Utah State University

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**Utah State University**

Motto	Research, Service, Teaching
Established	1888
Type	Public Land-grant Space-grant
Endowment	$97 million
President	Stan L. Albrecht
Faculty	870
Staff	1,800
Undergraduates	23,107
Postgraduates	1,537
Location	Logan, UT, USA
Campus	Urban
Sports	Aggies
Colors	Aggie Blue
Mascot	Big Blue
Website	www.usu.edu

Utah State University's main campus is located in Logan, Utah. It was established in 1888. USU has 870 faculty, and 23,107 students (total) were enrolled in autumn of 2005, down nearly 800 from the previous year.

1 Academics
2 Athletics
3 Media
4 Speech & Debate
5 Colleges and departments
6 Notable alumni
7 External links
8 Notes

[edit] Academics

Utah State University Wordmark

Old Main building at Utah State University

As Utah's land-grant university, USU conducts world-class research into many agricultural and natural resource disciplines. Utah State's Extension community provides cutting edge resources and support for the state, including an excellent Continuing Education program. Under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education USU is classified as a Doctoral/Research University–Extensive, awarding at least 50 doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines. It spends around $186 million for research annually.

USU is well known for its engineering program and Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL). The SDL is a world-famous research facility focusing on military and science applications. It frequently submits projects to the Department of Defense and NASA.

The University boasts a highly respected undergraduate music program, as well as fine performance facilities, including the Kent Concert Hall and the Manon Caine Russell/Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall^[1]. Notable faculty include vocalist Michael Ballam, pianist Gary Amano, and the world renowned Fry Street Quartet.

[edit] Athletics

USU's sports teams are known as the Aggies. Recently, the men's basketball team, under coach Stew Morrill, has become known as a nationally elite program, with several trips to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The football program, which has a rich history (Merlin Olsen an alumnus), has struggled lately, following an ill-fated two-year stint as an independent program and two more years in the geographically distant Sun Belt Conference. Following the decision of the Big West Conference to stop sponsoring football in 2001, USU's other teams remained in that conference until the school was finally invited to join the Western Athletic Conference (a long-sought goal) in 2005.

Before the beginning of its decline in 1998, the football program had experienced some successes, including Big West Conference championships in 1993 and 1997. In 1993, the team earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl, where they defeated Ball State University. In 1997, the team lost to the University of Cincinnati in the Humanitarian Bowl.

In recent times, the men's basketball team has won invitations to the NCAA tournament in 1998 (under coach Larry Eustachy), 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 (all under Morrill). All of these invitations were a result of winning the Big West Conference tournament. Despite a stellar season in 2003–2004 and a national top-25 ranking toward the end of the season, the Aggies did not receive an at-large tournament bid after being upset in the conference tournament. This was the most notorious snub in that year's tournament, and earned the derision of head coach Morrill. A highlight was a first-round victory against fifth-seeded Ohio State University in 2001.

Of women's sports at USU, gymnastics has probably been most successful, and the school also sponsors women's softball and volleyball. Women's basketball returned in 2003 after a fifteen-year absence. At the time, USU was the only Division I program that did not have women's basketball besides the mostly male Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel. The women's team has not yet produced a winning season.

The most used sports venue is the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics events are held. Its reputation as a tomb for visiting men's teams (as of Summer 2005, USU has only lost eight games there since the 1997–98 season), and its loud, rambunctious atmosphere have contributed to difficulties assembling a nonconference schedule.

The football team plays in Romney Stadium, slightly north and west of the main campus. The stadium had natural grass until 2004, when artificial turf was installed.

As of the 2005-2006 season, the Aggies compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

[edit] Media

Two primary print outlets serve the USU student body: (1) The Utah Statesman is sponsored by the university and is published three times per week. The Statesman won best non-daily student paper for region nine in the SPJ awards last year. (2) The Hard News Cafe news website is operated by USU's Department of Journalism and Communications and has won numerous awards for its student reporting, partially because it is often the only entrant in the categories in which it wins.

