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Show SUU presidential search continues, interim chief directs improvements University, Cedar City executives reforge ties, expand collaboration and will also include a concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the Centrum Arena. Stauffer said the festival will be an iconic western experience for tourists. In addition to tire events being planned. Stauffer and Sherratt are making other changes that they hope will bring the university and city closer By CHRISTIAN ROSS cprosssuujournal.com Though only appointed for three months, SUU Interim President Greg Stauffer has bolstered SUUs connection with Cedar City and made big plans for the future. We're communicating and collaborating, said Stauffer. There has to be communication between the two areas. Cedar City Mayor Gerald R. Sherratt said hes seen a difference since last spring when Stauffer became interim university president. We appreciate that they involve us and we're now involving them and we see this as a regular partnership, Sherratt said. Over the next semester both Stauffer and Sherratt have planned activities and initiatives they hope will bring the city and university closer together. Stauffer said Sherratt and tire city council had been invited to SUU's opening football game. Sherratt said the city would be doing-morto promote university athletics, such as football, including the use of flags on game days. He also said the citys Fall Fest has been planned during the university's Homecoming Week as a way to welcome students, as was initially intended by the festival. Stauffer said the university recently helped the Little League teams in the city use university facilities for games while the city builds more places for the teams to play. He said the university would also be involved in the citys Zions Bank Sheep Festival. The festival will feature a parade including hundreds of sheep together. Sherratt said tire city is creating a new' master plan and he wants the university to be a part of it. What the university would like to see happen, we can address as part of our master plan, Sherratt said. He said the new plan w'ould help officials map out the future of the city. Both Stauffer and Sherratt said the future of the city and university lay to some degree in just how well they work together. The fortunes of both SUU and Cedar City are all tied together and it is very important that we do cooperate and work together, Sherratt said. We all recognize that Cedar City would be a much, much different place without the university'. So it is to all of our advantage to do what we can to promote it. Stauffer said the university would continue to strengthen its relationship with the city so the two can help each other and grow in tandem. Were going to be successful in Cedar City and were going be successful at SUU working together or apart, he said. However, both Cedar City and the university w'ill be more successful through continuing to collaborate, communicate and continue working together, he added. e p Students have front-roseats to such astronomical events through the Ashcroft w first-han- Observatory. By MARC DOTSON mdotsonsuujournai.com the yter njnipif''fhat'fviars''vvbuld appear' Sunday night larger than it has iii.thbusand$ of years has turned out to be a hoax. Additionally, after,1 .weeks'; of' discussion, astronomers. have decided to kick Pluto out of the planet club. In some rumors, it was said Mars would appear as big as the f ull moon, said Laura Cotts assistant professor of physical science. Mars was the closest it hps been in thousands of years three years. ago, but even then it was still very far from us, flurry,, cif , she said. It only appeared as a bright red star, she added. jdowever, attention has shifted from Mars to what used to be the ' ninth planet in the solar system. The International Astronomical Union announced the new definition of a planet Thursday, limiting the number to eight in our solar system.' The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a planet is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the sun, (b) has suf ficient mass for its to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic round) (nearly equilibrium shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, according to www.iau.org. Additionally, the IAU created a new class of objects called dwarf planets, of winch Pluto, Qeres and 2003 UB313 - the temporary name of another planet-lik- e object - are the first, y she said. 586-140- Cotts said the observatory is in trouble because city lights are washing out our view of the stars. Developments in the area west of Leigh Hill complicate the problem. All we need is for people to make sure their lights shine down i PHOTO Nov. 18, NEWS SERVICES his role. In the meantime, Stauffer has continued to work to create a smooth transition for the new president. areas, he added. The city is also doing more to promote university atliletics and there are people from campus involved in the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce, Stauffer said. Stauffer said Additionally, the university will be extending the Sorenson P.E. Buildings community access hours. mm SUU higher-than-averag- Wednesday, Jones said. It was SUU also been working to expand recycling efforts, Stauffer said. been many There have programs started, but none have been sustainable because of the distance from major urban Along with improvements on campus, Stauffer has worked with Cedar City Mayor Gerald R. Sherratt to improve relations with the community. I cant think of anything more valuable than building our relationship with the city', said Dean