USU graduate Craig Jessop speaks at new HASS program
The decision to attend Utah State was a wise one because its excellent faculty and its diversity prepare students to succeed in life, said Craig Jessop, a USU alumnus and director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Jessop was the first speaker in the newly-created “Dinner With the Distinguished” program, put on by the college of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. He addressed about 45 students after a catered dinner in the David B. Haight Alumni Building Wednesday evening
“I’m very proud of my USU degree, and of course this is the only school my wife and I would consider sending our kids to,” Jessop said.
Jessop spoke about the connections he formed with Utah State professors when he was working on his bachelor’s degree in music during the late 60s and early 70s. When he was 14 years old, he was singing at the Utah State Fair, where he met William Ramsey, a USU music professor who offered to give him voice lessons in exchange for Jessop mowing his lawn, Jessop said. In the years that followed, Ramsey became a close friend and mentor to Jessop, and the two remain in contact today, he said. Jessop said Ramsey and other USU professors he knew such as Leonard Arrington, who later became official historian for the LDS church, were representatives of the high quality of faculty that USU had, and still has.
In addition to quality faculty, Utah State has diversity, which is crucial for helping students learn to function and succeed in the world, Jessop said.
“The secret of survival on the planet is that we learn to tolerate and respect one another,” Jessop said. “At Utah State, you can be who and what you really are. USU provides a much more realistic view of what the world is really like than some other universities in the state a bit farther down the road.”
After graduating from Utah State in music, Jessop got a master’s degree from BYU, and then a doctorate from Stanford. He conducted several other military choirs and orchestras and he said he had been prepared for his time with the military by the time he spent in the Utah State ROTC. In 1999, Jessop became conductor of the 360-member Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Jessop said many of his opportunities came because he studied with the people who were at the top of his field, and he told students they should do the same.
“Study with the best, whatever your field of study is. Seek opportunities; apply for that scholarship or that grant. Someone’s got to get those awards, so why not you?” Jessop said. “Don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who are better than you.”
The “Dinner With the Distinguished” program is put on by the college of HASS, in order to raise awareness of the college and acquaint students with USU alumni who have had success with a HASS degree. Most of those in attendance were students in the USU arts department who had been invited by arts faculty.
“We want to give students the chance to see the success a HASS degree can give,” said Gary Kiger, dean of the college of HASS. “It’s been our experience that at career fairs, employers don’t want to talk to the business students, they want to talk to the humanities students, because they are students who can think critically, and communicate effectively, and they will be life-long learners.”
Wednesday’s event was organized by members of an upper-level Public Relations class. They plan to hold two more similar events, one highlighting an alumnus of the humanities program, and one from the social sciences program, said Chris Manning, a senior majoring in public relations, who was one of the students who helped organize the event.
“He made me think about my future in an optimistic light,” said Matt Westerberg, and undeclared freshman who was in attendance.
“The humanities is what makes us human,” Jessop said. “In an age of technology, if we lose touch with our humanity, then why work hard, if not to lift everyone up, to make everyone’s quality of life better?”
-dfelix@cc.usu.edu