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Utah State University



 
 
Utah State University (USU) is a public
Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private university....
 land-grant university
Land-grant university

Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that have been designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act....
 whose main campus is located in Logan, Utah
Logan, Utah

Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, Utah, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the city population was 42,670, a substantial increase over the 1990 figure of 32,771....
.

It was established in 1888, after Anthon H. Lund
Anthon H. Lund

Anthon Henrik Lund was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a prominent Utah leader....
 introduced a bill for its creation. Originally known as the Agricultural College of Utah, its name was subsequently changed to Utah State Agricultural College, and in 1957 it became Utah State University. USU has 870 faculty, and over 23,000 students that were enrolled in autumn 2006.






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Utah State University (USU) is a public
Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private university....
 land-grant university
Land-grant university

Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that have been designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act....
 whose main campus is located in Logan, Utah
Logan, Utah

Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, Utah, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the city population was 42,670, a substantial increase over the 1990 figure of 32,771....
.

It was established in 1888, after Anthon H. Lund
Anthon H. Lund

Anthon Henrik Lund was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a prominent Utah leader....
 introduced a bill for its creation. Originally known as the Agricultural College of Utah, its name was subsequently changed to Utah State Agricultural College, and in 1957 it became Utah State University. USU has 870 faculty, and over 23,000 students that were enrolled in autumn 2006. USU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and has been ranked as one of the best universities in the American West. USU has longstanding ties with the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
 and NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
, and conducts extensive aerospace
Aerospace

Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding outer space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through Aircraft and Space exploration....
 research. USU sends more experiments into space than any other university in the world, and has launched more student-run space experiments than any other university worldwide. USU is classified institutionally under the 2005 revision of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is a framework for classifying, or grouping, colleges and university in the United States....
 as RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity), awarding at least 50 doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines. It spends approximately $186 million annually for research.

Academics

Old Main Utah St Univ
As Utah's land-grant university
Land-grant university

Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that have been designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act....
, USU conducts world-class research into many agricultural and natural resource
Natural resource

Renewable resources Renewable resources are sometimes living resources,, which can restock themselves if used sustainably and not over- harvested....
 disciplines. USU contains seven academic colleges and 47 individual departments, and offers degrees in more than 200 majors.

Beyond its Logan campus, Utah State's Extension community provides academic resources and support for the state as a whole, including an excellent Continuing Education
Continuing education

Continuing education is an all encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States....
 program. Created in 1907, Extension now includes USU Regional Campuses at Brigham City, Tooele, and the Uintah Basin
Uintah Basin

The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a Physiographic regions of the world of the larger Colorado Plateau province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division....
, as well as USU Centers at Moab
Moab, Utah

Moab is a city in Grand County, Utah, in eastern Utah, in the western United States. It is 233 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah and 354 miles west of Denver, Colorado, about 30 miles South of Interstate 70 at the intersection of U.S....
, Ogden
Ogden, Utah

Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Utah, United States. The population was 81,605 according to 2005 United States Census Bureau estimates....
, Price
Price, Utah

Price is a city in Carbon County, Utah, Utah, United States. The city is home to the College of Eastern Utah, as well as the large CEU Prehistoric Museum affiliated with the college....
, and Salt Lake City. USU also operates Extension locations in each of Utah's 29 counties.

USU is well-known for its Space Dynamics Laboratory
Space Dynamics Laboratory

Space Dynamics Laboratory is a nonprofit research corporation owned by Utah State University. SDL was founded in 1959 and has been responsible for the design, fabrication, and operation of thousands of sensors on over 400 payloads ranging from aircraft and rocket-borne experiments to space shuttle experiments and satellite-based sensor syste...
 (SDL). The SDL is a world-famous research facility focusing on military and science applications. It frequently submits projects to the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
 and NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
. According to the most recent National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering....
 statistics, USU ranked first among all universities in the U.S. in funding for aerospace research. Other USU research centers include the Center for Persons with Disabilities, the USU Ecology Center, the Utah Agriculture Experiment Station, and the Utah Water Research Laboratory. The Intermountain Herbarium, operated by the Department of Biology, contains more than 245,000 specimens of native and introduced flora, fauna, and fungi from Utah and the American West. USU also operates research facilities beyond its main campus in Logan, including the Utah Botanical Center in Kaysville, north of Salt Lake City.

