Mitsuyo Miyazaki - Homecoming Outstanding Alumnus

As a young girl in Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city, Mitsuyo Miyazaki often worked in her grandparents’ factory fabricating small metal parts for various uses. While finding diversion with 1950s American rock and roll, she dreamed of a life not so confining and colorless. And, she thought, wouldn’t it be nice to use the arts to escape any tedium that might creep into her world? Fortunately, she was blessed with a sparkling talent for performing, a fertile imagination, a strong work ethic, and an adventurous and indefatigable spirit. It is that combination that has led her to a well-founded education, a stellar career, and recognition as SUU’s 2015 Outstanding Alumnus.

As soloist for a youth chorus in her hometown, she expanded her horizons on the stage, and she starred in a variety of musicals and operas from the age of 10. Her dream, however, was to come to America, and upon a prestigious selection to study for a year in the United States, had her pick of many destinations. Utah was suggested and her puzzled response was “What’s Utah?” When she learned there were ski slopes, she agreed and found herself at Jordan High School in Sandy. Later, she was happy to return to the Beehive State, accepted into SUU’s vaunted theatre arts and dance program. In her first semester in 1995, she was cast as part of the ensemble in Fred Adams’ Jane Eyre: The Musical, and thus set off on an arduous but satisfying four-year journey through SUU’s cross-disciplinary approach.

She acted in a variety of plays, created costumes and learned all aspects of theatre, while diving fearlessly into the art department as well. She performed at her 1999 Commencement, had her paintings exhibited, and was named the outstanding senior in the theatre arts and dance department. She then headed for Hollywood and soon found herself cast in national commercials while also earning an exciting living as a photographer of actors and musicians. However, as an actress, the repetitiveness of auditioning wore on her and she sought more vibrant vistas, enrolling in the University of Southern California graduate school of cinematic arts. She was immediately grateful, she says, for the first-rate preparation of an SUU education.

Her first movie credit came as a production associate for the film Nanking, directed by double Oscar winner Bill Guttentag, and she earned a dizzying array of awards while at USC. Her thesis film Tsuyako, among more than a dozen of her productions thus far, visited more than 100 festivals worldwide, picking up 45 awards, and helped solidify her as one of the brightest young filmmakers in the country and indeed, the world. She quickly became busy as a cinematographer, scriptwriter and director of web content, commercials, and films and continues to earn awards.

A deeply personal film, Where We Begin, is her latest award-winning offering, included in the highly prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. The 19-minute dance performance drama was filmed in our surrounding spectacular scenery with largely local personnel added to Hollywood actors. SUU’s head of theatre arts and dance, Kay Andersen, choreographed and appeared in the film, and has the highest praise for Mitsuyo’s work. “She created a real community in the work,” he says. “She is a fine director. She was able to make her vision so clear that it was easy for all involved to understand exactly what she wanted. The work is stunning. She is a Renaissance woman, and brilliant.”

To be sure, Mitsuyo Miyazaki is well into the whirlwind of a film career and, as ever, is fully open to the inspirational possibilities of visual communication and its ability to change society and its people. As SUU’s Outstanding Alumnus, her successes truly reflect greatly upon the institution.

Mark Russell - Homecoming Distinguished Service Award

If dedication to SUU alumni and the University alone were enough cause for selection for the Distinguished Service Award of the association, perhaps no individual’s qualifications would surpass those of Mark Russell. However, when such attributes are coupled with a successful career leading others to achieve their financial goals and secure their future, Mark’s selection is truly, as they say, a no-brainer.

He was happily living in Sandy, Utah, some two decades after his 1974 graduation, when asked to be part of a new University program to help recruit students. Mark soon found himself among the school’s first admissions advisers, enthusiastically sponsoring open houses for potential students. Several years later, the University instituted the Alumni Chapters program and Mark eagerly led the first such organization in the Salt Lake Valley. His good works were recognized along with his other accomplishments by his selection as the Young Alumnus of the Year award in 2003. Then, in 2006, Mark became the National Alumni President for SUU, a position he held until this past year. Through it all, Mark has been one of the University’s greatest cheerleaders as well as a valued contributor to

myriad SUU causes. His service on the Board of Trustees was of particular importance as he relished taking part in virtually every major decision of the institution, including helping select two presidents and chairing the Board’s investments committee. Perhaps his favorite duty as alumni president, however, was delivering the welcome address to graduates each year and instructing them to flip their mortarboard tassels from right to left in a time-honored tradition.

