Glen L. Taggart Student Center

Glen L. Taggart Student Center (1914-1997)

After acquiring a bachelor’s from Utah State Utah State University, Glen L. Taggart began working for the U.S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics as a rural sociologist. Taking time off in the early 1940s, Glen worked as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a doctorate in 1943. In 1944, the United States Department of Agriculture recruited Glen to serve in the Foreign Agricultural Office. For ten years he traveled extensively for the federal government in more than thirty-eight foreign countries. These travel experiences would greatly influence Glen’s life and international programs would become an important aspect of his philosophy once he became a university administrator.

Glen served as the eleventh president of USU, during one of the most troubled periods of United States history. At a time when many of the nation’s campuses were under siege by student activists, it is commendable that President Taggart used diplomacy rather than the “iron fist” to deal with student unrest at USU.

Evan N. Stevenson Ballroom (1927-2014)
Room 201

Evan N. Stevenson was a Utah State University graduate, where he earned an MBA in 1967 and a doctorate in educational administration in 1971. He held various positions at the university, first serving as the director of the Student Union Building, now known as the Taggart Student Center. In 1997, he was also appointed to oversee student activities.

In 1967, Evan became the university’s director of auxiliary and service enterprises. He then served as the assistant vice president for business. In 1980, the late USU President Stanford Cazier appointed Evan as the vice president of administrative affairs. It was there that Evan supervised the university budget, financial and auxiliary operations, athletics and personnel.

During his career, Evan also worked with the Utah State Legislature and the State Building Board, where he displayed a passion for the USU campus with its master planning and landscaping as a focal point.

In recognition of Evan’s commitment to the university, he was the recipient of several awards, including the USU Faculty Service Award, the Association Students “A” award, a Robins Special Award and the Logan Jaycees Distinguished Service Award.

B. Orson (1927-1974) and Afton B. (1929-2015) Tew International Student Lounge
Room 236

B. Orson Tew was born in Shelley, Idaho. During his years in school he was interested in and excelled in music, drama and sports of all kinds. He served as high school student body president and graduated valedictorian in 1945. He graduated from Ricks College in 1952 with a bachelor’s vocal music education and psychology and continued his education at BYU, where he earned a master’s in 1960 and a doctorate in 1964 in educational psychology.

Afton Burtenshaw Tew was born in Bonneville County, Idaho. She was raised on her father’s dairy farm, learning to work hard very early in life. She graduated from high school in Idaho Falls, where she served as student body president and valedictorian, then attended Ricks College where she met and fell in love with Orson. The couple were married in 1951 and are the parents of five children.

Afton and Orson came to USU in 1962, where Orson was the first foreign student advisor. While serving as the foreign student adviser, he was selected in 1965 by the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs to spend six weeks in India studying their education system in terms of future foreign student exchange. During his career, Orson served as professor for the College of Education until he left on special assigned as an adviser to the Bolivian government in education. While in Bolivia, he directed the first High Level Education Conference for Bolivian Educators and was instrumental in writing and publishing the first elementary textbooks used in the Bolivian public education system.

During the couple’s time in Bolivia, Afton learned Spanish and became involved in volunteer work with youth programs, helping to translate and write materials for them as needed. In 1969, the family returned to Logan and Afton became involved with the international students at USU. She volunteered hundreds of hours to help soften the trying times for these students, and especially for the wives of students, who she helped shop and learn to care for their children in a new culture. When Orson passed away in 1974, this volunteer work resulted in employment, as she began part-time work in the International Student office. In 1980, Afton became the program coordinator for the International Student Office. Afton was appointed as director of the International Student Office in 1987 and remained in that position until she retired in 1999.

Val R. Christensen Service Center
Room 332B

Val R. Christensen worked at USU for more than 30 years before retiring in 1996 as vice president of student services. In 1970, while serving as director of student activities, Val became advisor for the school’s newly formed service center, the Volunteer Organization for Involvement in the Community and Environment (VOICE). The Service Center was created as a way to organize committees and projects to improve the environment and address social issues in Cache Valley during the Vietnam War.

Val was serving as the director of student activities when VOICE was founded and served as the first faculty advisor for the program. The center was officially named for Val in 1998. The first VOICE project was raking leaves throughout Logan and taking them to the dump. A 24-hour helpline followed, where the center has since grown and evolved to include 16 service programs.

The Val R. Christensen Service Center is a program in the university’s Center for Community Engagement. The CCE serves as the campus hub for community engagement, providing a wide range of ways for USU students to get involved and find a way to make contributions to the community.

After 50 years of work on campus and in the community, the Val R. Christensen Service Center is going to continue doing what it does best. Through the hard work of its dedicated students, the Service Center has grown from its original few programs and will continue to serve for another 50 years.

Neil O. Gruwell Senate Chamber (1945-1973)
Room 336

Neil O. Gruwell, student body president at Utah State University during 1969-70 school year, died unexpectedly during his second year of graduate school at Harvard University. While at Utah State University, he distinguished himself as an outstanding student leader with an unprecedented record of service and contribution to the students, faculty and alumni. He designed the present form of student government, rewrote the entire ASUSU constitution and was instrumental in outlining the present student code of conduct. Neil established himself as an advocate for the rights of minority and foreign students on campus. He was a person of great courage and compassion and truly a loyal son of Utah State University.