In response to people asking how they can help us, we are compiling a list of action items. We will continue to identify specific roles for our stakeholders to help us move the unique mission of Snow College forward.
While it’s often external groups asking, “How can I help Snow?”, I ask myself the same question every day. Like you, I care deeply about making a difference at the college and finding ways to share our special value proposition with others. We are making progress with our institutional priorities and will give an update during our Town Hall meeting on November 22 at 12:30 PM. As a small token of appreciation for your part in accomplishing the institution’s goals, please join us for a lunch with all employees on December 6 (in Ephraim) and on December 9 (in Richfield). All non-student employees will receive a holiday voucher to the campus stores during the lunches. Details will be sent in a calendar invitation; I hope you will join us!
I also hope you enjoy reading this newsletter. When I read updates from around campus, I feel so proud to be a Badger! Please share these stories and accomplishments with your family and friends. In addition to our internal news, you can also subscribe to USHE’s newsletter and stay informed of state happenings such as the Governor’s proposed tuition freeze and the recent legislative audit of USHE. We will continue to gather information and share it with you. Communication is a top priority, so please help us share the Snow College story and let us know how we can better communicate with you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Stacee
Technical Education continues to roll forward with another successful grant. Our team of Business and Technical Education Economic Development worked with Joe Western in the Welding program and applied for a Talent Ready Utah grant. The project was awarded $349,000 to expand welding in Central Utah. Funds will be used to increase the number of welding booths in the welding shop/lab, build industry connections for upgrading employee welding skills, and introduce welding to middle school and high school students through virtual reality welding simulators.
The reality of being involved in grants is that not every application is successful. Our team applied for a $400,000 Strata Education Network grant and we were not successful. Playing the grant “game” is like baseball when you strike out you step up to the plate again and again and continue to swing. We consider ourselves fortunate that our grant batting average is over 500.
In other Tech. Ed. News: Nov. 2 was our annual Ralph Oakerland School of Technical Education advisory day. We hosted approximately 100 people from dozens of industry partners for a presentation from Talent Ready Utah and the Senior Director of Programs at Mountainland Technical College. Following the presentation, industry partners met in their respective tech ed programs and evaluated each of the 14 programs. They advised the faculty in course work, projects to better align with industry skills, potential shop equipment upgrades, employment opportunities for completers, and what the future 3 -5 years may be for each industry.
Employees participated in the Campus Exchange to learn more about our offerings on both campuses.
Greetings from the Finance and Administrative Services side of the house. Our goal is to make the operations of the college run more smoothly and be more customer friendly. We have a number of projects that are in various stages of development. We want solutions that will improve the lives of our employees and our students.
One project that will be coming soon is a change in pcards. The Purchasing and IT departments are working on a technology solution for pcards. This will change the process and allow you to submit and approve things earlier and even from your phone. Stay tuned for the rollout and subsequent trainings.
Richfield housing continues to be a focus. We are currently working with a couple of groups that are preparing proposals. We continue to look for ways to grow the Richfield campus and know that housing is a critical component for that to happen.
As a team, we’re committed to high-quality customer service. If there are things that we can do, please let us know. If there are things that we’re doing well, please also let us know so that we can recognize those individuals. Either way, we want to hear from you!
Faculty Recognitions
We held a celebration last month to honor those who have achieved the career milestones of tenure, professor, and master instructor beginning the 2022-23 academic year. Please congratulate Professor Jonathan Bodrero and Professor Rachel Keller for achieving the destination rank of full professor. Anita Slusser, Vikki Masters, Katie Justesen, Mark Andreasen, Jill Christensen, Kelly Larsen, Lindsay Chaney, Kristi Stevens, Andy Nogasky, Dmitri Peskov, and Brian Stucki have all been awarded tenure.
Professional Development
Faculty are very engaged in professional development activities, which reflects their commitment to improvement, student success, lifelong learning, and best practices. This semester, some of those activities include the following:
Annual Pedagogy Conference: Many faculty and staff attended the Snow pedagogy conference in October where they shared best practices and heard from a scholar on inclusive pedagogy, Elizabeth Yost Hammer from Xavier University.
CBEN: Two Snow College faculty groups presented at the national CBEN (Competency-Based Education Network) Conference. One group presented on “GE CBE 101: Building General Education Competency-Based Programs,” and the other presented on “Navigating the Twists and Turns of CBE Implementation.”
Snow College Teaching and Learning Seminar: Ten faculty members are engaged in a bi-monthly course on learner-centered pedagogy hosted by the Teaching and Learning Center and led by Christopher Lee. The book they are studying is Engaged Teaching by Barkley and Major.
Educated Person’s Conference: 17 faculty and staff attended the “What is an Educated Person’s Conference” hosted by USHE. The focus this year was on equity and transfer in general education.
Lunch Bunch and Brown Bags: Faculty meet twice each month to share best practices. These are hosted by our Faculty Development team.
November always brings us big projects in Enrollment Management. Registration is open for students taking Spring courses. Our enrollment for Spring semester is important in securing growth funding, so please encourage students to register early.
Admissions and Financial Aid have been visiting high schools and holding open houses for potential students, and we are happy to report that they are going well. We appreciate all the assistance we have from various departments across campus as we host potential students and families.