The College of Agriculture was the first college at Utah State University, organized with the university in 1888. The college is well-known for Nutrition and Food Science research, as well as significant breakthroughs and world-wide outreach in plants and soil science, animal science, veterinary science and economics. College researchers were instrumental in the creation of the first cloned equines (horses), in a project collaboration with researchers at the University of Idaho
University of Idaho

The University of Idaho is Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow, Idaho in Latah County, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant university and primary research university....
. The college is also a leader in the international project to classify and research the sheep genome. The departments of the College of Agriculture include the Plants, Soils and Climate Department, the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Science Department, the Nutrition and Food Science Department, the Agricultural Systems & Technology Department, and the Economics Department, jointly managed with the College of Business.

The College of Natural Resources includes the departments of Watershed Sciences, Environment and Society, and Wildland Resources. USU has been nationally prominent for decades in the sciences and management of forests, rangeland, wildlife, and fisheries and watersheds. Many graduates of the College of Natural Resources have gone on to careers in the National Forest Service, National Park Service
National Park Service

The National Park Service is the List of United States federal agencies that manages all List of areas in the United States National Park System, many U.S....
, and the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately 264 million acres or one-eighth of the landmass of the country....
. The College of Natural Resources also operates the Quinney Library, with collections relevant for natural resources education, management, and research.

In the Humanities
Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural science and social sciences....
, USU has longstanding strengths in the study of the American West. The university, through its departments of English and History, is the host institution for the scholarly journals Western American Literature and the Western Historical Quarterly, the official publications of the Western Literature Association and the . The Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, a Humanities outreach center at USU, sponsors public events and research focusing on the cultures and history of the Interior West and larger American West. University Special Collections and Archives, located at the Merrill-Cazier Library
Merrill-Cazier Library

The Merrill-Cazier Library is an academic library serving the students of Utah State University and the community of Logan, Utah....
, has extensive archival holdings documenting the histories of Utah
Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
, the Intermountain West
Intermountain West

The Intermountain West is a region of North America lying between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada to the west....
, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest Religious denomination originating from the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., on April 6, 1830....
, as well as collections pertaining to American folklore and the lives and works of western authors such as Jack London
Jack London

Jack London was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books....
 and poet May Swenson, a Logan native.

USU has undertaken an ambitious plan to expand Arts
ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is most famous for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
 programs and facilities in recent years with the creation of the Caine School of the Arts, a division of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Performance facilities include the Kent Concert Hall and the Manon Caine Russell-Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall, completed in 2006. The 400-seat Performance Hall, designed by the architectural firm Sasaki Associates, has been praised as one of the best acoustic performance spaces in the American West, and received an Honor Award from the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image....
. The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes
Edward Larrabee Barnes

Edward Larrabee Barnes was a prolific American architect.Barnes was a Harvard graduate and over the years taught variously at Harvard, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Virginia....
 and opened in 1982, contains one of the largest art collections in the Intermountain Region. Its holdings include nationally-significant collections of ceramics, Native American art, and especially artworks produced in the American West since 1945. Notable departments within the Caine School of the Arts include Art, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Music, and Theatre Arts.

Rankings


  • Utah State University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and has been consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the west.
  • Utah State University's College of Education and Human Services is ranked among the Top 10 in the U.S.
  • The Business School is one of the oldest in the country, established in 1896.
  • USU was ranked as the 6th Best Value in the nation for public education by Consumer Digest.
  • Utah's Carnegie Teacher of the Year has been awarded to USU faculty six of the last eight years.
  • Black Enterprise's Ranking of the best colleges for African Americans has noted Utah State University as one of the top choices.
  • Since 1987 Utah State University ranks first on a per-capita basis for its work in international development.
  • The U.S. Department of Defense lists USU as 6th largest university contractor; National Science Foundation ranks USU 61st among all universities for grants.
  • Engineering Education journal lists USU as #1 in the nation for research funds generated per faculty member
  • According to the most recent National Science Foundation
    National Science Foundation

    The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering....
     statistics, Utah State University ranked first among all universities in the U.S. in funding for aerospace research.
  • Utah State University's College of Education and Human Services has been ranked 26th nationally by U.S. News and World Report, and ranks 3rd nationally in research funding. The college contains a wide range of disciplines beyond teacher education, including departments in the fields of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Elementary Education, Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Instructional Technology, Psychology, Secondary Education, and Special Education and Rehabilitation.
  • Washington Monthly ranks Utah State University in the top 25 public colleges in the nation and among the top 50 public or private universities in America.
  • In Academic Ranking of World Universities
    Academic Ranking of World Universities

