USU president’s assistant discusses the presidents from then to now
For the past 20 years, Rose Ernstrom has been the assistant to the president at Utah State University.
She said she believes it was luck that got her the job, but she has since been a major part of the backbone of three administrations.
“The three presidents were very different men,but with the same goal of providing quality education for the students of USU,” Ernstrom said. “Each of the presidents has been very diligent in promoting Utah State University. Each one has played a crucial role; they all have different styles, but basically that is what their jobs have been, and I have been able to help them with it – which has really been a very enlightening and great experience.”
Ernstrom started in 1980, when Stanford Cazier was the president.
She worked with him until June 1992. In July of 1992 George H. Emert became president, and she worked with him until he was replaced by Kermit L. Hall last month.
“The major part of my job is calendaring the president’s schedule. It’s been so funny that George Emert’s wife called me and said that he is so lost because for eight-and-a-half years, I’ve told him where to go. She said that in withdrawal because there is no one telling him where to go,” Ernstrom said.
She said she has considered the past three presidents to be like sons.
“Stan called me last night to have help with his computer,” Ernstrom said. “You know, they are like my children. Even after all of these years they still call me to get advice or to help them with something.”
Ernstrom and her husband, Brian Ernstrom, have set up two scholarships. The first is in the name of her parents. Together Ernstrom’s parents made sure that every one of their 12 children had a formal education, but Ernstrom’s father never had a formal education, and her mother was “either six days in the eighth grade or eight days in the sixth grade,” but that was the extent of her education.
“They realized the importance of and need in today’s world to get an education,” Ernstrom said. “The scholarship that we’re establishing in the Women’s re-entry Program through the Women’s Center will be in the name of Fausto and Trinidad Acinosa. We are also establishing a scholarship in the Business Education department in the name of Acinosa-Ernstrom scholars.”
Ernstrom is of Filipino, Spanish and Chinese decent. She was born and raised in Hawaii.
“It’s a fun place to grow up, but now it’s so expensive to live there. That is why I live in Utah,” Ernstrom said.
Ernstrom attended the University of Hawaii for two years and then transferred to Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. where she attended for six months. In Detroit, Ernstrom met a girl from Utah who was attending the Merrill Palmer Institute. They became good friends, and when the girl returned to Utah she invited Ernstrom to go with her. Ernstrom agreed and has never regretted the move. She loved the smaller class sizes and her grade point average went up.
In the past 20 years, enrollment growth has increased and the population is more diverse, she said.
“That’s what makes it fun, is when you have a lot of diversity,” Ernstrom said. “That is why I am here in the president’s office. I’m as diverse as they come.”
Painting the university in the best possible light to the public is Ernstrom’s favorite part about the job.
“I have so many favorites,” Ernstrom said. “I think mainly it’s just the kinds of people I get to work with. I deal with students, administrators, various parts of the state and national people, too. So I have a wide spectrum of people that I work with, so that’s the fun part.”
Ernstrom said he can speak firsthand about the university, as a USU graduate.
She said she feels she can relate to kids because she knows exactly how it feels to not always succeed.
“I can say to kids, ‘Hey look, I have an F on my report card, I still do,'” Ernstrom said. “I guess I am glad that it’s there, because I can say to kids, ‘It’s OK you’re struggling; it’s not where you’ve been but where you are going. Without that education it is a lot tougher to have a good life. It won’t always be like this, the struggling part, the cramming for exams – been there, done that, and life goes on.'”
Each president has been very supportive to Ernstrom in her job.
“It is wonderful,” Ernstrom said. “Then you know that at least you are trying to do what is right, because if you don’t have their support, that is what really makes it hard. And I think the way we can work together is to make sure that I tell them everything.”
Ernstrom said she believes is the most important part of her job is knowing what is already on the calendar when people call in to schedule an appointment.
“One of the main things I have to do is to make sure everything is kept confidential that needs to be kept confidential,” Ernstrom said. “Sometimes that is really a hard thing to do because sometimes you have good news and you want to share it, and sometimes you have bad things and you want to share it. A lot of times people don’t think I know all that much because when they start talking I just say, ‘Ah, really?’ It’s amazing how much more you can learn when you act stupid.”