Utah Public Radio is heard on KUSU (91.5 FM) and KUSR (89.5 FM) in Logan, and throughout Utah on a system of 26 translators. UPR "broadcasts a mix of information, public affairs, and fine arts programming." KUSU is a National Public Radio member station, and an affiliate of Public Radio International.

Aggie Television (ATV) is a cable service lineup of approximately 110 channels offered free of charge to all on-campus residents. ATV produces Crossroads, a bulletin/announcement channel; and Aggie Advantage, providing local and student video programming.

[edit] Speech & Debate

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USU sponsors a successful speech & debate program. The program is lead by Director of Forensics Dr. Tom Worthen, who organized it in 2004. Since that time, the program has won back to back Northwest Forensic Conference championships.

[edit] Colleges and departments

USU has seven colleges, each is shown here with its respective departments:

[edit] Notable alumni

Mike Baker, famous botinist
Kent Baer, coach and defensive coordinator at many colleges/universities.
Rick Bass, writer and environmental activist.
Ezra Taft Benson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1953 to 1961 & President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 to 1994.
Jay Don Blake, professional golfer and PGA Tour winner.
Mary L. Cleave, NASA Astronaut.
Chris Cooley, NFL player, tight end of the Washington Redskins.
Kevin Curtis, NFL player, wide receiver for the St. Louis Rams.
Charlie Denson, Current President of Nike Brand.
Niranjan R. Gandhi, world-renowned biotechnologist and food scientist, and owner of Jeneil Biotech, Inc.
Cornell Green, NFL player, defensive back for the Dallas Cowboys.
Kenny Guinn, Governor of Nevada.
David B. Haight, late member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Eric Hipple, former NFL quarterback for the Detroit Lions.
Mark Hoffman, author of the Salamander Letter and convicted murderer.
William Marion Jardine, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1925 to 1929, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt.
Sonia Johnson, feminist.
W. Rolfe Kerr, current commissioner of education of the LDS Church.
Brandon Patrick Lowham, current Chair of the University of Southern Mississippi College of Health Ambassadors
Evan Mecham, Governor of Arizona.
Merlin Olsen, NFL Hall of Fame player
Boyd K. Packer, President of the LDS Church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
L. Tom Perry, member of the LDS Church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
James H. Quigley, Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte & Touche USA.
Bill Ransom, science fiction writer.
Harry Reid, current U.S. Senate Minority Leader.
Mike Simpson, Congressman from Idaho's 2nd District.
Chris Stallworth, Af2 Football player.
Gary Stevenson, Co-founder of ICON Health and Fitness.
May Swenson, poet.
Scott Watterson, Co-founder of ICON Health and Fitness.
Ryan M. Yonk, radio talk show host.
Ardeshir Zahedi, former Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United States.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

^ USU.edu: Wanlass Performance Hall: Chamber-Music Heaven. Retrieved on March 6, 2006.

Western Athletic Conference
Agriculture Agricultural Systems Technology and Education Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Economics Nutrition and Food Sciences Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology	Business Accountancy, School of Business Administration Business Information Systems Economics Management and Human Resources
Education and Human Services Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Elementary Education Family, Consumer and Human Development Health, Physical Education and Recreation Instructional Technology Psychology Secondary Education Special Education and Rehabilitation	Engineering Biological and Irrigation Civil and Environmental Electrical and Computer Engineering and Technology Education Mechanical and Aerospace
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Aerospace Studies (Air Force ROTC) Army ROTC (Military Science) Art English History Intensive English Language Institute Interior Design Program Journalism and Communications Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Languages, Philosophy and Speech Communication Music Political Science Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Theatre Arts	Natural Resources Aquatic, Watershed and Earth Resources Environment and Society Forest, Range, and Wildlife Sciences
	Science Biology Chemistry and Biochemistry Computer Science Geology Mathematics and Statistics Physics

Boise State • Fresno State • Hawai'i • Idaho • Louisiana Tech • Nevada • New Mexico State • San José State • Utah State

Colleges and universities of Utah
BYU • CEU • Dixie State • LDS Business College • SLCC • Snow College • SUU • Stevens-Henager • U of U • USU • UVSC • WSU • Westminster

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