March 2023
Institutional Update
President McIff
Happy Spring!
This is an exciting time of year for the college! Many of our students are in the home stretch of their academic year, and the calendar is full of end-of-semester activities. We have student celebrations and recognitions as well as administrative tasks as we wrap up the school and fiscal year.
One monumental annual occurrence is the state legislative session. For 45 days our elected legislators write, draft, discuss, and approve laws for our state. They also hear hundreds of requests and set the state’s budget for the year. This was a very good year for us! We reported on details during our last Town Hall and thought we would recap here as well. In total, we received over $17,000,000 in one-time and ongoing money for various projects and initiatives that tie directly to our institutional goals. We will also receive additional money for compensation. Here’s a breakdown:
- $1,400,000 received for performance funding. Allocation will be determined through our internal budget process.
- $1,500,000 received for an ag innovation center. This will be built on the college farm and will supplement the $3.2 million grant that has already been awarded by the Economic Development Administration.
- $500,000 received for a rural technical training program. We will purchase a mobile unit and take tech ed, STEM, and GRIT Center labs to our local high schools.
- $8,000,000 will go towards our new social science building. We will continue to accumulate this amount each year until there is enough money saved or until we are ranked #1 by the USHE state board
- $5,850,000 will allow us to purchase property in Nephi to expand there and also acquire land and housing units in Ephraim
- $267,000 received for growth funding will help cover the unfunded compensation costs
The good news on compensation: the state approved a COLA increase for us! Because there was a tuition freeze (and tuition increases usually cover part of compensation costs), we are still working through specific details of an across-the-board increase, as well as our aspiration to keep full-time employees at 95% of CUPA comparisons. Watch for more information about compensation in the coming weeks.
Overall, you can see we have a lot of reasons to celebrate at Snow College! The legislature was very good to us. Senator Owens, Representative Albrecht, and Representative Lund worked tirelessly on our behalf. Senator Don Ipson and Senator Evan Vickers assisted during the final days of the session to secure our funding. Quite simply and honestly, we would not have received what we did without the support and advocacy of these influential friends. Please thank them when you see them or send a message expressing your appreciation.
As I spent time at the Capitol, I heard many people share their connections to Snow and ask how they could help. This is a special place, and many people love and care about us. Thank you for showing up every day to do your part. As we move forward, we will continue to tell our story and recruit others to help us reach our goals. I commit to doing what I can to find resources and allies who will help us help students succeed. Their success is what we are all about, and I hope you take a few minutes as the semester winds down to reflect on the amazing work we get to do every single day. Each one of you makes a difference to the overall Snow College experience. Thank you for what you do. We are better together.
Stacee
Academic Affairs
Campus has been abuzz the last few months with potential future badgers. These students have been engaged in academic learning experiences, recruitment activities, recognition events, and academic and athletic competitions. Faculty and staff collaborate to make these events meaningful and successful, and, not surprisingly, a positive experience with an early campus visit often leads to future campus enrollment.
Some recent events include the Science Olympiad, science nights, Diversity Day, CTE recognition events, division days, FFA competitions, and CE day. More of these events are scheduled in the upcoming weeks: we look forward to welcoming students participating in the DECA competition, math competition, business pitch training, tryout events, and field trips.
Seniors who make campus visits and/or attend Badger Blasts are also exploring academic options at Snow College. It is not uncommon to hear student leaders talking up their fabulous professors, courses, and student life experiences to these potential students and their families.
Advancement
Alumni Cords - A Tradition of Giving
Alumni Cords are now available to purchase for our upcoming graduation ceremonies. Alumni Cords are $20.23 in honor of our graduating class. All proceeds will fund an Alumni Scholarship for a Snow College Student. Cords can be purchased online or in our bookstores at the Ephraim and Richfield Campuses. It is our hope the faculty and staff at Snow College will encourage our graduating class to pave the way for future classmates by personally contributing toward a scholarship.
Advancement Office Expansion
Snow College is excited to welcome Cameron Brooks as our Executive Director of Advancement and Government Relations. An alumnus of BYU, Cam and his wife Kim are originally from Alberta, Canada but have been in Cedar City since 2005. He has over 20 years of experience in Advancement and Fundraising, having worked mainly at Southern Utah University but also Idaho State University and others.
Angela Sanders recently moved to Ephraim with her husband and four children. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science Education. While raising her family she has been working in the real estate industry for the past 9 years.
With the expansion of our advancement office, Snow is looking forward to embarking down a new path of alumni support and collaboration. Our alumni will always have a place at Snow, and this new chapter will allow them to participate in a continuing Snow experience.
Who's New?
We welcome the following individuals to the Snow College Team:
| Cody Branch | Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management |
| Kelly Forbush | HR and Finance Systems Analyst |
| Mandie Valezuela | Instructor and Program Specialist (Part-Time) |
| Angela Sanders | Alumni Relations Officer |
| Baylen Nisse | Admissions Counselor |
| Derek Erickson | IT Helpdesk Specialist |
The GRIT Center
The GRIT Center wants to connect with your department! This semester they’re hosting Jonathan Allen’s SE3630 Mobile App Development class and Alan Christensen’s BUS2650 Management Principles for Entrepreneurs class as they join forces to bring app ideas to life.
Projects include a gamification app for piano teachers, a platform for audio-visual artists to showcase their work, and an app for ordering dirty sodas so they’re ready when you are!
An entrepreneurial mindset and cross-disciplinary collaboration help students become better problem identifiers and solvers. The GRIT Center staff would love to show your students how these skills are relevant to every discipline.
For the first time ever, two student entrepreneurship teams represented Snow College and the GRIT Center as top 20 finalists in the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a state-wide business model competition held at the University of Utah on February 25, 2023.
Julia Selman won a $2,000 Actium Bootstrap award, a $500 Judge's Choice award, and a $500 Top 20 prize for her meat delivery subscription service, SelMeat. Sariah Summers and Justin Summers took home a $500 Top 20 prize for their floral rental company, Budget Buds.
This year, the GRIT Center has awarded $13,350 to 23 student startups, hosted 18 student lunches with successful entrepreneurs, and invested hundreds of hours in one-on-one mentoring.
Staff Report
While students and faculty were out for Spring Break, Snow College staff played. Colleagues in the Greenwood Student Center hosted a skate party and potluck on March 8 for their fellow staffers and others still on campus. Elsewhere some of Richfield’s staff members supported the Small Business Development Center’s annual Women’s Conference at the Sevier Valley Fairgrounds on March 8 and 9.
Staff Association supports and provides opportunities for comradery and fun, and for professional development. We also offer staffers a voice in campus governance and meeting institutional priorities as set forth by the President’s Office and Board of Trustees. Campus priorities are defined as:
- Support employees
- Management enrollment strategically
- Secure Facilities
- Help students succeed
- Share our story
We invite full-time and permanent part-time staff to help us amplify our Staff Association voice and build our campus. We have openings on many committees which support governance, compensation & benefits, legislative affairs, and more. Use the stack menu to view and choose one to join at www.snow.edu/staff.
Got an idea or questions? Reach out to Staff Association President Tammy Hales in the Campus Store, President-Elect Lisa Laird in the Career Center, or any of the committee chairs listed on our website.
Faculty Report
Faculty at Snow College are busy doing good things. In February the Science OIympiad had over 300 participants from middle school through high school from schools all over the state. Students compete in over 25 different challenges that test their knowledge and skills in STEM. Challenges include Disease Detectives, Rocks & Minerals, Forensics, Bridge Building, Write it Do it, and many more. With all participants, volunteers, faculty, and staff the number of people involved was over 450. It’s a great showcase for Snow College too.
The Snow College Ethics Bowl competed in the 2023 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championship on Mar. 4-5. Teams could only participate in this competition if they had won a Regional Ethics Bowl or, depending on the size of the region, finished second or third. The IEB National Championship includes only the top 36 teams in the country. In the face of stiff competition, the Snow College team finished 1-3 in their four matches. Their victory came against the University of Incarnate Word. Their three losses were all split decisions and incredibly close. In the two previous IEB National Championships, in which Snow College fielded a team, they had a record of 0-8. Therefore, the team was elated to get their first win at the world's most prestigious ethics bowl competition.
Athletics Update
Our winter sports have wrapped up (now time for the winter weather to go too), and we are moving into spring sports.
The women’s wrestling team concluded a remarkable and memorable first season finishing seventh at the NJCAA National Tournament. Ashlea Larsen competed in the National Title Match and finished in second place! Angela Van Valkenburg and Corrie Williams each took fourth place.
Men’s wrestling finished in 22nd place to conclude their first ‘revived’ season. Hayes Dalton came in sixth place in his weight class.
The men’s basketball team came up just short in the Region 18 Title Game against SLCC. They did defeat the undefeated and No. 1-ranked College of Southern Idaho in the first round of the tournament.
Women’s basketball ended its season in the first round of the Region 18 Tournament after a tough loss to No. 4 CSI. They finished the season at 12-16 overall.
Richfield Update
In coordination with district employees, the Richfield campus hosted its third annual gathering on Monday, February 13. Participants included the superintendent, assistant superintendent, high school principals, vice principals, counselors from the Sevier School District area, and Career and Technical Education Directors from the region.
Before district guests delved into their specific agenda items, various program leads from Snow College shared updates about their programs and fielded questions from district representatives. Interim President McIff, Vice President Olsen, and CTE Director Becky Callister then shared institutional updates and answered additional questions.
The discussion was plentiful and engaging. Hosting this group has been such a success, the College is looking to expand offerings and host other six-county school districts at both campuses in the future. We value our community partners and look forward to having them on campus again.
Public Service Announcement
The Central Utah Public Health Department is promoting an Opioid 101 training to employers in our six-county area as we have seen an increase in opioid overdose deaths in our counties over the past several months. We hope that you will take the short training about opioids and share it with your employees. https://naloxone.utah.gov/n-training
We also offer free Naloxone at all of our health department offices. Anyone who wants one can come in and get one at the front desk-no questions asked.
Please reach out with any questions. We hope you will share this training with your employees, friends, and family.
Thank you!
Heidi Pearson
CUPHD
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By The Numbers
