Carmen Rose Hepworth Alumni Award - Sally Hunter Jensen

Sally Hunter Jensen has what can only be termed a “big personality” and a talent for performing, along with a sincere concern for those who may not otherwise find acceptance. These traits, among many valuable others, have endeared her to her hometown and her alma mater and make her a greatly worthy recipient of this year’s Carmen Rose Hepworth Award.

She was born into one of Cedar City’s pioneering families, one that also is among the 142 families appearing on the SUU Monument to the Founders. She is the granddaughter of a Cedar City mayor, and her father, the late Forrest Hunter, operated several retail enterprises here before purchasing KSUB radio in the 1970s. He was a popular figure, and Sally’s mother Dawn, now nearly 90, continues to be among the city’s grand dames.

Sally grew with a panoply of dreams, but knew somehow that her future would include the arts, so she religiously studied piano, becoming her vocalist father’s most trusted accompanist. Soon she was performing at Cedar High and at what is now SUU, singing and acting in plays and operas. A popular student, she was elected Snow Queen in 1980.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance with a secondary teaching certificate and taught at schools in Utah, Colorado and Arizona in the 1980s before deciding the calling was not for her. Along the way, she says, she kept her hand in performing. Among her side jobs was a turn as a singing waitress.

It was always her goal to become better at whatever she tried to do and to seek after excellence for her own fulfillment. If someone noticed, she says, that was always good too.

She has always been a welcome presence on SUU’s stages and her many performances included a role in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s first matinee and first musical, The Mikado, in 1977. While enjoyable, performing was not paying her bills, so with the encouragement of her father and an industrious hunt for financing, she was able to follow her merchant heritage and open a retail store on Cedar City’s Main Street in 1990.

The Wizz is now a town jewel and has supported a wide variety of local programs, while also allowing Sally to contribute in broader strokes to the University, as well, as she has employed dozens of SUU students over the years. Campus customers provide greater than 50 percent of her business and important to her is the connection she feels with students, particularly those who may not feel that they fit in. Her store is a place where all feel welcome and comfortable and she counts herself as a friend, sounding board and mentor to students.

That speaks to her wide appeal to others, as she connects generations, hierarchies and interests.

She has also established an SUU scholarship in the name of her late husband. The Jason Ted Jensen Scholarship aids future teachers with an original approach to teaching and life and the desire to improve the education system.

Sally, with a strong sense of service, has also given integral labor to the Cedar City Music Arts Association, the Orchestra of Southern Utah, the Neil Simon Festival and the Red Rock Singers.

The Carmen Rose Hepworth award is presented annually at Thunderbird Awards. 

Q&A with Coach Eric Houle ('81)

This past fall, the Thunderbird Men's Cross Country Team won the 2015 Big Sky Championship at Cedar Ridge Golf Course. Head Coach Eric Houle was voted Big Sky Coach of the Year by his colleagues, an honor he has won 34 times in cross country and track & field in different conferences during his 23-year tenure at SUU. In this short Q&A, Coach Houle reflects on his career and what the Big Sky win means to the cross country program.

Q: Why did you decide to come back to SUU to coach?

"I spent ten years at high school coaching and I just badly wanted to get to the collegiate level. So when the job opened up I thought, ‘Wow. I can go back and coach Southern Utah? That would be crazy good.’ I remember that for five years, and even more, just walking on campus with this giggly feeling and thinking, ‘I’m the coach here.’ It was something I wanted to do and it’s not something I thought was going to materialize, but it obviously did. I seized that opportunity and the rest is history."

Q: What does the Big Sky Championship mean for SUU?

"It means we are a player and that we can compete no matter what the level is. We are rising as a university and we are showing in each one of those arenas, we can compete. In this arena, we can compete. In the academic arena, we can compete. In the theatre arts arena, we can compete. It is a testimony to the right decisions made early on that are affecting the present and the future. 

Q: What does the championship mean to the cross country team?

"We’ve won conference championships in each conference we’ve been in except for the Big Sky and we’ve been in Big Sky for three years. To go up against a team like Northern Arizona who out of the last 20 years has won 17 conference championships - to break that wall down and say “yes, you can achieve things” was really important for me to get across to our athletes.

 Q: Is the success of cross country any indication of how well track and field will compete in the spring?

"We are working with the distance runners right now, but we have signed some of the top sprinters in the country that will come on board. I think with the throws, the jumps, the sprints, and the distance coming together to start the indoor season and the success of the cross country team, I think we should be able to be very competitive in track. 

SUU: Training Ground for Today's Leaders

A pair of 21^st century Southern Utah University graduates guide Iron County’s two largest cities, as new Enoch Mayor Geoff Chesnut has joined fellow Thunderbird alum and Cedar City Mayor Maile Wilson as vibrant and forward-thinking leaders well prepared for their respective mantles.

Geoff, who took office in January, graduated from SUU in 2003 with a degree in political science with a strong minor in criminal justice, went on to earn a law degree from Arizona State University, and is a partner in Red Rock Legal Services.

He has a vision of uniting the more than 6,000 residents of the valley community that, he says, has become “fractured.” The 39-year-old father of three says that through a number of civic projects designed to bring people together, that his children and all young families in town can become a more embraced and integral part of the historic town.

The eloquent mayor and his wife Dezaree, who earned a teaching certificate at SUU and is close to fulfilling requirements for a master’s degree in education, are parents to five-year-old Phoebee and identical twin boys, one-year-olds Greer and Chandler.

A Salt Lake City native and transfer to SUU for his sophomore year, Geoff found the University to be a fulfilling experience, serving on the SUUSA judicial council for three years, and as student director of what is now the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service.

Maile, too, points to her SUU training as a key element in her success both as mayor and as an attorney with the law firm of Jones Waldo in Cedar City and St. George. She graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, followed by a master’s in public administration, then went on to receive her law degree from Charlotte School of Law, in Charlotte, N.C.

The Cedar City native took office in January 2014 as the first female and youngest mayor in the history of the city. Maile gained valuable experience as a member of the University mock trial team and, as an SUU intern for the Washington City manager, gained insight into public administration. She credits SUU’s program of augmenting in-class instruction with real-world application as giving her a strong foundation.

She followed solid examples of her grandfather Loren Whetten who held the mayoral position from 1966 to 1974, and of her parents, Rich and Linda Wilson, who have long been stalwart civic contributors.

Halfway through her elected term, Maile, 29, led the process to develop Cedar City’s first-ever strategic plan and looks forward to its implementation in the coming months.

“It’s vital that we prepare for our future growth with a strong and wise plan,” she says.