COLUMN: First senator reflects on college’s first year
Nine months ago I participated in a fist bump with Craig Jessop, the first Dean of the Caine College of the Arts, and I the first senator of the college. The upcoming school year was full of uncertainties then. We wondered what lay ahead for us and what difficulties we had in store for the college. As I reflect back on this year I believe the college surpassed the expectations of our faculty and students.
Starting out was difficult. I was asked to do what every other senator had been working on since their election the year past, and to make matters worse I was the first so I didn’t have past Art Senators to help me out, but with the mentorship of Dr. Jessop, Linda Zimmerman, Robert Schmidt and Chris Terry I was able to get my affairs in order and get working on Art Week and working with Caine College marketing staff to help students become more aware of activities going on within the college.
I was spoiled to be able to work along side Dr. Jessop and some of the most talented students within the CCA. Together we were able to assemble the first Arts Week. It was awesome to watch students and faculty working together to create a week that showcased the college and showed off the talents of the students and faculty. It was able to brand the CCA as one of the elite colleges at Utah State and with the direction of Dr. Jessop the college looks to keep amazing the students of USU.
My time is coming to an end, but I still have a couple more things to put into place before my time is up. With the help of students I will help put together a time for students of every department to get together, eat some food and get to know each other and the first elected Arts Senator, Mary Jacobson.
Simply put, Mary Jacobson is amazing. She is very prepared and excited to put together a new Dean’s Counsel to help in the planning of future events and helping resolve the student issues of the future. She has definitely done her homework and knows what is best for not only her department – music – but every department within the college. This past year my main objective was to help students get involved, be more unified and making sure the students of the CCA were represented correctly. I wasn’t fully able to accomplish all of my goals, but the future looks bright for the Caine College of the Arts.
Alan Dangerfield is the ASUSU arts senator.