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Utah State University established as a land-grant institution in 1888.
I like to say the whole state is our campus,
and rather than just think we have a great campus
up in Logan, up in Cache Valley,
we've been able to build outreach centers,
we've been able to extend adult learning,
we've been able to deliver programs,
just about every part of the state and every county of the state.
One semester I was teaching in Salt Lake, I had the majority of the students
in Salt Lake, and I was broadcasting out to 13 other locations.
What's powerful about that, is that if USU didn't offer the broadcast courses,
and didn't have regional campuses, then these people would have to either
quit their job, and then go to along the Wasatch Front to take classes,
or they'd have to, um, just move to the Wasatch Front.
I think there's something enormously valuable about
educating people in the places they live,
and where they intend to spend their lives.
Many of them already have spent a good deal of their lives in places
they're committed to those places. Now they can pursue degrees which
open up the world to them, but also allow them to stay where they are,
and recognize how that education connects to the lives they live.
I believe that there is a direct link to
all different types of activities in the community, whether
it be businesses, education, government, we all
have to interact and come together and work together
to achieve the goals that we want for our citizens.
We all an improved, better life, we know that economic development will bring
that, but it cannot happen without the work and the cooperation
of our community leaders and our educational leaders.
The distance education is so important to a community,
any community that does not have all of the offerings of a
large metropolitan area, but we know that we can supply
our residents with those same benefits. That they will be able to
make better use of their lives, and give back to our communities.
I think that USU is probably one of the best-kept secrets,
and should become one of the first considerations for
High School students and others who want to go back to school.
I think for the area of Vernal, it's really important to have a
higher education institution in the community. We have a lot of kids,
probably that would not take advantage of something if they had to leave town,
leave home, be so far away from home, where they have
the opportunity right here, and stay right in their backyard almost,
and attend and take advantage of these classes.
Not only while they're still in High School, but a lot of kids
hang around and take advantage of getting those general ed classes
taken care of right here at home. So it's really important I believe for our community
to have this facility here.
I don't think people understand a couple of things.
One is, they don't understand how many different options
that we have available in terms of all of the degrees that we have here,
things that they can accomplish without ever leaving town.
Secondly, I don't think that they fully understand how
reasonable the cost of an education is at USU Moab.
When a student generally goes off to college,
they incur a lot of debt. A lot of the debt they incur is living
in the area of the major campus. With having USU Brigham City,
in this area, our students can take advantage of living at home
they can take advantage of the lower prices of living in a small
community, and still have the opportunity to get a great education.
The variety in the ways that the classes are presented is
very beneficial for our students.
The reason for that is that we are able to take advantage of the terrific
professors that we have up that the Logan campus of Utah State University.
The combination between them teaching often times the lectures, and us teaching
the labs out here, gives our students the best of both worlds.
Well I go to work and they find out I've been going to school
and they say "you've been going to school? At the University of Utah?"
and I say no, I'm going to Utah State.
"Utah State, in Logan?" I said no, in Tooele, there's a regional campus.
And they look at me kind of funny like, well that's not really Utah State.
Bull, it is Utah State.
Here in the Uintah Basin we have some world class instructors
that care about the subject matter,
and making sure that the students actually
grasp and comprehend the principles that are important
out of the classes so that you can actually use what you're learning.
What I like most about my classes, they are on my own schedule.
When you take a class online it allows you to know what's coming in advance.
If you want to go on vacation with your family,
you can get some work done ahead of time.
If you have a doctors appointment, you can do your test
the day before if you need to.
So it's really allowed me to be flexible with
my schedule everywhere else in my life.
Because the campus is so much smaller than main campus,
it's allowed me to stand out more, all the teachers and the advisors
really know you individually and personally, and they
know what your talents and traits are, and what your
strengths and weaknesses are. So they can really help you to
develop the career goals that you need and be able to know about which
direction you should go and so I feel like I was able to get a lot more help here
and that everybody actually knew me and knew
what I wanted and what I wanted to accomplish.
Some advice I would give to prospective students or someone thinking about
going to Utah State's distance education would be go for it!
It's a great program, it's great education.
It's as good as you're going to get anywhere else in the state.
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