Author: Continuum staff

Updates

August 27, 2018

NEW LEADER AT THE HELM OF HEALTH

This summer, Michael Good and his family packed up their lives in Florida after 34 years and traveled 2,200 miles across the country to start a new life in Utah. In August, Good assumed the position of University of Utah senior vice president for health sciences, CEO of U of U Health, and dean of the School of Medicine, replacing interim Senior Vice President Lorris Betz.

Good says that when he was offered the opportunity to come to U of U Health, there was no question in his mind that it was time to head west. “The University of Utah is one of the strongest and most collegial academic health science centers in the nation,” he says. “I look forward to adding my energy as we work together to achieve the high expectations the people of Utah have for their flagship university, which as President Watkins says, truly is ‘the University for Utah.’ ”

Good comes to the U from the University of Florida (UF), where he had served as dean of the College of Medicine since 2008. There, he also served as interim senior vice president of health affairs and interim president of UF Health. He is well known in the anesthesiology community for his innovative, interdisciplinary work with physicians and engineers to develop the Human Patient Simulator, a sophisticated teaching technology used worldwide in health care education programs.

He joined the UF faculty in 1988 and previously served as senior associate dean for clinical affairs and chief of staff for what is now known as UF Health Shands Hospital. Good earned both his bachelor’s degree in computer and communication sciences and his medical degree from the University of Michigan. He completed his residency training in anesthesiology as well as a research fellowship at UF.

Looking forward, Good says he wants to continue to advance the national visibility and stature of the U, “while providing leadership to the nation for the challenging health and higher ed issues affecting all Americans.”

Students to Create Affordable Housing in SLC

U architecture students are the new kids on the block in Salt Lake City’s affordable housing market. A new partnership— Design+Build Salt Lake—brings the U’s School of Architecture, the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) division, and Salt Lake Valley Habitat for Humanity together to design, develop, and build affordable, energy-efficient houses in west Salt Lake City.

As part of their coursework, students have already completed the process of subdividing a city-owned piece of land— roughly 20,000 square feet—into three individual lots that will house 1,500-square-foot single family residences known as the “Montgomery Triplets.” Students are working to secure a building permit to begin construction next summer.

“Designing a building is one thing; transforming the design into a real and resilient building that is affordable is a very different challenge,” says Jörg Rügemer, director of the program and associate professor of architecture. “This program offers participants the opportunity to explore the consequences of their ideas in direct relation to the built environment, social equity, global climate change, and feasibility, where each step has to withstand the critical arguments of a real client.”

 

UTAH ATHLETICS ENTERS THE HARLAN ERA

Mark Harlan’s expectations as the U’s new athletic director are simple. Win in the classroom. Win in the community. Win in competition. “Everybody, including myself, will be evaluated on the ‘Three Cs’ going forward,” Harlan said at his first U press conference. “I want everyone to know it’s as simple as that.”

Harlan joined the U in July after an impressive four-year run in the same role at the University of South Florida (USF). His appointment follows the retirement of longtime AD Chris Hill MEd’74 PhD’82.

“After an extensive national search, Mark emerged as our clear top choice,” U President Ruth V. Watkins said. “Mark has a breadth of experience in athletics and in fundraising, an open and collaborative leadership style, and a track record of success that will enable him to lead our athletics department to greater heights.”

Watkins also cited Harlan’s “deep experience” with Pac-12 Conference peers, including serving as senior associate athletic director for external relations at the University of California, Los Angeles, and senior vice president for central development at the University of Arizona. Harlan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Arizona.

Under Harlan’s leadership at USF, the Bulls won 12 American Athletic Conference championships, and they had nine sports programs ranked in the Top 25 during the 2017-18 academic year. The Bulls football program was one of 13 in the nation to win 20 or more games the past two seasons. Also, student-athletes achieved an 82 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate in 2017, and the department increased donations by 300 percent last year.

At Utah, Harlan will oversee 20 varsity sports, a staff of nearly 200, and an $80 million budget. Among Harlan’s tasks will be planning and fundraising for a potential expansion of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of Chris Hill," Harlan said, “and to build on the strong foundation already in place.”

AirMed Celebrates 40 Years of Saving Lives

Since 1978, the U’s AirMed program has been in flight, transporting a total of more than 75,000 patients and flying more than 7 million miles. With helipad bases on campus and across Utah in Layton, Tooele, Park City, and Nephi, as well as in Rock Springs, Wyoming, AirMed serves one of the largest geographical areas of any medical flight program in the country. Its helicopters have a range of 160 miles, and its airplanes can go as far as 1,700 miles to pick up patients and bring them to the U hospital.

AirMed crews typically include a pilot, flight nurse, and flight paramedic. In total, the program currently employs 49 flight medics, 32 flight nurses, 13 perinatal nurses, 14 flight coordinators, 37 pilots, and 13 mechanics.

Don’t Forget Your Clear Bag

It’s time to be more transparent about what you’re bringing to U athletic events. The clear-bag policy is now being enforced at both Rice-Eccles Stadium and the Huntsman Center to enhance security inside and outside of the venues and to speed up the security screening process.

Fans may bring one clear bag no larger than 12" x 6" x 12" or a one-gallon plastic storage bag. Guests are limited to one clear bag per person, along with a small clutch or purse for privacy.

Visit stadium.utah.edu/clearbag for more info.

 

Tapping Talent of People Who Think Differently

Utah businesses are pushing to hire people who are diverse as far as race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical ability. But what about people who are neurologically diverse? They’re often an untapped pool of focused, creative thinkers who have a unique skill set and see the world— and problems—differently.

For the past year, the Utah Neurodiversity Workforce Program (UNWP) at the U has collaborated with students, faculty, and businesses to develop career pathways into STEM fields for students with differently abled minds, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder.

“People on the autism spectrum have high unemployment rates even though they don’t have cognitive impairments,” explains Cheryl Wright, professor of Family and Consumer Studies and co-founder of UNWP. “Just getting through a job interview can be a challenge. If they get past the interview and land a job, they may have a hard time keeping it.”

Funded by the Talent Ready Utah initiative, the UNWP works to enhance success of neurologically diverse students at the U through support services and awareness training for faculty and staff. The program also collaborates with businesses such as WorkFront, 3M, Innosys, and UTA to establish mentoring, internship, and apprenticeship opportunities. In its first year, UNWP placed 19 students with local businesses.

