Utah State University

Utah State University

Logan, Utah

History<= /span>

The Morrill act of July 2^nd 1862, provided = for a land grant of 30, 000 acres of public domain to several states and territories. As part of the M= orrill act, and endowment was provided for the establishment of colleges that would maintain institutions. The Utah territory d= id not take advantage of this offer until 1888.

&nb= sp; Little thought was given to the idea of a land grant institutions in Logan Utah, f= or in 1888 Logan already boaster of being home of the Latter0day Saints owned Brigham Young College. Many citizens thought that better sites for the future agricultural college woul= d be located outside of Logan. &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &= nbsp; &nbs= p;

On April 16,1889 Board of Trustees member of the terri= tory walked over the site of the future campus.= Later that day, Caleb W. West, Territorial Governor, chose the spot where the (Old Main) building was to be located. Work was then started, and then on= July 27^th 1889, Governor Arthur C. Thomas laid the cornerstone. The first Collage of Utah was comp= eted and accepted by the Board of Trustees in February 1890.

J. W. Sanborn was named president of the AA. C.Vermont. Several successors followed, but t= heir contributions to the A.C. were inconsequential. The year 1900 saw the rise to powe= r of W.J. Kerr, a past president of Brigham Young College. Kerr organized the various departm= ents into Agriculture, Engineering, Domestic Arts, Commerce, Manual Training, and General Science. A school of = music was added in 1903. Enrolment = went from 380 in 1900 to 733 by 1904.

John A. Widtsoe succeeded = Kerr as president in 1907 and managed to expand the existing Mechanic Arts department. Widtsoe organized the first extension program in the United States.

Upon enter into World War 1, president E. G. Peterson = turned the college into a military training camp which was then used by the U.S. A= rmy Signal Corps. President Peterson allowed barracks to be built on campus. These barracks; after served as classrooms after the war. In = 1917, the state Legislature approved the construction of three new buildings on t= he A.C. campus almost doubling the six in two years. The new facilities enabled Preside= nt Peterson to convince the Legislature to allow classes in education to be ta= ught at the A.C.

Peterson organized and sponsored a national summer sch= ool which by 1927, had become so successful, that state legislature repealed a restrictive act of 1905 thereby liberating the allowable curriculum at the = A. C.

Two years later. The Depression caused everyone to tig= hten the collective belt. The facu= lty and administration agreed to budget cuts.&= nbsp; Though financially depressed, a library and field house were constru= cted in 1930 and 1935 respectively. Two departments were also added; those of family life (1935) and Forestry (1936). By this time the ACU = had become accredited as a national institution and had undergone a name change= to Utah State Agricultural College (U.S. A. C.).

Upon entry into World War Two, expansion at USAC had s= topped and so did the reign of E. G. Peterson as president.

After the war, the college had resumed its expansion a= nd by the 1950's had begun building dormitories making the campus a truly residen= tial one. The college was the firs= t in the nation to provided housing for its married students.<= /p>

The post-war period saw the revival of many annual pro= grams; the moist well know being the annual summer music clinic- the first of its = kind in the western Unite= d States.

The year 1957 saw more additions and changes. With the addition of the Collages = of Education, Science, Fine Arts and Graduate Studies the mane of the institut= ion was again changed to Utah= State University. By this time, there were more than= 5,500 students in attendance which included all the many extension service located throughout Utah.

The 1960 was indeed a decade of expansion into new hor= izons as well as radical changes, and Utah State University was involved in almost all of them. When U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced the decision to put a = man on the moon by the end of the 60's, researchers from USU were there to meet= the challenge. As well, when the = Peace Corps was created under the Kennedy administration, students and faculty al= ike involved themselves in serve to many third world nations. By the mid 1970's USU was in the t= op three among US university to be involved in foreign services and research. The Vietnam war also affected life= at USU in that the university boasted of one of the largest ROTC programs in t= he United States. During the war. It was announced t= hat mandatory ROTC training for all male students was abolished in the wake of anti-war protest on campus.

Foreign students began attending USU in large numbers = starting in the 1970's due to the universities reputation among many countries. This was well manifested in the international students associations that formed on campus.

Despite all of these problems, = Utah State had continued on its road to excellence.&n= bsp; In the decade since, relations among all of the University=3Ds students have vastly improved in that there are a la= rge number of foreign students That have made Utah State a second home for all of their academic needs.

The main focus of USU in the eighties had been in rese= arch and education. Currently Utah State is among the top four or five US University with regards to its programs of teacher training, and the premier institution in the state of Utah in elementary education and secon= dary education and first in the state in its music education program. The eighties saw exponential growth within these programs.

The Tradition of research had continued at Utah State and the education program is currently ranked in the to 25 in the nation. In fall 1998, Utah State University, along with other state collages and universities in = Utah, changed from quarters to semesters. President George <= span class=3DSpellE>Emert stepped down as president of the University eff= ective January, 2000. After a nation= al search, Kermit Hall was chosen as the new President of Utah State University. Already, Presiden= t Hall has initiated new programs, upheld old traditions, and supported each department of the university. The music department in particular has received more financial support in recent years from the Cain Foundation as well.

