As he begins the transition to his new position as Senior Executive Director of State Online Education, President Scott L Wyatt reflects on his service at SUU and future opportunities. Featured Quotes:It has become so much a part of my identity and my whole life, along with my wife Kathy. It seems that being a president of a university is not a job, it's a lifestyle. It's every day, weekends, evenings... my whole life is consumed in Southern Utah University and it's been a spectacular time.Scott L Wyatt, President, Southern Utah UniversityI hope that you, our listeners, have enjoyed this as much as we have. And because it's the last podcast in this form, I do hope that we quickly get back into the podcast in whatever version it is.Scott L Wyatt, President, Southern Utah UniversityLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith share a conversation with Dr. Frank Dooley, chancellor at Purdue University Global, focused on the non traditional students that are largely overlooked by higher education. Featured Quotes:I think that the biggest thing that has changed in the past year, I think the acceptance of online education has moved forward—and I mean by both faculty and by prospective students—has probably been moved forward a decade.Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor - Purdue University Global...we're serving a set of students, when you look across the country, that largely have been ignored by higher education for a long time.Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor - Purdue University GlobalLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and host Steve Meredith sit down with members of Southern Utah University’s faculty and staff to discuss how the University has adapted teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sylvia Bradshaw, Matt McKenzie, Johnny MacLean, Lynn Vartan, and Matt Weeg all share their perspective on the last year.Featured Quotes:I think all of these offices and probably all of the offices across campus have really learned a lesson in being nimble with the changing priorities as we’ve tried to address the challenges that…kind of the ever-changing challenges that have been confronting us. And I believe we’re going to take that nimbleness forward with us as we continue to be a leader in innovation across the USHE system and across the Intermountain West.Johnny MacLean, Assistant Provost for Faculty Affairs, Southern Utah UniversityI tell you, the most exciting piece of it that came from this, we are now absolutely paperless. You can imagine a grants office and the amount of paper that was involved…we had already started making that transition and when the pandemic came along, that was beautiful. We have no more stacks of paper anywhere, it’s lovely.Sylvia Bradshaw, Director of SPARC Office (Sponsored Programs, Agreements, Research, and Contracts)Links Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and host Steve Meredith speak with two members of the Southern Utah University Dance program. Danielle Sheather, assistant professor of dance, and Bailey Walker, a first year senior dance student, share they had a memorable year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Featured Quotes:. . . I think as artists, all of us are really enthralled by the unknown, at least I am. I think it’s exciting to discover new things, I do take the approach that I am forever a student. And so, I think learning about multimedia…I know a little, and just being thrust into a situation where you have to learn is exciting.Danielle Sheather, Assistant Professor of Dance, Southern Utah UniversityAnd all of these things that we’ve learned from screen dance, I do think they can be applied to live dance and I think it will make creative works moving forward, especially for me and for my fellow choreographers from this last concert, I think we have a richer understanding of what dance can be.Bailey Walker, Senior Dance Major, Southern Utah UniversityLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith are joined by Peter Fuller, president of Workflow Academy. The trio discusses Workflow Academy and how it upscales students, preparing them for placement in cloud technology related careers. Featured Quotes:. . . a massive opportunity that I see, one that makes me try and partner with SUU and with other universities, I want to tap the immense talent pools that you’ve done such a good job of preparing. And the implicit message there is you’ve prepared them 80% of the way . . .Peter Fuller, CEO The Workflow Academy. . . I worry that higher ed might not be fast enough to build the infrastructure necessary to teach people what we have to teach. Because, I’m not saying it’s going away, but the immediacy of the talent need is right now. We need to make solutions right now.”Peter Fuller, CEO The Workflow AcademyLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:This week on Solutions for Higher Education, President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith are joined by Seana Murray, business program manager and John O’Brien, chief technology officer, at Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Services. The group looks at how HoloLens is changing the landscape of virtual higher education and many other industries.  Featured Quotes:And so, the new [Case Westen University] medical school is going completely holographic, and they have taught already a number of semesters doing holographic anatomy and cadaveric research. And if I remember correctly, they had decided at one point that approximately…their students are getting approximately 30% additional recall by learning anatomy via spatially contextual holograms versus flat textbooks. And so, that is a huge uptick in recall, and particularly since these are our future doctors.Seana Murray, Business Program Manager, Microsoft Mixed Reality TeamThere are certain topics that it’s so much easier to teach and for people to appreciate if you can see it in three dimensions instead of on a screen or in a book—and I love reading, don’t get me wrong—but as human beings, we’re used to operating in a 3D world. We spot patterns and process information; our brains are geared to process information that way. And so, I think this is going to open up kind of a whole new frontier for history, for astronomy, for physics, for… you name it.John O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Mixed Reality TeamLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith welcome Aaron Osmond, Workforce Transformation Leader with Amazon Web Services and the Vice Chair of the Utah Board of Higher Education, the governing board that oversees Utah’s colleges and universities. The three discuss the technology industry, how they partner with higher education, and how students can obtain jobs in technology.  