Growing up in his birthplace of Salt Lake City, Mark had dreams of one day becoming a doctor. His life changed a bit at 12, when his father, who was in the aerospace industry, moved the family to New Jersey as the first stop on a continental odyssey. After his 1969 high school graduation in Rockford, Illinois, Mark thought he might attend Ricks College, but his grandfather back in Delta, Utah, encouraged him to try what was then SUSC. That, of course, proved to be pivotal in Mark’s life.

He originally expected to become an engineer like his father and took pre-engineering courses his first year in Cedar City. After serving an LDS mission in South Texas, he returned, but came to the conclusion that engineering wasn’t for him. Aided by SUU legend Harl Judd through aptitude testing, Mark learned that he was well suited for business. He soon found himself ensnared by the field under the direction of such stalwart faculty members as Gary Giles and Bob Moore, earning his degree in business administration, and enjoying distinction as the School’s outstanding student. He also served as the attorney general of the student body, with Ken Benson and Sterling Church as strong mentors to him. He thought about becoming a lawyer, was accepted to the University of Utah Law School, but instead earned an MBA from the U. His future wife, Jeri Schow, was at SUU at the same time as Mark, but they did not meet and marry until after both had completed their educations. The couple went on to have four children, each of whom attended SUU, as Mark proudly trumpets.

Meanwhile, Mark was building his career as a financial adviser. He spent 10 years with American Express and for the past 10 years has represented MetLife. Noting that he is thrilled that his clients are also his friends, he finds the field highly satisfying and claims that he has no desire to leave it for retirement any time soon. His pastimes include golf, scuba diving and travel.
Clearly, Mark Russell stands as the ideal model for distinguished service award recipients. SUU’s Alumni Association is proud to salute him.

Micah Paul Keith - Homecoming Young Alumnus

Micah Paul Keith is a man of exceptional energy and optimism, two traits that have served him well in his life, and which portend a continuation of soaring successes that have flowed to and from him since boyhood.

SUU’s 2015 Young Alumnus of the Year made his mark on campus powerfully en route to his 2006 graduation as he served as the student body’s vice president of student involvement and as president of the Associated Students in successive years, all the while embracing his chosen philosophy of never falling prey to a stereotype and of exceeding the expectations of others. Through an ever-positive attitude, he elected to invent a life of rich and receptive openness. In so doing, he has found himself in the most admirable of circumstances: performing a job he loves.

As the innovation marketing manager of the Nestle baking division located in Solon, Ohio, Micah has responsibility for the growth of Nestle Tollhouse, Libby’s Pumpkin and Carnation Milk. That task involves accomplishing strategic objectives and supervision of a core school recruiting team, which places him with students who see him as a mentor and allows him to extend his own rewarding educational experiences. He reached his current position—which he has held for the past year—after more than a year as marketing manager for Libby’s Pumpkin, and a stint working with the Buitoni brand of Nestle.

Previously, he was an associate brand manager for two elements of the H.J. Heinz Company. His first experience with Heinz was as an intern while studying in the Tepper School of Business of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, earning his MBA.

Micah was born and raised in Arizona locales as the third of six children of educators and considered a future as a doctor or lawyer or, as he says, a racecar driver, depending on the day. While in the 7^th grade, he read the book “The Girl Who Owned a City.” He was highly intrigued by the fictional tale of a young person who rebuilds the economic and social structure of a town amid a devastated world. Enthralled by the challenge of joining disparate components to form an effective and unique ensemble, and by the idea of creating something and deciding just how it will operate, Micah determined that the world of business was the ideal setting for such a pursuit.

By the time he entered high school, his family had relocated to another desert area, St. George, and Micah stood out as an athlete in basketball, football, and track and field at Snow Canyon High School. Again, eschewing stereotypes, he also engaged in drama, student government, and a variety of clubs before deciding to continue his education at SUU. Following his first semester, he served an LDS mission in Portland, Oregon, then after considering a career as a seminary teacher, entered his study of business, eventually majoring in finance. As he tells it, one can’t go wrong with a degree in a business field from SUU, where instruction is highly dynamic and the entire faculty is counted as mentors. He cites as another guide then-adviser to student government Mindy Benson, who, he says, enriched his collegiate life. Immediately following his graduation from SUU, he served as a consultant for two southern Utah concerns before enrolling at the Tepper School.

Married to the former Sarah Lawson, he enjoys his growing family as he enjoyed an active family life growing up. He avidly seeks out family adventures and finds pleasure playing basketball and board games as well as working in a variety of service roles. He embodies the concept of ever evolving and contributing to society and thus is an entirely fitting representative of SUU as its Young Alumnus of the Year.