    The Academic Ranking of World Universities is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University?s Institute of Higher Education and includes major institutes of higher education ranked according to a formula that took into account alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals , staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals , ?highly-cited researchers...
     2007 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University
    Shanghai Jiao Tong University

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most influential universities in People's Republic of China. The university is under the jurisdiction of both the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and Shanghai Government....
    ’s Institute of Higher Education, Utah State University is ranked in the top 305-402 in the world, in the top 139-164 in the region, in the top 118-140 in the USA.
  • The Princeton Review
    The Princeton Review

    The Princeton Review is an United States educational preparation company. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college admissions....
     ranked Utah State University as one of colleges of "Best western 120 schools 2009".


Space Research

  • The Floating Potential Measurement Unit, designed and built by Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory, will gauge electrical charges that build up on the outside of the orbiting station. It will also measure the space environment to help scientists better understand how the charges accumulate. The Utah State University-built instrument is going to be installed on the outside of the International Space Station.
  • The Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) program is part of NASA's New Millennium Program, which has its roots in only 6 six universities, one of the first being Utah State University. GIFTS is the first step toward incorporating technological breakthroughs into the next generation of operational weather observing systems. GIFTS will include advanced technologies in imaging spectrometry, active cooling, fast data processing, pointing and control, radiation protection, and lightweight materials. Testing and validation of the technological breakthroughs need to be conducted in space. The space demonstration will use GIFTS' new techniques to gather water vapor, temperature, and cloud data. At the same time, measurements will be taken on the ground and from aircraft (for comparison) to confirm the accuracy of GIFTS measurements.
  • Lada, a "space age pot holder", allows astronauts to create gardens in space giving them food providing much needed nutrition. The chamber waters, measures, and even photographs the plant inside. The technology was developed between 1999 and 2001 at the Space Dynamics Lab (SDL) with Gail Bingham serving as project manager. Utah State's SDL has built four units, one of which is currently aboard the International Space Station
    International Space Station

    The International Space Station is a research facility Assembly of the International Space Station in outer space. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998, and is scheduled to be complete by 2011, with operations continuing until around 2015....
     and was launched in September 2002. Lada can be used as a plant incubator used to transfer plants from the astronaut's habitat into other soils, including those of the environments astronauts will one day visit.


Science Breakthroughs


  • In 2005, a Utah State University researcher discovered inorganic aromaticity, a property in chemistry that was initially thought to occur only in organic material. Researcher Alexander Boldyrev, along with his colleague Lai-Sheng Wang, a professor at Washington State University and a researcher at the Pacific Northwest Lab, made a breakthrough by discovering aromaticity in inorganic material such as metals. Today, Boldyrev and Wang have made another breakthrough and discovered antiaromaticity, a property that makes materials weak. The study, "All-Metal Antiaromatic Molecule," is featured in the April 24 issue of "Science" magazine. Boldyrev's new findings dealing with antiaromaticity will help chemists understand why certain materials are weaker than others and why they are very reactive to foreign substances. The research gives Boldyrev, an associate professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department, a conceptual breakthrough in understanding chemical bonding in metal clusters.


  • Dr. Robert Gillies, faculty member in the aquatic, watershed and earth resources department, and his co-author Nathaniel A. Brunsell are second-place recipients of the 2003 Leica Geosystems Award for Best Scientific Paper in Remote Sensing. Their paper is titled "Incorporating Surface Emissivity into a Thermal Atmospheric Correction." (Published in PE&RS; 68-12 pp.1263-1269)


  • A team of Utah State University researchers and University of Idaho researchers have been the first in the world to successfully clone an equine. The baby mule, Idaho Gem, was born May 4, 2003. It is the first clone of a hybrid animal. A mule results from a cross between a female horse, a mare, and a male donkey, a jack. As hybrids, mules are sterile, except in extremely rare cases. As scientifically and commercially significant as their accomplishment is for the horse industry, the project provides a new animal model, the horse, to advance understanding of human cancer. Woods believes the breakthrough understanding of cellular biology necessary for horse cloning to proceed may offer new insights into cancer development in humans.