Housing continues to do a great job in taking care of our students and creating a culture that is more conducive to students' lifestyles. Roughly half of our fall-only contract students have extended their contract for spring semester housing.
Our spring 2023 housing application is open and we've several of our spring openings begin to fill up.
Food services had a very busy fall semester- they continue to feed more students, faculty, and staff! They are looking forward to serving campus a holiday dinner on December 6th!
Student life has the following activities planned for the upcoming month. Please attend and enjoy your time with our students:
Caden Birch, our new Deputy Head, joined the Student Life team on November 14th.
Exciting news! Snow College is now the first college in the United States to have achieved the honor of being nationally accredited for its IVC CE program. Read more about this huge accomplishment and other big news stories for the month at snow.edu/news.
We welcome the following individuals to Snow College:
| Jessica Mortensen | Student Admissions Counselor |
| Jacob Dettinger | Controller/Finance Director |
| Brandon Hawkins | Director of Student Success and Services |
| Dylan Holder | General Maintenance Worker |
| Karey Hanks | Part-Time Records Assistant |
Please take the time to say hello and welcome them to the Snow College Team.
The Richfield Campus is creating community connections through a new homecoming tradition.
In partnership with Richfield City, Sevier County, and the Richfield Chamber of Commerce, Snow College hosted the first annual Richfield Fall Festival on main street. Students and employees alike teamed up with other businesses and volunteers across the community to shut down three blocks of main street for the festivities. A variety of family friendly activities, including; live music, dancing, food, and over 70 vendors and shops participated.
Ambassadors were covered from head to toe in cotton candy as they gave out the treat freely and smiles were plentiful from the bounce houses hosted by the student body officers. Along with making so many new friends and sharing the experience with alumni, the event was reported to be a hit.
It could not have happened without the efforts of many. We are especially thankful for everyone that supported this event, including our Facilities, Communication, Admissions, Student Life, Student Success, SVC, Cashier, Wrestling, and Administration teams. We look forward to another fun festival next year.
Justin Jones-Fosu was even better than last spring! He gave us great advice on how to be the best person and employee while blending the two together.
This year's Halloween festivities were the best ever! Thank you to the Little Badger crew and parents for sharing your little spooks with the staff.
Then there was Carson’s fantastic presentation on delegating! Our departments and staff are better together when we delegate and share the responsibilities.
In case you missed any of these presentations, Loren Thompson and our brilliant tech crew recorded and made them available to watch.
Upcoming Events
More details will be sent out soon.
Committee Spotlight
This month’s committee spotlight is the Legislative Committee with Colin Lyman as the Chair. Other Committee members are Becky Adams, Loren Thompson, and Tyra Taylor.
Greetings from your Staff Association Legislative Committee. What does the Legislative committee do?
Our purpose is to inform and educate Snow College staff members on legislative matters that impact Utah higher education, including representation, proposed legislation and policy, and staff advocacy. We also encourage staff members to be involved in staff association and their local governments. To see who represents your city, county, and state, click the following link https://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp. We look forward to the upcoming legislative session and sharing the changes our representatives make in the state legislature.
Thank you to all the wonderful staff at Snow College. We are truly a family and we are all BETTER TOGETHER!
Great things are happening among faculty at the college. Here are a few notables:
The Science Division continues to host its weekly seminars every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in GRSC 154. Please keep in mind that these seminars are open for all to attend, faculty, students, and staff.
On October 5, faculty accompanied honors students to Cedar City for their annual trip to the Shakespeare Festival where they attended the play, The Tempest.
The Snow College Pedagogy Conference hosted by the Teaching and Learning Center took place on October 15. Faculty from across the campus presented topics ranging from formal assessment practices to using humor in the classroom. The keynote address was given by Dr. Elizabeth Yost Hammer, a distinguished scholar and teacher from Xavier University.
Finally, the Faculty Senate is engaged in discussing and crafting procedure connected to academic freedom that reflects the principle’s central role in institutional scholarship, teaching, and learning.
Faculty at Snow College are committed and optimistic. To use the words of author Colleen Wilcox, “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.”
As fall sports are nearing an end and winter sports are beginning, the Snow College programs have had very successful seasons. Cumulatively, all fall and winter sports have combined for an overall record of 51-17-1 through Nov. 9.
Men’s soccer finished the season at 12-5 after defeating No. 1 Salt Lake CC in the Region 18 Title Game and hosted the District Championship.
Women’s soccer finished 13-2-1 and was the regular season SWAC champions.
Football is currently ranked fifth in the country with two more games to play. If they finish in the top four, they will make the NJCAA Playoffs.
Men’s and women’s basketball is just starting up, but the men are 3-0 and ranked 19th in the country and the women are 1-1.
Did you know that Snow College has a Grant Office? It is part of the Advancement Office located in the Noyes Building. Our office exists to help faculty and staff find funding for programs.
Since it is November, it is the perfect time to share why you are grateful for Snow College!
Post about it! As you share on your favorite platform, you can tag Snow College using #snowcollege.
Town Hall
Please plan to join us for our next Town Hall, which will take place on November 22 at 12:30.
Thanksgiving Break
We hope you enjoy the time with your families this Thanksgiving. As a reminder, November 24th and 25th are paid holidays. Please remember to turn on your autoreply and change your voicemail to alert people that you will return their message on Monday, November 28th.
