In the southwest corner of the University of Utah’s Thatcher Building for Biological and Biophysical Chemistry, The Curie Poster is displayed as a tribute to Utah women in chemistry. The graphic mosaic is made up of small photos arrayed together to constitute an image of Marie Curie, the Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who did pioneering research in radioactivity in the late 1800s and early 1900s and who won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. The 1,807 small photos in the poster were collected in February 2013 and depict women who have either studied or taught chemistry at the U. The poster was assembled by Tomi Carr BS’06 MS’13, then an administrative assistant in the Chemistry Department; Dave Titensor BFA’91, art director for U Marketing and Communications; and Marla Kennedy BS’05, then an account executive for Marketing and Communications.
Greg Marsden was the University of Utah’s head gymnastics coach for 40 seasons. (Photo by Russ Isabella)
Greg Marsden, who led University of Utah gymnastics to unprecedented national success on the competitive floor and in the stands, has retired after 40 seasons as the U’s head coach. He made the announcement in April, the week after Utah placed second at the 2015 NCAA Championships, just five one hundredths of a point out of first place.
His wife, Megan Marsden BS’84, Utah’s six-year co-head coach and an assistant for the previous 25 years, will continue in her current role. Tom Farden, Utah’s assistant coach for the past five years and the former head coach at Southeast Missouri State, has been elevated to co-head coach.
“We’ve actually been preparing for this transition for the past few years, and I feel really secure in leaving this program, which has been my life for 40 years, in the hands of Megan and Tom,” Greg Marsden says. “There is no one reason I chose to leave now. It just felt right. I still love coming to the gym every day and working with these elite student-athletes, coaches, and staff, but I feel the other elements of the job are best suited for someone younger. I have been incredibly fortunate to spend my entire career here at Utah and to receive support unprecedented anywhere in the country from our administration and our amazing fans.”
Marsden retires as the coach with the most wins in college gymnastics history, leaving a 1,048-208-8 record. His 10 national championships tie for the most by any women’s gymnastics team. Hired in the 1975-76 season as a graduate assistant, Marsden took his very first team to the AIAW National Championship, where Utah finished 10th. He has never missed a national championship, with Utah qualifying for an unprecedented 40-straight years, including all 34 NCAA Championships (the only program to do so). The Utes have advanced into the Super Six 19 times in the 23 years under the format, including this season’s runner-up finish.
Marsden’s teams have placed in the top five in the country 29 times, in the top three 23 times, and in the top two 19 times. Utah gymnasts have won 25 individual national championships, including the 2015 NCAA uneven bar title by Georgia Dabritz, and 367 All-America awards.
A seven-time National Coach of the Year recipient, Greg (along with Megan Marsden) has been voted the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the past two seasons. The Utes won back-to-back Pac-12 Championships in 2014 and 2015. The 2015 NCAA North Central Region Coach of the Year was also awarded to the duo.
Greg Marsden drew national attention for creating an unrivaled atmosphere at home meets, where the Utes own every gymnastics attendance record and have led all women’s sports in attendance five times, including the last three years. They broke their own NCAA single-meet (16,019) and season (14,950) attendance records in 2015. Since 2010, the Utes have averaged more than 14,000 fans a meet in the Huntsman Center, and they have averaged 11,000-plus since 1990.
“The only way to place a positive spin on Greg Marsden’s retirement is that he is leaving the program in the very capable hands of Megan [Marsden] and Tom Farden,” says U Athletics Director Chris Hill MEd’74 PhD’82. “Greg Marsden is not only a legendary coach, he has been an incredible advocate for the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, the sport of gymnastics, and most of all, his student-athletes over the past 40 years.”
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Legislature Awards Funds for Crocker Science Center
The Utah State Legislature and Governor Gary Herbert showed strong support for the University of Utah this year, including providing $34 million for the U’s Gary and Ann Crocker Science Center. The new center will be an expansion of the George Thomas Building on the U’s Presidents Circle and will provide new interdisciplinary teaching laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment for undergraduate science classes. Construction began this spring.
The Legislature allotted $9.5 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the U, to allow completion of its expansion. The University also received permission to renovate Orson Spencer Hall and the William Browning Building on campus. Lawmakers provided $65 million in capital improvement funding to the Utah System of Higher Education, 25 percent of which will go the U: $16.25 million. And the Legislature earmarked $4 million in ongoing funding for graduate research programs at the University of Utah and Utah State University; the U will receive $2.6 million of that. The U also secured a 2 percent performance-based pay increase for faculty and staff members, as well as an appropriation to cover the increased cost of benefits.
More than 400 volunteers— alumni, present and former faculty and staff, students, and other friends of the U—have signed up to be political advocates for the University of Utah, and they helped by writing and calling lawmakers at key junctures to voice their support for the U. Their efforts were coordinated by the U for Higher Ed Committee through a program sponsored by the Alumni Association and the Office of Government Relations.
“This was another great legislative session for the University of Utah,” says Jason Perry JD’99, the U’s vice president for government relations. “Thanks to the hard work of President David Pershing, our legislative advocates, and our friends in the Legislature, the major priorities of the U were funded this session. We are grateful for the dedicated service of our state leaders and for their investment in higher education.”
Solar Dashboard Shows Real-Time Energy Savings
Marriott Library Dean Alberta Comer, amid the library’s rooftop solar panels.
An electronic dashboard installed this spring in the University of Utah’s Marriott Library details the energy savings generated by the library’s solar panels, in real time and using examples of everyday use.
The project was initiated by U alum Tom Melburn BS’12 MBA’14, who in 2012 had spearheaded a plan to put “solar ivy” (small, decorative photovoltaic panels) on the south wall of Orson Spencer Hall, until the idea fell through when the manufacturer couldn’t deliver the order. Melburn then decided to pursue his digital dashboard plan and secured financing through the Associated Students of the University of Utah, Rocky Mountain Power, and the U’s Sustainability Resource Center.
Under the direction of the U’s Facilities Management and the Sustainability Resource Center, Melburn and a group of students selected the library as the site for this project because of its central location on campus, its large number of visitors, and its commitment to sustainability. The dashboard will allow greater exposure to the otherwise unseen roof-mounted solar panels and enable library patrons to learn about the benefits of solar power.
The library’s system is 37.8 kilowatts, grouped into six arrays, with an anticipated annual production of 50,500 kilowatt-hours. The panels are located on the Marriott Library roof, with four arrays on the west mechanical penthouse and two arrays on the east mechanical penthouse. The new solar system produces enough energy to power six houses for one year.
University of Utah Names New Dean for Humanities College
Dianne Harris, director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and professor of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as the next dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Utah.
Under her leadership, the Illinois Program secured significant external funding to enable scholarship and creative partnerships in the humanities and arts at Urbana-Champaign, says Ruth Watkins, the U’s senior vice president for academic affairs. Harris holds a doctorate in architectural history from the University of California at Berkeley and is best known for her scholarly contributions to the study of the relationship between the built environment and construction of racial and class identities.
Entertainment Arts & Engineering Program Receives Top National Ranking
The University of Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering program has earned the title of the top video game school in the nation with a number one ranking for its graduate program and number two for its undergraduate program from The Princeton Review.
The EAE program was formally established in 2007 and currently has 400 undergraduates and 110 graduate students. The interdisciplinary program between the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts allows students from both disciplines to work closely in video game design and development. Students are highly sought after by local and international game companies.
University of Utah Welcomes 8,363 New Graduates
The University of Utah’s 2015 graduating class in May was the largest in U history, with 8,363 students—approximately 400 more than last year—representing 24 Utah counties, all 50 U.S. states, and 77 countries.
The Commencement program was designed with the graduates in mind and included the use of videos, multimedia, and a collage of Instagram photos documenting the U experience of the class of 2015, as well as elements of traditional pomp and circumstance. The keynote speaker was Robert A. McDonald MBA’78, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs and a former president and chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble.
Honorary degrees were presented to three U alumni: Anne Cullimore Decker, Henry B. Eyring, and Mark Fuller. Decker BS’57 MFA’82 is a professional actress and has been a longtime theater instructor at the U. Eyring BS’55 is a first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former president of Ricks College. And Fuller HBS’76 is CEO of WET, which has designed more than 250 innovative fountains throughout the world.
University’s School of Music Names New Director
The University of Utah’s College of Fine Arts has selected U professor and composer Miguel Chuaqui to serve as director of the School of Music.
Chuaqui has been with the University since 1996, when he began as an assistant professor in the School of Music. He became a full professor and head of the composition area and most recently served as the school’s interim director. He studied piano at the Escuela Moderna de Música and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. In 1984, he transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in mathematics and music and completed a doctorate in composition.
His music includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic works.
Kirk Jowers Leaves U’s Hinckley Institute
Kirk Jowers, a University of Utah professor of political science who has been dubbed the “most quoted man in Utah” during his decade-long tenure as director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics, is leaving his post to pursue a career in private industry.
As the Hinckley Institute’s director, Jowers BA’92 helped found many new programs and scholarships, including an international internship program that operates in 58 countries. He also has served as director of federal relations, and chief strategist for the Office of Global Engagement.
Jason Perry JD’99, vice president for government relations at the University, will serve as interim director of the Hinckley Institute following Jowers’ departure June 30, while also maintaining his current role in government relations.
Mesa Arch, Arches National Park (Photos courtesy Jeff Moore)
University of Utah geologists are using sensors to measure the soundness of the Southwest’s famed red-rock arches—with sound.
Jeff Moore, a U assistant professor of geology and geophysics, and his geohazards research group have developed “ambient resonance monitoring,” a noninvasive diagnostic process to monitor the status of arches’ structural integrity. Tracking the changes could help alert the U.S. National Park Service about when or if arches might collapse.
GOOD VIBRATIONS
Moore and his team have placed clusters of small sensors— seismometers, tilt-meters, and temperature probes—on the surface of some of Utah’s most spectacular arches (including the Landscape, Mesa, and Double-O arches) in Arches and Canyonlands national parks.
DAILY MOVEMENT One broadband seismometer is placed on or near the arch, and the other is placed about 100 meters away for reference. The seismometers are placed in cases along with a data logger and GPS clock. An electrolytic tilt-meter helps measure daily movement of the arch, while data loggers measure temperature and relative humidity.
QUICK TEMPO TESTING The sensors remain on the surface for a few hours so that the vibrations and other parameters can be recorded, and then all the instruments are removed.
EARTH, WIND, AND HUMANS The sensors measure the arches’ natural vibration frequencies, which are influenced by the structures’ mass and stiffness. Those vibrations shift with rain and snow loads, thermal cycles, and internal structural damage. Moore and his team have found that each rock structure has its own characteristic resonance patterns.
CHANGING FREQUENCIES The scientists repeat their measurements with the sensors to note changes in the rock structures’ frequencies over time, to help determine whether the structural integrity has changed. If an arch develops a crack, it changes the vibrational characteristics of the structure.
WALL CAME TUMBLIN’ DOWN Wall Arch, in Arches National Park, collapsed in 2008 due to stress fractures that occurred over time. Moore and his team believe Landscape Arch, in the same park, is close to falling down. The 88-meter-long arch—the longest in North America—has a fundamental resonant frequency of about 1.8 Hz. If it sustains further damage, the arch’s resonant frequency would drop, and Moore and his team could measure that.
For patients with type 1 (or “juvenile”) diabetes, the burden of constantly monitoring blood sugar and judging when and how much insulin to self-inject is difficult. Mistakes can have serious consequences. A miscalculation or lapse in regimen can cause hyperglycemia (when blood sugar levels rise too high)—potentially leading to heart disease, blindness, and other long-term complications. Or a mistake can result in hypoglycemia (when blood sugar levels plummet too low), which in the worst cases can result in coma or even death. A new “smart” insulin, developed by University of Utah researchers, could help mitigate these dangers.
Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, a U assistant professor of biochemistry and a USTAR investigator, led the research to create Ins-PBA-F, a long-lasting “smart” insulin that self-activates when blood sugar soars. Tests on mouse models for type 1 diabetes showed that one injection works for a minimum of 14 hours, during which time it was found to repeatedly and automatically lower blood sugar levels after mice were given amounts of sugar comparable to what they would consume at mealtime.
The U study was published in February in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. The researchers found that Ins-PBA-F acts more quickly and is better at lowering blood sugar than the currently available long-acting insulin drug detimir, marketed as Levimir. In fact, the speed of touching down to safe blood glucose levels was identical in the diabetic mouse models treated with Ins-PBA-F and in healthy mice whose blood sugar is regulated by their own insulin.
High-Altitude Depression
University of Utah researchers have found that the reduced oxygen experienced at high altitude can lead to depression.
In a new study, U scientists and a colleague from Tufts University learned that female rats exposed to high-altitude conditions exhibit increased depression-like behavior. (Male rats, interestingly, showed no signs of depression in the same conditions.) “The significance of this animal study is that it can isolate hypoxia as a distinct risk factor for depression in those living at altitude (hypobaric hypoxia) or with other chronic hypoxic conditions such as COPD, asthma, or smoking, independent of other risk factors,” says Shami S. Kanekar, U research assistant professor of psychiatry and lead author on the study, published in March in High Altitude Medicine and Biology online.
The correlation between altitude and high rates of depression and suicide is strikingly obvious in the Intermountain West region of the United States, where elevations are considerably higher than in the rest of the country and there is a corresponding higher rate of self-inflicted death. Several studies, including work by Perry F. Renshaw, USTAR professor of psychiatry at the U and senior author on this latest study, suggest altitude is an independent risk factor for suicide. According to Renshaw, a potential cause for depression at high altitude might be low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter believed to contribute to feelings of well-being and happiness. Hypoxia impairs an enzyme involved in synthesis of serotonin, likely resulting in lower levels of serotonin that could lead to depression. In addition, Renshaw’s group has shown that brain cellular metabolism can be damaged by hypoxia.
Spring Awards Honor Cellist, Professor, and Scholars
Steven Sharp Nelson. (Photo courtesy Steven Sharp Nelson)
About 200 people attended the Spring Awards Banquet in April, when the University of Utah Alumni Association presented $550,000 in scholarships for students and honored The Piano Guys’ cellist and a U social work professor. International music star Steven Sharp Nelson BA’02 MPA’07 received the Par Excellence Award from the Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Board, and U professor David Derezotes was honored with this year’s Philip and Miriam Perlman Award for Excellence in Student Counseling.
The Young Alumni Board gives its Par Excellence Award annually to a former student who attended the U within the last 15 years, in recognition of his or her outstanding professional achievements and service to the community as well as the University of Utah. Nelson, this year’s honoree, is the cellist for The Piano Guys, whose videos of their classical and pop music have become a YouTube viral sensation. Nelson received his bachelor’s degree in 2002 in music and then went on to get a master’s degree in public administration, with a graduate certificate in urban planning, all from the U. After graduate school, he worked as a real estate agent and owner of Thornton Walker Real Estate as his cello career took off. His first solo album, Sacred Cello, in 2006 was atop the Billboard charts. He released two more solo albums, Tender Mercies in 2008 and Christmas Cello in 2010. He joined The Piano Guys in 2011, and together they have created one of the fastest-growing channels on YouTube. His videos are watched by more than half a million viewers daily, and since 2011, many have been among the top 10 music videos in the world.
David Derezotes. (Photo by Morgan Stidham)
Derezotes, known to his students as “Dr. Dave,” is chair of Practice and Mental Health in the U’s College of Social Work, as well as director of the college’s Bridge Training Clinic. He also serves as director of Peace and Conflict Studies in the U’s College of Humanities.
Derezotes received his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 and joined the University of Utah faculty that same year. Teaching and mentoring of students and practitioners is especially important to him. He strives to incorporate experiential learning in the classroom and community, and he recently began a Bridge Training Clinic site on Salt Lake City’s west side, in cooperation with University Neighborhood Partners, to help empower minority communities, including refugees.
From left, banquet guest Cristina Luangaphay with scholarship recipients Jerry Bounsanga and Samuel Ham. (Photo by Morgan Stidham)
U President David W. Pershing spoke at the April awards banquet and acknowledged the many deserving students receiving scholarships that evening. The record total of $550,000 that the Alumni Association is awarding this year will support the academic dreams of a variety of students, including those who have overcome tremendous adversity, as well as nontraditional students, those who are the first in their families to attend college, and those who come from diverse backgrounds or are in financial need.
Revenue from the sales of University of Utah license plates continues to be the primary source of scholarship funds for the U Alumni Association. Association membership fees, proceeds from the Homecoming 5K, and other private contributions also support the scholarship fund.
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Alumni Net $7,000 for Scholarships in Ski Challenge
The University of Utah Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Board received $7,000 for scholarships from Vail Resorts as a result of participating in the Vail Resorts Epic Ski Challenge.
From left, Young Alumni Board members Jamie Sorenson, McKenzie Newton-Schreck, Jennifer Billington, and Peter Black.
Young Alumni Board members Peter Black, McKenzie Newton-Schreck, Jennifer Billington, Ryan Kump, and Adam Reeder traveled to seven resorts in California, Utah, and Colorado during three months of competition with nine other teams in Utah and 10 teams in Colorado. This was the fourth year of the Epic Ski Challenge, and the first time for Utah companies and charities to be included. Black and his company sponsor, CBRE, selected the U’s Young Alumni Scholarship Fund as their charity of choice to receive the $7,000. CBRE also will be giving an additional $2,000 to the scholarship fund.
Student Alumni Board Wins Western Regional Award
The University of Utah Alumni Association’s Student Alumni Board has won the Outstanding Internal Program Award from the Western regional division of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Affiliated Student Advancement Programs.
Members of the Student Alumni Board flash the U sign on a California beach after winning a CASE regional award.
The award was presented at the programs’ conference in San Diego, California, in early March. The Student Alumni Board was honored for its “U Book Nights,” when most of the board’s 35 members race around the U’s campus to complete six to eight of the 50 University of Utah traditions that are listed in the U Book, a handbook of U facts, figures, and traditions that the board publishes annually.
“We split the board members into teams and send them off with a time deadline,” says Derek Deitsch, a vice president of the board. “They have to take a photo to show they completed the tradition. We then end the night with a visit to one of the fast food places around the U.”
KASKADE(aka Ryan Raddon BA’95) is one of the world’s most popular DJs / electronic dance music (EDM) producers. He has scored 12 Top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay Chart, created chart-topping remixes for everyone from Lady Gaga to Beyoncé, headlined at major music festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, and performed nearly 200 other headlining shows a year for a decade. He started DJ-ing as a student at the University of Utah, where he majored in mass communication, minored in Japanese, and had a radio show on the U’s student-run radio station K-UTE, often featuring his own music.
KASKADE BY THE NUMBERS
2001 Releases his first single, “What I Say,” on Om Records
No. 1 The Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart
debut of his 2011 double album Fire & Ice
1st DJ to perform at Los Angeles’ iconic Staples Center,
which he sold out. Billboard declared that 2012 tour
“the only successful national stadium tour undertaken by a solo EDM artist.”
9 Original albums (plus compilations, remixes, and standalone singles)
2013 Release of his album Atmosphere, his first with notably Mormon-centric lyrics. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he served a mission in Japan before coming to the U.
3 Daughters with wife Naomi BA’00, a fellow snowboarder whom he met at the U
2014 Forbes names Kaskade the eighth-highest-paid DJ/EDM artist in the world, with earnings of $17 million
4 Grammy nominations
2015 Establishes a multi-year exclusive residency with Wynn Las Vegas
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Playing with Computer Magic
University of Utah alum Colette Mullenhoff, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony in February. (Photo courtesy Colette Mullenhoff)
Colette Mullenhoff has been interested in computer graphics for as long as she can remember. “I have an early memory of being impressed by the stained glass knight whose image in a church window comes to life in the movie Young Sherlock Holmes,” says Mullenhoff. “But seeing the T-1000 liquid metal cyborg in Terminator 2 confirmed my goal to enter the entertainment industry.” Following her instincts has paid off in her career, and this year she received an Academy Award for her work with a team of four that developed a digital shape-sculpting system. The digital-animation software system enables artists to edit the shape of characters undergoing complex animations and transformations.
Of the 59 people who received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Awards that night in early February, Mullenhoff was the only woman, according to the Hollywood trade paper Variety. She received an extended standing ovation.
“It was very emotional and encouraging, and a little surreal,” she says. The awards honor technical achievements in filmmaking and were presented a couple of weeks before the main 87th Annual Academy Awards event.
Mullenhoff MS’98 works in northern California for Industrial Light & Magic. The special effects company, started 40 years ago by filmmaker George Lucas, has created the visual effects for films including his Star Wars trilogy as well as the Star Trek movies.
She was born in Livermore, California, home to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where her father was employed as an electrical engineer. She received her bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. As a computer science graduate student at the University of Utah, she worked as a research assistant with the U’s Geometric Design and Computation Research Group, helping create software for geometric modeling, high-quality graphics, curve and surface representations and algorithms, and computer-integrated manufacturing.
After graduating with her master’s degree, she worked as a software engineer for Singletrac Studio, a video-game developer in Salt Lake City, and created 3-D modeling and animation tools for use with video games. Evans & Sutherland in Salt Lake City was her next stop, where she designed, implemented, and maintained 3-D graphics tools used for generating realistic outdoor computer-generated environments for flight-training simulations.
In early 2003, she moved to northern California to work with ESC Entertainment, where she created tools for processing 3-D models used in post-production on the films The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions. Later that year, she made the move to Industrial Light & Magic, in San Francisco. She and her husband, Patrick Tullmann MS’99, a U graduate in software engineering, now live in the Bay Area.
At Industrial Light & Magic, Mullenhoff works as a research and development engineer supporting software for the company’s Digital Model Shop artists. She currently is focusing on tools to optimize the turnaround time for digital artists. Those tools are being used in the production of Tomorrowland (Disney); Avengers: Age of Ultron (Marvel-Disney); The Force Awakens (Lucasfilm/Disney); and Warcraft (Legendary/Universal). “I enjoy working with artists to provide them with the tools they need,” Mullenhoff says. “It’s extremely rewarding to help them and see the results on the big screen.”
—Ann Floor is an associate editor of Continuum.
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CLASS NOTES
’70s
Robert Mecham BS’73, a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the Marfan Foundation’s first Distinguished Research Award. The award recognizes Mecham’s lifetime of work dedicated to understanding elastic tissue function and basic mechanisms involving connective tissue, paramount to understanding disorders such as Marfan syndrome and related diseases. Marfan syndrome is a life-threatening genetic disorder of the body’s connective tissue that affects the heart and blood vessels, the bones, and the eyes. Mecham is a national leader in the research of elastic tissue function, and his work has contributed to understanding the structure and function of fibrillin, the abnormal protein in Marfan syndrome. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Utah, Mecham obtained a doctorate in biochemistry in 1977 from Boston University School of Medicine. He began his career at Washington University that same year. His continuing research has resulted in major contributions to the understanding of how fibrillin and other elastic fiber proteins work to maintain normal tissue function and how mutations in these proteins lead to diabetes, bone disorders, and cardiovascular disease.
Randall J. Olson BA’70 MD’73, chair of University of Utah Health Care’s Department of Ophthalmology and chief executive officer of the John A. Moran Eye Center, has been awarded the Philip M. Corboy MD Memorial Award for Distinguished Service in Ophthalmology. The award is given to an ophthalmologist who “typifies a career of excellence in the service of his or her patients and peers.” Olson was recognized for his “legendary dedication and service to ophthalmology” and for the many contributions he has made to the field. He is the first and only chairman of the John A. Moran Eye Center, having started the department in 1982 with only two faculty members. It has now grown to include 57 faculty members. Olson specializes in research dealing with intraocular lens complications, teleophthalmology (delivery of eye care through digital medical equipment and telecommunications technology), and corneal transplantation techniques. He was selected as one of the 15 best cataract surgeons in the United States in a peer survey conducted by Ophthalmology Times, and Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today named Olson one of 50 international opinion leaders. He has appeared in the last three editions of Best Doctors in America.
’80s
Constandinos G. Himonas BA’86 was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court by Utah Governor Gary Herbert and confirmed unanimously by the Utah State Senate. He began in his new position in February. Himonas previously had been a trial judge for Utah’s Third District Court since 2004. He presided over complex civil, criminal, and domestic proceedings, as well as a felony drug court program, and served as the associate presiding judge for the Third District. He received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in economics from the University of Utah and a juris doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School. From 1989 to 2004, Himonas was an attorney and shareholder at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough, where he was involved in an array of civil litigation, and he served as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law from 2009 to 2013. As a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, he is the only member of Utah’s highest court who is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Danny Vranes ex’81, who played for the University of Utah’s Runnin’ Utes men’s basketball team from 1978 to 1981 and later the U.S. Olympic Team and the National Basketball Association, was inducted into the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor in March. One of just seven players to have his number retired by the Utes, Vranes was named an All-American in 1981. He was a fourtime All-Western Athletic Conference honoree and a member of Utah’s All-Century Team. He led the Utes to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Sweet 16s. The Utes won a Western Athletic Conference title during Vranes’s senior year and ended the season ranked 14th in the nation. Vranes also played in the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, where he helped the United States win the gold medal. Vranes was selected as the No. 5 overall pick in the 1981 NBA draft by the Seattle Supersonics. He played seven seasons and was named to the All-Defensive Team in 1985. During his NBA career, Vranes played in 510 games and scored a total of 2,613 points. His best year as a professional came during the 1983-1984 season as a member of the SuperSonics. Vranes also played basketball for four years for teams in Greece and Italy. He now lives in Salt Lake City.
’90s
Cecilia Romero BA’98 JD’02, a partner with Holland & Hart LLP in Salt Lake City, has been chosen by the Hispanic National Bar Association as one of 10 lawyers across the country to receive its 2015 “Top Lawyers Under 40” award. The honor recognizes the accomplishments of association members who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession through professional excellence, integrity, leadership, commitment to the Hispanic community, and dedication to improving the legal profession. Romero’s practice focuses on employment litigation and consulting, including cases involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, class actions, wrongful terminations, harassment, and discrimination claims. Romero in 2013 received the Utah State Bar’s Raymond S. Uno Award for the Advancement of Minorities in the Legal Profession. Prior to joining Holland & Hart in 2004, Romero practiced law with the Salt Lake law firm of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker. She also was a law clerk for Judge Ted Stewart with the U.S. District Court in Utah. Romero received a bachelor’s degree from the U in English and her juris doctorate from the University’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, where she also served as president of the Native American Law Students Association.
’00s
Zac Bowland BS’09, a former naval aviator and military officer who is now a business owner, deep-sea diver, and climate change educator, is embarking on a journey across eight countries in hopes of developing a new technique for diving in extreme environments. He also wants to collect data on climate change. When he started researching diving at high altitudes, he found startlingly little information. He discovered the phenomenon known as glacial lake outburst flooding, which occurs when water dammed by a glacier is suddenly released. As warming trends continue, melting glaciers form increasingly more high-altitude lakes that can potentially burst and wash out entire communities 40 to 50 miles downstream. Bowland, along with Vanguard Diving & Exploration and the Steep N’ Deep Project, intends to study the causes and effects of these glacial lake outburst floods to determine neighboring regions’ risk levels. The team will spend four years in eight countries, studying four seas, three mountain ranges, two oceans, and one active volcano. Bowland also hopes his work will educate the public on science and the importance of taking action.
Ileana Huxley (also known as Ileana Kovalskaya) HBS’08 MBA’12 has joined the cable and satellite television network Showtime’s hit comedy series Shameless in a recurring role. Huxley has two degrees in business from the University of Utah. She says she decided to put her business career on hold to pursue her love of acting. She began by performing on stage, and in 2009 she was cast in a short adventure film, Kelton, shot in Farmington, Utah. She says the experience gave her a taste for the silver screen, and she began to consider pursuing a film and television career and soon moved to Los Angeles. In Shameless, Huxley plays Nika, a Russian prostitute who adds some interesting family dynamics to the award-winning show. Her other credits include the upcoming movies The Feeding Ritualsof the Desmodus Sapien in the Urban City (2015) and Code of Honor (2015), as well as the short film The Wonder Drug (2014). At the U, she received an honors bachelor’s degree in finance, with a minor in international studies, and went on to get a master’s degree in business administration.
We want to hear from you! Please submit entries to Ann Floor. To read more alumni news, check out the “Honor Roll” column in the Alumni Association’s online newsletter, Alumni Connection, here.
He was the greatest [“A Book for Life,” Spring 2014]. I remember listening to the games on the radio, lying on the floor, cheering them on. A class act—Billy McGill. He gave me memories and the right way to shoot an unstoppable shot. Thank you.
Russ Stubbles ex’68 Maple Valley, Washington
Editor’s Note: McGill passed away in June 2014.
Questions About Air Quality
I would be very interested to see Davis County data on your graph [“Clearing the Air,” Winter 2014-15]. I suspect that the refineries located there contribute significantly to above standard levels of air pollution.
Susan Tamowskiex’85
Salt Lake City, Utah
We appreciate the commitment of the U in assembling a wider array of resident research nodes to address this problem, which also encompasses adjacent states [“Clearing the Air,” Winter 2014-15]. The other, perhaps more sensitive economic development impediment deriving from air pollution is in the Uinta Basin, where tens of thousands of jobs are hanging on ozone, on top of PM 2.5. We think there is a place for fuel substitution (i.e. natural gas for diesel) in vehicles, rigs, and electric generators serving the oil-gas industry there—and hauling product to the Wasatch Front.
Dean Dinas
Salt Lake City, Utah
Studying Air Pollution
The story on Dr. [Brian] Moench’s efforts was very interesting [“Utah’s Crusader for Clean Air,” Winter 2014-15]. The University of Utah has been addressing air pollution in Utah for several decades. In 1971, I was a student in an Honors Program course in pollution control taught by Professor Ferron A. Olson of the College of Mines. It was a natural fit for the college, because many of the major sources of air pollution in those days were mineral industries, including Kennecott Copper and Geneva Steel.
My paper for the course extracted raw data from state Health Department archives for sulfur oxide pollution levels during an extended inversion episode in Salt Lake Valley. The data revealed that the concentrations increased by the same amount every day as long as the inversion continued, showing that all the air pollution in the valley was trapped there and building without limit. In essence, inversions convert outdoor air pollution into industrial level indoor air pollution for the over 1 million residents of Salt Lake County.
In the past two decades, one of the great environmental resources for the University of Utah and the community has been the many national experts in pollution control and remediation on the faculty of the S.J. Quinney Law School and its Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment. The program has produced many attorneys working in pollution control and regulation across the U.S. and internationally.
Raymond Takashi Swenson BA’73 JD’78 Richland, Washington
Landmark Student Life Center Opens at the University of Utah
The George S. Eccles Student Life Center is located on the east side of the University of Utah campus, near the Legacy Bridge and Fort Douglas TRAX stop. (Photo by Dave Titensor)
The long-awaited George S. Eccles Student Life Center opened its doors in January. The 183,000-square-foot, $50.5 million building houses two gymnasiums, a four-story climbing wall, indoor and outdoor pools, large areas for cardio and weight training, and more.
“We have been preparing for this facility for many years, and I am thrilled that students will have such an extraordinary place to engage in their college experience, build friendships, and develop skills they will use for the rest of their lives,” says Barbara Snyder, the U’s vice president for student affairs.
This four-story climbing wall is one of the highlights in the 183,000-square-foot building. (Photo by Jeff Bagley)
In addition to athletic and recreational features, the building houses a café, a University Credit Union branch, and social space, as well as offices of the Center for Student Wellness, Outdoor Adventures Program, and Campus Recreation Services. The facility is now the campus hub for fitness training, intramural sports, and outdoor recreation. The center also serves as the premier location for students, faculty, and staff to gather and develop lifelong healthy habits.
A dedication for the new center was held February 26, featuring Snyder and U President David W. Pershing, as well as Justin Spangler, president of the Associated Students of the University of Utah, and Neela Pack HBS’13, a former ASUU president who helped spur the project. Spencer F. Eccles, chairman and chief executive officer of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, also spoke at the dedication.
The landmark facility was made possible through financial support from a number of sources, including the generous lead naming gift from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, along with major gifts from Kem BA’67 JD’70 and Carolyn Gardner BS’69 and the University Credit Union. Two-thirds of the building is funded by a new $60-per-semester student fee.
The center features a 50-meter indoor pool, indoor and outdoor leisure pools, and an indoor hot tub and spa. (Photo by Jeff Bagley)
To give students the best access to the facility as possible, it will serve only University students, as well as faculty and staff members who purchase a membership for $275 per year. All for-credit physical education classes continue to be held in the HPER building, fields, and various off-campus locations, and standalone fitness classes are also available in those locations for both Alumni Association members and University faculty and staff.
Located just west of the George S. Eccles 2002 Legacy Bridge and adjacent to the Fort Douglas TRAX stop, the Student Life Center helps connect student life with academic life and create a more engaged campus community.
Web Exclusive Photo Gallery
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University of Utah Rated Tops for Nontraditional Students
The University of Utah has been ranked No. 2 by BestColleges.com in its most recent list of the top 50 colleges nationwide for students ages 25 and older. In its detailed review of the school, BestColleges.com noted the U’s flexible hybrid as well as solely online course offerings that cater to a diverse demographic. The U was ranked second in the nation, after the University of Texas at Dallas. Last year, 32 percent of the undergraduates at the University of Utah were ages 25 or older, and that number has been steady for more than 10 years. Nationally, adult students accounted for 38 percent of all undergrads in the country in 2011, a 41 percent increase from 2000. Common reasons that students have postponed college include military service, marriage and family responsibilities, and financial needs.
Continuum Wins Western Regional Award
Continuum, the magazine of the University of Utah, was honored in January with a regional award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Kim M. Horiuchi, an associate editor for the magazine, received a bronze award for best periodical staff writing. Horiuchi was recognized for several articles published in 2013 and 2014, including Continuum’s winter 2013 cover story on the U’s global endeavors, as well as the fall 2014 cover story on how the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts & Education Complex is fostering innovations in teaching kids in all subjects. The award was presented by CASE’s District VII, which represents higher education professionals and institutions in Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, and Utah.
University of Utah Football Coach Signs New Four-Year Contract
Kyle Whittingham, the University of Utah’s head football coach, signed a new four-year contract with the U this past January. Whittingham will receive $2.6 million in 2015, with an automatic $100,000 increase each year through 2018. “We are excited to come to terms on a contract extension for Coach Whitt, and under his leadership, we’re looking forward to a successful football season next fall and in the years to come,” says U Athletics Director Chris Hill MEd’74 PhD’82. Whittingham in February also hired new offensive and defensive coordinators and a new defensive assistant, and made four staff promotions. Dennis Erickson was promoted to assistant head coach, and Aaron Roderick and Jim Harding were named co-offensive coordinators. Former NFL coach John Pease BS’70 returned to the Utah staff as the defensive coordinator, and Justin Ena was hired to coach the linebackers. Morgan Scalley BA’04 MBA’07 will serve as the special teams’ coordinator in addition to coaching the safeties.
University of Utah Student Video Game Wins Top International Award
Student video game developers from the University of Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) video game program have won Best Student Game in the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge in Orlando, Florida. The award was announced in December for their two-player action game Cyber Heist. The PC game is an adventure where two players who portray college students try to infiltrate the Department of Education in the year 2114 to erase their student debt from the agency’s computers. It took a team of 13 EAE graduate students a year and a half to create Cyber Heist, says the game’s lead designer, Jake Muehle BS’12 MS’14, who graduated last May with a master’s degree in Entertainment Arts & Engineering. Cyber Heist was one of 18 finalists worldwide competing for awards in the contest. In addition to winning Best Student Game, the team of U students also received $30,000. Download the Cyber Heist game here. Read a previous Continuum feature on the EAE program here.
Captain Randy Gilbertson of the Oregon Department of Corrections watches a nature video in the Blue Room at the Snake River Correctional Institution. (Photo by Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)
By Marcia C. Dibble
Solitary confinement can lead to madness or suicide for some inmates, or exacerbate behavioral problems for inmates who already were mentally ill when they entered the prison system. For the people whose job it is to supervise them, the assignment can be dangerous. University of Utah Professor Nalini Nadkarni’s innovative “Blue Room,” named one of Time magazine’s “25 Best Inventions of 2014,” could help the situation.
Nadkarni developed the Blue Room with Oregon’s Snake River Correctional Facility to offer a taste of calming nature to prison inmates kept in solitary confinement. The Blue Room is currently being used at the facility, with promising results.
An officer in Oregon’s Snake River Correctional Facility unlocks handcuffs on an inmate in the facility’s Intensive Management Unit, or solitary confinement. (Photo by Benjamin Drummond)
Inmates in the facility’s Intensive Management Unit (IMU, or solitary confinement) spend 23 hours, 20 minutes a day alone in cells. Some prisoners may be put in solitary because they are combative but otherwise behave normally. After months in confinement, however, they are very prone to mental illness, including highly destructive and suicidal behavior. This puts not only themselves but the facility’s employees in grave danger.
Nadkarni recorded a short TED talk in 2010 proposing the possibility of using nature images to calm inmates. Two years later, an officer at Snake River saw the talk and began discussing it with his supervisors. They eventually contacted Nadkarni about it, proposing the use of videos instead of Nadkarni’s initial suggestion of still photos. The prison got Oregon Department of Corrections approval, renovated a recreation room, and purchased equipment. Nadkarni and a colleague, marine biologist and documentary filmmaker Tierney Thys, helped the facility obtain videos from National Geographic and other sources. In early 2013, the Blue Room—named for the glow of videos on the rec room wall—opened.
An inmate in Oregon’s Snake River Correctional Facility watches nature videos in the Blue Room. (Photo by Benjamin Drummond)
Officers who work with the inmates assess which ones might benefit from time in the Blue Room, and inmates can choose from more than 30 nature videos, including a tropical beach, a forest stream, and waves lapping a pier. Lance Schnacker, a researcher with the Oregon Youth Authority, reviewed the disciplinary records of the Snake River inmates in the year preceding and following the introduction of the Blue Room. He found that those who didn’t get time in the room had more disciplinary infractions, while those who did had a slight reduction.
Nadkarni plans to study the effectiveness of the Blue Room beginning this spring. “It has been a very long process, because we are working the most sequestered population of prisoners, which are considered a ‘vulnerable’ group,” she notes. The researchers—Nadkarni, biologist/filmmaker Thys, eco-psychologist Patricia H. Hasbach, and youth researcher Schnacker—plan to interview staff members as well as inmates, pore through mental health and disciplinary records, and develop case studies. If their findings bear out their theory—that nature imagery calms the prisoners—corrections officials and psychologists across the nation could have an important new tool for managing solitary confinement.
To read more about Nadkarni’s work with prison inmates and as a forest biologist, read the Continuum feature “At Home in the Trees” in the magazine’s Summer 2013 issue.
Web Exclusive Video
Self-Repairing Software Tackles Malware
University of Utah professor Eric Eide, in his department’s “Machine Room” of computers. (Photo by Dan Hixon)
University of Utah computer scientists have developed software that not only detects and eradicates never-before-seen viruses and other malware, but also automatically repairs damage caused by them. The software then prevents the invader from ever infecting the computer again.
Called A3, for Advanced Adaptive Applications, the software suite is designed to protect servers or similar business-grade computers that run on the Linux operating system. Eric Eide, a U research assistant professor of computer science, is leading the University’s A3 team with U computer science associate professor John Regehr. Other U members of the A3 team include research associate David M. Johnson MS’10, systems programmer Mike Hibler, and former graduate student Prashanth Nayak. The four-year A3 project was co-developed with Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon BBN.
The military has an interest in A3 to enhance cybersecurity for its mission-critical systems. While the A3 team currently has no plans to adapt the software for home computers or laptops, Eide says this could be possible in the future. The A3 software is open source, meaning it is free for anyone to use, but Eide believes many of the A3 technologies could be incorporated into commercial products.
Unlike a normal virus scanner on consumer PCs that compares a catalog of known viruses to something that has infected the computer, A3 can detect new, unknown viruses or malware automatically by sensing that something is occurring in the computer’s operation that is not correct. It then can stop the virus, approximate a repair for the damaged software code, and learn to never let that bug enter the machine again. To demonstrate A3’s effectiveness, the team used the infamous software bug Shellshock in a test for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A3 discovered the Shellshock attack on a web server and repaired the damage in four minutes, Eide says.
New Material for Better Substance Detection
Ling Zang holds a prototype of a substance detector his team developed. (Photo by Dan Hixon)
University of Utah engineers have developed a new material for handheld sensors that will be quicker and better than previous methods of detecting explosives, deadly gases, and illegal drugs.
The U sensors use a new type of carbon nanotube and are equipped for “sniffing” or swabbing to detect toxic gases such as sarin or chlorine, or explosives such as TNT. Vaporsens, a University spin-off company, plans to produce the first commercial sensors this year, says co-founder Ling Zang, a professor of materials science and engineering. Zang was senior author of a study of the technology that was published in the journal Advanced Materials, and Ben Bunes, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering, was a co-author. Bunes and Zang, who is also with the Nano Institute of Utah, conducted the research with postdoctoral fellow Miao Xu and doctoral student Yaqaiong Zhang.
Carbon nanotubes are known for their strength and high electrical conductivity and are used in products from baseball bats to lithium-ion batteries and touchscreen computer displays, but not in current substance detectors. Zang, a professor with USTAR, the Utah Science Technology and Research economic development initiative, says the Utah technology has several advantages over the current detectors, including being both faster and more accurate. Sensors using the new technology “could be used by the military, police, first responders, and private industry focused on public safety,” he says. The new nanotubes also could be incorporated into flexible solar panels that could be rolled up and stored or even “painted” onto clothing such as a jacket.
Four outstanding graduates of the University of Utah and two honorary alumni were recognized with 2015 Founders Day Awards in February.
The recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Awards were Gregory J. Goff BS’78 MBA’81, a leader in the energy sector; Brent C. James BS’74 BS’76 MD’78 MSt’84, an expert in health care delivery; Gretchen W. McClain BS’84, an accomplished aerospace engineer; and Clayton J. Parr BS’60 MS’65 JD’68, a widely respected natural resources lawyer. John and Melody Taft were presented with the 2015 Honorary Alumni Award. The Founders Day awards are the highest honor the University of Utah Alumni Association gives to U graduates and friends, in recognition of their outstanding professional achievements and/ or public service, as well as their support of the University.
Gregory J. Goff
After receiving his MBA, Goff was hired by Conoco Phillips, where he held senior leadership positions including senior vice president of the commercial division; managing director and chief executive officer for Conoco JET Nordic (based in Stockholm, Sweden); and president of the international downstream division (based in London). In 2010, he joined Tesoro as president and chief executive officer.
Since he became CEO, the company’s stock and growth have soared, and in 2012, chiefist.com ranked him the No. 1 mid-cap CEO based on the previous two years’ metrics. In addition to donating his time as a member of the national advisory board for the U’s David Eccles School of Business, Goff has also generously donated to the school for decades.
Brent C. James
James is recognized as being among the most influential leaders in health care nationally and has often testified before congressional committees. He serves as chief quality officer at Intermountain Healthcare, and he also teaches at Harvard University, Tulane University, the University of Sydney, and the University of Utah.
Trained and established as a surgeon in Boston, James returned to Utah from Harvard and joined Intermountain in 1987. As the leader of Intermountain’s Institute for Health Care Delivery Research, which offers advanced training program courses for health care executives, James has instructed thousands of health care leaders from throughout the world.
Gretchen W. McClain
McClain started her career in the defense and aerospace industry with Hercules, Atlantic Research, and Grumman Corporation before joining NASA in 1990. During her nine years with NASA, she was a senior leader in guiding space shuttle initiatives and played a pivotal role in the successful development and launch of the International Space Station Program as chief director of the space station and deputy director for space flight, managing the space station’s $2 billion annual budget.
In 1999, she moved to AlliedSignal (which became Honeywell), where she served in successive vice presidential posts. In 2005, she was recruited by ITT and steadily moved up in leadership of its water business. From 2011 to 2014, she was CEO of Xylem, which was spun off from ITT.
Clayton J. Parr
Parr has been a leader in natural resources law for more than 40 years. He has represented some of the world’s largest mining and oil and gas companies, and from the inception of Chambers USA-America’s Leading Business Lawyers, he has been named one of the top Energy & Natural Resources lawyers in Utah. He has also been continually listed in The Best Lawyers in America.
Parr has served as president of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the Utah Association of Petroleum and Mining Landmen, and he has chaired committees for the American Bar Association and the Utah State Bar. He also has taught mining law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
Melody and John Taft
The Tafts led the donation of 16 acres of land and a renovated ghost town in Montana’s Centennial Valley to the University of Utah in 2012 for a new Taft- Nicholson Environmental Humanities Education Center, along with their friends Bill and Sandi Nicholson. The programs and workshops at the new U center provide an innovative educational experience that introduces students and visitors to the history and conservation value of the area.
Melody and John, a retired California developer, are lifelong naturalists and philanthropists who now lead the Montana-based International Center for Earth Concerns.
Founders Day Scholar Plans Career in Epidemiology
Emily Dart, a University of Utah senior pursuing an honors degree in biology, has been selected to receive the 2015 Founders Day Scholarship. The University of Utah Alumni Association awards the $8,000 Founders Day Scholarship annually to a student who has overcome difficult life circumstances or challenges and who has given service to the University and the community.
Dart grew up in the Phoenix, Arizona, area and came to the University of Utah as a freshman in 2011. Halfway through the spring semester of her freshman year, a hemorrhage from a malformed blood vessel in her frontal lobe made brain surgery an uncomfortable reality. She underwent the surgery in May 2012 and then began the arduous process of recovery. “It takes a lot of patience,” she says, “but if you work hard, you can get there.” She now is back attending classes full time and, after receiving her undergraduate degree in biology, plans to go on to pursue a master’s degree in public health and work in epidemiology and pathology.
In addition to her studies, Dart holds two part-time jobs on campus to help pay for her education. She works as an equipment lab aide for the U Department of Film and Media Arts, and she also is an assistant in the laboratory of U biology professor William Brazelton. In Brazelton’s lab, she has been involved in a project that requires working with DNA sequence databases and organizing the datasets. This past summer, she participated in a weeklong field expedition to Newfoundland with Brazelton and his colleagues. She is currently working on processing environmental samples from the trip for DNA sequencing.
U Emeritus Alumni Board Project Wins Award
A mentoring and scholarship program developed by the University of Utah Emeritus Alumni Board has received a silver award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s District VII, representing the Western region. The Emeritus Bryant Scholarship Project was honored in the category of programming for special constituencies.
The program helps make a college education possible for Bryant Middle School students who are selected to participate, with the incentive of a $5,000 scholarship to the University of Utah or Salt Lake Community College when they graduate from high school. Many of the students and their families have fled hardship and political strife in their home countries, and the students will be the first in their families to attend college. They have come from nations such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Somalia, Thailand, and Tonga. To receive the scholarship, the students must meet specific criteria regarding grade point average. In 2014, the Emeritus Alumni Board presented four scholarships of $5,000 each to the program’s first graduating class.
In order to provide ongoing support for the students until high school graduation, Emeritus Alumni Board mentors work with them as tutors, with help from U students in the LEAP (first-year learning community) program.
To contribute to helping support the project, click here.
Learn more about the Bryant project in a previous Continuum feature here.
University Food Drive Nets $62,538 for Utah Food Bank
Lacey Despain, U Student Alumni Board president
The final results are in, and the University of Utah Alumni Association’s United Against Hunger Food Drive in November collected $62,538 as well as 312,003 pounds of food for the Utah Food Bank.
The effort was the 21st annual food drive organized by the Alumni Association, and dozens of volunteers helped gather donations this year. As part of the monthlong efforts, some of the volunteers braved bad weather to collect donations outside Rice-Eccles Stadium before the Utah vs. Oregon football game on November 8 and in the tailgate lots before the Utah vs. Arizona game on November 22. Members of the Student Alumni Board and The MUSS Board also collected food and money at local grocery stores for five nights before Thanksgiving.
“The Alumni Association, Student Alumni, MUSS, and Emeritus Alumni boards all embraced this year’s food drive theme by uniting in their support and efforts to make this event successful,” says Jennifer Foote BS’86, the U Alumni Association board member who led the food drive effort. “It was rewarding to achieve such great results and to help so many of Utah’s hungry.”
Two U Alumni Association sponsors, University Credit Union and Liberty Mutual, promoted the event. The credit union allowed volunteers to place food barrels in branches and encouraged members to donate online, while Liberty Mutual donated $10 for every online insurance quote requested during the food drive.
“The Utah Food Bank is incredibly grateful for the support of the University of Utah Alumni Association,” says Ginette Bott, the food bank’s chief marketing officer. “To see students working so hard to help people in their own community is always inspiring. We consider each and every person and organization who donates their food, time, or money to this important effort to be a true partner in fighting hunger statewide.”
I would like to thank the University of Utah and the Ute tribe for their efforts in educating the public on this issue [“The Heartbeat of the People,” Fall 2012; “University Renews Agreement with Ute Indian Tribe,” Summer 2014]. I am currently taking a college course through another university on Native American history. This is not your typical history class that we have all been through. This is history from the Native Americans’ viewpoint that dispels the myths and untruths we are accustomed to. I have read the webpage [uteproud.utah.edu] developed by the University [of Utah] and watched the videos. I now have a deeper understanding of the meaning of the logo, and it brings an even deeper sense of pride when I affectionately say “Go Utes.” I look forward to further educating myself on the cultures and meanings of the logo and the history behind the Ute tribes. Being in the military, I travel a lot and am one of those that proudly wear the Utah Ute apparel…. Again, thank you, Mr. [Forrest] Cuch for your information and educational efforts. I look forward to more.
Douglas Taylor Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu
The Ute logo is one of the most unique logos out there…. If it is a circle or a drum, it is clearly being honored by the [University of Utah] staff and most of the Ute fans. Everyone has been heard. The final say is with the Ute Tribe, and they have spoken. They love the logo and have no desire to change to the block U. I am very proud of how the U has taken full responsibility and made the necessary changes to accommodate the tribe’s MOU [Memorandum of Understanding]. For those who lost the battle, please find something more important to protest that would really make a difference to the indigenous people here in Utah. Like maybe quit ignoring or hiding the facts of history and the visibility that they were here first.
Shauna Engen Roosevelt, Utah
Reflections on the Park Building
Oh, how excited and inspired I was, standing in front of the Park Building in 1948-49 as the new, four-year Nursing Program began [“An Icon’s Centennial,” Fall 2014]. We were assigned to movable metal, hot, half-dome shaped classrooms, a crowded campus due to soldiers enrolled after the war. Being one of three [nursing] graduates in 1951, I was most fortunate as I had a year at BYU filling all my science credits, thus graduating ahead of most of the class. My B.S. degree in nursing has made all the difference in my life.
Marilyn Lambert Higgins Ball BS’51 St. George, Utah
Appreciation for Optics
I look forward to Stephen Wilk’s column every month in Optics and Photonics News. I had no idea that he is my U co-alum [“Stories in the Study of Light,” Fall 2014]. We both received our PhDs in 1983.
Akhlesh Lakhtakia MS’81 PhD’83
State College, Pennsylvania
Bionics’ Possibilities
Thank you, Dr. [Richard] Normann—this is remarkable and offers such hope to so many people [“The Bionics Man,” Summer 2014]. Thanks also to those who work with you and invest time and mental energy into each tiny step in the process of acquiring adequate information to make this a workable solution. AMAZING!
Rebecka Page Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu
As part of the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between the Ute Indian Tribe and the University of Utah, a scholarship fund for eligible tribal members has been established through the University’s Scholarship Office. The U Athletics Department and the Ute Tribe also began a “Ute Proud” campaign in late August to raise awareness at sports events about what it means to be a Ute. And the University launched a website, uteproud.utah.edu, to educate the U community and fans about the tribe’s culture and history.
The University and the tribe signed the new agreement in April, allowing the U to continue using the name “Utes” for its sports teams. The five-year agreement will be reviewed annually.
University departments have long offered a variety of scholarships for Native American students. The scholarships created in September are the first specifically for Ute students and in part recognize the tribe’s permission to use the “Utes” name for the U’s athletics teams. “The University community is proud of its ongoing relationship with the Ute Indian Tribe, and the scholarship fund is one step in our efforts to promote educational benefits for tribal youth,” says Mary Parker, the U’s associate vice president of enrollment management.
Franci Taylor, director of the University’s American Indian Resource Center, says that according to student surveys and comments, lack of funding is what a majority of American Indian students list as the most significant barrier to completion of a college degree. “Many people have a misconception that Native American students are fully funded by the U.S. government, the state, or their tribes. Unfortunately, this is untrue,” she says. “Through these scholarships, it is the University’s aim to make college as affordable and accessible to as many bright and motivated students as we can.”
Scholarships will be awarded by the Scholarship Selection Committee, composed of two members of the Ute Indian Tribe and three members of University administration—the associate vice president for enrollment, the scholarship director, and the director of the American Indian Resource Center. The number of scholarships available each year will depend on the number of eligible applicants and the amounts available. Applicants for the scholarships, which will amount to $8,000 for the year ($4,000 per semester), will be evaluated on academic merit, leadership, commitment to citizenship, school activities, and community engagement, in addition to tribal affiliation.