  • Research is being done at Utah State University that shows that plants may be performing computations in unison to solve problems with the plant. If successful, this will be the first research done that shows the reality of natural computation in living systems. The biological data collected is being translated to make a mathematical model to mimic the patterns and behavior of the patches on the leaf created by the opening and closing of the stomata. The research could have an impact not just on plants, but in the study of many other biological systems as well. Emergent computation, which is what the plant does when the stomata communicate with each other could be a new way in biology for studying how cells interact with one another in the absence of a neural network.


  • Utah State University professor of chemistry and biochemistry Lance Seefeldt is currently conducting research on algae and plans to produce an algae-biodiesel that is cost-competitive by 2009. Algae, plainly referred to as pond scum, can produce up to 10,000 gallons of oil per acre and can be grown virtually anywhere. Seefeldt, along with several fellow USU professors, formed the Biofuels Program to develop new and emerging technologies that will produce methane, biodiesel, hydrogen and alcohols from renewable, carbon-dioxide-neutral energy sources, such as consumer and agricultural waste and sunlight.


  • Along with Stanford University, Unidad de Suelos y Riegos, and Northwest Watershed Research Center USDA-ARS, Utah State University is studying the application of electromagnetic induction sensors for mapping the subsurface in small watersheds. The development of an integrated approach to characterizing small watersheds is crucial to understanding the complex links and feedback mechanisms within them. High spatial resolution soil texture data is well correlated to soil hydraulic properties. We present preliminary work using electromagnetic induction (EMI) to map subsurface properties in small watersheds. In this work we used both the Geonics EM-38 and the Dualem EMI sensors which were integrated with a GPS receiver and handheld computer to obtain geo-referenced bulk electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements. In the vertical orientation the sensors respond to the ECa of the top meter of soil. The ECa depends on the solution EC, soil water content, clay / rock content and soil depth. Data obtained from EMI in the form of ECa maps, can provide supplementary information for assessing flow pathways and locating monitoring instrumentation without soil-specific calibration. With ECa calibration, soil texture maps can be generated. This work may be more suited to semi-arid climates where seasonal wet and dry periods can be exploited in data analysis. Current work is looking at methods of developing the best survey and calibration methodology to interpret the measured ECa response for hydrological application.


NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race


Utah State University captured victory in the college division of NASA's 12th annual "Great Moonbuggy Race". They created a moonbuggy with a super-light weight aluminum design which granted them victory in only the second year of being in the competition. Utah State topped 28 other college and university teams from 14 states, Germany and Puerto Rico with a winning time of 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Vehicles powered by two-team members -- one male and one female -- raced one at a time over a half-mile obstacle course of simulated moonscape terrain at Huntsville's U.S. Space & Rocket Center. In addition to the first place honor, the Utah State team earned a cash award and a trophy-replica of the original lunar roving vehicle.

Atmospheric LIDAR Observatory


On clear nights one could see a mysterious green beam of light shooting from the Utah State University campus in Logan. The beam is called LIDAR, which stands for "LIght Detection and Ranging". It is like radar except it uses light and it comes from Utah State's own Atmospheric LIDAR Observatory. The observatory, part of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, is in Utah State's Science and Engineering Research building. The LIDAR is also supported by the National Science Foundation. The LIDAR is used in Utah State's study and categorization of atmospheric dynamics. In order to get better data, the observatory is building a bigger telescope. The new lab will be on the third floor of the SER building. When the new system is finished, lenses will be used to send the green beam in other directions besides straight up. The new LIDAR
LIDAR

LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that measures properties of scattered light to find range and/or other information of a distant target....
 system will be able to measure wind and temperature in the mesosphere.

GEGA Program

GEGA
GEGA

GEGA stands for the Gradient Embedded Genetic Algorithm, a program for finding the global minima of clusters. The Author is . GEGA employs geometry-cuts for the Genetic Algorithm procedure, ab initio level of computation for geometry optimization and vibrational frequency analysis , and a specific mutational procedure based on the so c...
 stands for the (ab initio) Gradient Embedded Genetic Algorithm, a program for finding the global minima of clusters. The Author is Anastassia Alexandrova (later moved to Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
). GEGA employs geometry-cuts for the Genetic Algorithm procedure, ab initio level of computation for geometry optimization and vibrational frequency analysis (GEGA works with local minima only), and a specific mutational procedure based on the so called "kick technique".