 

Utah Forges Ahead with Geothermal Energy

A research grant of $140 million has put Utah on the map as a global leader for geothermal energy research. Following a very competitive process, the U.S. Department of Energy has selected the U’s Energy and Geosciences Institute to develop a laboratory near Milford, Utah. The lab, called Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) will focus on developing systems that could greatly expand the nation’s capacity to produce commercial geothermal energy.

The FORGE project involves drilling two 8,000-foot-long wells in an area north of Milford. Cold water will be pumped into one well and heated by the rocks as it circulates, then will be pumped out of a second well. After the heat is extracted at the surface, the cooled, circulated water will be cycled back into the first well. The laboratory will use nonpotable groundwater that cannot be used for agriculture or human consumption.

A geothermal power plant needs two things: hot rocks at depth, which can be found practically anywhere on the planet, and hot groundwater that can be extracted at the surface. Enhanced geothermal systems like FORGE could create their own hot groundwater, making it possible to place a geothermal power plant nearly anywhere.

Students Support Sobriety

The U’s student recovery program has done something no other collegiate recovery program has accomplished—receive annual funding from a state legislature. The Recover @ the U leadership team and faculty advisor Jason Castillo, along with Utah Rep. Mark Wheatley, lobbied for and were awarded $100,000 in ongoing funds from the Utah State Legislature this past session. The program’s first priorities are to establish a drop-in center, invest in more training and development, and provide scholarships for students in recovery.

Recover @ the U was started by students, supported by the College of Social Work, in 2015. The community has since grown from a handful of students to more than 100 students and allies, filling a critical need on campus. A big part of their work is challenging the narratives that surround what it means to be a person in recovery. In addition to two to three weekly meetings, the students host sober tailgate parties and socials, present to student and faculty groups, host and lead education sessions at local treatment centers, and attend and present at conferences.

“They want the [recovery community] to know, ‘You can go to the University of Utah and there is an environment there that will lend itself to recovery,’ ” says Castillo. “We have a mission here at the U of not just educating students but providing an environment committed to the health and well-being of our students.”

Driving Out Diabetes

It may look like a bookmobile, but it’s not lined with shelves and paperbacks. This bus has a different mission—to fight Type 2 diabetes in underserved Utah communities.

The Wellness Bus is part of the “Driving Out Diabetes: A Larry H. Miller Family Wellness Initiative,” announced last November and established by a $5.3 million gift from the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation. The initiative incorporates a novel approach to diabetes through prevention and outreach, clinical care, and research and training. The bus allows specialists to deliver screening services and health coaching. The most common form of diabetes, Type 2, can often be prevented if caught early enough.

The Wellness Bus is a diesel-powered, 40-foot custom designed RV that has two private counseling rooms, two screening stations, and a waiting/education area. In June, the bus hit the road and began serving the communities of Kearns, South Salt Lake, Midvale, and Glendale.

WITNESS HISTORY

Inauguration of President Ruth V. Watkins

16th President of the University of Utah

Friday, Sept. 21, 2018

3 p.m., Kingsbury Hall

For ticket info or to watch it live, visit president.utah.edu/inauguration

Campus Scene: Good to Grow

August 27, 2018

Class Notes

May 30, 2018

’60s

Josephine “Jody” K. Olsen

Jody Olsen BS’65, currently a visiting professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, who is a veteran official at the Peace Corps, has been named by President Donald Trump to lead the organization. Olsen, who initially served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia in the 1960s, went on to hold several high-profile positions with the organization over subsequent decades, including a stint as acting director during the Obama administration. A Utah native, Olsen received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the U and a doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1979. “America and the world need the Peace Corps now more than ever,” says Glenn Blumhorst, president and CEO of the National Peace Corps Association. “We’re excited Jody has the opportunity to lead it.”

’80s

Marcia L. Lloyd

Marcia Lloyd EDD’86, a professor emerita of dance at Idaho State University, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dance Education Organization last November, in San Antonio, Texas. Lloyd says she would like to share her award with the faculty and staff at the U who helped her to achieve her goal of earning a doctorate in education (1981-86), which led to her receiving promotions and tenure at Idaho State. During her 25 years teaching there, she specialized in creative dance, established a dance minor, and founded a student dance company. She also served as a Fulbright Professor in Dance at the University of Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia, and as a visiting professor of dance at several other Malaysian universities.

Ray Peterson

Ray Peterson MS’83 PhD’84, director of technology at Real Alloy in Knoxville, Tennessee, has been inducted into the 2018 class of Fellows of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). The Fellow award is the highest honor conferred by TMS and is considered a pinnacle achievement in the field of materials science and engineering. TMS is a professional society that connects minerals, metals, and materials scientists and engineers who work in industry, academia, and government positions in 94 countries on six continents. Peterson was honored for his significant contributions to the aluminum industry through his work in aluminum melting and molten metal processing and for his outstanding service to TMS. Peterson has authored 56 papers and holds five U.S. patents for his work in aluminum processing.

’90s

Paige Petersen

Paige Petersen BA’94 BS’94 was sworn in on January 19 as Utah’s newest Supreme Court associate justice. Petersen grew up in Emery County, Utah, and received an associate degree from the College of Eastern Utah. She graduated from the U with bachelor’s degrees in political science and English, both summa cum laude, and then received her juris doctorate from Yale Law School in 1999. She comes to her new position after a varied 18-year law career, including stints as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York; a prosecutor of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, The Netherlands; an assistant attorney in the federal attorney’s office in Utah; and a judge in 3rd District Court.

Dixie Rasmussen

Dixie Rasmussen MS‘98 DNP‘17, a certified nurse midwife at Mountain Utah Family Medicine in Richfield, Utah, received the 2017-18 Excellence in Advancing Nursing Practice Award from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Rasmussen is the second person from the U ever to win the national honor. The award recognizes an outstanding final project from a student in a doctor of nursing practice program. Rasmussen's project addressed the question “Can a Rural Hospital Reliably Perform an Emergency Cesarean Section in 30 Minutes or Less?” Her project showed the direct impact on improved patient outcomes and demonstrated an interprofessional impact with a rural/frontier focus. She credits the project’s success to Sevier Valley Hospital’s quality improvements. Her project was selected as the U’s top doctoral project in its College of Nursing.

’10s

Scott Neville

Scott Neville BS’17 (mathematics) BS’17 (computer science; both magna cum laude), of Clearfield, Utah, has received the prestigious Churchill Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. He is one of only 15 students nationally to receive the award this year and is the third Churchill Scholar from the U, all of whom are mathematicians. Neville was drawn to math in high school when he was introduced to the Collatz Conjecture, a well-known math sequence problem first posed in 1937. It captured his attention, and Neville was ecstatic when he realized he could contribute to research mathematics. Neville aspires to become a professor at a research university so he can continue working on math and sharing it with others.

Alum News

May 30, 2018

On behalf of the U community, we welcome Todd G. Andrews as the Alumni Association’s new executive director. Andrews, starting in his new role in June, comes to us from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served as vice president of Alumni Relations for nearly 13 years. Andrews replaces John Ashton BS’66 JD’69, who recently retired after having served as executive director for the past three decades.

Before working at Brown University, Andrews spent nearly eight years directing internal and external communications for CVS, now the largest pharmacy chain in America. Prior to that, he served as deputy chief of staff and communications director for U.S. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

“I am very pleased to have someone of Todd’s extensive experience and record of success as an alumni association leader join the university and lead our efforts on this important front,” says President Ruth Watkins. “It’s important our graduates understand that the value of their degrees has never been higher and that the university has never been stronger. I look forward to working with Todd to share this message with our wonderful alumni and their families.”

Andrews says the depth and breadth of the U’s academic programs and its reputation as a premier research institution drew his attention to the U and the position. “After touring the incredible campus, meeting President Watkins, and most of all, listening to the alumni who love the U, I knew I wanted to be a part of the University of Utah community,” he says. “I’m excited about joining a collaborative effort with alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, and friends of the university, to help the U achieve its goals of growth and educational excellence.”

Founded in 1886, the U’s Alumni Association serves as a bridge to local, national, and international communities. The association provides opportunities to participate in community service projects, raise scholarship funds for students, advocate to the state legislature on behalf of the university and higher education in general, and to join other alums and friends for activities in 18 chapters across the country and 12 international clubs.

Alumni Association Bestows its Annual Spring Awards

Scholarship Spotlight:
From Orphan to Refugee to Undergrad

Jolly Karungi was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, during the Congo war. Her mother died in childbirth, and she and her four siblings lost their father to the brutality of the war. They fled with an aunt to a refugee camp in Uganda, where conditions were less than humane.

After some time, she and her siblings came to Utah, where Karungi was raised through foster care by a family in Herriman. Her overall experience was phenomenally improved, and she was given many more opportunities, but she was still separated from her siblings and missed them dearly. Nonetheless, in her new surroundings, she committed to her studies, and to bettering herself.

Karungi worked hard in high school and was able to graduate in two and a half years, even though she was behind when she started and didn’t speak any English. Impressively, she now speaks six different languages.

As a freshman at the U, she is studying accounting and political science. “Most of all, my biggest goal is to make my family proud,” she says. “I want to dedicate myself to giving back to the community, and I am very enthusiastic and motivated to do so. I want to be involved in something greater than myself.”

Karungi was honored at the Alumni Association’s Spring Awards banquet in April along with more than 80 other recipients of UUAA scholarships, with amounts ranging from $500 to $8,000 per student.

Law School Counselor Honored for Superb Student Service

The association’s Spring Awards ceremony also included the Perlman Award for Excellence in Student Counseling, which is given annually to a faculty or staff member who has made an outstanding contribution to the university through student advising and counseling. This year’s recipient is Barbara Dickey BA’75 MA’80 JD’87, associate dean for student affairs at the S.J. Quinney College of Law.

Dickey started her career as an attorney and in 1999 took on the role at the law school, where she has become beloved and respected as a student advocate, counselor, and mentor—so much so that the college’s student common area has been nicknamed in her honor. She says she derives unlimited satisfaction from meeting with students. On any given day, she may counsel students who are severely depressed, considering leaving school, facing bankruptcy or divorce, or dealing with the emotional trauma of the death of a parent or child. Dickey says, “We can’t lose sight of the fact that behind the numbers and group identities are individuals, each with her or his own story, inner compass, and aspirations.”

And while she can’t herself solve those problems, Dickey sees a big part of her role as
being someone who can make the stress of law school one less thing for a student to worry about when that student is in crisis. The message she tries to convey to law students is posted on her door: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

Hang with Alumni Near You

Recapture the camaraderie of your years at the U by getting involved in a chapter or club in your area. Join other alums at tailgates, game watch parties, networking events, and more.

Arizona
Atlanta
Bay Area
Boise
Chicago Dallas/Ft. Worth Denver

Houston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
New England
New York
Orange County
Portland

San Diego
Seattle
St. George, UT
Washington, D.C.

+12 international clubs

To find out more or to get involved, email:
kevin.stoker@alumni.utah.edu or nelly.divricean@alumni.utah.edu

To find events in your area, visit alumni.utah.edu/chapters.

Save the Date: Homecoming 2018

Mark your calendar now for this fall’s Homecoming week, October 13-20.
Show your U pride by participating in our scholarship 5K or attending the tailgate before the big game against USC on October 20.

Discovery

May 29, 2018

WHAT DRIVES HATE IN THE U.S.?

Seeking to understand what fuels hate in our country, U geographers confirm in a new study the grim reality that hate has become a national phenomenon and is more complicated than they had imagined. Though hate has always existed, 2016 saw a near record high in the number of hate groups in the U.S., according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

A hate group is defined by the SPLC as a group with beliefs or practices that malign an entire class of people due to their indisputable characteristics such as race, gender, religion, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation. U researchers began their study by mapping the patterns of active hate groups for every U.S. county, using the SPLC database from 2014, and then analyzed their potential socioeconomic and ideological drivers—diversity, poverty, education level, population stability—and ideological factors represented as religion and degree of conservativism.

They found that in all U.S. regions, less education, population change, ethnic diversity, conservative political affiliation, and higher poverty correlate with more hate groups, and that the geographical region seems to determine whether religion has a positive or negative relative effect on the number of hate groups for the county.

“Those involved in hate group activities see their actions as a way to secure the future of their people. Unfortunately, that fear turns to hate, and in the worst case, violence,” says Richard Medina PhD’09, assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the U, and senior author of the study.

“Some people have strong feelings about who belongs and who doesn’t belong in ‘their’ place,” says Emily Nicolosi MS’15, doctoral student at the U and co-author of the study. “When they see people coming in that they think don’t belong, their very identity feels threatened.”

Medina and Nicolosi want their paper to help people understand how little is known about hate. “Hopefully this study motivates people to start asking more questions, especially right now,” says Medina. “We have a long way to go before we really understand the drivers and patterns of hate in this country.”

Could the Ocean Offer Alternatives to Opioids?

What does a marine snail’s ability to kill prey with venom have to do with the opioid epidemic ravaging the U.S.? More than you might imagine.

A team of researchers at U of U Health—with expertise in biology, anesthesiology, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry—has received a four-year grant of approximately $10 million from the Department of Defense that will be used to identify new, natural compounds for developing non-opioid drugs for pain management. The team is turning to ocean organisms to find the next generation of therapeutic pain medications.

Conus regius, a small, predatory cone snail common to the Caribbean Sea, already has been identified by the research team for the potential analgesic properties of its venom. The team aims to use the compound from C. regius to develop a stable drug that can be metabolized in the body to elicit an analgesic effect, similar to opioids for chronic pain, but with far fewer side effects and no addictive qualities. This project will also expand on that research to explore compounds from the venom of a variety of other marine mollusks.

Why the Elderly Easily Break Bones

Why do so many older people break a bone in a fall? To find the answer, Claire Acevedo suggests that doctors and researchers might want to look at the human skeleton in much the same way that civil engineers analyze buildings and bridges. Acevedo, a U mechanical engineering assistant professor, says that in engineered materials and structures, cyclic fatigue accounts for more than 80 percent of all failures, leading to sudden accidents such as the breaking of railway axles, the collapse of metallic bridges, and the cracking of aircraft airframes.

Acevedo (pictured) and her team of researchers suggest in a new study that the bones of an older person become more susceptible to a break in much the same way—due to repeated stress from everyday activities such as walking, which creates microdamage that affects the quality of the bone. This belies the common belief that bone breaks in the elderly are largely due to one massive impact, such as a fall.

The vulnerability comes into play when a microcrack grows over time and slowly expands until the remaining cross-section of the bone that is still connected is too small and suddenly breaks. In that case, such fractures would be the cause of a fall rather than the result of a fall. Acevedo and her team suggest that as old bones gradually accumulate more microdamage, get weaker, and lose their ability to self-repair, doctors and researchers need to look beyond the effect of a single impact if they want to prevent such fractures and the high risk of mortality associated with them.

Sensors Reveal How Suburban Sprawl Impacts Utah Air

In 2001, U scientists placed the first of several carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors on campus to monitor air quality. Today, five sensors are placed around the Salt Lake Valley—the only multisite urban CO2 network with more than a decade of continuous measurements in the world. Because of that, more is known about CO2 in the Salt Lake Valley than in any other urban area, and those sensors are providing some surprises about how growth impacts emissions. U atmospheric scientists Logan Mitchell and John C. Lin and their team have discovered that emissions increase more in areas with suburban sprawl than with similar population growth in a developed urban core.

A sensor placed in an empty field of an undeveloped area of the southwestern part of the valley in 2004 was intended to represent rural areas. But today, that area has increased in population, along with significant increases in CO2. During the same time, Salt Lake City grew, too—by around 10,000 people. But the growth in population in the mature, urban part of the city did not lead to associated increases in CO2. The research team concluded that CO2 emissions around the valley were influenced as much by the type of neighborhood (i.e. land use) as by the total number of people moving into that neighborhood.

Lin plans to use the data to make projections about Salt Lake’s emissions future, including the city’s goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent by the year 2040. “Salt Lake City is one entity in the valley, but it’s not the only one,” says Mitchell. “If you reduce emissions by 80 percent and everyone moves out farther from work and commutes in, it’s actually not solving the problem.”

Photo by Adam Fondren / Deseret News

Computing Faster than the Speed of Light

A mineral discovered in Russia in the 1830s, known as a perovskite, holds a key to the next step in ultra-high-speed communications and computing. U researchers Valy Vardeny and Ajay Nahata (pictured left to right) have discovered that a special kind of perovskite can be layered on a silicon wafer to create a vital component for the communications systems of the future—which they predict would allow cell phone and Internet users to transfer information a whopping thousand times faster than today.

That system would use the terahertz range (a band in the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared light and radio waves), using light instead of electricity to shuttle data. Nahata says it’s probably at least another 10 years before this technology is used in commercial products, but this new research is a significant milestone to getting there.

Bookshelf

May 25, 2018

Taylor Randall HBA’90 has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by students who have to work their way through college. He was Inspector Number 14 at Lone Peak Designs, working up to 30 hours a week while completing a degree in accounting at the U. Randall would routinely take what he learned in the classroom and apply it at work, where he was quickly promoted to production manager by his impressed boss.

It was as an undergraduate that Randall also fell in love with the idea of being a professor, thanks to mentoring from the late English professor Brooke Hopkins, whom Randall says spent “an inordinate amount of time” teaching him to write. After graduating, Randall was hired at a top five accounting firm and then sought an MBA and doctorate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Among the many things Randall learned: He did, indeed, have a passion for education and for teaching.

And that led Randall right back to where he started: the U, where he initially taught managerial accounting before moving into administration. He’s served as dean of the David Eccles School of Business since 2009. Over the past decade, the Eccles School has added numerous buildings, programs, centers, and institutes—among them, the Goff Strategic Leadership Center, Sorenson Impact Center, Lassonde Studios, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, and Marriner S. Eccles Institute.

If there is a business analogue for his role at the Eccles School, Randall says, it is that of managing partner, which captures the relationship between himself, faculty, donors, and alumni in ensuring that students get a rich educational experience.

Today’s business students want to do well in their own lives but also want to do well for others, he says. They have a real sense of community and purpose that hasn’t been typical of students in the past. Hence, the school’s tagline: Doers wanted.

What are you reading now?

I’m reading Originals by Adam Grant. The book identifies characteristics of highly creative and innovative individuals. I love the counterintuitive evidence presented regarding entrepreneurs. Grant argues that entrepreneurs aren’t reckless risk takers. Most keep their day jobs until they know their idea is going to succeed.

Is there a book you think everyone should read?

I highly recommend reading biographies, especially for those who want to lead organizations. Biographies allow one to peek into the personalities and leadership styles of individuals as they confront challenge and opportunity. One I have found useful is No Ordinary Time, Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This book examines the
lives of the Roosevelts and the domestic challenges at home during World War II. Goodwin provides remarkable insight into the personal relationships of these individuals and how they cope with failure and success.

What’s the best business book you’ve read?

So many it is hard to pick, but here are a few: Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives, and Small Business Owners, co-authored by Scott Schaefer; Serial Innovators, co-authored by Abbie Griffin; Beyond Competitive Advantage: How to Solve the Puzzle of Sustaining Growth While Creating Value, by Todd Zenger; What I Didn’t Learn in Business School: How Strategy Works in the Real World, by Jay Barney and Trish Gorman. All of these authors are faculty at the David Eccles School of Business.

Is there a book on leadership you’d recommend for aspiring or new CEOs?

Any new CEO needs to manage change around a strategic vision. I found Switch by Chip and Dan Heath a useful guide to managing change in organizations. It looks at why we fear change and how leaders can motivate others when taking a business or organization in a new direction.

Updates

May 24, 2018

University Neighborhood Partners Celebrates 15 Years

In 2003, University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) launched with a charge to create partnerships between the university and west Salt Lake City neighborhoods, with the goal of helping more west side youth pursue higher education.

Over the past 15 years, UNP and its collaborators have worked to break down the systemic barriers to educational success. Looking back at how the neighborhoods and university have changed in more than a decade, one indicator of success shows that the number of Latino students enrolled at the U has increased from 21 students in 2002 to more than 200 students currently—up by over 900 percent.

Alonso Reyna Rivarola BS’13 MEd’16, Dream Program director for the U’s Office of Engagement, knows firsthand how UNP can change lives. “I remember when I first found out about UNP nine years ago. I was a high school senior interested in attending the U, unaware of the steps I needed to take to apply,” he recalls. “UNP supported me in the process of applying to the university as an undocumented student. This was a critical moment in my life and has led me in my pathway into higher education.”

At a celebration in April at Rice-Eccles Stadium, UNP reflected on its history, recognizing its partners and all the people who work to make the program a success. Various community groups from the west side performed, expressing the richness of the neighborhoods they represent.

New Outdoor Courtyard Opens at the Library

Students can take a break from studying and get some fresh air in the new Katherine’s Courtyard, an outdoor extension of the Katherine W. Dumke Fine Arts & Architecture Library housed within the U’s J. Willard Marriott Library.

Spanning two levels, this new addition provides additional study, relaxation, performance, teaching, and exhibition space. The majority of the courtyard is outside, with first-floor access from Mom’s Café and the level-one book stacks. Level two has a four-season enclosure that will be open to the outdoors in the warmer months and closed with radiant floor heating in the winter. Students can study at the tables, lounge on a bench, or just relax and enjoy the sculptures on display.

Katherine’s Courtyard was made possible through a donation from Katherine Dumke BS’51 prior to her passing in 2014. This April, her husband Zeke BA’50 also passed away. The U is grateful for the generosity and support of the Dumke family over many years.

U to Study Effects of Cannabis on the Brain

Thanks to a $740,000 grant, U researchers have begun a new project examining how cannabis affects the human brain. The two-year study will use brain-imaging technology to examine how cannabinoids influence brain networks and why they affect individuals differently.

The medical use of cannabinoids is now permitted in 29 states and counting, yet critical questions remain unanswered about how the plant’s main active compounds, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), influence brain networks. The grant, which will allow U researchers to take a deep dive into these questions, is from the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation and the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation.

The study will examine 40 adults and involve researchers from departments including neuro-imaging, biostatistics, physics, and psychiatry. It will use advances in medical imaging to compare how the brain reacts to a placebo versus THC and CBD. The results will offer a first of its kind view into how the personalized effects of cannabinoids may arise from the type, density, location, or other differences of brain receptors.

New Senior VP Brings Both Corporate and Academic Experience

Daniel A. Reed is the U’s new senior vice president for academic affairs, the position previously held by President Ruth Watkins. Reed, who starts in July, comes to the U from the University of Iowa, where he has been serving as its computational science and bioinformatics chair and a professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and medicine. From 2012-17, he served as Iowa’s vice president for research and economic development.

Reed’s background is a blend of extensive corporate and academic experience. He is a former corporate vice president and technology policy leader at Microsoft, the founding director of the Renaissance Computing Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was the director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois.

Reed’s most recent scholarship has focused on challenges and opportunities related to cloud and edge computing in both academic and corporate research settings. A graduate of Missouri University of Science and Technology, he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from Purdue University.

Reed is very enthusiastic about the U’s growth trajectory and looks forward to partnering with students, staff, faculty, and Utah residents to build an “extraordinary future,” he says. “Utah is a great public research university with a deep commitment to student success, breakthrough research and scholarship, effective economic development, and insightful partnerships that serve our society and health,” he adds.

In addition to his work at the University of Iowa, Reed chairs the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee and the steering committee for the National Science Foundation’s Midwest Big Data Hub. He previously served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee.

Conceptual rendering

Utah Gymnastics Rallying for a Remodel

With the goal to remain among the nation's elite college athletic programs, Utah gymnastics has initiated a fund-raising campaign to expand and upgrade its aging training facility, the Dumke Gymnastics Center.

The plans call for a partial second story addition to house an expanded team locker room, lounge, and balcony. Other amenities include locker rooms for the coaches and improvements to the athletic training and rehabilitation area. The campaign’s goal is to raise $3 million with construction beginning in 2020. For more information, visit crimsonclub.utah.edu or call 801-587-9894.

 

Conceptual rendering

Intermountain Healthcare Gifts $15 Million to Support New U Medical School

The U is poised to dramatically transform the way medicine is taught, thanks in part to a $15 million gift from Intermountain Healthcare to fund a new medical education building. Now, the U can finally replace the venerable 52-year-old School of Medicine building, which is outdated and seismically unsound.

Intermountain’s senior management team and board bestowed the gift as an expression of gratitude for the U’s commitment to providing high-quality medical education in the state of Utah and surrounding region and for educating the majority of physicians who practice here. The U trains two-thirds of Utah’s practicing physicians—that’s 125 doctors every year. In addition, the U graduates 44 new physicians assistants and more than a thousand nurses, dentists, physical therapists, dietitians, and other healthcare professionals each year.

“It’s an important part of our [Intermountain’s] charitable mission to support the education of physicians and other medical professionals, and the University of Utah plays such a critical role in that work and does it exceptionally well,” says Marc Harrison, M.D., Intermountain’s president and CEO. “We greatly value the cooperative and collegial relationship our two institutions have had through the years."

Pointing to the critical physician shortage in Utah, Lorris Betz—interim executive dean of the U’s School of Medicine, senior vice president for health sciences, and CEO of U of U Health—says the training of the next generation of physicians is more important than ever. “As health care changes, how we teach and train also needs to change. This isn’t just about a new building. This is about moving education forward, out of silos, and into an interdisciplinary environment where collaboration and new ideas take shape,” he says. “We are grateful to partner with Intermountain Healthcare for this important goal.”

The new medical education and discovery building is expected to be completed in 2022.

"Porcuball" game image

EAE Marks a Decade at the Top

It didn’t take long for the Us Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) video game development program to reach the pinnacle of game design schools. In just 10 years, EAE has become one of the top development programs of its kind in the nation, ranked the No. 1 video game program for three of the last six years by the Princeton Review.

“When we began EAE, we set out to create a way for artists and engineers to learn to work together, make games, and get jobs,” says EAE Director Robert Kessler BS’74 MS’77 PhD’81. “We never would have imagined that would lead to an organization with its own bachelor’s and master’s degrees and nearly 1,000 successful graduates.”

To celebrate its success, EAE recently hosted an anniversary event, followed by its annual “EAE Launch Day” when graduating seniors and master’s students show off their completed games. Here is a sampling of the games.

► “Porcuball” (pictured above): A physics puzzle game in which players take the role of Quill, a porcupine who rolls around in the woods and solves environmental puzzles.

► “And I Must Scream”: A game that delves into the psyche of a young boy as he metaphorically and physically traverses the five stages of grief.
 

Strengthening the Middle Class

Great news for the middle class of Utah. The U has been selected to take part in an innovative ideas challenge to help ensure a more vibrant middle class in America. The challenge, sponsored by the Alliance for the American Dream, gives the U the opportunity to solicit and develop top policy and technology ideas from throughout the state—ideas that have the potential to boost net income 10 percent for 10,000 middle-class Utah households by 2020.

Here's how the challenge will work. The university, under the direction of project coordinator Courtney McBeth BA'01 MS'05, will solicit ideas through late fall. Ten proposals will then be selected, and each will receive up to $10,000 to further develop its idea. Next, a local advisory board led by President Ruth Watkins will select the three best ideas from that group. Each proposal will be eligible for an additional award of up to $30,000 to help refine the concept.

The U will work with the final three teams by providing access to facilities, connections to resources and faculty, etc., and will then forward those proposals to the alliance, which will provide up to $1 million in additional support to the best ideas that emerge from across the nation.

The innovative ideas challenge marks the launch of the Alliance for the American Dream, an initiative of Schmidt Futures. The alliance’s goal is to increase shared prosperity and American competitiveness by generating and investing in ideas that strengthen the middle class. The ideas challenge at the U is made possible by an initial gift from the alliance of $1.5 million. For more information, click here.

Highest University Honors Go to...

At commencement in May, the U bestowed honorary doctoral degrees on two outstanding individuals, Raymond Sonji Uno and Barbara Lindquist Tanner.

Uno BS’55 JD’58 MSW’63 is a trailblazer, civil rights advocate, and the first ethnic minority judge in Utah’s history. As a child, he was among 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced into U.S. internment camps during World War II. In spite of that experience, he later chose to enlist in the U.S. Army. After his service, he earned his numerous degrees from the U. He went on to have a successful legal career as a referee of the juvenile court, deputy Salt Lake County attorney, assistant attorney general of Utah, and in private practice. He served for almost a quarter of a century as a judge to the Salt Lake City Court, 5th Circuit Court, and Third District Court.

Tanner BS’37 is a community leader, humanitarian, human rights activist, and philanthropist. She was actively involved with the O.C. Tanner manufacturing company, where her late husband, Norman BS’45, propelled the company to worldwide success. In 2006, they established the Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy in the U’s College of Social and Behavioral Science. Tanner also helped organize Utah Girls Village (now Utah Youth Village), a nonprofit program aimed at changing the lives of troubled children.

 

Judge Raymond Uno

 

Barbara Tanner

 

Grand Canyon, May 15, 1940, watercolor on silk, Amber and Richard Sakai Collection

Don’t Miss UMFA’s Summer Show—Chiura Obata

Check out the Utah Museum of Fine Arts' exhibit featuring the work of Chiura Obata, one of the 20th century’s most significant Japanese American artists. Best-known for his depictions of Yosemite National Park, Obata also produced some important work in Utah while imprisoned during World War II at the Topaz War Relocation Center outside Delta. The show is open now through September 2.

One More: Puppy Love

May 24, 2018

Feedback

May 24, 2018

Peter and Gerda Saunders

Dementia Field Notes

[“The Disappearing Self,” Spring 2018] I’m so grateful for this article and to this wonderful professor for writing about her dementia. My husband has vascular dementia. His doctor, like hers, said he knew it would be hard for us to know that he is demented, but it was true nonetheless. I’m sure she has many who love her, as I do my husband. Glenn Campbell wrote his song “I’m Not Going to Miss You” when he was diagnosed with dementia. Perhaps the not knowing their loved ones is merciful, because it simplifies their lives. Even though my husband doesn’t miss me, I miss him.

Stella Andes BA’97 | Orem, Utah

Proven Innocent

[“Defending Innocence,” Spring 2018] Wow. How shocking that he was imprisoned for so many years. It seems this happens quite a bit. What an amazing team and accomplishment to be able to rescue someone from such a terrible accusation. I hope this will inspire many other lawyers to help those claiming to be innocent. Thank goodness for those lawyers, and thank you for the great story!

