Author: Meggie Woodfield

Many students are wondering about how the new science building will affect the College of Science and Health, its students and its mission. After an interview with Dean Sam Rushforth, his vision for the college and the new science building is much more clear. Rushforth explained that he and the faculty of the college are working on long-range planning. They are currently asking themselves what they want to look like in five or 10 years and setting things in place to reach those goals. Their first goal is to recruit more women and minorities. “We need more women in the sciences,” Rushforth said. “In my field of science, the majority of the workers are women, and the best workers are women.” Another one of their goals is to improve fundraising. “Running excellent science programs is expensive,” Rushforth said. “We are working very hard to increase our fundraising abilities.” He also mentioned his personal mission to hire only the best faculty. “In the last 10 years we’ve hired more than 50 faculty members in this college, and we don’t have a single lemon,” he said. “We have superb faculty.” “We will never become a first-tier research university; we don’t intend to.” Rushforth said “But we really do want to be the best undergraduate teaching university in the western United States and we also want to be known throughout the country...

On Nov. 13, the Ethics Bowl team won the Wasatch Regional Ethics Bowl competition against Westminster. The Wasatach Bowl is one of 10 regional competitions in the United States. Teams who win regional bowls are invited to attend the Intercollegiate National Ethics Bowl competition that will be hosted in Cincinnati this March. “I feel like we were prepared really well,” said Lauren Hill, team member. “We had the strongest arguments, and I think our team was prepared way more than the other teams.” This semester’s team was made up of seven students: Michael Hetzel, Lauren Hill, Alec McCullough, Ryan Nielsen, Kristen Stirling, Kenzie Webb and Zac Whitmore. Five of these students have been on the Ethics Bowl team before, but none of them have won the Regional competition. This semester’s team was coached by Jeffrey Nielsen, an adjunct professor of Philosophy and Humanities. Zackary Weber functioned as an assistant coach and mentor. “We had a really strong first three rounds,” said Ryan Nielsen, who has been on the Ethics Bowl team twice before. “But honestly, for me the funnest part is the team … I like the class time, preparing and critiquing your arguments – that is the best part.” While all students on the team said that the competition was tough, they all agreed that it was fun. “Most of the students I have seen participate in Ethics...

On March 25 a 4.5 percent first tier tuition increase was approved for the 2010-2011 school year by the board of trustees. Much lower than the projected 6-10 percent, this increase will bring in an additional $2.2 million for the university. As one of the fastest growing schools in the state with a current total of 26,322 students the school faces a difficult balance between maintaining a level of quality and keeping the higher education they offer affordable to students. With the 17 percent budget cut to state funding in the 2009 legislative session and the daunting possibility of a 22 percent cut by July the difference must come from somewhere. The proposed 6-10 percent increase would have generated an estimated $3,400,000- $5,667,000 for the school with the cost to full time students in the plateau range (12-18 credits) being $104- 173 per semester. The approved 4.5 percent increase will only add an estimated $78 per semester to tuition for students in the plateau range. However, the board of regents is still considering a 1.5 percent tuition increase on top of the 4.5 added by the trustees, which would bring the total tuition increase to 6 percent or $104 per semester. Look for final 2010-2011 tuition rates as reviewed and decided by the Board of Regents April 1 and...