OpenCourseWare

Utah State University is promoting the OpenCourseWare
OpenCourseWare

OpenCourseWare, or OCW, is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. The OCW movement began at MIT with the launch of MIT OpenCourseWare in October 2002....
 (OCW) Project (open and free university courses). Utah State is also developing an open content management system
Content management system

A content management system is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of Content . CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures....
 for OCW called eduCommons. This open source
Open source

Open source is an approach to design, development, and distribution offering practical accessibility to a product's source . Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical Strategy element of their business operations....
 content management system is one of the important technology projects in the MIT OpenCourseWare Initiative
MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put all of the educational materials from its Post-secondary education- and Quaternary education courses online, Public domain and Open access to anyone, anywhere, by the end of the year 2007....
 . eduCommons aids in the creation of OCW sites and has already been adopted by several universities for this purpose.

Environmentalism at Utah State

As a major university in the American West, Utah State University students and faculty are concerned with the environment both locally and globally. In reaction to massive oil spills by Exxon Valdez
Exxon Valdez

Exxon Valdez was the original name of an Petroleum Tanker owned by the former ExxonMobil Shipping Company, a division of the former Exxon Corporation....
 in particular, and the EPA's creation of the Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure plan (SPCC), USU has created an SPCC with a detailed map of locations, oil types, quantities and containment specifications. They have mapped all possible outfalls from oil storage locations that may impact the waters of the United States. They have developed a plan that utilized engineering controls and emergency spill response to stop all unplanned releases.

Among other things, Utah State University's Environmental Health & Safety Resource Center provides training or resources in dealing with biotoxins such as Anthrax
Anthrax

Anthrax is an Acute disease in humans and animals caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which is highly lethal in some forms. There are effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment....
, extensive battery recycling, hazardous waste, mercury thermometer replacement, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), and much more pertaining to radiation, waste, chemicals, biological, and maintenance.

Humanitarian Efforts


Humanitarian Efforts in Africa


The Pastoral Risk Management Project (PARIMA), led by Utah State University and federally funded since 1997, is a consortium of university collaborators from the United States and Kenya, as well as an extensive network of partnerships with East African public and private entities. Coordinated by Layne Coppock, principal investigator and associate professor in the College of Natural Resources’ Department of Environment and Society, the team’s major focus is helping southern Ethiopia’s poor rural households, most of which depend on herding for sustenance, diversify their livelihoods. In addition, the project seeks to bolster residents’ economic security by linking them with livestock export markets.

PARIMA has developed a successful model to facilitate collective action by 60 women’s groups, which now boast more than 2,000 members in southern Ethiopia. The groups provide peer mentoring, instruction and support in helping members develop income-generating ventures to supplement their families’ traditional earning sources. Through the PARIMA groups, women are pooling resources and learning how to set up their own viable cottage businesses. Women participating in the groups have saved significant amounts of money, greatly improved how their households are run, are sending their sons and daughters to school and are creatively engaged in the marketplace.

PARIMA was recently honored by the Oromia State Government, Ethiopia’s largest regional state, for “providing outstanding service to pastoral people.

Humanitarian Efforts in Thailand

Utah State University has also made a powerful alliance with Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
. Utah State University led the way for reform in the area with consultants led by engineering dean Bruce Bishop and sociologist Yun Kim, whose five-year, $10-million contract was funded in part by a low-interest loan from the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank is a Multilateral development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance....
. Utah State University was seen as a natural choice in part of its historic land-grant mission, but also because of its international stature dating to the early 1950s when the Marshall Plan for war-shocked Europe extended the technological expertise of Utah State University and four other American universities to Latin America and the Middle East. USU's practical experience at home and abroad bolstered the courage of the government agency held accountable, the Department of Skill Development (DSD) in Thailand's Ministry of Labor. Its marching orders were to modernize the country's vocational training and triple the number of students served by the department's regional institutes and provincial centers. Two groups were targeted: minimum wage earners whose opportunities for advancement are limited by their lack of technical training, and disadvantaged rural people such as farmers, women and uneducated youth.

