UVSC graduates to be honored at 2008 Commencement -- Utah Valley State College's 2008 Commencement ceremonies will be held April 25 at 10:30 a.m. in the McKay Center. UVSC President William A. Sederburg will conduct.

A total of 3,409 students applied for graduation this spring, of those students, 1,615 will be awarded bachelor degrees, 1,768 will receive an associate degree, 25 qualified for one-year certificates and one qualified for a diploma.

Morning convocations for UVSC's 67th Commencement will begin at 8 a.m. for the Woodbury School of Business in the McKay Center, 8:30 a.m. for the School of General Academics in the Grande Ballroom and 8:30 a.m. for the School of Science & Health in the Activity Center.

Afternoon convocations begin at 12:30 p.m. for the School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences in the McKay Center, 12:30 p.m. for the School of Education in the Activity Center and 2:30 p.m. for the School of Technology & Computing in the McKay Center.

UVSC faculty and staff honored by Board of Trustees -- Select UVSC faculty and staff were recently recognized for dedicating their time and talents to UVSC students, scholarship and the advancement of education. The UVSC Board of Trustees, UVSC President William A. Sederburg, vice presidents, deans, Professional Association of College Employees (PACE), peers and students chose award recipients, who were honored at a Celebration of Excellence dinner in their honor.

In a message to awardees, President Sederburg said, "Your service and dedication has not gone unnoticed, and tonight we honor you for making a difference in the lives of so many students. Thank you for making UVSC what it is today and creating a legacy that will continue as we transition to Utah Valley University."

This year's Board of Trustees Awards of Excellence recipients were Lori Barber, RN, who teaches nursing in the School of Science and Health; Michael Jacobsen, UVSC's athletic director for the past 24 years; Nancy Smith, coordinator for private scholarships in Institutional Advancement and Michelle Taylor, associate vice president of Student Services at UVSC.

UVSC "giving the green" raised $40,000 for new library -- UVSC's annual "Giving the Green" campaign raised $40,000 for the library. Almost 200 students, faculty and staff donated during the four-day March 17-20 campaign.

This was the third year of the campaign and the first year donations were given to the library, the past two years the student donations have gone to the scholarship fund called the Student to Student Scholarship. This year's campaign was themed "Leave Your Legacy in Stone" and each student who donated $50 will be named on a stone monument that will stand near the library.

In addition to the stone tablet, each student donation will be matched three to one by donors for a total of a $200 gift for the library. Faculty and staff also donated and were recognized if they donated the entire $200.

"I think the students were thrilled to be a part of such a unique opportunity to not only give back to the school, but to be recognized as well," said Jay Fugal, president of the UVSC student alumni board. "We received an overwhelming positive response."

When the idea first came to mind with the planning committee, the general feeling was whether or not UVSC student, faculty and staff would donate, Fugal said. They wondered if they would get 100 people and they got almost 200.

"We are very pleased with the support from the students, advisors and the student government," said Fugal. "The idea of giving back to the school is catching on. This goes to show how much school spirit the students have with the phenomenal outreach we had in four days."

UVSC Students Ranked High At The SkillsUSA competition -- UVSC students won gold in 20 different contest categories at the State of Utah SkillsUSA competition in Salt Lake City. UVSC students placed first in contests such as 3-D visualization and animation, culinary arts, diesel equipment technology and robotics and automation technology. Fourteen Utah institutions were represented.

The SkillsUSA competitions started in 1968 with approximately 54 competitors in three different contests. Today, there are nearly 5,000 competitors competing in 89 different contest categories. UVSC started competing in 1973. After competing in the post-secondary division, winners go onto the national competitions where first place winners in each category represent their state.

"The quality of instruction of the individual programs at UVSC is exceptional, and our institution has stellar faculty with years of industry experience," said Darin Taylor, director of UVSC SkillsUSA and professor of engineering graphics and design technology. "There is no question that in order for a student to make it back to finals, they need some raw talent and determination. But, it takes a well-trained and dedicated faculty member to hone those existing and newly acquired skills providing the student with an opportunity to rise above the rest."

Taylor said his favorite part of the competition is watching the hands-on sections. Watching students create cabinets in the allotted time frame, draw a set of architectural plans in less than six hours and watching the culinary students prepare, cook and present various items that make your mouth water is nothing short of amazing, he said.

More than 30 UVSC students will be heading to Kansas City, Kans., to compete in the national competition in June.

Faculty summer seminar will address international peace -- UVSC's Center for the Study of Ethics is holding their annual Faculty Summer Seminar April 28-May 2 in room 213c in the Sorensen Center. The topic of this year's Summer Seminar is, "International Peace and the Necessity of Negotiation."

Omar Kader, an expert in counterterrorism policy, will be the key speaker for the first four days of the conference. J. Bonner Ritchie, UVSC scholar in residence, will present the final day.

"For the past 22 years UVSC has sponsored Summer Seminars in ethics for our faculty," said Elaine Englehardt, distinguished professor of ethics and philosophy at UVSC. "The faculty has enjoyed learning diverse issues together. I believe this is one of the most important topics we have scheduled. We will study the problems of peace and war. Through discussion and readings, we may find some strong ideas in how enemies can reconcile."