“We welcome all positive educational opportunities for Ute and other American Indian youth,” says Forrest Cuch, a member of the Ute Indian Tribe and the scholarship committee. “Scholarships will be a strong encouragement to our kids to continue their educations.”
Cuch is featured in an educational video that the U Athletics Department launched in August. The video has been played on the video board at all Utah home sports events. U Athletics also created Ute Proud T-shirts, bearing a design that incorporates a graphic by a Ute artist, the circle and feather logo, and the Ute Tribe’s official seal. All proceeds from the T-shirt sales will benefit Ute Indian scholarships and youth programs. Utah Athletics also has been distributing Ute Proud information cards at all athletics events, to encourage fans to learn more about the Ute Indian Tribe.
The Ute Proud campaign included Native American heritage awareness promotion at a Utah football game and a U men’s basketball game in November. For the football game, the U team wore helmets with the Ute tribal seal, and the game ball was given to a representative of the tribe. At both the football and basketball games, the Ute Honor Guard presented the U.S. flag, and a special halftime performance was arranged by the Ute Tribe’s Pow Wow Committee. “We feel honored to represent the Ute Tribe,” says U Athletics Director Chris Hill MEd’74 PhD’82. “Our teams, coaches, staff, and the entire University community hope our fans will join us in representing the Utes with dignity and respect at all times, and proudly saying ‘Go Utes!’ ”
Web Exclusive Videos
U Athletics Video Featuring Forrest Cuch
Ute Proud Campaign Video
U Initiative Aims to Help More Women Graduate
The University of Utah began an initiative in October to recruit, retain, and graduate more women students. Debra Daniels MSW’84, director of the U’s Women’s Resource Center since 2003, was named to an additional role as assistant vice president of the Women’s Enrollment Initiative and will lead the new efforts.
Debra Daniels
“In her expanded role, we will establish more connections across campus, in schools, and with business leaders in our community to help remove obstacles that prevent women from going to school and achieving,” says Barbara Snyder, the U’s vice president for student affairs. “The entire community will be richer for it.”
Currently, although the percentage of women graduates from the U is about equal to that of men, women’s enrollment lags behind men’s by 20 percent. In 2014, 54 percent of women applicants were accepted, but just 47 percent enrolled. Meanwhile, Utah has the fourth largest wage gap in the country, with women earning 30 percent less than men. The U initiative aims to meet the needs of girls and women from high school through college and to provide the information, services, and support to help them realize their academic goals.
“Graduate degrees that lead to professional careers increase a woman’s opportunities for advancement and higher earning power,” Daniels says. “All lead to a more prosperous and just community for everyone.”
University Community Remembers Chase Peterson
Chase Peterson
Chase N. Peterson, who served as the University of Utah’s president from 1983 to 1991, died September 14 in Salt Lake City. He was 84.
“Chase Peterson loved the University of Utah,” current U President David W. Pershing wrote in a tribute. “His efforts to enhance the U’s teaching and research mission will be his legacy, evident always in the careers and contributions of thousands of students whose lives were made better by his service.”
Peterson was born in Logan, Utah, to E.G. and Phebe Peterson. His father was president of what is now Utah State University. Chase Peterson received a bachelor’s degree in 1952 and a medical doctorate in 1956, both from Harvard University. He and his wife, Grethe, returned in 1961 to Salt Lake City, where he accepted a position as an endocrinologist at the Salt Lake Clinic. In 1967, he and his family returned to Harvard, where Peterson was dean of admissions. Five years later, he became Harvard’s vice president for alumni affairs and development. In 1977, Peterson was tapped to be the U’s vice president of health sciences, and in 1983, he became the U’s 14th president.
After his retirement in 1991, he stayed involved with the University and medical school and ended his career as a physician working at Salt Lake City’s Fourth Street Clinic for the homeless.
Web Exclusive Videos
Founders Day Biography of Chase Peterson
Lawrence O’Donnell Tribute to Peterson on MSNBC
U Professor’s Book Explores Secrets of Utah Snow
Utah and its ski industry have long claimed to have the greatest snow on Earth— the state has even trademarked the phrase. In Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, University of Utah professor Jim Steenburgh investigates weather in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains and shows how and why Utah’s powder lives up to its reputation.
The book, published in November by Utah State University Press, also examines ski and snowboard regions beyond Utah, providing a meteorological guide to mountain weather and snow climates around the world. “Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth covers all of the essential topics for Utah powder lovers of every stripe,” wrote Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah, in reviewing the book for the publisher.
Steenburgh, a U professor of atmospheric sciences, is an avid backcountry and resort skier. He also created a popular blog, Wasatch Weather Weenies. Chapters in his new book explore mountain weather, avalanches and snow safety, historical accounts of weather events and snow conditions, and the basics of climate and weather forecasting. The book also features 150 color photographs.
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University of Utah Health Care Wins Fifth Straight Top Award
University of Utah Health Care has won the University HealthSystem Consortium’s Quality Leadership Award for the fifth year in a row.
The U placed among the top 10 in the prestigious quality and safety rankings, which compare teaching hospitals based on quality measures, patient safety and satisfaction indicators, mortality rates, and readmissions. This year, the University ranked sixth out of 104 participating medical centers.
“Being in the top 10 in quality means our community has access to some of the best health care in the country,” says Vivian S. Lee, the U’s senior vice president for Health Sciences, dean of the School of Medicine, and CEO of U Health Care.
The centers ranked among the top five were New York University’s Langone Medical Center; the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester; Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center; Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak; and Rush University Medical Center.
Red Butte Garden Ranked Second Most Stunning in World
The University of Utah’s Red Butte Garden has been ranked by Best Masters Programs as No. 2 among 50 of the most stunning university arboretums and gardens. Best Masters is an independent online guide to master’s degree programs. The list includes universities that emphasize conservation, sustainability, and education within their greenhouses, landscapes, and nature preserves. The gardens in the list are located around the world.
Gardens and arboretums considered for the list were identified using information from the Morton Register of Arboreta, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the American Horticultural Society, and other public data sources. Evaluations were made based on garden size, variety of plant species, special accreditations, and unique attributes that contribute to the garden’s atmosphere.
University Solar Plaza Provides Sustainable Gathering Space
The University of Utah in September completed construction on an environmentally friendly community gathering space for students living on campus. Located near the Peterson Heritage Center and between the Shoreline Ridge apartments, the Student Solar Plaza includes solar panel canopies with built-in tables and chairs, gas barbecue, fire pit, and electrical outlets.
“Students spearheaded this project because we were lacking an outdoor common area where we can comfortably study, hold activities, and visit with friends,” says Jenna Matsumura, a student leader working with the project. “This space will not only help create a more cohesive community among the apartment residents, but it will also be a visual representation of our commitment to sustainability efforts.”
Constructed into eight canopies, the 32 bifacial solar panels, which provide up to 35 percent more kWh than their standard module counterparts, will offset the electricity used by the residence halls.
Tiny Asteroid Now Bears University of Utah Name
An asteroid has been named “Univofutah” after the University of Utah. Discovered in September 2008 by longtime Utah astronomy educator Patrick Wiggins, the asteroid also known as 391795 (2008 RV77) this past September was renamed Univofutah by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wiggins says names must be limited to 16 characters, ruling out the U’s full name.
“There aren’t too many other universities on the whole planet with asteroids named after them,” says Wiggins, who works as a part-time public education assistant in the U’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. “So that puts the U in rather rarefied company.”
The asteroid “is no more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across,” he says. Because of its small size and distance, it is “too far away for even the Hubble Space Telescope to determine the shape.”
American West Center Celebrates 50 Years at the University of Utah
The University of Utah’s American West Center marked its 50th anniversary in 2014. The center, the oldest regional studies center in the West, focuses on preserving the region’s history through oral histories, documentary archives, historical and policy analyses, textbooks, and a statewide curriculum.
“Regional studies illustrate both the unique aspects of a place as well as the different ways national and global changes are felt in communities,” says the center’s director, Gregory Smoak PhD’99, a U associate professor of history.
The center’s work has included collecting and archiving more than 7,000 oral histories, many from Native Americans, Japanese Americans, and Utah’s Latino and Latina residents; creating an extensive digital archive of documents pertaining to Utah’s American Indian tribes; and providing educational support to the tribes and to school districts.
A new online asthma tracking tool developed by researchers at the University of Utah focuses on preventing rather than managing exacerbations and has been shown to reduce emergency-room readmissions for patients who have used it.
The tracker, which has a responsive design that adapts to any size computer screen, including phones, is currently being tested by children, their parents, and their health care providers in the Salt Lake Valley in a study exploring how better monitoring of the disease could improve quality of life.
The eAsthma Tracker (e-AT) is designed to aid medical decision-making through regular gauging of asthma control, early identification of deteriorating symptoms, and ongoing communication between parents and their child’s primary care providers. The tracker creates an “asthma control score” that illustrates if patients are doing well, or when an action is needed, such as use of an inhaler or even a visit to the doctor.
“The e-AT changes current ambulatory asthma care delivery to a new model that is continuous and proactive, focusing on prevention and control, rather than reactive and focusing on management of asthma attacks,” says Dr. Flory Nkoy, research director for the U’s Division of Pediatric Inpatient Medicine and associate research professor in the Department of Pediatrics, who is leading the research project. As of the end of 2014, Nkoy and his colleagues are closing the first year of a three-year, $1.9 million research award from the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Institute to conduct the study.
The eAsthma Tracker helps parents monitor their child’s chronic asthma symptoms on a weekly basis and guides users to recognize warning signs of asthma attacks. The tool also provides primary care providers with real-time, objective patient information to monitor the effectiveness of asthma therapy. The e-AT offers age-specific educational resources for both parents and patients, including asthma-related games and interactive tools, and allows patients to personalize their profile in order to receive reminders and alerts.
An early version of the tracker, developed by Nkoy’s team in collaboration with Primary Children’s Medical Center, was found to result in a significant reduction in emergency-room readmissions within six months of discharge. In a study of its use from 2008 to 2010, the researchers observed that users of the tracker had readmission rates of only 2 percent, compared with 15 percent for non-users.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects an estimated 18.9 million adults and 7.1 million children in the United States. In Utah, 6.9 percent of children and 9.1 percent of adults suffer from it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the exact cause is unknown, but asthma triggers include tobacco smoke, pet dander, mold, pesticides, wood smoke, and overall poor air quality.
As of October, the eAsthma tracker was being used by about 200 pediatric patients in the Salt Lake area. Nkoy and colleagues will compare the e-AT study’s results with those in an existing care model, with the hope that the e-AT will produce better outcomes, such as a reduced number of missed school days and fewer acute care visits. “Our research enables and empowers families and their providers to take charge of a difficult to control condition and creates a model for sustainable, cost-effective patient care and smart utilization of information technology in a health care setting,” says Nkoy. “This model is replicable across the country and has the potential to shape the future of asthma care delivery in the nation.”