Before tackling these ambitious goals, however, DSD instructors and career counselors had to have their skills updated and their equipment replaced, by no means an inexpensive proposition. Like other countries lining up for the just deserts of the global economy, Thailand didn't have enough resources for the kind of public support system Americans take for granted. The DSD wants to change that. The knowledge of instructors is frozen in the time of their on-the-job training with former employers, and their sincerity cannot compensate for the lack of formal teacher training that Utah State University's College of Education and its peers have provided this country for decades. And equipment for demonstrating the latest welding and auto repair techniques has outlived the availability of replacement parts.

Athletics

USU's sports teams are known as the Aggies. Recently, the men's basketball
Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a basketball through a 10 feet  high hoop under organized rules....
 team, under coach Stew Morrill
Stew Morrill

Stew Morrill is head coach of the Utah State University men's basketball team. He had previously coached at the University of Montana and Colorado State University before being hired by Utah State in 1998....
, has become known as a nationally respected program, with several trips to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a Single-elimination tournament tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams in the United States....
. USU's men's basketball program has been one of the winningest programs in the country since 2000, winning at least 23 games in each season and appearing in the NCAA tournament numerous times. The football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
 program, which has a rich history (Merlin Olsen
Merlin Olsen

Merlin Jay Olsen is a former American football player in the National Football League and an actor. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame....
 an alumnus), has struggled lately, following an ill-fated two-year stint as an independent program and two more years in the geographically distant Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a list of college athletic conferences that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I since 1976 in sports....
. Following the decision of the Big West Conference
Big West Conference

The Big West Conference is an National Collegiate Athletic Association-affiliated Division I major college athletic conference that formerly sponsored Division I-A college football, through the 2000 season....
 to stop sponsoring football in 2001, USU's other teams remained in that conference until the school was finally invited to join the Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference

The Western Athletic Conference was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ....
 (WAC) in 2005. USU had hoped to gain entrance into the WAC for decades prior to 2005.

Before the beginning of its decline in 1998, the football program had experienced some successes, including Big West Conference
Big West Conference

The Big West Conference is an National Collegiate Athletic Association-affiliated Division I major college athletic conference that formerly sponsored Division I-A college football, through the 2000 season....
 championships in 1993 and 1997. In 1993, the team earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl
Las Vegas Bowl

The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1992....
, where they defeated Ball State University
Ball State University

Ball State University is a state university research university located in Muncie, Indiana, Indiana, United States Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans more than 1,000 acres ....
. In 1997, the team lost to the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati is a coeducational public university research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio, part of the University System of Ohio....
 in the Humanitarian Bowl.

In recent times, the men's basketball team has won invitations to the NCAA tournament in 1998 (under coach Larry Eustachy
Larry Eustachy

Larry Eustachy is the current head coach of The University of Southern Mississippi's men's basketball team. He was hired as head coach on March 25, 2004....
), 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006 (all under Morrill). Prior to 2006, all of these invitations were a result of winning the Big West Conference tournament. In 2006, the Aggies received an at-large bid to the tournament, after finishing second place in their first season in the Western Athletic Conference and losing in overtime of the WAC tournament championship game to Nevada-Reno. Despite a stellar season in 2003–2004 and a national top-25 ranking toward the end of the season, the Aggies did not receive an at-large tournament bid after being upset in the conference tournament. This decision earned the derision of head coach Morrill, as the Aggies held a 25-3 record and were nationally ranked in the top-25. The most recent NCAA Tournament success was a first-round upset over fifth-seeded Ohio State University
Ohio State University

The Ohio State University is a public university research university in the state of Ohio. It was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the List of largest United States universities by enrollment in the United States....
 in the 2001 NCAA Basketball Tournament
2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in Single-elimination tournament play to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball....
. Other men's sports the Aggies compete in include Track and Field, Golf, Tennis, and Cross Country.

Of women's sports at USU, gymnastics
Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility and coordination. Artistic Gymnastics is the best known and most popular of the gymnastics sports governed by the F?d?ration Internationale de Gymnastique ....
 has probably been most successful, heading to the post season 26 times including five trips to the national championships. The school also sponsors women's softball
Softball

Softball is a Team sport sport popular especially in the United States. It is a direct descendant of baseball and the rules of both sports are substantially similar....
, volleyball
Volleyball

Volleyball is an Olympic Games team sport in which two teams of 6 active players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules....
, track and field, soccer, tennis
Tennis

Tennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber Tennis ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's tennis court....
, and basketball
Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a basketball through a 10 feet  high hoop under organized rules....
. Women's basketball returned in 2003 after a fifteen-year absence. At the time, USU was the only Division I program that did not have a women's basketball program besides the mostly male Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute

The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest State university system military academy and one of six Senior Military College in the United States....
 and The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)

|}The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, is a State university, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA....
. The women's team has not yet produced a winning season. In 1978 the women's volleyball team won the AIAW national championship, defeating UCLA in the final match. In 1980 and 1981, the women's softball team won the Division I AIAW national championships.

