SUU Day at Lagoon

The Alumni Association hosted its annual SUU Day at Lagoon on Saturday, August 4th. With twice as many participants as last year (nearly 200 alumni and guests), this years event was a huge success. 

One highlight of the day was watching Cameron Levins ('12), 2012 NCAA National Champion in the 5K and 10K, run the 10,000-meters at the London Summer Olympics. Cameron recorded an 11th-place finished and missed out on a top-10 finished by a mere second.

Thank you to everyone who attended and we look forward to seeing you next year!

Alumni Spotlight: Kevin Butler & Eric Houle

Kevin Butler and Eric Houle are the most recent additions to Southern Utah University’s Coaching Factory Hall of Fame for their achievements as coaches and their impact on their athletes and their sport.

After an all-state football career at Grantsville High School, Kevin Butler went on to further gridiron greatness at Southern Utah University, where he was a three-year starter on the offensive line for the Thunderbirds. He coached for a year at Tooele High School, and then returned to Grantsville in 1984 as an assistant football coach before assuming the top job in 1987. He lead the Cowboys to glory, winning three state crowns, including the first in the school’s history in 1992, and amassing a record of 117 and 54 over 16 seasons, with each team progressing to the playoffs.

He coached 50 first-team All-State players, seven Utah MVPs and was three times names coach of the year for the state. Beyond that, he was largely responsible for upgrading Cowboy Stadium, making it a site that instilled pride in the school and the community. He also was the initial coach for Grantsville High School’s wrestling and golf programs in the mid-80’s and coached girls’ track and field as well.

Additionally, he instituted the little league wrestling program in Grantsville in 1985 and the little league Ute football program in 1987. In 2009, he joined the staff of one of his former players when Clint Christiansen became Stansbury High School’s first football coach and aided the Stallions on their road to becoming another dynasty in Utah 3-A football.

Eric Houle, who has mentored the cross country and track and field teams at Southern Utah University since 1992, has become one of America’s most respected coaches.

Previous to returning to his alma mater, he turned in a stellar 11-year run as cross country coach at Salt Lake City’s Judge Memorial high School, producing three state championship teams along with five runner-up squads. He was three times named coach of the year in Utah.

At SUU he has led his teams to 38 conference championships and can boast of an NCAA Mountain Division cross country championship as well, a feat for which he was named region coach of the year. He has won conference coach of the year honors an impressive 32 times, coaching both men’s and women’s teams in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Along the way, he has coached 735 all-conference athletes, 252 individual conference champions 25 conference athletes of the year, 27 conference newcomers of the year 24 NCAA national qualifiers, 75 NCAA West regional qualifiers, four NCAA All-Americans and one NCAA National Champion.

His teams have excelled in the classroom as well over the years, garnering two academic national championships and a runner-up honor while nine athletes have been named academic all-America. Coach Houle earned two bachelor’s degrees from SUU in 1981 as well as a master’s degree in 1998.

Alumni Spotlight: Jo Kremin

Joleen “Jo” Kremin (’06, Accounting) is grateful to SUU and the School of Business for molding and shaping her success as a PhD student at Texas Tech University.

“The degree I completed at SUU was a catalyst for my desire to pursue a doctorate in accounting,” she says. “Dr. David Rees was a main component to my decision to go back to school and he has continued to be supportive. I so appreciate the opportunity I had at SUU to develop a good relationship with my professors because those relationships have continued to be a blessing, years after my graduation. “

As a PhD student at Texas Tech (one of only two in her class), Jo is steeped in accounting research and proudly proclaims, “You just got the goose bumps a little, admit it!” She is a behavioral theorist under an audit context and researches psychological and social theories on the decisions of auditors. Jo graduates in 2012 and looks forward to becoming a professor and molding the minds of young accountants everywhere.

Her favorite SUU memories include time spent at the Service Learning Center (now the Community Engagement Center) where she fondly remembers attending the alternative spring break to Mexico in 2007. “I specifically remember the look on the children’s faces in Mexico as I tested out my horrible Spanish on them; those are time I will never forget,” she says. Jo continues to volunteers through her position president of the Texas Tech chapter of LDSSA where the chapter participates in multiple service activities in the community.

