Saturday, September 26, 2015

USU responds to law changes to prevent sexual assault

By Mikala Lindhardt

 

Utah State University's program for educating students about sexual assault expanded this semester to include all regional campus students throughout the state in response to law changes that took place in July.

 

University President Stan Albrecht said in a letter to students, this online course will empower you to make well-informed decisions about issues that affect your college years and beyond.

 

According to the Clergy Act and Title IX Guidebook, a legislative compliance checklist and prevention best practices packet, as of July 1 colleges and universities will be required to offer primary prevention and awareness programs to all incoming students and employees, in addition to ongoing campaigns.

 

Associate vice president for student services, Eric Olsen, said this action will include new transfer students, new freshmen and new graduate students.

 

Last year the university’s main campus used Haven, a computer program aimed at teaching students about sexual assault, as a trial in preparation for this year’s law change.

 

A three-year contract with was signed this year, Olsen said.

 

“USU is required to offer the training and the goal is to have as many students as possible go through the training because we feel it is important,” Olsen said. “As we deal with cases of sexual assault, the perspective I have is maybe if some of these individuals would have gone through the training it may have been prevented.”

 

In an email to students, Albrecht said the course is set up with an anonymous pre-survey, six modules and an exam which have been estimated to last about an hour long. After a 45 day intersession, participants will receive an anonymous post-survey via email.

 

Olsen said the purpose of the pre-survey is just to see what the students understand about sexual assault and the training modules are to help them recognize and learn about sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. The post-survey is to see if they retained what was taught.

 

Last year there were 2,000 students and employees that went through the Haven program. This year the university is expecting those numbers to increase due to the expansion of the program to other campuses, Olsen said.

 

“We sent out about 7,000 emails this year,” Olsen said. “Hopefully we will be creating a culture of caring and awareness for students and employees. If we can prevent one sexual assault, then it’s worth it.”
 

Saturday, September 19, 2015

National Geographic photographer to make appearance at USU

By Mikala Lindhardt

 

Nineteen months of preparation will pay off when, on Sept. 29 when National Geographic photographer, James Balog comes to the Utah State University campus to tell the public of his photographic mission across the Arctic.

 

Since February 2014, the university has prepared for Balog’s visit to educate students and the Cache Valley community about professional photojournalism, said Becky Winstead, a staff assistant for the department of art and design.

 

Balog, with his 35-years of photographic experience, is coming to share his work with the Utah State community.

 

The university will hold a screening of the film "Chasing Ice" to introduce students and community members to Balog's work. The film follows Balog on his mission to the Arctic for National Geographic. The 75 minute documentary is the result of years filming the Extreme Ice Survey, “the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted” according to the “Chasing Ice” synopsis.  

 

Jim Urquhart also works for National Geographic as a freelance photographer. He believes in the importance of exposure for students.

 

“Right after you come out of college you are probably the least equipped you will ever be in your career,” Urquhart said. “There is a huge dose of reality when you get out and we can get people prepped for that.”

 

Winstead said she hopes students see this as an opportunity to learn from someone who has been where they are and can help them be inspired.

 

It is that inspiration that photojournalists, like Urquhart, believe students need.  

 

“As a professional photojournalist I want the next generation of journalists to come up and kick my ass every day,” Urquhart said. “I want the best storytelling out there. I want people to come out of school driven and passionate about stories they believe in.”

 

On Wednesday at the Caine Performance Hall on the university campus there will be a screening of “Chasing Ice” as a preview to the Sept. 29 lecture and radio talk show on Utah Public Radio from Balog.
 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Utah State brings back tradition to celebrate

By Mikala Lindhardt

Aggie Fest, traditionally the biggest event during Week of Welcome at Utah State University, was the main focus this year. The additional effort put into the event by planning staff paid off with nearly 3,000 people in attendance Monday night, exceeding organizers’ expectations.

“We definitely had the highest attendance we have had in a while,” said Stefanie Brooksby, the program coordinator for students involvement and leadership.

Each year the vice president of programming for the USU student association has goals in mind for student activities and upcoming events. This year the goal was to bring back tradition by making Aggie Fest activities the main attraction during the week.

Sawyer Hemsley, elected 2015-2016 vice president of programming, and his staff arranged for blow-up toys, free food, an outdoor movie, face painting and more. Businesses throughout Cache Valley became involved and used it as advertising, Brooksby said.

"It was more of a welcome to school and welcome to campus festival,” Brooksby said. “I think it really set the tone for the upcoming events throughout the week.”

Kaitlin Young, a junior at Utah State, was impressed with Aggie Fest and the events that were there.

“There were so many fun activities they had going on throughout the week, but Monday activities were my favorite,” she said. “It was a great way to start the school year off right, meeting new friends and enjoying the best USU has to offer.”

This same programming committee will be in charge of upcoming campus events throughout the semester. You can stay informed following @utahstatesa on Twitter, or get involved by attending the Tuesday meetings for volunteer event coordinators at 6:30 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center. Upcoming events include Homecoming week and “The Howl”, a Halloween celebration.
 

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Record breaking numbers for enrollment doesn’t stop USU from soaring

By Mikala Lindhardt

Utah State University is soaring with the largest enrollment in school history with 1,500 more students than last year, leading to changes in the mandatory Student Orientation, Advising and Registration, also known as SOAR, program.

Craig Whyte, the associate director of enrollment and recruitment, said SOAR had a historical year with a couple hundred more students.

“I do know SOAR had a record year because every incoming freshman student must complete SOAR,” he said. “They have had a busy summer, helping students with their registration and orientation.”



SOAR program coordinator, Jacob Van den Akker, said the SOAR office staff and the A-Team, current students at USU who are assigned to help incoming students, added more courses and increased class sizes, but were still able to maintain a 6-to-1 student adviser ratio. 

“We are starting up an orientation for regional campus students too," Van den Akker said. "All the incoming students will go through an online orientation, and then their campus may do additional on-campus orientation programming."

The program is designed for incoming freshmen and transfer students to help get them better aquatinted with the resources, policies and expectations on the Logan campus, Van den Akker said. He said students get the chance to have their questions answered directly and receive help signing up for classes for the first time.

Skyler Killian, a freshman, said his experience at SOAR was positive overall, but he felt overloaded with information.

“Sometimes it feels as though they just throw the information out there instead of showing us the application,” he said.

Van den Akker said students are anticipated to be overwhelmed after a full day of information, which is why they are encouraged to ask for clarification.

“Then we follow up with a couple of emails inviting them to continue to ask questions,” Van den Akker said.

He emphasized the role the program plays in helping students feel confident in beginning their college experience.

“You can go through college without anything, you can even be successful, but the amount of time to be successful is exponentially larger when you are not set in the right direction,” Van den Akker said.