August 2023

President McIff 

Hello, everyone!

This is such an exciting time of year when students return to campus to continue their educational journey! Thank you to everyone who has done so much to make the beginning of the school year a success. 

During Fall Assembly you saw the college’s goals for the year. Please review those goals and consider how you and your team can help Snow improve continuously and serve our students in the best possible way. Every department has an important role to play, and I appreciate your thoughtful approach to connecting your daily work to our institutional goals. I could point to several specific areas that have embraced strategic goals and then elevated, pivoted, and exceeded expectations to help us progress in our strategic initiatives. Making that personal connection to our vision is important to me, and I hope it is to you, too. 

While we were together last week, we also asked each of you to help tell our Snow College story. To give you easy-to-share, current data, we shared a Facts at a Glance sheet. We will update this each year and hope it helps you be more informed and confident in speaking to Snow College’s demographics and successes. Our aspirational statement should also help you summarize very succinctly what we aspire to do: Help students graduate debt-free, gain valuable resume-worthy experience, and develop a plan for the future. I believe that students who find Snow College will find themselves; they can do this because of you. You help students reach their goals and realize their potential during this formative time of life. Our personalized environment, the involvement opportunities available for students, and our affordable cost all work together to create something pretty unique. I hope you will share this message with others! Knowing the facts, understanding our goals, and focusing on the aspirational statement can help each of us articulate our “elevator pitch” when talking about our remarkable institution. Wear your new t-shirt with pride when you’re out and about, add the aspirational statement to your email signature, and share positive Snow news and experiences on social media. We are all on the Badger recruitment and retention team, and there’s no better team in the world! Thanks for being simply the best.

Here’s to our best year yet!

Stacee

Finance and Administrative Services

The Finance and Administrative Services team is on a roll! There are many exciting changes that are being rolled out now and many more to come. The new Campus Services website is live and has updated links and forms to make it easier to do things like request maintenance, motor pool, and too many other things to list here. You should just go and check it out yourself.

We are rolling out the new pcard process. A big shoutout to our Procurement team that has been working on this for a long time. There are many groups that were involved to make this function (IT, Controller’s office, and those of you who came to training and provided feedback to make it better). Thanks to everyone involved. If you have questions, please reach out to the Procurement team.

We had promised that there would be an easier way to make transfer and expense requests and the Finance team has delivered. When you look at the Financial Services website and click on Financial Forms, you will see many of these have been overhauled. The funds transfer form is now easier than ever. If you have questions, you can look at the new Finance – General Questions link or reach out to your liaison.

Thanks to our freaking awesome team for all their hard work!

Technical Education and Industry Connections

Did you know that Snow College Tech Ed Expanded into Kanab?

Eighteen months ago, Kane School District contacted Snow College about partnering to offer cosmetology in Kanab. Local licensed cosmetologists Nikki Johnson and Stasha Hoyt were hired by Kane School District as the instructors. The district remodeled the Kanab preschool building to facilitate the classes and received $38,000 of federal Perkins funding to purchase the equipment. Kane School District is the only district in the state with a cosmetology program run completely by the district, independent of other tech colleges.

Eighteen students from Valley and Kanab high schools enrolled in the program, and many are enrolled as post high school students this fall to complete their certificate. New beginning students will fill the remaining available spots.

Kane School District has a Memorandum of Understanding for cosmetology hours to transfer to Paul Mitchell Hair and Beauty School, Evans Hair College, or remain as Snow College students to complete their cosmetology certificate.

Snow College Cosmetology faculty Chad Price and Teri Mason, Interim BTE Dean Erica Sirrine, and Interim VP of Technical Education Jay Olsen participated in the open house and ribbon cutting on June 27, 2023. We excited with this new partnership as we continue to find creative ways to reach into rural Utah.

Academic Affairs

There will be many new faces this coming year in academic affairs. Most importantly, Snow will have 19 new full-time faculty this fall. Some are replacing colleagues who have gone on to new opportunities and some are new positions that were funded with technical education or the $4,000,000 budget adjustment from the legislature two years ago. Each new faculty member will be working to maintain Snow's excellent general education, transfer, and/or technical education programs.

Also new to academic affairs are a familiar person and a new person. Petra Brittner has been an academic advisor for the concurrent enrollment program for several years. With Mike Daniels' move to full-time Dean of Students, Petra has been hired to be the director of concurrent enrollment and will bring to the position a deep commitment to the students, faculty, and staff.

Finally, President McIff announced last week that Michael Austin has been hired to be Snow's next Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Mike has extensive experience in leading academic teams and is excited for the opportunity to work with the faculty, the cabinet, and the Snow College campuses.

Welcome to all of our new hires and welcome back to all.

FSY Success

This past summer the college hosted over 10,000 potential students on our Ephraim campus. They are having great experiences here and we hope that they will remember Snow College when it is time to apply for college. We appreciate all who interact in a positive way with these potential students- you make a difference in their Snow experience.

Over the year, there have been several improvements to our campus as a direct result of the FSY group:

• 25-foot screen in the Eccles building
• New lights in Eccles
• New mower for grounds crew
• Expanded patio and tent
• Additional cleaning/custodial costs are also reimbursed
• On-campus housing upgrades, including new furniture

In addition, food services is now able to operate without any subsidy from the college budget. Our Richfield housing agreement is part of auxiliary services, which is subsidized by the FSY revenue. Furnishing our new housing units and getting things started has been possible due to this partnership.

While there are challenges and damages to areas, all of the things that need to be fixed or replaced have been replaced with a better product. The GSC will be looking at upgrades and improvements this year as that building takes the brunt of the use.

If you have suggestions or ideas that will help us in hosting, please let us know.

One of our students was recently selected to participate in a student-led advisory council for the Utah System of Higher Education. Rylie Schmidt provides an overview of the purpose of this council and what her role will be. We are proud of Riley and confident she will represent Snow College, particularly Student Affairs, on this important body.

My name is Rylie Schmidt, and I am a sophomore at Snow College. I am studying Political Science and Psychology. I am also a member of the Ambassador team here on campus. Recently, I was appointed to serve on the Student Advisory Council for the Utah System of Higher Education. I am proud to represent Snow on this council! The USHE Student Advisory Council was formed in 2021 to allow student voices to participate in the conversations surrounding higher education. The Student Advisory Council (SAC) focuses on diversity, student well-being, and equity. As a board, we are asked for input to help the Utah Board of Higher Education form policies, procedures, and strategies that enable every USHE student to succeed. We supply insight, feedback, and ideas for how to improve every student's experience across Utah. I was invited to apply and interview for a position on the council. In my interview, I had the opportunity to share my passions and discuss the improvements I hope to see for all Utah students in higher education. The position was extended to me, and I was thrilled to accept it. As a student, I am honored to serve on this council and am excited to represent Snow College and to be a voice for improvement in the Utah student college experience.