UTAH STATE VP RETURNING TO HER ALMA MATER; NEW VP NAMED

Patricia S. Terrell, vice president for Student Service at Utah State University, accepted an offer this week to become vice president and associate provost for Student Affairs at the University of Kentucky in her native state.

A new vice president for Student Services, H. Craig Petersen, chief of staff and special assistant to the president for planning and community relations at Utah State, has accepted the offer to serve a one-year fixed term, announced Utah State University President Kermit L. Hall.

For Terrell only the call of home and family could pry her away, she said.

?I?m going home to work at my alma mater and to be with my family,? she said. ?It?s the hardest decision I?ve ever had to make.?

Terrell, 49, who has been at Utah State for five years, said her decision to leave has been agonizing due to the close relationships she has established with students and university colleagues.

?I am leaving outstanding students,? she said. ?They are the finest I?ve ever worked with in my entire career. I won?t be able to duplicate these students anywhere.?

She said she also struggled with her decision to step down because of her personal and professional relationship with Hall.

?He has been wonderful to me and a great support,? she said. ?I admire his commitment to transparency ? his ability to openly share information and enfranchise everyone so they feel connected to and part of the university.?

Early bonds and connections to her alma mater, where she earned her doctorate in higher education administration in 1988, are what ultimately swayed her to accept the job at the University of Kentucky. By returning to her native Kentucky she and her husband, Steve, are returning full circle, she said. It is where they were raised, and it is where most of their family members still reside.

?We are sorry to see Pat leave,? Hall said. ?She has contributed in a host of ways to enhancing the lives of every student at Utah State University and has been a valued member of the administrative leadership team. We were able to convince Pat not to go to Ohio State last year, but in the end, the chance to return to the blue grass of Kentucky was overwhelming. I offer her my congratulations.?

Terrell said she has witnessed much progress and change at Utah State and credits students, faculty, staff and administrators.

?What I have really enjoyed the most is the partnership that exists between students and administration,? she said. ?Our students have demonstrated the ability to look beyond their own needs to what?s best for the university. I have also admired the understanding and encouragement by our administration of student participation in the governance of the institution.?

Students view Terrell as their advocate who made a point to always consult with them before decisions were made.

?She is so great to work with,? said Celestial Bybee, ASUSU student body president. ?We will miss her. She had a good way of involving students and letting their voices be heard.?

Students also spoke highly of the way she devoted herself to helping them positively experience all aspects of student life.

?She works hard to help students maintain a balance between academic life and social life at Utah State,? said Mauri Larsen, senior in elementary education and a member of the A Team, a student group that helps orient incoming freshmen.

Petersen, 57, was Utah State student body executive vice president from 1967-68. He was named Utah State Professor of the Year in 1989.

He returned to Utah State because of his love for students, he said. ?That?s why I went into higher education in the first place.?

He said he is looking forward to working again with the students and putting his experience to work in their behalf.

?I?m excited for this opportunity and greatly appreciate the confidence that President Hall has shown me,? he said.

Hall said he hates to lose Petersen?s service as chief of staff ?but given his previous experience as a leader of the student government and his outstanding reputation as a teacher, I feel confident that he will bring the academic and leadership values critical to the student services area.?

Bybee echoed those words and expressed her support of Petersen.

?I?m very excited,? she said. ?I have had numerous opportunities to work with him already. The knowledge he has of the university and where it needs to go is a great asset.?

Under Terrell?s leadership, more than 6,000 off-campus Utah State students were given a voice and representation as a result of a statewide tour of all the university?s branch campuses. Soon after, the Associated Students of Utah State University changed their constitution to enable off-campus students to vote and elect their own student senator.

Expanded multi-cultural student services, a revised student code of conduct and the creation of a campus civility code all occurred under her administration.

?It?s a we? it?s not me,? she said of these accomplishments. ?I haven?t done anything. But all of us working together, I thnk, have done some good things.?

Petersen, who served as interim provost in 2000, received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1973 and began teaching at Utah State the same year. He was also named College of Business Professor of the Year in 1977 and 1989. He has authored four books, 11 editions each, and has published numerous journal articles.

He and his wife, Maradee, are the parents of four daughters.