October 2022
Institutional Update
President McIff
We’re happy to announce some organizational changes that will help us serve students effectively, provide support for employees, and create some synergy. The updated organizational charts outline the changes. Not every position at the college is included on the charts. Shifts will be made at the Cabinet level and the levels that report directly to a Cabinet member. Thanks for your support of these organizational changes as we respond to student, employee, and institutional needs.
Here are some highlights.
- We will transition resources from the AVP of Online position to a VP for Student Affairs. This position will be posted next week with a goal for the new VP to begin in January. You’ll see that offices like advising and student life report to this position.
- The Special Assistant to the President/Athletic/Auxiliaries position will become the VP of External Affairs. The advancement, alumni, and grant writing functions will now report to this VP, as well as auxiliaries and athletics.
- Two Associate Provosts will assist the Provost’s office in carrying out academic tasks and initiatives. We received funding for one position in July, and the position will be posted immediately. The other position will begin in July 2023.
- Marketing functions will be recategorized as external and internal. External marketing will be contracted out, and the VP of External Affairs will be the liaison. Internal marketing will be supervised and led by the Chief of Staff position.
These changes will require minimal funds and will remove AVP titles from the structures.
Thanks for your support of these organizational changes as we respond to student, employee, and institutional needs. Have questions? Talk with your Cabinet representative. Thank you! Go Badgers!
Technical Education and Industry Connections
To initiate this monthly Snow College News on Technical Education and Industry Connections I want to first, highlight the work of the technical education faculty and second, the work of the college’s economic development team.
Beginning last spring the TE faculty have been actively collaborating with their technical college peers to align each program. The alignment discussions have been challenging as some programs had to reduce, replace or add courses in their programs to align with peers from eight other technical colleges. Each TE faculty deserves a pat on the back for persevering through the process to make sure the learning experience for students meets industry needs and remains high quality. Once the last 10% of the alignment is complete then the work of updating courses for Curriculum Committee approval and reworking R401’s to update each program with their new aligned name and courses will begin. Our goal is to implement these changes for fall 2023.
Industry connections continue to intensify as the Economic Development Committee, Derrin Owens director, Kenley Steck Continuing Education and micro-credential coordinator, Hailey Rippistien apprenticeship coordinator and Snow College CTE Director Becky Callister have visited almost all of the manufacturing businesses in central Utah. These visits have identified training needs for their current employees, skills that new employees need, and an understanding of the number of employees needed in their businesses. This specific information is targeting and guiding our Tech Ed program to meet our central Utah industry needs in unprecedented actionable ways.
Finance and Administrative Services
Human Resources is working on staff performance evaluations. This is an important effort to provide meaningful feedback to employees on areas of strength and areas for improvement. Evaluations should benefit everyone involved. We are looking at ways to balance the time commitment to conduct evaluations and the value these evaluations produce.
We are continuing to look for ways to provide facilities that will benefit both employees and our students. The Rural Studies building did not get prioritized first by the Board of Higher Education. Last year, there was a lot of one-time money allocated during the legislative session. We anticipate that there will be a lot of one-time money this year as well. We are working with our legislators in an effort to secure the funding for this critical building.
We are also trying to secure Richfield student housing. We have gone through numerous plans with partners in attempts to build this facility. We are currently exploring fundraising efforts to finally provide the housing that will enable the Richfield campus to really grow.
The Finance and Administrative Services team is undergoing efforts to streamline processes. During our most recent team meeting, a quote was shared - “The more you focus on the results, the slower the process. The more you focus on the process, the faster the results.” We are focused on improving processes, or improving how we play our positions, to drive results. If you have suggestions on improving a process, please let us know.
Academic Affairs
Software EngineeringThe Software Engineering Program applied for ABET accreditation (Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission) and recently underwent a comprehensive site visit. After this visit, the program will be given recommendations for improvement, opportunity to make adjustments, and then receive a final decision summer 2023. Congratulations to the team for their vision and determination in working to receive this prestigious recognition.
Student SuccessTo increase student success, the student support team (representatives from advising, academic coaching, CGE, inclusion center, faculty, CARE team, ADA, student support, athletics, student conduct, wellness) is collaborating to provide students more points of contact and more targeted interventions. Student success is our #1 goal!
OnlineBecause quality online education is a priority of the Strategic Plan, an essential obligation for accreditation, and an emphasis for adjusting to changes in student learning needs, Snow College online faculty members have put together and worked on an online quality assurance initiative. Here are several exciting highlights to share:
- All of our fall online courses have been reviewed by Online Faculty Mentors to meet the Online Design Checklist standards. This means that our online students enter this semester with the strongest campus-wide course design in Snow College history.
- In addition to our fall courses, over 95% of our entire online course offerings—over 200 unique online courses—have been reviewed and approved.
- Finally, over 30% of our online faculty members have completed the new Online Excellence Course that was released this summer.
Enrollment Management
We have had a great fall semester so far. We did some amazing work in helping more students continue at Snow College and bringing additional students to the institution. There is no rest because we have already been hard at work for next year. All during October and November, our admissions team is visiting every high school in the state for college application days. Meanwhile, the rest of the areas of enrollment management are gearing up for spring semester registration. We are excited to see what else is in store!
Student Engagement
Snow College Housing had another great fall. Occupancy in our campus housing is at about 93%, continuing a great run of occupancy over 90% for the past 3 years.
Food services had a great summer, serving over 11,000 patrons over 125,000 meals. The staff is happy to begin a new meal opportunity for the Ephraim campus where you can purchase 12 meals for only $50.00. Other additions to the facility have made preparation much easier and better!
The campus store continues to do well. They would like to be your partner and have the ability to meet prices. Please give them an opportunity to outfit your area!
Student life was too busy to report, but I am sure they would have wanted you to know they are starting the year off with several great activities and student involvement is very high. From painting the S to Western swing, they have been busy! We can look forward to their report next volume!
Who's New?
We welcome the following individuals to the Snow College Team:
| Emily Ross | Grants Officer |
| Jared Kerby | HVAC Mechanic |
| Andrew May | Men’s Basketball Coach |
| Jensen Tapp | Records Assistant |
| Mikelle Magalago | Softball Coach |
| James Dye | Assistant Football Coach |
| Keston Thompson | Music Production/Asset Management |
| Mckay West | Communications |
| Erik Freeman | History |
| Liberty Peterson | History and Geography |
| Kileen Wilson | Mathematics |
| David Baird | Jazz |
| Jessica Wallace | Theatre |
| Andrew Bashford | English |
| Nobue Swenson | Admissions Counselor Global Engagement |
| Joseph Western | Welding |
| Amy Lund | Admissions Counselor |
| Brandon Hales | Assistant Athletics Trainer |
| Drayson Ball | Sports Information Director |
| Kylee McClure | Academic Advisor |
| Emily Burton | Records Assistant – Continuing Education |
| Toby Andreasen | Controller’s Office – Accountant |
| Rebecca Callister | CTE Director |
| Cody Franson | General Maintenance |
| Catherine Freeman | Student Success Coach |
| Julia Smith | Student Success Coach |
We also welcome the new and returning adjunct instructors and many new part-time employees who assist with the day-to-day operations of the Ephraim and Richfield campuses. Thank you for your work.
Staff Report
What is the Staff Association? You can find our mission statement, what we do, and different committees at snow.edu/offices/staff. We invite all staff members to join a committee. The more voices we have for our staff, the more successful we all are. This is your opportunity to have a voice for the staff at Snow College. President McIff has been very receptive to staff and is ready to help with the many needs of the staff at Snow College.
- The Professional Development committee has been hard at work organizing events to help us all! The next event will be Thursday, October 27 featuring Justin Jones-Fosu. This will be a follow-up to the presentation last spring.
- The Welcoming and Events committee has a fun Halloween event coming up too!
- The Wellness Committee has been hard at work planning events to help us all with our well-being. The Breast Cancer Awareness event in October was a great event to honor all those who have been affected by breast cancer.
Watch for emails from Snow Staff Association for more events!
As you can see, Staff Association is both fun and educational. The presidency of the Staff Association meets with both President McIff and the Utah Higher Education Staff Association monthly to address staff concerns and learn how we can better support the staff at Snow College. We also will be meeting with the faculty senate presidency to help build unity at the college because we are all Better Together!
Athletics Update
The four fall sports have a combined record of 39-11-1 through October 18. The football team has collected two wins over top-10 opponents and scored 85 points in a game against Gila River.
The women's soccer team is currently 11-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 in SWAC play, which is good enough for second place in the conference. Freshman Skye Kennedy has scored 24 goals on the season which is the all-time Snow College record for goals in a season and it also leads the SWAC and is second in the country. She has won SWAC Player of the Week 3 times in a row.
The men's soccer team is currently third in the conference at 9-4 overall and 7-3 in the SWAC.
The women's volleyball team is currently 14-5 overall and 4-4 in the SWAC, which is good for 3rd in the conference. They have five victories over top-20 teams.
The winter sports are about to get underway. The men's team begins the season November 1 at home versus Real Salt Lake Academy. The women!s team starts their season November 4 at home versus Central Wyoming Community College.
Richfield Update
Snow College Richfield hosted its second annual scholarship benefit dinner on Wednesday, September 28, at the Sevier Valley Center.