Becky McAlister | Roy, Utah

Unfortunately our criminal justice system is reliant on human beings—police officers and district attorneys—complete with their own biases and objectives. As long as these biases remain unchecked, and as long as convictions are more important than punishing the rightful perpetrator, our justice system will be flawed.

Matthew Holman | Salt Lake City

Inspiring Story

[“Shifting the Narrative,” Spring 2018] Excellent article about a very interesting man who would probably hate being called “inspirational.” But that’s what it was. I’m motivated by his parting shot that, “I’m not special… anyone can do it.”

Angelisa Petit BS’11 | Ogden, Utah

Mr. Redenbaugh’s story is very inspirational! I too am a contrarian, and his comments about the ADA and life and what you make of it are spot on!

John Pippas BA’87 | Mission Viejo, California

Thank You, President Pershing

[“Alum News” Spring 2018] Congratulations to Dr. David Pershing on wrapping up his tenure as university president. I’m glad to see that he is planning to get back to teaching; as my graduate advisor (1980- 81), he was everything a student could want or expect, and I have no doubt he will be very effective back in the classroom and as an advisor again, if that is in his plans. I wish him the best in the coming years.

Dale Tomlinson MEN’81 | Phoenix, New York

Pop Quiz

May 23, 2018
Answer: The George Thomas Building

In 1933, the Public Works Administration approved an expenditure of $550,000 for the University of Utah’s first campus library. Two years later, as the Great Depression was waning, the George Thomas Library, named in honor of the university president, opened. Designed in a Neoclassical tradition, the structure was among the last built on what became known as Presidents Circle. Decades later, in 1978, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places. During its 83-year life, the building has housed not only the campus library but also the Utah Museum of Natural History, Tanner Dance, and now, the spectacular Gary and Ann Crocker Science Center, a world-class science education and research facility.

Historical photos courtesy Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library

George Thomas Library | 1935-1968

The new library opened with more than 124,000 volumes. Books in small libraries scattered around campus were brought under one roof in what was the first adequate library in the U’s history. More than three decades later, a major increase in student enrollment due to the baby boom after World War II led to an unprecedented and ambitious campus construction program. One of the buildings was a new University Library, opened in 1968 with more than a million volumes and seating for 3,000. One year later, the new library was named in honor of J. Willard Marriott, Sr. BA’26, who contributed $1 million for library collections.

Utah Museum of Natural History | 1969-2011

After 33 years, the George Thomas Building was emptied of books, card files, and microfiche machines and renovated to accommodate its new tenants—dinosaurs, rock specimens, and 1.6 million other objects. The Utah Museum of Natural History had recently been established by the state legislature, and the building provided much-needed space for various fossil and archaeology exhibits from around campus. Over the next four decades, the collections continued to expand until the museum finally outgrew the building and moved to its custom-built space in the Rio Tinto Center above Research Park, and changed its name to the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Note: The print edition heading above said 1968, the year the transition began. We have changed that to 1969 here to clarify that that was when the museum opened.

Tanner Dance Program | 2013

After the museum moved out, the building was retrofitted to temporarily house the U’s Tanner Dance Program while its permanent home in the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex was under construction. The Thomas Building was remodeled to accommodate the dancers, including the installation of shock-absorbing “sprung floors” in the studios. Tanner Dance kept the pattern of a large dinosaur skeleton on the wall of the main atrium, a remnant of the building’s prior tenant. After the dancers left, the building was used for storage for two years until the College of Science secured it for another purpose.

Photo courtesy Twig Media Lab

Gary and Ann Crocker Science Center | 2018

With a $34 million appropriation from the state legislature in 2016, a lead gift from Ann (BS’74) and Gary Crocker (ex’69), and donations from additional benefactors, the George Thomas Building was transformed once again. The Gary and Ann Crocker Science Center is the new home to the College of Science’s research, education, and commerce projects and the students and faculty who bring those all to life.

The center boasts new classrooms, study areas, facilities, and laboratories devoted to interdisciplinary science and math instruction. It also houses the Center for Cell and Genome Science and a world-class technology incubator space. Now considered the science hub of campus, the 83-year-old George Thomas Building is ready to serve a new generation of U students.

Chris Hill Calls it a Game

May 18, 2018

It’s been an epic three decades for Chris Hill, the nation’s longest-tenured athletic director at a single university in NCAA history. Just 37 years old when he stepped into the job in 1987, Hill MEd’74 PhD’82 leaves an impressive legacy of accomplishments, perhaps chief among them Utah’s move into the power five in 2011 as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Before Hill officially hung up his gloves this May, Continuum had a chance to ask him to reflect on his time as Utah athletic director (AD) and to share what comes next.

Q: When you took over as Utah’s AD, what was your blueprint for building a successful program?

I would like to call it more of a vision, because we had a direction, but it had to adapt to the various fast-moving changes in college athletics. First, our vision was to have the best student-athlete support system in the country. Although resources are a key to achieving that goal, the people you hire and the culture of those people are what matter. Second, we wanted to become nationally recognized, significantly beyond the regional program. The third element was to be a supportive and visible department to complement and help grow the university’s mission.

Q: Utah’s invitation to join the Pac-12 has been a game-changer for not only Athletics but the entire university. When you took the job, did you envision a transformative move like that being possible?

I knew that Utah was a sleeping giant. I did feel that we could move to a more prestigious conference once we got our program in an attractive enough position. That move would help solidify the vision of becoming a nationally recognized program. The reality is that the Pac-12 was the best option for U athletics and for the entire university.

Q: Before you became AD, you were a coach and a teacher at the high school and college levels, and you worked in fundraising. How did those experiences help you?

I cannot express how teaching helped me in all aspects of my life and my career. The importance of teaching and doing it the right way is a major challenge and a major victory. You cannot fool students in the classroom. All of my positions helped me, and serving as the executive director of United Cerebral Palsy was a special one because it allowed me to grow in a leadership role.

Q: You’ve made numerous coaching hires that helped change the course of U Athletics. Rick Majerus, Ron McBride, Urban Meyer... to name a few. What traits did you look for during the search process?

A: I have learned a lot over the years both from the hires that we have made and the people who were already in the program and decided to stay. When looking for coaches, we look for someone who matches our culture, is passionate about what they do, is used to winning, and is intelligent. It is clearly an inaccurate science, and in many ways your gut feeling enters into the process.

Q: What is your all-time favorite U sports moment?

Easy... when my daughter scored a goal in soccer to tie up the score with our rival.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing U Athletics in the next five to 10 years?

There are several. A big one is the continued salary escalation of coaching staffs, especially in sports such as football. This is a major part of the lawsuits about players being paid. Another challenge is the importance of making sure you under- stand that everything you do is public and accept that as a reality and a good thing. In addition, as athletics departments’ budgets grow, there is a perception that they are flowing with cash, and that is just not the case. This belief can cause a division between Athletics and the rest of campus, but I just don’t see that will ever change. And finally, the Pac-12 TV contract and the lack of revenues is a concern as we look to keep up with our peer conferences.

Q: What parting advice do you have for student-athletes?

I would say, be positive no matter how you feel about your personal situation. Take advantage of all our student support services, and don’t waste a minute. Playing college sports is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that cannot be replicated and goes by fast. Also, in exit interviews, nearly all student-athletes—no matter how great their career—state that the “coaches show favorites.” Please throw that idea in the circular file.

Q: You’ve been at the job for three decades and you haven’t shown many signs of slowing down in recent years. Why did you decide to retire now?

Many times, we overanalyze things, but as with all major decisions, we go with our heart. My heart told me it was the right time for me to retire. I also felt that the program was in good shape, which gave me permission to make this major change in my life.

Q: What’s next for you?

First of all, I want to take a breath. I have been talking with a consulting firm that would like me to get involved in some of their projects. Although my résumé is a little boring, there may be some opportunities that come up that I did not expect. I would like to spend more time with my family and friends (that is, of course, if they want to spend time with me). I want to sleep better at night and practice slowing down—stopping at a yellow light instead of speeding up! But I do not want to be one of those guys who says ‘I’m busier than I’ve ever been.’

ON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE U COMMUNITY—
THANK YOU, CHRIS HILL, FOR YOUR REMARKABLE RUN! GO UTES!

WEB EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

Update: In June (after Continuum went to press), the U named Mark Harlan to be Chris Hill's successor as Utah's athletics director. Read more here or watch the press conference here. Harlan assumes the new role on July 1. Welcome to the U!

Class Notes

February 22, 2018

’30s

Ruth Strampe

Ruth Strampe BS’38, of Arcadia, California, celebrated her 100th birthday on February 15. Born in 1918, she entered the U at 16, majoring in education with a minor in Spanish. She was freshman editor of the Utonian yearbook, joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, received freshman scholastic honors as a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, and was a member of the U’s pistol club. Elected secretary of the junior class, and in her senior year, voted secretary of the Associated Students of the U, she was a member of Mortar Board and chosen Homecoming Queen of 1937. Of her active college experience, Strampe says the honor she holds most dear is her membership in the Alumni Association’s Beehive Honor Society. Strampe went on to teach in the Arcadia Unifed School District until she retired in 1974. Happy 100th birthday!

’60s

Michael Garibaldi

Michael Garibaldi BS’68 MS’69, a member of the U’s athletics Crimson Club Hall of Fame, continued his athletic career last April by finishing in the 70+ age group in swimming events at the Oregon State Masters swimming championship: 50 free (3rd), 100 free (4rd), 200 free (3rd), 500 free (2nd), 1650 free (2nd), and 200 free relay (1st). As a life member of the San Francisco Dolphin Club (47 years), Garibaldi swam in the club’s 100th anniversary Golden Gate bridge swim in September, his 26th crossing, with 13 wins after a 24-year layoff, finishing 33rd. His record of 18 minutes 25 seconds from 1978 remains intact. Garibaldi is a retired Screen Actors Guild actor and model, and coaches swimming and water polo. He lives in Bend, Oregon.

’80s

Kate Kendell

Kate Kendell JD’88 received Salt Lake’s Key to the City Award from Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski last October, in recognition of her longtime efforts to advance gay rights and her significant role in the national fight for LGBTQ equality. The award is presented to individuals who have used their voices, talents, or resources to improve the local community in a significant way. A native Utahn, Kendell has been with the National Center for Lesbian Rights based in Washington, D.C., since 1994 and currently serves as its executive director. As a nationally recognized spokesperson for LGBT rights, she has an active voice in major media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Advocate, NPR, and CNN.

’00s

Jessica R. Kramer

Jessica Kramer HBS’04, bioengineering assistant professor at the U, has been awarded The Dream Chemistry Award from the Czech and Polish Academy of Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic. Established in 2013, the award, which includes a monetary prize of 10,000 EUR, recognizes visionary projects in the field of chemistry and related disciplines that have the ambition and potential to make the world a better place. Encouraged to submit bold ideas for solving scientific puzzles and problems, Kramer investigated the protective saccharide coat of cell membranes (glycocalyx) as a tool to design new cancer therapeutics. Found on the surface of most cells but not well understood, glycocalyx undergoes changes in its structure that correlate with tumor growth in tissues. The aim of the project is to design specific cancer therapeutics based on an artificially synthesized glycocalyx.

Brian Steed

Brian Steed JD’02, a former prosecutor and professor who most recently served as chief of staff for U.S. Congressman Chris Stewart, was tapped in October as second in command for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. Steed also holds a doctorate from Indiana University and previously worked as an economics professor at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. He also is a former deputy county attorney for Iron County. Steed will oversee programs and policy of the federal agency, which manages 245 million acres of land in the country—more than any other agency. Steed became the second Utahn tapped in 2017 for a leadership role in federal agencies with oversight of public land.

’10s

Aden Batar

Aden Batar MPA’15, director of immigration and refugee resettlement for Catholic Community Services of Utah, and a member of the U’s Alumni Association board, has received the 2017 Gandhi Peace Award, which is presented annually by the Utah Gandhi Alliance for Peace to recognize someone in the community who exemplifies the well-known quote by Gandhi, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” After losing a son during the civil war in Somalia, he and his family fled and became the first refugees from Somalia to resettle in Utah. Batar took a job with Catholic Community Services in 1996 to help with resettlement and became director of the refugee program in 2001. For more than 20 years he has fought to bring refugees to Utah and to protect their rights and identities.