Topics that will be discussed during the seminar include how America's actions have impacted its status as a global leader, peacemaking in the Middle East over the past three presidencies and the new administration that will take office in 2009.

Kader holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Southern California. He has served as the executive director of the United Palestinian Appeal and executive director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, a civil rights organization. He is currently a board member of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University and the Middle East Policy Council.

Ritchie is professor emeritus at the BYU Marriott School of Business and the former interim dean of UVSC's Woodbury School of Business. He received his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and is an international consultant in the areas of leadership, conflict resolution and peacemaking, organizational change and organizational ethics.

The seminar is only open to UVSC faculty members. Faculty who participates will be paid a stipend and receive books and materials for the seminar. To enroll, contact Don Lavange at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (801) 863-6455.

Millon dollar grant awarded to School of Technology and Computing -- The U.S. Department of Labor has approved a $1,756,637 grant for UVSC's School of Technology and Computing. The grant will fund several of the school's initiatives, including the training of local high school teachers in the use of mechatronics kits built around LEGO's Mindstorm computer.

The grant will also support the designing and building of a student-centered, web-assisted, project-oriented learning environment at UVSC for the mechatronics program, the acquiring of a robotics-centered, computer-automated manufacturing laboratory and to provide financial assistance to students in the mechatronics program.

"UVSC has the only mechatronics AAS degree program in the state of Utah," said Gordon Stokes, grant manager. "We are just pleased that we had an academic program proposal that the program considered worthy of funding."

The grant was one of 341 submitted with only 69 granted * two in Utah. The other grant went to the Davis Applied Technology College, but in a different skills area than the UVSC grant addresses.

"Our grant will provide a synergism for the mechatronics program to excite faculty and students by providing state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at UVSC and by reaching out to generate student interest in mechatronics in the high school CTE programs of the mountainland region," said Stokes.

UVSC offers new Friday night classes -- UVSC is making the weekend just a little longer. Seven new Friday night classes have been added to UVSC's Weekend College for the 2008 Summer Session, adding on to the 24 Saturday classes that are already offered.

The Friday night classes that will be offered are:

ART 1010.WL6 Intro to Visual Arts 5:30-9:30 p.m. Jerry Day

HIST 4750.WL6 Civil War/Reconstruction 5:30-9:50 p.m. Albert Winkler

NUTR 1020.WL2 Nutrition 4:30-9 p.m. Steve Fabis

POLS 3500.WL6 International Relations 5-9:30 p.m. Bak Abdrisaev

PSY 1010.WL6 General Psychology 5-9:30 p.m. Phyllis Bushman

PSY 1100.WL6 Human Development 5-9:30 p.m. Jim Bushman

SOC 3400.WL6 Sociology of Religion 4-8:30 p.m. Jason Singh

During the 2007 Summer Session, 350 students attended classes on Saturday morning. The addition of these Friday night classes provide students the opportunity to take two classes during the 2008 Weekend College nine-week Summer Session, instead of only one.

"Our Friday night instructors have rich experiences that they bring to the classroom," said Joy Brown, UVSC's weekend college coordinator. "It will be well worth the effort to spend Friday evenings in their classes."

Classes begin May 2 and end June 28. To view all 2008 Summer Weekend Classes visit www.uvsc.edu/extend or room 101d in the Woodbury Business building.

UVSC students recently presented research at national conference -- A group of 65 UVSC students visited Salisbury, Md. earlier this month, along with 2,400 other student scholars from 400 institutions from across the United States. The UVSC students, who were accompanied by 10 faculty members, traveled to Salisbury University to participate at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), where they presented research on topics ranging from dance to automotive technology.

The 65 students represented the second-largest group from a single institution, next to Salisbury University itself. A total of 78 UVSC students were accepted to present at the conference.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for students to present their scholarly research at a national level," said Marcy Glassford, program director in the student success department at UVSC. "Students who present at this national conference realize they are capable of accomplishing so much more beyond the undergraduate level." In fact, a student who attended the conference in 2007 credits the experience with helping him decide to attend graduate school.

The research that students presented was as varied as the UVSC students themselves. Topics included the use of dance as a tool of politics, presented by Meredith Ashton from Provo, who worked with Assistant Professor in UVSC's Department of Dance Angela Banchero-Kelleher. Nikolas Damron from Riverton, who worked with Todd Lowe, associate professor in UVSC's automotive department, presented research on an efficient oiling system for automobiles, which contributed to setting a new land speed record of 188 mph. Mindy Harward from Nephi, whose faculty mentor was Doug Downs, assistant professor of English and literature, presented on the female characters in the popular Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

"We have a strong undergraduate research program at UVSC, and our students are well-mentored," said Loretta Palmer, UVSC's associate vice president for undergraduate research. "Research isn't completed until the results are shared. That's why these students are attending NCUR, to finish their research by presenting their findings."

The trip to NCUR was funded by UVSC's Office of Undergraduate Research, academic schools and departments, and the Center for Engaged Learning.