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Show 4 Sr, 4 ?.Hr ,5t- the forum Westminster adjunct history professor records local events Iff Brice A. Idris Forum Staff Writer With six books under his belt, adjunct professor Dr. Kent Powell can really say he has helped write history. Powell teaches U.S. history, and having taught at BYU, the Uni- versity of Utah, Salt Lake Community College and Utah State University, he has a great deal of experience to draw on. But his favorite place to be an educator is at Westminster College. Students at Westminster arc more motivated and eager to learn," Powell said. "I really enjoy the students and the campus." Powell began as an adjunct professor at Westminster several years ago when he was asked to teach the public history class. The class is mainly geared towards history majors who want to work in a history field, such as museums. Now he teaches classes around his career at the Utah State non-academ- ic Historical Survey. The Utah State Historical Surit history society vey is a founded in 1897 to preserve the states history. It has about 3,000 members across the state. The non-prof- USHS is a part of the states government and is responsible for preserving Utahs history, past and present. Powell is the public history coordinator for the USHS which entails supervising grants for local historical societies and preparing for the Utah Centennial celebration in 1996. Three scries of books are scheduled to come out in relation with the Centennial celebration that have been under the US IISs coordination. The first is a 29 volume history of the different counties in Utah. The six Utah Indian tribes arc the subject of the second series of books, and the third is a five volume series dealing with a general and chronological history of Utah. Ive always been interested in history since my days in elemenIm tary school," Powell said. interested in what people did and how they lived before us." This interest has been the inspiration behind the six historical books that Powell has written, with two more due out in the next year. His favorite book hes written is The Next Time We Strike a history of the Utah coal miners attempts to organize a union. The book tells of the abuses that the miners were working under, the bad pay, substandard conditions, and restrictions on trade. Powell had a personal interest in the writing of this book because his father was a coal miner in the 1930s who helped organize the United Mine Workers Union. ell, The coal miners," said Powdidnt have the kind of free- dom they should have had. Powell is also writing a travel guide on Utah, since one of his favorite hobbies is to travel. The guide will tell about different restaurants, golf courses, and attractions he recommends around the state. This is where history and travel overlap, said Powell. I like to travel, but I really like to talk to the people in the different restaurants to find out the history of the places. Powell was born and raised ia Utah. He grew up in Huntington, Utah and attended Emery High School. His first two years of college were spent at College of Eastern Utah where he really began to get involved in history. I had a wonderful history pro- fessor," said Powell, who encouraged me to take more history class Curtis Mitchell Westminster adjunct history professor Dr. Kent Powell is an author of books dealing with such varied history topics as German prisoners druning World Wars and II, to local topics such as the struggle Utah coal miners faced in forming a union. es. Later he got me involved in a research project that dealt with a local history of the area." After graduation from CEU he went to the University of Utah to earn his bachelors, masters, and PhD in Western United States his-tor- y. Powell is married and has three children. Lee, the oldest and only son, is working on a Liesel, the oldest major. is her fathers following daughter, footsteps and going to CEU. Adri-ann- a, the youngest daughter, is in pre-dentis- seventh grade. He lived in Germany for two years as a Mormon missionary. While there he was able to meet people who lived during the first Westminster English students get a taste of Cambridge Students have a good time and learn while theyre at it Shawn Kuennen and Lake area residents studied by horum Staff Writer Westminster students and alumni seized the opportunity to study at Cambridge, England, last summer, through a University of Utah program. A group of Westminster students and alumni, University of Utah students and Salt at visited England for two weeks, according to Brent Howcroft, a senior in English at Westminster College. The group had 20 courses to choose from at Sellwyn College, which is one of the 31 colleges that comprise Cambridge University. They also stayed in the resident housing at Sellwyn, said Howcroft. With classes held only in the morning, and weekends free, the '22 students had ample opportunity said Howcroft. Among to sight-sethe highlights were a visit to Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace and burial place of William Shakee, speare; the Salisbury Cathedral, which contains the only four copies of the original Magna Carta; the Coventry Cathedral, which was bombed in World War II and never restored; the Warwick Castle; and Stonehenge. They also had the opportunity to shake the hand of Stephen Hawkins, the world famous astrophysicist and resident Salt Lake County Commissioner candidates Randy Horiuchi and Gene Whitmore held a political debate in the Gore auditorium, Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. The debate was set up by Jim Martin, president of the Westmin- Sellwyn College, as well as to visit literary sights such as Stratford upon Avon, William Shakespeares birthplace and burial place. ing the two World Wars. professor at Cambridge, Howcroft added. Howcroft complimented the program as a wonderful way to travel and receive credit at the same time. Westminster students interested in the program should contact the International Center at the University of Utah. . standoff between local politicians by Brett Boberg Forum Staff Writer group of Westminster students traveled to Cambridge, England last summer to study at Cambridges man background he gained helped him research several of his other books, one of which deal with German prisoners of war that lived dur- Political debate held at Westminster A A and second world wars. My mission was essentially a two year history lesson, said Powell. The Ger- ster College Democrats (WCD) and WCD secretary Erika Birch. We met with Randy Horiuchi to ask him if we could volunteer for his campaign and the debate just came about, said Birch. After hearing about the scheduled debate, the Westminster College Republicans (WCR) got involved by advertising the debate and supporting the Republican candidate Gene Whitmore. ' We wanted to lose the apathy and get students a little more involved in the issues, and this debate gives us a chance to do that, said WCR President Michael Robinson. The debate consisted of a five minute opening speech from each candidate, followed by a five minute The candidates then gave three minute cross-examinatio- n. closing statements and answered questions from the audience. . The issues discussed at the debate included the expansion of Interstate 15, the proposed light-ra- il system, the Winter Olympics, and the overall growth of Salt Lake. Members of the WCR and WCD both agree that the debate was successful in educating students. I want people to become more politically informed. I want people to know why theyre voting for a person and the reasons behind it, regardless of their political affiliations, said Robinson. Birch agreed. So many college students dont have time to read the newspaper or watch the news, so this is a way they can get informed from both candidates, she said. This debate was the first in the Westminster series. political Democratic candidate Pat Shea who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives will come to Westminster the Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., and Karen Shepard, democratic candidate for the senate, is scheduled to come the Oct. 28 at 12:15 p.m. ( |