A Universal Tool in the Fight Against Ebola
University of Utah biochemists have discovered a potential new tool to combat the Ebola virus. The U researchers have produced a molecule related to a critical region of the virus that is found in all known strains. The molecule, known as a peptide mimic, could be used in the development of anti-Ebola agents that are effective against both current strains and likely future strains.
The U research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was conducted by a large collaborative team led by Debra Eckert, research assistant professor of biochemistry, and Dr. Michael S. Kay, professor of biochemistry, with contributions from other laboratories and the pharmaceutical discovery and development company Navigen. The researchers have been working on the discovery for years and published their findings in October in Protein Science.
“Although the current push of clinical trials will hopefully lead to an effective treatment for the Zaire species causing the present epidemic, the same treatments are unlikely to be effective against future outbreaks of a different or new Ebola species,” Eckert says. “Development of a broadly acting therapy is an important long-term goal that would allow cost-effective stockpiling of a universal Ebola treatment.”
Christopher Basler, a scientist with the Mount Sinai Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute who was not involved in the U study, notes that the U researchers are taking a different approach than others looking for Ebola treatments. “It’s more likely to broadly block multiple Ebola viruses,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Ebola is a lethal virus that causes severe hemorrhagic fever with a 50 percent to 90 percent mortality rate. There are five known species of the virus, and outbreaks have been occurring with increasing frequency in recent years. The development of an effective anti-Ebola agent to protect against natural outbreaks and potential bioterror exposures is an urgent global health need. No anti-Ebola agents have yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but a number of promising experimental drugs are being aggressively advanced to clinical trials to address the current crisis.
The newly produced peptide mimic has shown promise in leading to new D-peptide inhibitor drug candidates. D-peptides are much simpler and less expensive to produce than the other currently most promising approach, antibodies. The Utah group has previously developed highly potent and broadly acting D-peptide inhibitors of HIV entry, currently in preclinical studies, and is adapting this approach to Ebola. The U and Navigen are now seeking additional funding to optimize these inhibitors and advance them into clinical trials in humans.
New Material Could Be Key to Superfast Computers
Quantum computers could revolutionize the electronics industry, offering processing speeds many times faster than today’s technology, but until now, no design has been able to overcome one serious drawback: overheating. University of Utah engineers have found a way to create a special material that could lead to cost-effective, superfast computers that perform lightning-fast calculations but don’t overheat.
This new “topological insulator”—a metal layer on top of a silicon semiconductor— behaves like an insulator on the inside but conducts electricity on the outside and may pave the way for quantum computers and fast spintronic devices. The research was led by Feng Liu, professor and chair of the U’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Since the discovery of topological insulators almost a decade ago as a class of material designed to speed up computers, scientists have been trying to create a topological insulator that creates a large energy gap. An energy gap is the amount of energy it takes for electrons to conduct electricity in a given material. A larger gap allows electricity to be conducted on a material’s surface so a computer can operate at room temperature while remaining stable.
Liu and his team found that bismuth metal deposited on the silicon can result in a more stable large-gap topological insulator. The process also can be cost-effective and readily integrated with current widespread silicon semiconductor manufacturing techniques.
The University of Utah Emeritus Alumni Board chose six exemplary alumni to receive its 2014 Merit of Honor Awards. The annual awards recognize U alumni who graduated 40 or more years ago (or who have reached age 65) whose careers have been marked by outstanding service to the University, their professions, and their communities. This year’s winners were Jeffrey L. Anderson BA’68, Ronald G. Coleman BS’66 PhD’80, Ron Henriksen BA’71, Betsy Ross Young Newton BS’46, John C. Pingree BS’64, and Heidi Sorensen Swinton BA’71.
To recognize them, the Emeritus Alumni Board hosted a Merit of Honor Awards Banquet in November at Rice-Eccles Stadium and Tower, with Barbara Snyder, the U’s vice president for student affairs, as the featured speaker and Spencer Kinard BS’66, a former broadcast journalist and past president of the U Alumni Association’s Board of Directors, as the evening’s master of ceremonies.
Jeffrey L. Anderson
Anderson graduated Phi Beta Kappa in chemistry, magna cum laude, as valedictorian of the U’s class of 1968 and received the Bonner Award (for outstanding chemistry student). He went on to Harvard University’s Medical School, where he graduated with honors in 1972. After two years as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, he joined the U Medical School’s faculty. He went on to become director of coronary care and later chief of cardiology at LDS Hospital, and then a professor and chief of cardiology at the University of Utah. He is past president or governor for the Utah chapters of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association.
Ronald G. Coleman
Coleman has been a faculty member in the U’s History Department and the Ethnic Studies Program since 1973. He received his undergraduate degree in sociology and doctorate in history at the University of Utah. As an undergrad, he was a member of the U football team and was named the Outstanding Back in the 1964 Liberty Bowl. As a professor, his primary research focus is African American history. He has received the Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP Albert Fritz Civil Rights Worker of the Year Award, the Utah Humanities Council’s Governors Award, and the Days of ’47 Pioneers of Progress Award for Historic and Creative Arts.
Ron Henriksen
Henriksen received his bachelor’s degree from the U in political science. He co-founded Henriksen/Butler Design, a contract furniture business, with Steve Butler BFA’70 in 1980, and the company went on to become one of the leading distributors in the Intermountain West. Henriksen helped initiate a lecture series for the U School of Architecture that brings in designers from across the United States to talk about architectural trends. His other U and community service has included being chair of the U President’s Club.
Betsy Ross Young Newton
Newton graduated with a degree in speech communication from the U. She went on to become the mother of six children, and she was a real estate property and finance manager for 20 years. Her community service has included working with her husband, Joseph Newton BA’44 MD’46, to campaign and raise funds for water fluoridation, which was approved by voters in 2000. She also has served on the Ronald McDonald House Board of Trustees, and she was a member of the Assistance League of Salt Lake City for more than 30 years.
John C. Pingree
Pingree received his undergraduate degree from the U in economics and went on to get his MBA from Harvard University in 1966. He was regional manager for sales planning for Xerox Corporation and then moved on to Memorex Corporation, where he was director of marketing. He served as general manager and chief executive officer of the Utah Transit Authority from 1977 to 1997. He later was executive director of the Semnani Foundation, from 2001 to 2004. He also is a former member of the Utah State Board of Education.
Heidi Sorensen Swinton
Swinton graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Utah. She has written several books that have been published by Deseret Book, and she has been a screenwriter for five documentaries about Mormon history, for PBS. In 2000, she won an Independent Book Publishers First Place Award for her book Joseph Smith: American Prophet. She also is the author of LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson’s official biography To the Rescue.
The new presidents of the Alumni Association’s affiliated boards are TJ McMullin BA’11, Beehive Honor Society Board; Tony Middleton BS’63, Emeritus Alumni Board; Lacey Despain, Student Alumni Board; and Jamie Sorenson BS’05, Young Alumni Board.
Homecoming Events Net $82,000 for Scholarships
The Homecoming Scholarship Scramble at Bonneville Golf Course raised about $30,000 for U scholarships. (Photos by Anna Pocaro)
The University of Utah Alumni Association raised a record amount—about $82,000—for U scholarships for deserving students through its events during Homecoming week. The Young Alumni 5K and KidsK on Saturday, September 27, raised a new high of about $52,000 for U scholarships. The day before, under the leadership of tournament chairman David Allred BA’84, the Homecoming Scholarship Scramble, a golf tourney at Bonneville Golf Course, netted about $30,000 for U scholarships.
Homecoming began Friday, September 19, with Redfest, a fall concert on the Union Lawn featuring B.o.B, a.k.a. Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. On Saturday, scores of volunteers participated in the Legacy of Lowell Community Service Day. The following Tuesday, campus groups decorated their areas to reflect this year’s Homecoming theme, “Believe In U.”
The Young Alumni 5K and Kids K raised a record high of about $52,000 for University of Utah scholarships.
The U’s emeritus alumni—those who graduated 40 or more years ago or who are age 65 or older—gathered for a reunion on Wednesday evening, with dinner and then tours of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex. Fraternity and sorority members competed in Songfest on Thursday. Students and alumni then gathered for a pep rally at the Union Building that night. Friday began with the golf tournament. Later, students celebrated at the Homecoming dance, held at The Gateway shopping center.
On Saturday, runners braved the rainy morning with the 5K and KidsK. The crowds headed to Rice-Eccles Stadium in the afternoon for the Alumni Association’s pre-game tailgate party and then watched the Utes play Washington State in a one-point heartbreaker.
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U Graduates Form Mongolia Alumni Club
The University of Utah Alumni Association now has a Mongolia Alumni Club. U graduates in and from Mongolia formed the club in August, bringing the total number of U international alumni clubs to 10.
Onon Soninbayar
The U currently has 15 alumni from Mongolia, and 14 students from Mongolia are enrolled at the University this year. The president of the new Mongolia Alumni Club is Onon Soninbayar BS’11, who graduated from the U’s David Eccles School of Business with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration with an international emphasis. Soninbayar lives in Salt Lake City and works for Goldman Sachs & Company as an analyst in private wealth management.
The Mongolia Alumni Club also has two board members: Enkhjin Munkhjargal BS’13 and Tseveenbolor Davaa PhD’11. Munkhjargal received a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering at the U and was recognized as the John E. Wilson Distinguished Student of the Year. He now lives in Mongolia and works as a mining engineer for the Oyu Tolgoi Copper Mine. Davaa received a doctorate in economics at the U. She works as a national consultant in Mongolia for the United Nations Population Fund.
The U currently has nine other international alumni clubs, in China, India, Europe, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam.
Mountain America Teams With Alumni Association
The University of Utah Alumni Association has partnered with Mountain America Credit Union to offer the U Rewards Credit Card. Under the agreement, the credit union will pay the Alumni Association royalties based on the number of customers who use the credit card and how much they spend. The proceeds will help support student scholarships and association programs.
Two design options for the card are available, both with U logos, so that customers can show their U loyalty. The card, which has no annual fee, also offers customers rewards points that can be redeemed for cash, gift cards, rebates, or travel discounts. Learn more at www.macu.com/ucard.
Save the Date for Founders Day 2015
The University of Utah Alumni Association will hold a Founders Day Banquet on February 24 at the Little America Hotel to honor four outstanding graduates of the U and two honorary alumni who are receiving 2015 Founders Day Awards. A scholarship winner also will be recognized.
The 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Greg Goff BS’78 MBA’81, Brent James BS’74 BS’75 MD’78 MStat’84, Gretchen McClain BS’84, and Clayton Parr BS’60 MS’65 JD’68. John and Melody Taft will be recognized with the Honorary Alumni Award. The scholarship winner will be announced at a later date. (Read more about them in the upcoming Spring 2015 issue of Continuum.)
