Benchmark Summit offers new discussion
Utah State University and Cache Valley members will meet Friday to discuss issues regarding means of protecting and improving the quality of life in Cache Valley.
On the heels of the 15th annual National Bioneers Conference, USU in cooperation with the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce, will host the first Benchmark Summit, John DeVilbiss, director of public relations and marketing, said.
The summit will focus discussion on economic growth, environmental sustainability and demographic changes, he said.
“It is an event that brings together, for the first time in this manner, our faculty and students who have a particular interest and expertise [in these issues],” DeVilbiss said.
The summit will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Innovation Campus, Whitney Wilkinson, public relations specialist, said. The conference will include Cache Valley residents who share similar interests and knowledge about the areas of concerns, DeVilbiss said.
President Kermit L. Hall is leading the summit, DeVilbiss said. Hall recognizes the importance of the university working in conjunction with the community on issues that effect the entire valley, he said.
“We don’t want our institution to be separate from the community,” DeVilbiss said, “we all live together.”
DeVilbiss said Hall hopes the community responds by combining forces with the university on these issues.
“The university offers extraordinary expertise in each of the three areas of the Benchmark Summit’s focus,” Hall said in a press release. “Our goal is to make Cache Valley better and even a more rewarding place to live, work and study. This summit is one of several steps we need to take to realize these goals.”
More than 100 students, faculty and community members are expected to attend the day-long conference, DeVilbiss said. The structure of the conference will begin with a theater-in-the-round discussion headed by Hall, he said. Participants will seat alongside of Hall and discuss hypothetical situations and solutions to serious issues, he said.
“[Hall] loves to engage people in discussions,” DeVilbiss said. “He’s good at that.”
Students may have concerns about the time of the summit is held, Wilkinson said, but they are encouraged to come when they can. The meeting was scheduled on a Friday because that was the most convenient day for community members to attend, DeVilbiss said.
“The incentive [of the summit] is not to get as many people as possible to attend,” he said, “but rather the right people.”
Students, faculty members and residents who are interested in the discussion are encouraged to attend, DeVilbiss said.
The summit falls on the conclusion of the Bioneers Conference, DeVilbiss said, which was intentional. The summit wanted to incorporate ideas and serious issues that were fresh on people’s minds, he said, and the Bioneers Conference has helped increase the awareness throughout Cache Valley.
Hall has recognized serious problems occurring and potentially occurring in Cache Valley, he said, and felt it was a necessity to maintain the quality of life in the valley to address such concerns.
The valley is growing rapidly, DeVilbiss said, which is beneficial to the community, but also has the potential for creating more problems.
According to a press release, Hall said he envisions the summit of this nature will be held at least every three years to continue the cooperation of the university and community on issues relating to progress in terms of sustainability, economics and diversity.
“Utah State possesses a gold mine of faculty expertise that needs to be discovered and exploited,” Hall said in a press release. “I hope that colleagues, in the spirit of our land-grant traditions as a university, appreciate the contribution they can make to the well being of the community in which they are such an integral part.”
According to the press release, “respected community member”Paul Norton will be the afternoon facilitator, helping lead the group in re-capping the discussion, outlining lessons learned and charting a course for the future.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu