Founders Celebration 2013

Campus enjoyed a wonderful Founders Celebration March 19-23 with a variety of events that celebrated the visionary men and women who sacrificed greatly to establish Southern Utah University, as well as honor those who have devoted comparable service to building SUU over many decades.

Enjoy a glimpse of the festivities and the people who made it special.

The new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts was
announced during the Founder Dinner & Awards. Thanks to a
generous $6 million gift from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, the
Center for the Arts will be home to a new outdoor theatre for the
Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Southern Utah Museum of Art.
Pictured at the podium is Ann Crocker, president of the Sorenson 
Legacy Foundation and daughter of Beverley Taylor Sorenson.

Beverly Taylor Sorenson was honored during the Founders
Dinner & Awards for her beliefs and philosophies, and willingness
to share all that she has to make success a reality for all children
of this state. SUU is home to the Beverly Taylor Sorenson College
of Education & Human Development, as well as an
Elementary Arts Education Endowed Chair.

Southern Utah University's first-ever
Presidential Medallion of Service was
presented to Beverley Taylor Sorenson
during the Founders Dinner & Awards. 

Doug Knell was posthumously honored during the Founders Dinner
& Awards for his lifetime of industriousness and of fellowship,
and for his exceptional contributions to the southern Utah region
and SUU. At the podium are his daughters Nancy Osborn,
Joanne Pennock and Leilani Wilson.

Pam Redington was honored during the Founders Dinner & Awards
for a lifetime of good works and nearly 40 years of services to
SUU and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

A capacity crowd filled the Gilbert Great Hall of the R. Haze Hunter
Conference Center for the Founders Dinner & Awards,
which was held Thursday, March 21.

Emeritus staff member Marlynn Smith and her husband Con
were among the guests at the Founders Dinner & Awards.

Robert Wasden, Sharon Wasden and Anna Wasden
at the Founders Dinner & Awards.

Jacque Marchant visits with SUUSA officers Jeff Hertig, Heidi Powell
and Lance Lowry, as well as Director Student Involvement and
Leadership Keri Mecham during the Founders Dinner & Awards.

Marueen Robb, Richard Dotson and Al Tait, all members of the
SUU Emeriti Association, tell the story of "Old Sorrel" during
Lunch on the Main - an educational history walk for students
that took place Wednesday, March 20. 

Emeritus faculty member Kent Myers explains to students the effort to
build Old Main and the significance of  SUU's oldest building.

The 2013 Founders Celebration also included the Howard R. Driggs Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, March 19, presented by Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley; the first-ever A Gathering of Leading Psychologists at SUU - Perspectives from Psychology, Neuroscience & Kinesiology Friday, March 22; and the WAC Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, March 23.