ODriscoll, Director of Marketing & Public Relations. The university and city have improved communications and collaboration, Stauffer said. We have a Thursday morning radio program that consistently interacts with the city, he said SUU and Cedar City have The Board of Regents does not want to hurry' the process because they want to make sure they select someone who is perfect for the institution, Robinson said. Stauffer said he is trying to stay out of the process of selecting a new president because it is not easy solution - good neighbor lighting, she added. Lower wattage lights will save energy, she said. There are also health implications - studies have shown that exposure to light at night hampers the creation of melatonin, which appears to suppress cancer. Such studies began when it was found that blind women have a lower rate of breast cancer while women night workers e have a rate, Cotts said. Similar studies are ongoing, she added. If we lose our view of the night sky, weve lost part of our view of God, I think, Its a deeply Cotts said. spiritual experience viewing the immensity of the universe. was The observatory previously on top of the Science Building, Cotts said. But now, because of streetlights, not much of the night sky can be seen from Cedar City. The one on top of the Science (Center) was inconvenient, said M. Robert Jones, a Cedar City resident and former SUU It wasnt very professor. The satisfactory', actually. observatory really had no home until it moved. We had two small telescopes that we had to wheel out of a closet whenever we were to open the observatory. moved The observatory from the Science Center to the Ashcroft Observatory on BY SUU Interim President Greg Stauffer poses on campus in this undated news service photo. Stauffer has stayed as far away as possible from the university president selection process and has focused his attention on creating a smooth transition for the new president. application. - , I Kevin Robinson, Faculty Senate on the ground instead of up into which is tlie sky or sideways also damaging, she said. Its a problem that has an d i president and a member of the search committee. Robinson said the search next formal committee's meeting is scheduled for the middle of September. The search committee has not yet seen applications, but it is expected that the regents will soon provide them, said Steve Kiisel, SUUSA President and member of the search committee. There are a good number of candidates, Stauffer said. But we only need one really, really good one. The final five names will likely be made public, he said. When there is still a large pool, it is unnecessary to endanger the applicants current jobs or cause their loyalty to their current employers to be questioned, Stauffer said. Once it is narrowed down, those select few should accept public knowledge as a consequence of Astronomers demote Pluto, Mars rumors prove fanciful according to www.iau.org. Students have the opportunity to witness such astronomical at SUUs wonders own Ashcroft Observatory, on the west side of Leigh Hill. Cotts teaches indoor and outdoor labs at the observatory. The outdoor labs include learning the constellations and bright stars, creating maps of the moon and using telescopes to view, galaxies, nebulae .and galaxy clusters, Cotts said. Indoor labs include using an item called a planis sphere, which takes the bowl of the sky and squishes it flat on paper, and is used to teach constellations when the sky is overcast, she said. One laboratory assignment deals with cepheid variable stars, which change in brightness regularly, Cotts said. The differing levels of brightness can be used to determine distance in space, the first objects used to calculate such distances. Earlyinthe 1900s, astronomers didnt think there was anything beyond our galaxy because they had no way to determine an objects distance, she added. I ntroductory astronomy classes will take place this semester on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, Cotts said. However, the observatory is open to the public on Monday nights from dark until an indefinite hour, depending on the interest of the visitors and the willingness of the student staffers. In addition, large groups can call for special appointments at JUSTINE PRUITT By jpruittsuujournal com While the search for a new university president continues, Interim SUU President Gregory in Stauffer is shoulder-deethe universitys continuing progress. Stauffer said the Board of Regents expects to announce tlie new president m either late October or early November. The new president will be expected to begin by January'. The Lflah Board of Regents is still accepting applications for the new president position, said Sherratt 3 Page 3 University Journal Monday, August 28, 2006 J OUTiSSBS lit o i G t 3 fli Inn III! iO!iUiMiViW ''my MBnamp 1981, E D U t! ATI OPED 1100 named after the professor that taught astronomy prior to my arrival at the college, he said. He was really a very distinguished professor and his family helped materially to get funding for it. 5 f" 1- -3 s PM OUTBDDnS Ashcroft Observatory ttliriitil it liaiiiliMU ib-It- UiiTgBaMiiH mm fr Open to the public on Monday nights starting at dusk. Groups can call a night tor a group viewing. 586-140- 9 at- 1 - U n I to arrange ta ; . h' y::. if You can I yv i Just I ; i r BEN DRAPER andJENNIFER FERNANDEZ UNlVEaSiTY JOURNAL - ' Ditto mb bp -4 pa e I: i ii o pre-tri- eating p 5:33 nn yaurc intorostsd rent out equipment for all your outdoor adventures HEBE come to the OUTDOOR CENTER in the STUDENT jTmThTT 1- fountain Tburcday August 30 i I -.I- .'.-... Ei 0aeu mandatory L 2 rmiU'pro- ;rr: ut - - CENTER! |