Letters to the editor …

Dear Eagle editor,

I wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge in the Eagle the departure from CEU of one of its most respected employees, Steve Burge. Steve began working here in 1999, and became a full-time, tenured faculty member, and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice. He was a talented and popular teacher here, and loved his work in the classroom. For the last couple of years, Steve developed and directed the CEU-affiliated Western Energy Training Center. His vision and hard work helped to bring over two million dollars of funding to WETC.
Steve’s history at CEU stretches back much farther than just his time as a faculty member and administrator. His parents, Don and Sherril Burge, are members of a great generation of CEU teachers, so Steve is literally a son of CEU. He grew up on campus, at the CEU museum, and in the desert at his father’s dinosaur digs. He attended CEU as a student, was student body president, and was valedictorian of his class here.
Steve has been a Carbon County Commissioner for four years, and has worked steadily to bring the college and the broader community together for the good of both the school and all the residents of the county. He is leaving CEU to take a position as Director of Safety for the Mountain West Division of Savage Brothers.
Steve has been a dependably friendly, smart, and enthusiastic colleague, and I’m going to miss his presence in the halls of CEU. An impromptu conversation with him would inevitably refer to his love of the school, his current efforts to serve CEU, and his plans and future projects for strengthening the college and moving it forward. He’s leaving a lot of friends here. We look forward to his continuing support of the college (a given); we want to remind him to visit often, and we wish him well in his new work.

Sincerely yours,
Curt Icard
Department of English