USU Eastern students reflect on changes since merger
For many students at USU Eastern, having a new name doesn’t change attitudes about the school. However, the recent merger is bringing opportunities it never had before as a two-year community college in Price, Utah, said USU Eastern’s student body president Thomas Garvin.
Garvin said the change has been hard for students and community members who attended the school before it merged with USU in 2010. The change added eight more syllables to the school’s name, but for the most part the transition has been smooth.
“I’ve seen both sides of it,” Garvin said. “Some people are really excited about it, or they hate it. It’s not so much that they hate USU — it’s that the change is hard. For the last however many years since the school started, we’ve had that local community college feel and the community has held on tight to that.”
Certain community members are worried the school will lose its community college feel because of the affiliation with USU, Garvin said. Others are more optimistic and believe having the wider-known USU brand in its name enhances the college’s resources, he said.
Stacey Sartori, a freshmen majoring in nursing, said, “I thought it would be good because since the two schools are together, we’ll get more students from up north to come down here.”
The merger and subsequent name change gave USU Eastern a chance to gain more recognition, said Brad King, vice chancellor for administration and advancement. He said visibility and lack of reputation is something the school has always struggled with.
“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” King said. “So we don’t want to make any large mistakes as we’re feeling our way through this.”
King is working with USU’s John DeVilbiss to create a marketing plan that will brand USU Eastern as a “comprehensive regional college.” It’s a package he said is still in the process of being defined as they try to sell it to prospective students.
King said, “It really is — John DeVilbiss put it I think — ‘The heart of a community college and the soul of a research university.’ What could be better than that package?”
Garvin said the college will continue to offer its traditional small class sizes and compete to have the lowest tuition in the state. The college now has the added access to resources like the Merrill-Cazier Library at USU’s Logan campus.
“What I would like to see is 10 years from now all the other schools say, ‘That’s what we want to be,'” King said. “Because it really is a unique structure and a unique mission.”
The change is in more than just resources, though.
“It is a great difference,” cosmetology freshman Elise Debry said. “I think it’s a good thing. It’s just taking awhile for us to transform — get used to it — because everybody here still calls it CEU.”
Krista Gibbs, a sophomore majoring in nursing who works as a resident assistant on campus, said the hardest change was not calling it CEU anymore.
Garvin said he tries to correct people when they call it CEU, even in the community.
“We’re throwing the logo up on anything we can, just because if the community is involved, it will make that much of a difference,” Garvin said. “That’s why Logan does so well. It’s not because they’re doing anything special, it’s that the community supports the institution. And that’s how we stay alive as a college. We support the community, the community supports us.”
People still hang on to the old logo, but at the same time they embrace the new one, said Jessica Prettyman, a sales associate at USU Eastern’s bookstore.
Everything with the CEU logo is on the sale rack, replaced by sweatpants, water bottles, T-shirts, key chains, blankets, backpacks and mugs sporting the new USU Eastern logo.
“Most of it’s been really positive,” Prettyman said. “Most of it’s been ‘I can’t believe we’re getting rid of CEU stuff, I’ve got to get it before it’s out.’ People who have been here forever are trying to get all they can.”
At the same time, new gear is flying off the shelves, Prettyman said, adding that the new sweatpants are especially popular.
“People have been crazy about the new stuff,” she said.
Neveij Walters, a power forward on USU Eastern’s men’s basketball team, said the name change does not matter to him.
“I don’t mind. It’s just a name, you know? The fact that I’m here playing basketball is a privilege every day,” he said. “As long as I play basketball I do not mind. They can change it to whatever they want to.”
King said, “We are what we are, we are what we have been, but we’re more than that now.”
The merger with USU is now more visible around campus, but is a slow process, he said. USU Eastern is financing the brand change on its own, which is an expensive process. USU is helping with personnel and production to design brochures and billboards.
At the start of the year King said banners were put up all over campus that have the college’s new name and say “Experience the Difference” on them.
Those who have visited USU’s other campuses should recognize the dark blue metal signs outside of the campus buildings in Price. They look exactly the same except they state “Utah State University – College of Eastern Utah” in the corner, King said.
Visible changes will continue around campus, he said.
“Chancellor Peterson always likes to say, ‘It’s like building the jet while you’re in the air,'” King said. “Things are solidifying even as we’re doing some things. We hope that we have the landing gear finished when it’s time to land. It’s the only caution there.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time the college has changed its name, King said.
“There are some alumni that are still lamenting the fact that we have a name change and all of that good stuff, but we’ve done this before,” King said. “We went from Carbon College to College of Eastern Utah, and there are still some alumni that are mad at us for making that change 50 years ago.”
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu