Demolished

University Boulevard saw a dramatic change on June 13, with the demolition of a Utah Shakespeare Festival building.

For many years the building was home to The Utah Shakespeare Festival Administration Offices until they relocated to the complex next door on the corner of 300 West and University Boulevard. Most recently the demolished building housed the Festival Production Offices.

The new open space provides a beautiful view of the Randall Jones Theatre and its courtyard from University Boulevard - just in time for the Utah Shakespeare Festival's 50th Anniversary Season. It also adds to the excitement of the much-anticipated Centre for the Performing Arts: two city blocks of theatres, shops, and open gardens and walkways.

SUU in China -- Making an Impression

China is absolutely amazing. I am living in this hotel that is INCREDIBLE! I am treated like royalty here. Yesterday we met and mingled with the 80-member company of Chinese dancers . . . all I can say is WOW! We all have our work cut out for us to make an impression.

Speaking of impressions. I've made some good ones already! Xun Sun (SUU Orchestra Director) asked Jennie Smith and me to prepare musical numbers to perform and share with the Chinese people. So, yesterday while mingling, Sun asked if I could sing them a song and I obliged. While standing amongst the crowd of dancers, Sun got their attention and was going to translate my introduction before I sang. I reduced the nuptials to one term: Lady Gaga. They all cheered! I sat down at the studio's piano and began to play and sing my cover of Born This Way and totally ROCKED IT! They were completely crowded around the piano as I sat there with my wonderful 5,4,1 progression and sweet pop rhythm (thanks Professor Sara Guttenberg).

China is the most beautiful and wonderful country. Yesterday Karyn Allen and I set out to explore Wuhan and ended up finding a 1600-year old Buddhist monastery. It was one of the most incredible experiences. There were so many different temples all housing shrines - some were more than 30 feet tall. The entire monastery was built into the side of a hill and at the top of the hill was a giant tower that overlooks the city of Wuhan. It was an amazing adventure.

Payden Adams is a senior Dance and Theatre Arts major from Cedar Fort, Utah, and is one of 14 SUU dance students in China rehearsing for The Dream of Helen.

The Dream of Helen is a dance drama featuring nearly 100 dancers and an orchestra of 90 which includes six SUU music students. Faculty from the College of Performing and Visual Arts have collaborated in the creation of the production, which is inspired by the life and achievements of Utah native Helen Foster Snow who was an instrumental bridge builder of U.S./China relations. Helen's mother, Hannah Davis Foster, taught at the Branch Normal School (now SUU).

SUU Emeriti Breakfast

Members of the Southern Utah University Emeriti Association fired up their grills and skillets today for their annual spring breakfast at the Alumni House. About 80 members attended and enjoyed the good company of their friends and colleagues.

The Emeriti Association is comprised of retired faculty and staff members and their spouses. This dynamic group gave their professionals lives to the building and strengthening of SUU and remain involved today though yearly socials, the funding of scholarships and helping to preserve our rich heritage. Several of the Emeriti helped create a new tradition this past May by marching in the Commencement Processional and attending College Convocation Ceremonies.

Thank you to our wonderful Emeriti for their love of SUU and their continued involvement.

New Facebook Page

The Alumni Relations Office created our original Facebook group as a way to connect with alumni and for alumni to reconnect with each other. Facebook is now making changes to their "groups" and we no longer feel that a group will meet the needs of the ever-growing Alumni Association. Our group has been scheduled to be archived, and will no longer be used by our office to send out information. Because of this, we invite you to "like" us at our new Facebook page to stay up-to-date about what is happening with the Alumni Association and what events will be coming to your area.

112th Commencement

On May 6th, Southern Utah University celebrated it's 112th Commencement Ceremony in the Centrum Arena. This year SUU graduated 1741 graduates, including 335 master’s degrees, 997 bachelor’s degrees 389 associate’s degrees and 20 certificates. The graduates ranged from ages 17-64, and came from 37 U.S. states and 14 different countries from around the globe. 992 of the grads are females and 749 are male, 59 of them being married couples.

The University bestowed honorary doctorate degrees on alumna and dedicated SUU public servant, Anne A. Judd, alumnus and business leader Edward C. Stokes and Harvard Business School professor and commencement speaker, Clayton M. Christensen. You can read Clayton’s speech here and student speaker Landon Gray Mitchell’s speech here.

Congratulations to the Class of 2011, and welcome to the Southern Utah University Alumni Association!

Thunderbird Night at the Bees

Alumni Relations and the Admissions Welcome Center partnered with the SUU Marketing & Public Relations Office on Thursday, April 28, 2011, for the second annual Thunderbird Night at the Salt Lake Bees.

It was a great night for a baseball game and BBQ, and we enjoyed visiting with alumni, their families and members of the 2011 freshmen class. We were also fortunate that the weather cooperated (unlike our first attempt on April 7, when we were rained out). Ted Whitaker ('71) our vice president for chapter relations threw out the first pitch and even got his picture taken with Bees right-hander Eric Junge and members of the Honeybees.

Watch News from the Nest (our electronic newsletter) for information on other upcoming alumni events. If you don't already receive the enews, click on the link to the right and sign up.

Glory Days -- PBL

Recently I was reading my local newspaper and I ran across an article that mentioned FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and PBL (Phi Beta Lambda) had just help their annual state convention/competition. This immediately took me back to my days as a member of PBL at SUU. For those of you unfamiliar with PBL, it is a business club created to help develop college students to become effective and successful business leaders.

At SUU, the PBL experience was more than just learning business, it was a full collegiate experience. Under the tutelage of the late Doris Williamson, this club helped us to become involved on campus life as well as become involved within the local community. Each year we would spend hours helping with mailings for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, we held a food drive at Thanksgiving to help those in need. We participated in the Sub-for-Santa program. We sponsored and held the annual Business Person of the year banquet. This allowed us to meet with local business members, interview them and find out how they became involved in their business and what their future goals were. Each fall we attended a conference. At this conference senior students were encouraged to bring their resume and meet with real HR personnel from the business industry. Despite these being "Mock Interviews" I know of several students who were offered jobs after their interview.

During the spring quarter we would compete against students from the other colleges and universities in the state. Competitions and testing were in all areas of business including: accounting, business writing, economics, ethics, business law, marketing, interviewing, and public speaking. Additionally each chapter could submit a yearly history and there was a competition for Outstanding Chapter in the State, our chapter always fared well in this competition.

SUU representation at 1995 National Competition in Orlando Florida

If you placed in the top 10 you could compete at the National Leadership Conference. The national sites rotated through such places as Anaheim, Orlando, and Washington DC. I was lucky enough to be able to attend two of these conferences, Anaheim and Orlando. This was a great experience as we were allowed to meet and compete against other students going into business from all across the United States. More importantly, it was a valuable opportunity to begin networking with other future business professionals. In addition to the conference, we always planned time to visit local attractions; Disneyland, Epcot, or whatever else happened to be nearby. These trips were a great time and Doris always knew the best places to go for dinner.

PBL was an outstanding experience for me at SUU. I know much of my fondness of this experience is due to Doris and her extreme devotion to the students. She always went to whatever level necessary to help us reach our full potential.

"Glory Days" is a recurring post by Clinton Painter, a 1996 alumnus with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting.