Snow College | Badger Buzz
Compliments from Colleagues
A HUGE shout out to the entire maintenance staff during the remodeling of the new
business building, and the moving of all the Business Division and SBDC stuff from
west campus to the new building! They were amazing throughout the whole thing (and
continue to be amazingly responsive as we get settled in). Things were taken care
of quickly, efficiently, and more importantly with GREAT attitudes, at what must have
been a very stressful time for all of them. Special kudos to Bob Oliver who managed
to oversee everything in addition to everything else he had on his plate. Don't see
how he does it all. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! YOU ROCK!!
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A big thanks to Marlin Mason, Justin Cherry, Ron Bradley and Lawrence Durtschi for
going the extra mile to see that the new Business Building was up and connected when
the semester began.
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There was a recent attempted hack on www.snow.edu. I'd like to give a shout out to our web development team for writing secure code
to prevent this attack. Way to go, Lawrence and team. And, way to go Ben, for being
on top of things. As your colleague said, "It is really nice to have an Information
Security Officer."
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Lisa Laird has done a great job during her short time at the College. In addition
to providing work-prep seminars for students, organizing job fairs, and developing
more work opportunities for students, she recently secured a paid internship with
Senator Hatch for a Snow College student. Generally Hatch's office only hires juniors,
but they are making an exception for Snow College and opening it up to our sophomores.
Thanks, Lisa, for your work on behalf of our students!
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In late January, Nick Marsing was the guest speaker at the Honors Program's Pizza
with Professors event. Nick talked with the students about undergraduate research
opportunities. Thanks, Nick!
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Congratulations to David Rosier and Steve Peterson for receiving honors from the
Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. David Rosier's article "'Quite Probable
That They Will All Pass': Teacher Training at Snow College" will be published in the
next issue of the Journal of the Utah Academy. Also, at the April conference, Steve
Peterson will be awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to
the Academy and higher education in Utah.
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Snow College Richfield PBL hosted the Sixth Annual Southern Region FBLA competition
on Tuesday, January 31. Over 300 high school students and advisers attended from 18
schools. PBL members would like to thank many Snow College employees who helped make
the competition a success: Laurie Rosequist and the administrative office staff; Betsy
Cazier and testing center staff; Lawrence Durtschi and Jeff Sirrine for website registration;
Heidi Stringham and staff for the FBLA activity; Nick VanDyke and the SVC staff; Judges
- Jennifer Dorgan, Lisa Anderson, Stacee McIff, Yvonne Williams, and Lisa Laird. Thank
you!
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(Please send a quick note to Marci to recognize your peers. We want to let others
know of the many good things our employees do each day. Thanks so much!)
Giving Prizes for Good Deeds
Last month's "Caught Ya" winner: Jamee Wheelwright * $25.00 Gift Certificate
Blueprint Document is Available
Several employees have asked for copies for the Blueprint document discussed during
the State of the College address. The file has been uploaded to the web, and you can
view it here.
Education First Invites You
This group, Education First, will be on campus on Monday, February 27, to conduct
training meetings for students and employees. Their goal is to help improve all aspects
of education in Utah (including funding), and one of their suggestions is to have
supporters of education attend caucus meetings, which will be held in March. Two sessions
will be held - one at 11:30 and one at 1:30 - and more details will be coming soon.
Academic Program Proposals are Moving Along
On Friday, February 10, the Board of Trustees approved the proposed Natural Resource
Technology AAS Degree. It will now be presented to the Board of Regents for their
consideration. The four-year music degree should be presented to the Board of Regents
in May (when they meet on our campus in Ephraim). Other programs in the works include
Industrial Technology (AAS and Certificate), Manufacturing Technology (AAS and Certificate),
Visual Arts (AFA), and Outdoor Leadership & Entrepreneurship (Certificate and AS).
Dr. Smith and faculty leadership continue to collaborate with industry leaders to
see how the College can meet their needs. A lot of work is happening in Academic Affairs,
and it is exciting!
Accreditation is Reaffirmed
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities sent a letter dated February
3 with great news: "...the accreditation of Snow College has been reaffirmed on the
basis of the Fall 2011 Year One Evaluation." As you know, this is a big deal. Thanks
to Dr. Rick White for his leadership and to everyone who has participated in the process
thus far. There is still a lot of work to be done, and this is a great starting point.
The evaluation team will return to the College in early-October for a formal on-site
visit.
Chinese Delegation Visits Snow College
Last week the Center for Global Engagement and the Snow College Sustainability Committee hosted a group of officials from Rizhao Polytechnic College, which is located in Shandong Province, China. Rizhao Polytechnic is a peer institution with Snow, and they're located in the second-smallest city in Shandong Province - with a population of 2.8 million. Snow College was honored to receive this delegation for a three-day tour focusing on sustainability efforts at colleges. The entire trip was funded by the Chinese Ministry for Higher Education. In a whirlwind of activity -- ranging from a Search and Rescue ride on Snow Cats to the GBEEC, tours of College facilities and the hydro power center, and a trip to Bryce Canyon -- our new friends were appropriately introduced to Snow College and have invited Sam Heikinen to visit their college this March. They left very, very impressed with Snow College, and they are eager to develop a long-term relationship between the two institutions. Several Snow students were given the opportunity to interact with the group, and they too had a great learning, cultural experience. Sam Heikinen, Becky Adams, Dennis Faatz, Alex Peterson, and Katie Mickelson spent hours and hours preparing for and hosting the visit. A special thank you to them (and their spouses!) for working 100+hours each last week.