USU Eastern’s top 10 stories from 2013

This archived article was written by: David Osborne Jr.

Fall semester is coming to a close and the year 2013 is winding down, leading to a time of reflection. Now before you pull out your list of New Years Resolutions that have been collecting dust since the last time you looked at them on the first of February, we the staff of “The Eagle” would like to remind you of the ten stories that were big news here at USU Eastern in 2013.
10 –USU Eastern student population declines
Written by news editor Seth Richards for the Jan. 17 issue of the newspaper this article chronicled the woes of enrollment for the college. There was a 6 percent attrition rate between Fall Semester 2012 and Spring Semester 2013, which made it unjustifiable to have all four residence halls open to students. The administration decided to close Burtenshaw Hall, deeming that it was the most expensive to keep open. Richards pointed out that the school was going to be able to save somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000 by closing the doors to Burtenshaw for the semester.
9 – Archuleta hired to head USU Eastern campus police
Contributed to the newspaper by staff writer Chris Barney in the Oct. 3 edition of the paper the story introduced the campus to their new campus police sergeant. Archuleta had previously worked for the College of Eastern in the 1990’s working part time as security with the campus police force. This lead to him becoming a police officer and he had spent the previous 15 years working in Helper as an officer, along with being crucial to the development of a K-9 unit in the area. Archuleta explained that he wanted to understand the students, faculty and staff so that he can better protect them.
8 – Legislature update: New building in the works, new name
Written by former editor-in-chief Karli Morris this story appeared in the March 21 edition of the newspaper and chronicled the story of the name change to USU Eastern along with the decision to further plan the Central Instructional Building that will hopefully appear on campus soon. The Utah State Legislature officially decided to change the name from Utah State University–College of Eastern Utah, or USU-CEU for short, to Utah State University Eastern, or USU Eastern. Although the new building has not been approved or funded by the state legislature, the school has received many donations and almost $600,000 has been given to the college to develop plans for the CIB. Once built, the CIB will house many different departments including; Theater, Criminal Justice, Communications/Journalism, Art and Music.
7 – Eastern leads state with lowest adjunct percentage
Contributed to “The Eagle” by staff writer Nathan Manley was used written to inform students about the quality of the education that they were receiving here at USU Eastern. For the fall semesters 2008 and 2009 the then CEU had a part-time faculty of 20.1 and 22.2 respectively while other colleges like Salt Lake Community College had 61.2 percent part-time faculty. While there are advantages and disadvantages to taking classes from adjunct professors Manley pointed out that finding the balance between adjunct and full-time teachers is the key to success.
6 – Residence Halls get new themes
In the Sept. 5 edition of the paper, staff writer Shadayah Jones talked about the changes that would be coming to the Residence Halls, specifically the changes in the lounges that will include new carpet and paint. Session’s Hall was given the theme of a sports bar and will sport the school colors since Session’s is known as the home of the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Tucker Hall will be decorated in the theme of the hit TV shoe “The Big Bang Theory” and will sport the colors scarlet and black. Aaron Jones Hall was given the theme of being in an oasis and will be decorated in earth tones and photos of scenery around Utah. Finally Burtenshaw has will be decorated in the theme of comic books. The lower floor will be decorated with characters from Marvel comic books such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor while the upper floor will be dedicated to DC comics such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
5 – Extreme Makeover: BDAC Edition
The Jan. 31 edition of the paper featured a story by McKenzie Hosenfield chronicling the changes in the Bunnell-Dimitrich Athletic Center. The red brick was painted over in white, the brown bleachers were painted navy blue. The floor had been redone the previous year but the new changes have certainly given a breath of fresh air to the BDAC. Speaking as an individual that has been both the new and the old forms of the BDAC the new edition is much lighter and more crowd friendly along with sporting school colors on all of the bleachers not just in the student section.
4 – Dorms go to the dogs
Already chronicling what would become of Burtenshaw Hall after the administration decided to close it down for the semester in the Jan. 31 edition of “The Eagle” Richards informed the campus and community about what would be taking place in the hall during the semester. The Utah Highway Patrol had nine of their K-9 units tested along with one Grand County K-9 unit in Burtenshaw and the old Eagle bus for their annual narcotics certification. The bus and Burtenshaw were perfect areas for the certification because they were large enough for the dogs to test for their specific test without being able to sense the other narcotics meant to be found by the other dogs.
3 – “It’s been a wild ride” After 33 years, King retires
Written by Morris in the April 4 edition the story chronicled the story of former Vice Chancellor Brad King. King was a graduate of CEU and after graduating from Brigham Young University and spending a year in Las Vegas, Nev., King returned home for what he thought was a short stay that never ended. While King was working for CEU and USU Eastern there were many changes including a change from CEU to USU Eastern, six different presidents/chancellors, Gibby had four different homes and 10 new building were built on campus. The article closed with some remarks, “[I] can’t think of a better place to work for an entire career. It’s a hard thing to co, pack up the office and leave … it’s been a wild ride.”
2 – USU Eastern enrollment up 15 percent; goals for growth on track
Contributed by the Eagle staff in the Oct. 17 edition we found out that there has been a 15 percent increase of students attending USU Eastern has increased by 250 students on the Price Campus and the Blanding campus reported at least 600 students registered there. While USU Eastern is celebrating its 75 anniversary it was nice to see that the regional college with “the heart of a community college with the soul of a research university” was able to turn things around from the previous semester. USU Eastern clearly had the largest margin of increase in students with 15 percent while the next closest was SLCC with only a 3.4 percent increase.
1 – One Judge Bunnell, one Gibby, one 75th Anniversary
While there have been many different stories about the 75 anniversary of the school that was once Carbon College this may be the nearest and dearest to many students as Gibby has always been a symbol of student creativity and expression. Judge Boyd was one of the first students to move Gibby from its original resting spot in a field that is now where Carbon High School sits today to the campus. Although Gibby has been moved several times throughout its history. Although the ride from Judge Bunnell’s story about bringing Gibby to campus was a little scary and sketchy it has brought as many smiles and created as many memories as the number of layers of paint upon the surface.