The most used sports venue is the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics events are held. TV and radio announcers visiting the Spectrum for the first time commonly state that the spectrum is one of the loudest basketball venues in the country with one of the most enthuastic crowds in the country, rivaling Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University. It is a tradition that near the beginning of games the crowd chooses one player from the other team who commits a blatant fowl, taunts the crowd, etc and every time that player touches the ball the entire crowd boos loudly until he passes the ball. This pressure on opposing players created by this tradition has cut many outstanding players down to below average players while at the Spectrum.

The football team plays in Romney Stadium
Romney Stadium

Romney Stadium is an outdoor American football stadium on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. It is the home field of the Utah State Aggies of the Western Athletic Conference....
, slightly north and west of the main campus. The stadium had natural grass until 2004, when artificial turf was installed. After multiple losing seasons, head coach Brent Guy was terminated and replaced with Gary Anderson. Gary was most recently the defensive coordinator at the University of Utah.

As of the 2007-2008 season, the Aggies compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

On February 4, 2008 Utah State University Athletic Director Randy Spetman was named the new AD for Florida State University. He had been serving as Athletics Director at Utah State since 2004.

Notable Former Athletes


Basketball
F — Wayne Estes
Wayne Estes

Wayne Vernon Estes , nicknamed "Baby Huey", was a 6'6" forward All-American basketball player for Utah State University from 1963-1965. Wayne is the third-leading scorer in Utah State history with 2,001 points and the fourth-leading rebounder ....
 (1963-65) 1st Team AP All American (1965).
G - Jaycee Carroll
Jaycee Carroll

Jaycee Don Carroll, better known as Jaycee Carroll , is an All-American basketball player. While playing for the Utah State Aggies#Athletics, he was best known for his scoring prowess, shooting ability, range, and endurance....
(2004-08) All-Time Leading Scorer.

Football
OG — Jim Hough
Jim Hough (football player)

James Hough is a former professional American football player. Hough, an offensive lineman, played nine seasons in the National Football League for the Minnesota Vikings....
 (1974-77)... 2nd team AP All-America (1977)/9 years in NFL.
OT — Len Rohde
Len Rohde

Leonard Emil Rohde was an American football player.He helped the San Francisco 49ers win the NFC West Division from 1970-72.The 49ers offense he played with led the NFL in points scored in 1965 and 1970 and the NFC in 1972....
 (1957-59)... Two-time all-Skyline Eight/15-year NFL career.
WR — Tom Forzani
Tom Forzani

Tom Forzani is a former Canadian football wide receiver for the Calgary Stampeders. He played from 1973 to 1983. He played college football at Utah State University....
 (1970-72)... Was USU receiving leader at end of his career.
WR — Kevin Curtis
Kevin Curtis

Kevin Deevon Curtis is an American football wide receiver in the National Football League who is also known by the nickname "White Lightning". He played for the St....
 (2001-02)... All-American 3rd Team (2001)/USU receptions leader at end of his career.
TE — Chris Cooley
Chris Cooley

Chris Cooley is an American football tight end for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. He was NFL Draft by the Redskins in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft....
 (2000-03)... Led NCAA in TE receptions as a senior / NFL Pro Bowl (2007).
QB — Eric Hipple
Eric Hipple

Eric Ellsworth Hipple is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round of the 1980 NFL Draft....
 (1976-79)... All-Pacific Coast/10-year NFL career.
QB — Anthony Calvillo
Anthony Calvillo

Anthony Calvillo is a Canadian Football League quarterback, currently playing for the Montreal Alouettes. He is currently 5th in all time Professional football passing yards....
 (1992-93)... Team record 5 TD passes in one game/15-year CFL career.
DL — Merlin Olsen
Merlin Olsen

Merlin Jay Olsen is a former American football player in the National Football League and an actor. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame....
 (1959-61)... Two-time All-American/Outland Trophy(1961)/15-time NFL All-Pro.
DL — Rulon Jones
Rulon Jones