A century ago, University of Utah administrators opened a small art gallery in the Park Building on Presidents Circle. Today, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), the official fine arts museum of both the University and the state of Utah, collects, interprets, and preserves a permanent collection of 19,000 objects—ranging from antiquities and European masterworks to art of the American West and international contemporary art. Some highlights over the years:
1914
The Administration Building, now known as the Park Building, opens with an art gallery on the top floor. The value of the fledgling collection: $2,660.
1926
Salt Lake City businessman Edward Bartlett Wicks’ donation of 75 paintings is among the earliest major art donations in Utah.
1938
A gift of 27 Japanese woodcuts and prints from James L. Franken and his wife, Charlotte, adds diversity to the collection.
1947
Under U President A. Ray Olpin, the School of Fine Arts is organized, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is incorporated, and the Park Building gallery is renovated to accommodate a $300,000 collection donated by Winifred Kimball Hudnut.
1951
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts opens with a private reception on May 6.
1970
The UMFA moves into expanded gallery space adjacent to the newly constructed Arts and Architecture Center.
1972
The UMFA becomes the first university art museum in the West to be nationally accredited by the American Association of Museums.
1974
Federal judge Willis W. Ritter and his wife, Rita, donate a collection of about 150 Navajo weavings.
1980
The museum begins annual acquisition of major artworks with funding from the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation.
1984
The museum’s Clift Gallery opens, featuring Chinese porcelain and paintings from the Ching dynasty, donated by Bert G. Clift BS’50.
1985
The Owen D. Mort, Jr., Collection of African Art, the largest collection of African Art in the American West, is established, with more than 2,000 objects.
1986
The museum establishes the Dr. James E. and Debra Ann Pearl Collection of Photographs, featuring more than 4,000 objects that include the works of important 20th-century photographers.
1992
Val A. Browning donates more than 20 European masterworks, and with a second gift in 1994, the Val A. Browning Memorial Collection of 500 Years of European Masterworks is established.
1999
The Christensen Fund’s gift of more than 250 objects from Asian and Southeast Asian cultures provides a cornerstone for the museum’s Asian art collection.
2001
Ambassador John Price BS’56 and his wife, Marcia BA’57, along with other dignitaries cut the ribbon at the official opening of the new museum building that their substantial gift helped make possible.
2014
The UMFA curates a centennial exhibit of work from artists across campus in a new Presidents Gallery in the home of the U’s first art gallery, the Park Building.
Moran Leader Receives 2014 Rosenblatt Prize
Randall J. Olson received his Rosenblatt Prize certificate at Commencement.
Dr. Randall J. Olson BA’70 MD’73, professor and chair of ophthalmology and visual sciences and chief executive officer of the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah, was honored with the 2014 Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, the U’s most prestigious award. The $40,000 gift is presented annually to a faculty member who displays excellence in teaching, research, and administrative efforts.
“Dr. Olson has a long, rich history with the University and is an inspired choice for this honor,” U President David W. Pershing says.
“His forward-thinking leadership has effectively put the Moran Eye Center on the national map, bringing life-changing research and outreach, renowned patient care, and academic excellence together in one outstanding institution.”
Olson received his medical degree from the U School of Medicine, where he has been a faculty member since 1979 and full professor from 1982. He was appointed the first John A. Moran Presidential Chair of the School of Medicine in 1997 and became the CEO of the Moran Eye Center in 2006. Olson specializes in research dealing with cataract surgery complications and infectious ophthalmic diseases.
Under his leadership, the U’s ophthalmology program has grown from a single faculty member in 1979 to “one of the nation’s top ophthalmology programs and vision institutes in the world: the John A. Moran Eye Center,” says Vivian S. Lee, the U’s senior vice president for health sciences. The U’s ophthalmology department and Moran Eye Center now have more than 500 employees, including more than 30 practicing ophthalmologists and 50 researchers world renowned in their fields.
University of Utah Welcomes Three New Deans
Three deans—in health, law, and social and behavioral science—were appointed this summer at the University of Utah. David H. Perrin started as dean of the College of Health in August. Robert W. Adler began as permanent dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law in July. And Cynthia A. Berg became dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science in July.
David H. Perrin
Perrin came to the U from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he had been provost and executive vice chancellor. He is an expert in athletic training and served as editor-inchief of the Journal of Athletic Training and founding editor of the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. Before becoming provost, Perrin served as North Carolina- Greensboro’s dean of the School of Health and Human Performance. He received his doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Robert W. Adler
Adler, who had been serving as interim dean of the College of Law since 2013, holds the U’s James I. Farr Presidential Chair in Law and is a Distinguished Professor of Law.
After graduating from Georgetown University’s Law Center, he had an acclaimed career as a practicing lawyer, including working for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources and the Natural Resources Defense Council. He joined the University of Utah faculty in 1994 and is one of the nation’s leading experts in both environmental law and water law.
Cynthia A. Berg
Berg, professor of psychology at the University of Utah, had served as interim dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science since 2013. She was chair of the psychology department from 2008 to 2011. She joined the U faculty in 1987 and holds a doctorate in psychology from Yale University. Her research examines how individuals in close relationships deal with stress, decision making, and problem solving around chronic health conditions such as diabetes and cancer.
University Hospitals and Clinics Named Best in Utah
University of Utah Health Care is the No. 1 health care system in the state of Utah, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-15 Best Hospitals rankings.
The U also was recognized as “high-performing” in eight specialties, including cardiology and heart surgery, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, urology, nephrology, orthopedics, pulmonary, and cancer care.
Approximately 5,000 hospitals in 94 U.S. metro areas were eligible for this year’s rankings. To meet the criteria, hospitals must offer each of 16 medical specialties, and then are ranked according to death rates, patient safety rates, procedure volume, and other objective data.
U Chamber Choir Brings Home International Prize from France
The University of Utah Chamber Choir competed with choral groups from around the world and won first place in the prestigious Florilège Vocal de Tours held in Tours, France.
The choir sang “Dark Like Me” in the winning round. It was the first time its composer, Thierry Machuel, had heard an American choir sing his piece, which he based on a poem by Langston Hughes. The choir also won the Audience Favorite Award during the competition, held May 30 to June 1.
During their 12-day tour of France, the choir performed in Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-Day and at concerts in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral, the Church of the Madeleine, and the American Cathedral. The choir is directed by Barlow Bradford BMu’85, associate professor of choral studies.
New Chair Appointed for University’s Board of Trustees
Michele Mattsson HBA’85 JD’88 has been elected chair of the University of Utah’s Board of Trustees. Mattsson, the first woman to hold the position, had served as vice chair since 2009.
Since 2001, Mattsson has been chief appellate mediator at the Utah Court of Appeals. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a juris doctor from the University of Utah. She has also served in many volunteer positions at the U since 2005, including as president of the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors, and a member of the boards of Red Butte Garden, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and KUED. Mattsson succeeds Clark Ivory as chair of the Board of Trustees.
Construction Begins on Huntsman Basketball Center
Utah Athletics broke ground this past spring on the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Center, a state-of-the- art facility that will house both the men’s and women’s teams. The new facility will feature a Utah Performance Center and sports medicine and strength and conditioning facilities. The building will also contain film rooms, locker rooms, two gymnasiums, lounge areas, a nutrition center, a media center, and office space for coaching staffs. The project is slated for completion in July 2015.
The 80,000-square-foot center will be located just northwest of the 15,000- seat arena bearing the Huntsman name. As part of the project, renovations to that building are under way. Lighting, sound, and draping for other sports, as well as two grand entrances for a hall of fame and legacy hall, are among the arena priorities.
U Changes Fight Song Lyrics to Reflect Modern Sensibilities
The University of Utah has opted to change the lyrics of its fight song, “Utah Man,” to make it more inclusive, after students expressed concerns that the old lyrics could be seen as sexist or racist.
The phrase “our coeds are the fairest” is being replaced with “our students are the finest,” and “no other gang of college men” is now “no rival band of college fans.” Printed versions of the song also will have the word “fan” printed after “man,” leaving it up to singers to decide whether to use the gender-neutral “Utah fan” or stick with the old “Utah man.”
A task force of students, alumni, faculty, and staff reviewed the song and its history, as well as about 1,300 emails about the song’s lyrics. Earlier this year, the Associated Students of the University of Utah’s assembly had approved a resolution to examine revising the song to be more reflective of modern sensibilities.
“When printed officially by the University, this 2014 version of the fight song will be used, but historical renditions of the song will always be acceptable,” U President David W. Pershing said in a prepared statement. “We encourage you to sing—loudly and with pride—whichever version resonates with you.”
Student video game developers from the University of Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) video game program have won Best Student Game in the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge in Orlando, Florida. The award was announced in December for their two-player action game Cyber Heist. The PC game is an adventure where two players who portray college students try to infiltrate the Department of Education in the year 2114 to erase their student debt from the agency’s computers. It took a team of 13 EAE graduate students a year and a half to create Cyber Heist, says the game’s lead designer, Jake Muehle BS’12 MS’14, who graduated last May with a master’s degree in Entertainment Arts & Engineering. Cyber Heist was one of 18 finalists worldwide competing for awards in the contest. In addition to winning Best Student Game, the team of U students also received $30,000. Download the Cyber Heist game 
As part of the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between the Ute Indian Tribe and the University of Utah, a scholarship fund for eligible tribal members has been established through the University’s Scholarship Office. The U Athletics Department and the Ute Tribe also began a “Ute Proud” campaign in late August to raise awareness at sports events about what it means to be a Ute. And the University launched a website, 
The University of Utah’s American West Center marked its 50th anniversary in 2014. The center, the oldest regional studies center in the West, focuses on preserving the region’s history through oral histories, documentary archives, historical and policy analyses, textbooks, and a statewide curriculum.
By Marcia C. Dibble
An early version of the tracker, developed by Nkoy’s team in collaboration with Primary Children’s Medical Center, was found to result in a significant reduction in emergency-room readmissions within six months of discharge. In a study of its use from 2008 to 2010, the researchers observed that users of the tracker had readmission rates of only 2 percent, compared with 15 percent for non-users.
1974
University of Utah Health Care is the No. 1 health care system in the state of Utah, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-15 Best Hospitals rankings.
The University of Utah Chamber Choir competed with choral groups from around the world and won first place in the prestigious Florilège Vocal de Tours held in Tours, France.
Michele Mattsson HBA’85 JD’88 has been elected chair of the University of Utah’s Board of Trustees. Mattsson, the first woman to hold the position, had served as vice chair since 2009.
Utah Athletics broke ground this past spring on the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Center, a state-of-the- art facility that will house both the men’s and women’s teams. The new facility will feature a Utah Performance Center and sports medicine and strength and conditioning facilities. The building will also contain film rooms, locker rooms, two gymnasiums, lounge areas, a nutrition center, a media center, and office space for coaching staffs. The project is slated for completion in July 2015.
The University of Utah has opted to change the lyrics of its fight song, “Utah Man,” to make it more inclusive, after students expressed concerns that the old lyrics could be seen as sexist or racist.