The annual benefit dinner is one of the Richfield campus’s premier community fundraising events, officially raising $17,600. New this year, the dinner included a raffle and auction with gifts donated from various departments, businesses, alumni, and supporters of the campus. Trustee Kahn, a committed friend and supporter of the Richfield Campus’s success, generously sponsored the event.
During the evening, the new wrestling team was recognized and three inspiring students were honored: Snow College alumni Karson Rippstein ’15; current technical education student Joseph Bliss; and current general education student Katelyn Barney. “This benefit dinner is important to support local students in their educational journeys,” said Provost Jenkins, sharing that they are the reason Snow College is such a wonderful place to attend.
For the second year in a row, the dinner was entertained by commercial music students, this year featuring Studio Blue, which highlighted a hometown favorite, Rachel Krueger a graduate of Richfield High School.
Connecting community members with the campus, Interim President Stacee McIff spoke of growth as a top priority and shared interesting facts about Snow including that 21% of all Snow College students come through the Richfield campus and that 49% of Snow College’s 4- and 5-star degrees are in programs housed in Richfield.
We truly appreciate everyone that helped support this event. Your contributions were vital in making it a success. Thank you.
Social Media
"The more we share, the more we have." – Leonard Nimoy
Snow College offers so much to our students, it would be fun to share what we are doing to help them succeed.
There are two ways we can accomplish this on social media:
- Share what is going on around campus or in your classroom.
- Share posts from the Snow College Facebook page. Be sure to add your own experiences or comments to personalize the post.
By The Numbers
What's Happening
Questions often come up about the campus events calendar. The good news is, adding your events to the calendar couldn't be easier. Simply go to snow.edu/calendar, scroll to the bottom, and tap on "Submit event." Fill out and submit the form, then your part is done! Please allow three business days for your event to appear on the calendar, as all submissions must be reviewed and approved.
Did you know you can also subscribe to the calendar to receive a weekly summary of campus events? Just hit "subscribe" in the upper right corner, and each week you'll get a message in your inbox outlining all the great happenings for the upcoming week.
Suggestion Box
Thank you for your suggestions! As appropriate, each month we will report on the submissions that were received. Have a great idea? We'd love to hear it!
- Suggestion: Have a standardized email signature for employees.
Response: Our brand manual contains signature guidelines. You can also download a signature appropriate logo. - Suggestion: Add building abbreviations to the map and/or online.
Response: Done! - Suggestion: Have all-you-can-eat Buster meal plans.
Response: We are looking at all options. As announced, employee swipe cards may now be purchased for the Ephraim campus. We are currently exploring ways to expand this to the Richfield campus. - Suggestion: Offer more night and evening courses.
Response: This will need to be considered when building future schedules. We do offer several online classes that are more flexible, and the Continuing Ed Department has added several non-traditional options.
In the News
Snow College was selected to receive $2.4 million in grant funding by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The funding will be used to construct the Innovative Agricultural Building, which will support agricultural workforce training and entrepreneurship in central Utah.
Fun Facts
- Have you seen the new mural on Ephraim’s Main Street? It was a joint partnership with Ephraim City, Snow College, and the Happy Camper Vintage Store. The owners of the store hope this draws students to Main Street. Stop by and take your picture today!
- The “S” upon the hillside was cleaned and painted during the national day of service in September. Student leaders also painted a giant “S” on the intersection of 100 North and Main Street in Ephraim in the middle of the night. They are hoping to have approval soon to do the same thing in Richfield.
- The intersection of 400 East and Center in Ephraim has so much foot traffic that it meets UDOT’s requirement for a stop light. Not to worry, though, we hope to make improvements by painting a sidewalk and encouraging students to use it instead of wandering across the road. Please be safe – whether walking or driving.
- It's been one year since Mafatini, a student-athlete enrolled in classes, passed away. Family and teammates remembered him with a small memorial, and two current students are benefactors of a generous donation made in his honor.
- Snow College Richfield employees volunteered at Sevier County’s 30th Anniversary of the RockyMTN Jamboree. Visitors from all over the world visit the area to explore the ATV trails.
- Almost $17,000 was raised for a scholarship benefit dinner on the Richfield Campus. Trustee Jeff Kahn donated the cost of the dinner, and Brent Thorne collected thousands of dollars worth of gift baskets for the auction/raffle. Music students from Ephraim provided the entertainment.
- Trustee Kahn also hosted a benefit golf tournament for the wrestling team in Orem. Nearly $15,000 was raised to support our new wrestling program.
- Alan Palmer, welding faculty, retired after 30 years of service. His years of services were celebrated at a reception attended by his wife Sandy. Watch for other employee milestones in next month's newsletter!