Rulon Jones is a retired American football defensive lineman.Jones was drafted out of the Utah State University in the 1980 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos....
 (1976-79)... First-team All-American (1979), 1986 AFC Defensive Player of the Year.
DL — Lionel Aldridge
Lionel Aldridge

Lionel Aldridge played American football professionally as a defensive end on the historic Green Bay Packers teams of the sixties.He was drafted in 1963 NFL Draft by the New York Giants after a standout college career at Utah State....
 (1960-62)... Hon. Men. All-American (1962)/NFL 11 years with two Super Bowls.
DL — Greg Kragen
Greg Kragen

Gregory John Kragen was an American football defensive lineman in the National Football League including three Super Bowl and five championship games....
 (1980-83)... One Pro Bowl, three Super Bowls in NFL
DL — Phil Olsen
Phil Olsen

Phillip Vernor Olsen is a former Center and defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos and the son of Lynn Jay and Merle Olsen....
 (1967-69)... Consensus All-American (1969), HM All-America (1968)/first round draft pick/ 9 NFL seasons
LB — Al Smith
Al Smith

Alfred Emanuel Smith, Jr. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American politician who was elected List of Governors of New York four times, and was the History of the United States Democratic Party United States presidential election, 1928....
 (1984-86)... BWC Defensive Player of the Year (1986)/Two-time honorable mention All-America
LB — LaVell Edwards
LaVell Edwards

LaVell Edwards is a former American football coach of Brigham Young University . In 1984, Edwards' BYU Cougars went 13–0 and won the NCAA Division I-A national football championship....
 (1949-51)... All-Mountain States (1950), College Hall of Fame football coach with BYU.
DB — Donnie Henderson
Donnie Henderson

Donnie Henderson is a former defensive coordinator for the NFL New York Jets and Detroit Lions. He is the current Secondary Coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars....
 (1978-79)... All-Big West/NFL assistant coach.

Trivia

  • After World War I
    World War I

    World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
    , Utah State's ROTC program became involved in training pilots for the military. An airstrip was constructed on the bench near campus to simulate landing on a carrier during World War II
    World War II

    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
    .
  • Utah State manufactures a college ice cream known as Aggie Ice Cream, which is sold in 26 flavors. Also, the ice cream is sold internationally and was the first ice cream to be flown on a shuttle mission to space.


Media

Two primary print outlets serve the USU student body: (1) The Utah Statesman is sponsored by the university and is published three times per week. The Statesman won best non-daily student paper for region nine in the SPJ awards last year. (2) The Hard News Cafe news website is operated by USU's Department of Journalism and Communications and has won numerous awards for its student reporting, partially because it is often the only entrant in the categories in which it wins.

Utah Public Radio is heard on KUSU (91.5 FM) and KUSR (89.5 FM) in Logan, and throughout Utah on a system of 26 translators. UPR "broadcasts a mix of information, public affairs, and fine arts programming." KUSU is a National Public Radio
National Public Radio

National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national Radio syndication to 797 public radio List of NPR stations in the United States....
 member station, and an affiliate of Public Radio International
Public Radio International

Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based United States public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing....
.

Aggie Television (ATV) is a cable service lineup of approximately 110 channels offered free of charge to all on-campus residents. ATV produces Crossroads, a bulletin/announcement channel; and Aggie Advantage, providing local and student video programming.

The Utah State University Press also services the USU student body.

Speech and debate

Due to budget constraints, Utah State hasn't had a funded debate team since the late 80's. Utah State University participated in the final conference tournament held at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., the team debated against 25 other universities. The team won 38 trophies and Northwest Forensic Conference Championship. In debate, the team took first, second, third and fourth place. In informative speaking they scored first, second, third, fourth and fifth. In persuasive speaking, first, second, third, and sixth place were won. And in impromptu speaking and after dinner they scored first and second place in both events. Along with those awards they also received the Quality Team Award, presented to the team with the highest number of points per student entry.

Notable alumni


See Also

  • List of forestry universities and colleges
    List of forestry universities and colleges

    This is a list of colleges and universities worldwide that offer either a Bachelor's degree or Master's degree in the profession field of forestry. Where noted, the country's Educational accreditation standard has been used and cited....


External links

  • - official university site
  • - official athletics site
  • - the prize is awarded annually by USU: Shingo Prize.