History of the Utah State University Bands

Utah State University was founded in 1888, as the land grant institution for the state. There is photographic evidence of = bands, primarily military brass bands, that existed from shortly after th founding of the school until 1928. These small groups probably functi= oned as pep band for athletic events, and occasional played for ceremonial funct= ions of the collage. Band director= were probably musicians from the surrounding area who worked with the group on a part-time basis. On was Mr. Peterson (1926-27). And Fred Williams (1927-28).

= When N.W. Christiansen was appointed a s a full time band director in 1928, degrees in music and music education had become available to students attending the USAC. In 1932, the first summ= er music clinic was organized with A.R. McAllister as band clinician. There were 180 band students in attendance!). This clinic was= the first in the nation and was to continue until 1943 when it was interrupted = by World War Two. The College co= ncert bans prospered in the meantime. A photo taken in the late thirties displayed a group of some sixty musicians.=

= In 1940, N. W., as he was affectingly know, took leave to finish this Ph.D at the Eastman school of music and music education. Charles Steen, a woodwind teacher from Grand Ju= nction, Colorado, was concerted unt= il N.W.Univ= ersity of Utah. New unifor= med where ordered and the marching band enlarged from thirty members to ninety. The band proudly took= to the field and a new era was born. John Philip was a director for the next six year, until June of 1957= .

= In 1951 the summer music clinic was revived and had continued until the present. Guest conductor Clarence Sawhill form UCLA was the favorite clinician for many= years until his death in 1981.

= John PhilipUtah and the sur= rounding states. In 1959, Alvin Wardle= was hired to teach brass instruments, and the concert band played at the Western Division MENC convention in Lo= ng Beach in April of 1957, the year the music department was organized, with Max Dalby as head. That year also saw Larry Smith join the faculty as saxophone teacher= and jazz specialist. Eugene Foste= r, principle flutes of the Utah Symphony was visiting staff member from 1968 to 1970, and Dennis Griffin became percussion instructor in 1968. Dr. Glen Fifi= eld became the instructor of trumpet 1969.&nbs= p; The concert band was invited to play at the Western Division CBDNA convention held at BYU in Prov= o, Utah.

= In 1971, the Aggie Marching Band was cut as a result of sever budget cuts brought ou= t by the State Board of Regents, and band enrollment dwindled as a result of the= cut in the program. Meanwhile, Max Dalby continued = as band director until 1973. Dean Madison conducted in his was for the next three years when Dalby took over once again. In the = fall of that year, Dean Madison and Dennis Griffin reorganized the Aggie marching band and was the first marching band in Utah to use coups- style marching in all of its shows. Band enroll= ment started to climb one again, and the USU bands were gain in the vanguard of band-dom in Utah. Once Max Dalb= y resumed as director of the concert band, he continued until 1983. Dennis Griffin became director tha= t same year and continued until 1989 when George Sparks took over. Sparks directed all the bands and = was woodwind instructor until 1989 when Griffin =3Ds day Parade in March of 1998.

= In the fall of 1998, Dr. John Cody Birdwell left Utah State University and an inte= rim director was found. Dr. Thoma= s P. Rohrer took over as director if bands at USU in 1998. And was officially hired in Spring= of 1999. Since the arrive of Dr. Rohrer, the marching band has traveled to Boulder CO, Tempe AZ, as well as = in-state football games at BYU, and the University of Utah. The Wind Orchestra has traveled to= Weber High school to perform with the local high school and junior high bands. In the spring of 2002 the Wind Orc= hestra traveled to Reno, NV and performed at the College Band Director=3Ds National Conference.

= One of the most distinguished alumni of USU bands is Lieutenant Colonel Mike Bankhear, conductor of the United States Air force ba= nd in Washington D.C.

History = of the Theta Eta Chapter of

Tau Beta Si= gma

State= University

= In 1987 the colonies of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi at Utah State University, were founded. George Sparks, the current directo= r of bands, was the original sponsor of the two

colonies.=

= On April 13, 1990 with Dr. Dennis Griffin as the sponsor, the two colonies were finally installed as official chapters: the Theta Eta c= hapter of Tau Beta Sigma and the Iota Iota chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi= . The charter members were as follow= s:

Tau Beta Sigma &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Kappa Kappa Psi

Rachel Curry &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Anthony Adams &n= bsp; = ;

Jodilyn Evans &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Matthew E. Gilman &nbs= p; &= nbsp;

Gina Redmond &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Kolelani Pei

Lauralee Shepherd &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Alan Mortensen &nbs= p; &= nbsp;

Sara Jane Summers = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Eri= ca Scheller

Heather Harris <= /span>

= Soon after the installation the two chapters attended the Western District Convention = and won the bid to hose the district publication, Salt Lake City, = Utah.= There was akit if time and effort put in= to making the convention the success that it was.

= Sometime after, Dr. Nicholas Morrison was installed as the sponsor of Theta Eta. In November of 1997, Dr. John Cody Birdwell was installed as sponsor of both chapters in addition to being the band director. In August of 1998 Dr. Thomas P. Ro= hrer was hired as band director as was then installed as a sponsor for both Thet= a Eta and Iota Iota.