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Show www.utahstatesman.com Logan, Utah Utah State University Complications interrupt USU Web services Today is Friday, April 24, 2009 Breaking News By RACHEL A. CHRISTENSEN news editor The government of Iraq has recorded 87,215 civilian deaths ranging from bombings to execution-style slayings since 2005. Page 2 News A SIGN I N CRAIG ASTON'S H O N O R was unveiled during the agriculture science dinner Wednesday at the new park on 800 East, the former home of a crab apple orchard. The park honors Aston's service. TYLER LARSON photo Senior lecturer honored for his years of service By BECKA TURNER senior news writer The associate dean of the College of Natural Resources was honored for her work with USU Extension. .; „ fcv Page 3 Features The Class of 2009 prepares to enter the workforce. m?a8e5 The College of Agriculture celebrated the end of the year with a closing social that honored one of its most beloved senior lecturers, Craig Aston. He was honored by having the new park, formerly a crab apple orchard on 800 East, dedicated to him, said Marylynne Clark, development director for the College of Agriculture. "He has been a longtime faculty member, he has really helped to develop the Dale and Adele Young greenhouse," she said. Aston has worked for the university for more than 25 years, said Teryl Roper, department head of plants, soils and climate. "He's been a mentor. Since he owns a landscape company he has experience that mam^staff members can't offer," Roper said. •.. Through his company, he has donated many materials to further students' education, Roper said. Braden Jensen, former agricultural senator, said, "His service to the students, he's an excellent professor and lecturer, is the reason that he is so deserv- ing of this dedication." Clark said Aston has a high level of dedication to his students and fellow faculty members and that makes him indispensable. "It would take at least three people to take over all that he does for his students, the university and the community," she said. Jensen said the Ag Council made the decision to give the honor to Aston. "It was a unanimous decision from the Ag Council. We talked with Dean Cockett, and she thought it was a great idea, so we went forward with it," he said. The council dedicated the park by unveiling a sign naming it the D. Craig Aston Park, Jensen said. "We had 200 students at (Wednesday) night's unveiling, I can't think of anyone more deserving of this honor. He is so beloved by all who come into contact with him," Clark said. Jensen said most of the College of Agriculture knew about the honor, but didn't know for whom the park was going to be named. Roper said Aston's current classes will continue to develop and perfect the [M See PARK, page 3 Sports USU to host the WAC Track and Field Championships. Page 16 ' • ' • • • ? . •>• Almanac CRAIG ASTON'S ACCEPTS A N A W A R D for his dedication to USU agriculture students. Aston was nominated for the award byAg Council. TYLER LARSON photo Today in History: In 1916, on Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Weather High: 47° Low: 29° Skies: Rain showers. and break! ng news Many USU students trying to prepare for finals encountered problems with Aggiemail, Blackboard and the Internet in general Thursday. This is because three different problems coincidentally happened the same day, one involving a backhoe in Salt Lake City, another involving the university's Storage Array Network (SAN) and the third involving a power outage, said Kevin Reeve, USU Information Technology's marketing and communications coordinator. "It was a triple whammy," Reeve said. Around 9 a.m. Thursday, a backhoe on Beck Street in Salt Lake City severed a fiber optic cable, Reeve said. Utah State gets its Internet through the Utah Education Network (UEN). He said the Internet reaches the university through three fiber optic cables. The accident at Beck Street knocked out two of these lines, leaving only one line, the southern-most fiber optic cable, to conduct the Internet for the entire university. The line still in service has a 1G capacity and was used at up to 90 percent Thursday. It is usually doesn't receive more than 75 percent usage, and Reeve said this extreme use caused some issues and delays. "It's kind of like the freeway; too many cars on the freeway," he said. Fixing the fiber optic cable requires splicing the underground cable back together, Reeve said, and it could take a while to complete the process. Reeve said Information Technology tried to spread the word to students, staff and faculty through phone calls and text messages to use the Internet for research purposes only and as little as possible. Thursday morning before word was spread, about 10 percent of campus Internet use was traceable to YouTube, he said. Qwest Communications customer service said there is no way to know how long it will take to repair the problem, but that the process has already started. Aggiemail was down due to a problem with a unit on campus. Reeve said. The SAN started flashing a light indicating it was "sick," he said. As a preventative measure in order to avoid information loss, the SAN shut down several parts of its network, including Aggiemails central authentication system. This same thing happened Wednesday afternoon, he said. The SAN's vendor sent in people and hardware to fix the problem Wednesday and again Thursday evening. The day of Internet failures continued Thursday evening when the Eccles Broadcast Center (EBC) experience power failure, Reeve said. The EBC is part of the UEN located in Salt Lake City. This last outage caused USU Internet connection interruptions. It also made logging in to BlackBoard virtually impossible. Reeve said he still encourages USU members to use the Internet sparingly while these problems are fixed. -racch@aggiemail.usu.edu Students sell ceramicsfor equipment By SETH BRACKEN staff writer The Utah State University ceramics guild is hosting a ceramics sale and show this weekend in an effort to raise funds for the guild and to allow the students to display their work, said Joe Davis, ceramics studio coordinator. The event is held semiannually and in previous years was located in the Taggart Student Center, Davis said. However, this year the event will be held in the Fine Arts building where each student will have a place to design a display for their work. About 25 students will be participating. "We wanted the students to consider the display of their work," Davis said. The event sale was hosted in the Fine Arts building for the first time in November of last year and sales nearly doubled, Davis said. Last semester's show brought in about $10,000 and in previous shows they usually sold a little less than half that, he said. "It really feels more like an open house," Davis said. The ceramics guild is run by the students, and the students collaborate on how to use the funds. The ceramics guild provides all of the machines and other equipment for the program at Utah State, Davis said. "Students' contributions make this such a strong program and promotes the idea of community," Davis said. The guild focused more for this sale on advertising than they have in the past, Davis said. He said the guild posted signs around Logan and surrounding areas and ran advertisements pn Utah Public Radio. [M See SALE, page 3 COMMUNITY MEMBERS BROWSE CERAMICS FOR SALE Thursday in the Fine Arts building.The guild has focused on advertising this year and expects to see it pay off. CODY GOCHNOUR photo ' |