President to stun academic community
President Kermit L. Hall will be addressing the state of the university Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Eccles Science Learning Center, Room 130.
“It’s a speech you won’t want to miss,” President Hall said. “There is an academic reorganization issue that will be touched on the 12th that may stun the academic community.”
The goal for the address is to offer an explanation of the political and budgetary environment at Utah State University in “very direct talk,” he said.
John DeVilbiss, executive director of Public Relations and Marketing, said this will not be a run-of-the-mill State of the University Address.
President Hall agreed.
“It will be bloody realistic, but hopeful and optimistic,” he said.
The president said he will touch on the university’s proximity to the state capital, its status as the most religious public institution in Utah, and even its climate. He said he will make reference to the women’s basketball team and changes in faculty.
Although he will talk some about the past, the future will be the focus topic. The university needs to take a strategic look at where it should place itself, he said.
“We need to be measuring what we value as opposed to valuing what we can measure,” he said.
The president said his approach will be “realistic, optimistic, challenging – a spring board to action.”
Patrick Williams, a senior writer for Public Relations and Marketing, pointed out that students and faculty alike should attend the address.
“They should be interested in the direction, and the vision, and the plans for the future,” he said. “I know the president would like to see them there.”
The president will bring light to budget issues, specifically those related to House Bill 331. He said he thinks people should see the address as an opportunity to learn more about the subject.
“The only way to get out of the woods is a compass,” he said, referring to the address as being such a tool.
Utah’s Board of Regents will be attending the speech. This is something that has never happened before. The president hopes there will be a large audience for them to appreciate, he said.
-amarie@cc.usu.edu