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Show Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 Utah Campus Voice since 1902 I 1! Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Arts college prepares for accreditation By KEITH BURBANK staff writer Since its separation from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS), the new Caine College of the Arts is aiming to improve the quality and visibility of its offerings, by accrediting the two programs not yet accredited and improving the shared vision among its faculty and staff. "We're on for an exciting adventure," said Craig Jessop, the new college's dean. The arts college will be seeking accreditation for the art department and the theatre department, Jessop said. Senior Associate Dean Nicholas Morrison said this process will take time, likely three to five years for both programs. The theatre department will seek accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), while the art department will seek accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the main national accrediting body for art schools, Morrison said. The NASAD sets standards for each part of a student's education, said Christopher Terry, associate dean and interim art department head. Terry said he will not know what specific changes the art department will face because they have not yet held the initial review with NASAD. "If we can arrange for that visit to take place in the coming year, the (NASAD) team will give us a complete list of areas in which they'd like to see improvement," he said. Terry said it's likely the art department will have to hire more faculty and technical staff to begin with as well as hire support staff later in the process. The college also may offer some "new graduate degree programs that may better serve our student population and some untapped student populations," Morrison said. The arts college consists of six units: the music, interior design, art and theatre departments, as well as the art museum and production services, Morrison said. Li SeeJESSOP , page 5 Magazine applauds USU research Keillor to select Swenson poetry award winner By KASEY VAN DYKE staff writer By DAN SMITH staff writer USU had a moment in the scientific spotlight Aug. 24 with its second appearance in Popular Science magazine's "30 Awesome College Labs." The Center for Integrated BioSystems lab, directed by Ken White, was chosen because of its work with cloning. According to the article, the center can "churn out up to 600 cloned embryos a week, primarily for genetics research." Since 1991, White has worked with USU, first teaching classes and now directing the Center for Development and Molecular Biology, where he has been since 1995. The lab later became the Center for Integrated BioSystems lab. In 2003, White was part of a group of scientists who cloned the world's first hybrid animal. White said he finds great pleasure in his work, and said it's "amazing" to work with cells that could ultimately be a live animal. He said the lab's cloning research usually gets the most recognition. "There aren't very many labs across country that have the ability or expertise to be able to do this," he said. White worked with Popular Science magazine when they originally featured the lab in 2008. "It's always fun to have a venue such as Popular Science highlight us," he said. "It's really very flattering, not only for the lab, but also for the university." The lab has a team of students, including undergraduate and graduate, as well as faculty advisers. White said the students' resumes benefit greatly from the work in the lab, giving them an advantage over many of their peers. "It provides them an opportunity to be a part of and work on research projects," White said. Ben Sessions, a doctorate student, has been involved with the lab since 2002, working with the cloning research. Sessions said the lab's research brings "respect and notoriety" to the university. Hoever, with cloning research comes the long-standing debate. Famed National Public Radio host and "one of the most important American writers of the era," Garrison Keillor, has been selected to judge the 2011 May Swenson Poetry Award Competition, said Michael Spooner, director of Utah State University Press. "Garrison Keillor is a unique figure in American letters, because he has established himself in a genre essentially of his own making, yet he is also distinguished in so many conventional genres, like novels, essays, satire and screenwriting," Spooner said. He said Keillor was asked to judge the upcoming competition because he has featured the writings of several past winners on his radio show "Writer's Almanac." Spooner said the judges of this contest are always "first-tier figures in American letters." The May Swenson Poetry Award Competition began 15 years ago as a way to help poetry recognition, as well as keep the flame alive for May Swenson, Spooner said. He said Ken Brewer, former Utah State poetry professor and poet laureate, strongly urged him to start a contest like this to contribute to the need for poetry recognition. Swenson was born in Logan and graduated from USU in the class of 1939. She later taught poetry as the poet-in-residence at a variety of schools, including Utah State. Swenson made many contributions to both academia and the poetry community, said Corey Clawson, a staff assistant in the Utah State English department. The competition is open to anyone, with no restrictions on content or form. Manuscripts should be 50 to 100 pages long. Hundreds of entries from all over the country are expected by the Sept. 30 deadline, Spooner said, and Utah State students are encouraged to compete. After the initial entries are read by a panel of poets and poetry teachers, the 25 to 30 finalists' manuscripts will be sent to Keillor for judging, Spooner said. Spooner said asking Keillor to be the judge for this contest seemed like the right thing, likening him to I See CLONING, page 3 Inside This Issue .. . - WO,/ . . 01 ,11; - - 2:11 111111111111 l el 111111.1 t1 4 "S'i...■‘\\\\N llp. 9 01111 11 f 1111,wr ;,... .. 11 P A YOUNG PLANETREE has been planted to eventually replace the current Norway Maples that were planted in 1930 and are nearing the end of their lifespan. Planetrees were chosen because they can act as a canopy. LAUREN HARPER photo Quad trees to be cut down for new species By LAUREN HARPER staff writer The 80-year-old trees lining the quad will be cut down one-by-one as the USU Arboretum Committee and USU Executive Committee facilitate the installation of new trees. Although the look of the Quad will change, it will be a gradual change. "What we don't want is there to be shock," said Stanley Kane, university architect and director of facility operations. The existing trees surrounding the Quad, which are Norway Maples, are starting to decay, which makes them dangerous, said Michael Kuhns, a member of the arboretum committe and the department of wildland resources. "Lots of trees get in such bad shape before they die that they can't be kept because they're too dangerous," Kuhns said. However, a sudden, drastic change to the Quad could be upsetting, so the committee decided to make the change less abrupt by planting new trees before the old ones are removed. This will allow the new trees a chance to grow and avoid a barren look on the Quad, Kuhs said. The new trees will be planted in between the old ones where there are currently no trees. On parts of the Quad, there will be a row of trees on either side of the sidewalk where there are currently trees on only one side. Associate Vice President of Facilities Darrell Hart said there will be more trees at the end of the project than there are now, but "it should be a gradual process, and hopefully one that people will hardly notice." Kane said this approach will make removal of the older trees more costly, and they might have to remove light poles to keep "consistent spacing." Rather than replace the dying trees with more Norway Maples or varied species, the committee decide one species that would preserve the character of the Quad should be used, Kane said. He said a big part of that charac- 9/10/09 New Equine Education Center opened in ribbon cutting ceremony. Page 6 ter was the trees' shape and canopy effect along the sidewalks. "We came to the conclusion that the space was so important to the character of the campus that it would be important to have trees that were all the same size and scale," said Kane. Therefore, the new trees will be London Planetrees, which Kuhns called an "arguably better tree." He said this type of tree is fastgrowing, and may be a bad candidate to plant where there are a lot of people, but the London Planetree variety is an exception. "It's got good, strong limbs. It'll get decay, but not as much as Norway Maple would," he said. Kane said from a maintenance point of view, the London Planetree is not the first pick because it does "shed a lot of seeds and the leaves are very large," but the tree was still a good decision. "It has a stronger geometry. It grows taller and branches out in a more symmetrical way," he said. CI See HOST, page 5 CI See PLANETREES, page 5 Utah State prepares for home opener. Page 10 Check out Big Blue's Best Calendar, the best master calendar on campus. Send something in ... let people know what you're up to. Official Student Newspaper of Utah State University • "It's All The News You Need!" GARRISON KEILLOR |