A self-proclaimed “budding foodie,” Jo says cooking makes her supremely happy. She enjoys traveling, seeing new places and meeting new people. She has visited New York City with Jill Stevens Shepherd (a roommate after graduation from SUU), Ireland, Mexico, California, Georgia, and many places in Texas. And while she has traveled extensively, Jo also loves staying at home reading a good book or watching a funny movie. She “adores” her friends, loves to run and recently tried her hand at CrossFit which she proclaims as “addicting!”

Jo resides lives in Lubbock, Texas.

Alumni Spotlight: Paul & Naomi Lunt

Paul Lunt, born to Raymond and Zelma Lunt, has Cedar City and SUU roots that run deep. His great-grandfather, Henry Lunt, was the captain of the company that settled Cedar in 1851, and his grandfather, Henry W. Lunt, was the Utah senator who authored the bill making it possible for the BNS to provide education beyond the high school level.

Graduating from the BAC in 1941, Paul served a full-time LDS mission in New England and was a member of the Army Service Forces. He enrolled at Idaho State and became a pharmacist, owning and operating pharmacies in Vernal and Roosevelt, Utah. He sold those businesses in order to attend dental school at UMKC, finishing in 1959. The Lunts returned to Cedar City where Paul developed a successful dental practice from which he retired in 1998.

Naomi Lunt, a native of Roosevelt, Utah, was born to Roy and Mildred Dillman. Her father was an attorney and politician, while her mother was a homemaker, historian and educator. Naomi graduated from BYU, USU and the Traphagen Art and Design School in New York City. She taught at schools in Utah and Nevada for seven years and refined her talents as an artist and children’s book author, writing A Dentist Of My Own which was published in English and Japanese.

Throughout their lives, the Lunts have been committed to education, particularly dental education. Both have served with the Dental Association and its Auxiliary Organizations in local and state-wide capacities. For 13 years Paul was a member of the Utah State Dental Board and even provided volunteer instruction to an SUU anatomy class with a group of local physicians.

Loyal sports fans that follow the Thunderbirds at any venue, throughout their lives the Lunts have graciously invested their time, energy and resources into serving students and providing scholarships that improve the SUU experience.

Paul and Naomi are the parent of five children, 25 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

For lives of service and concern for the education of students, the Alumni Association presented Paul & Naomi Lunt with the 2012 Carmen Rose Hepworth Award.

Alumni Spotlight: Hali Nielsen

Hali Nielsen (’08, Communication) always felt she was at home while attending Southern Utah University and now credits her campus experience for opening doors to her professionally.

Her experience as a SUU Presidential Ambassador helped her land her first job as an admissions counselor at Utah Valley University (UVU) which then led to her present position as a school counselor at Oak Canyon Jr. High School. Hali says, “The most satisfying experiences for me, are watching students succeed and seeing things click for them, the light bulb moment, when they finally get it.”

Hali helped establish an ambassador program at UVU and received a presidential recognition for her outstanding service. In 2011, while working in the prospective student services office, she garnered more accolades as her office received the president’s department of the year award and she was recognized as the senior coordinator in that office.

SUU Communication Professors Matt Barton and Brian Heuett pushed Hali to see her potential and were “always incredibly helpful.” With their guidance and extra insight, Hali discovered what she wanted to do with her degree and how best to get there.

She loved working at the Sherratt Library and racing coworkers to see who could shelf books the quickest. Hali loved touring campus with prospective students and their parents, hosting anxious high school students for overnighters, and assisting at other campus events. Fun times with friends and road trips to Vegas, especially to watch Jill Stephens compete in the Miss America Pageant also made the list of her fondest SUU memories.

With a desire to serve her community, Hali volunteers with the Utah County Boys and Girls Club and with local high schools on “Legacy” projects to improve those schools. She also gives her time to a reading program in Alpine School District and will begin working with United Way in this fall.

Hali loves her job and is always looking for a good adventure. She is proud to say that her mother, Sandy Nielsen, is an SUU alumna. Both of her parents work in education and so the field was a natural fit for her. Hali currently lives in Orem, Utah.