Featured Quotes:Last year alone in the United States, there were 5.3 million open cloud jobs that were posted in the U.S. Of that, more than half of those jobs remained unfilled. We were not able to find students or existing industry professionals to fill those positions, and that problem is growing at a rate of 30% to 40% every year. There’s a huge skills gap.Aaron Osmond - Amazon Web ServicesFirst of all, the technology industry is clearly sending signals around its frustration with higher education and the slowness and, frankly, the lack of level of preparedness of students graduating out of our education system across the country - not specific to Utah . . .Aaron Osmond - Amazon Web ServicesLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:In the first episode of the spring 2021 season, Southern Utah University President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith introduce this semester’s topic, Alternatives to Traditional Higher Education. The two discuss the upcoming season and begin to dive into the variety of options available for people outside of higher education.  Links Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith welcome Dr. Jon Anderson, Southern Utah University’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In this episode, the group discusses the role of shared governance in university strategic planning and how to engage faculty, staff, and students in the process. Featured Quotes:And so, [according to the American Association of University Professors] it is the president’s responsibility to innovate for the institution and to push that, and the question then becomes, ‘How is that best done?’ And as you mentioned, it’s best done not by one person putting out new ideas and everybody jumping in line. A lot of that work has to be coming to a shared understanding of the changes that need to happen, and not specific policy changes that I’m talking about, but the changes that are driven by environmental conditions that put the long-term sustainability of the institution at risk.Jon Anderson - Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Southern Utah University. . . I’ll say in advance as we have this conversation that this work of shared governance is not efficient, and it is incredibly slow relative to dictatorship styles, and it is very time-consuming, but very healthy. And so, as we work through this, we’ve got to make sure that people who are engaging in it—and we’re asking, faculty, staff, everybody to engage in it—they have to know upfront it is going to take a lot of effort, it’s going to take a lot of time.Jon Anderson - Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Southern Utah UniversityLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with Dr. Dave Woolstenhulme, Commissioner of Higher Education for the state of Utah, to discuss the structure of higher education in Utah and recent shifts that have been made. Featured Quotes:I think we're going to have some real efficiencies around how we operate and how we do things for backdoor operations of an institution. It won't change the front, what the student is going to see, but when you look at HR, you look at IT, you look at cybersecurity, you look at auditing, you look at all of these back room functions of an institution, and we're complicating that by doing it 16 different times throughout the state. If you're a business person, you sit back and go, 'There's got to be a more efficient and effective way that we could even provide better services than what we're currently providing.'Dr. Dave Woolstenhulme, Utah State Commissioner of Higher EducationSo, I just think that is probably one of the most critical things we've got to get around is the competition thing. It's not a competition, it's what’s best for the student, and if they're better served at our friends across the street, let's walk them over there and make sure they're served there. And that hasn't happened in the past.Dr. Dave Woolstenhulme, Utah State Commissioner of Higher EducationLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith are joined by the entire Solutions for Higher Education team. From recording to distribution, this week’s guests cover all the steps in the podcast’s production. Bailey Bowthorpe, Libby Meredith, Natasha Johnson, Lexi Carter, and Jill Whitaker join in to share their part of the process and their favorite episodes from the years. Featured Quotes:For those of our listeners at home that tune in regularly, they know that the 2020-21 academic year is going to be focused on us talking about ‘how the sausage gets made’ in Higher Ed. Looking behind the innovations that we have undertaken and seeing where they stand and what things have worked and what things haven’t worked. And today, in celebration of this, our 100th episode, we decided to talk about how the podcast sausage gets made.Steve Meredith, Assistant VP of Enrollment Management for Graduate and Online Programs . . . this actually started as a means to try to communicate to the employees at the university some of the things that we're thinking about and answer questions and explore ideas. So, that's kind of how it started, and we started by bringing in faculty to talk about their research and innovations at the university and challenges that we face.Scott Wyatt, President of SUULinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with Rita Osborn, executive director of the Center for Rural Health to discuss Southern Utah University’s Rural Health Scholars Program. The program prepares students for graduate-level healthcare programs through academic and non-academic experiences.Featured Quotes: . . . the interesting message is you can have any major you want. You could be a music major and get to medical school. Many healthcare graduate programs appreciate that you diversified a lot of your undergrad experience exploring something that you’re passionate about. We have Spanish majors, psychology majors, nutrition majors, the whole gamut…business majors. So, as long as they're doing well in their sciences and achieve their science pre-reqs, then they’re fine.Rita Osborn, Executive Director of the Center for Rural HealthMany of our students just don’t know that they’ve got what it takes to do this, and so we come from this with an asset-based approach. 'These are the things that you bring to the table, and if you truly have the passion to do this, you can.'Rita Osborn, Executive Director of the Center for Rural HealthLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with SUU’s Dr. Eric Kirby, assistant vice president for student affairs and Ryan Bailey, coordinator of completion and student success. They discuss SUU’s main retention strategy, the Assistant Coaches for Excellence and Success (ACES), a peer mentoring program for first year students. Featured Quotes:. . . the ACES are basically the "one stop shop" for all incoming students, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The ACE contacts their incoming student within 24 hours of that student 'depositing' at SUU and basically says that much. "I am your one stop shop; I am your end all and be all of anything you need. I may not know the answers, but I'm going to get you where you need to go."Eric Kirby, SUU Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs. . . there's always been staff members, there's always been academic advisors, financial aid counselors, but this way, every student has another student where maybe they can ask the nitty-gritty questions, or, "You just did this last year, how did you combat tough roommates? Or asking somebody on a date? Or homesickness?" And they're getting feedback from someone who is in their own shoes which I think has been really successful.Ryan Bailey, SUU Coordinator of Completion and Student SuccessLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with SUU’s Provost Jon Anderson to discuss SUU’s newest innovation: a $10,000 bachelor of general studies degree program. They discuss the promise of online student growth and how this new program offers yet another path for SUU students to succeed.Featured Quotes: . . . as we did our financial modeling, we settled on a price point of about $79 a credit, which would allow someone to enter SUU Speedway Campus and finish a full bachelor’s degree for under $10,000. I believe we’re the first institution in the intermountain west to offer a full bachelor’s degree for under $10,000. The Speedway Campus only offers one degree program and that is a Bachelor of General Studies, either a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies. It’s a list of about 40 courses the student can complete to get to 120 credits and they can do that entering in seven week sessions.Dr. Jon Anderson, SUU ProvostI really, fundamentally believe that the broader the brand is, the more recognized the brand is, the more success that every modality will have. So, as people hear about SUU being successful in any one area, that begins to bleed over to lots of other areas and the whole institution begins to elevate. It’s true that the rising tide lifts all boats, and the same thing happens with the brand of an institution.Dr. Jon Anderson, SUU ProvostLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott Wyatt and Steve Meredith meet with two leaders from Southwest Technical College, Tessa Douglas, director of Dual Enrollment and Placement Services, and Will Pierce, Vice President of Instruction. They discuss the innovative partnership between SUU and Southwest Tech and how the two entities have developed multiple pathways for students to take courses at both institutions.Featured Quotes:The SUU students who come [to STECH] all seem to have really positive feedback about their programs. They’re really excited that they have an option to do hands-on type learning in addition to their academic learning at SUU. A lot of the Southwest Tech students who have moved on to SUU, have been really, really grateful because they don’t necessarily think they would have gone to SUU otherwise...Tessa Douglas, Director of Dual Enrollment and Placement Services - Southwest Technical College. . . we gathered faculty and administration at Southwest Tech and we said, “Let’s take a look at your [SUU’s] curriculum. Let’s pull together your syllabi, let’s pull together your…what textbooks you’re using, let’s get some examples of some of your assignments, some of your tests…. And we got all of that together, it was a monumental task.Will Pierce, Vice President for Instruction - Southwest Technical CollegeLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with Tawny Hammond, National Director of Learning Advancement for Best Friends Animal Society and SUU's Melynda Thorpe, Executive Director of Community and Professional Development. They discuss the SUU & Best Friends Executive Leadership Certification, the nation’s first university-endorsed animal services leadership program for working professionals as well as the importance of obtaining higher education in animal welfare.Featured Quotes:. . . it really goes back to an alumni banquet that we had here on campus and SUU was recognizing Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends who is an alumna. I happened to be there in the audience…I was at a table at the back of the room. I remember where I was sitting, I remember Julie standing up there and her saying the words articulating the goal of ending the killing of animals in shelters by the year 2025. And when you hear Julie speak, she's such a captivating speaker and person altogether, but that really resonated with me and I turned to the person next to me and said, 'I think we can help with that.'Melynda Thorpe, Executive Director, SUU Community and Professional DevelopmentI think that our work with SUU has . . . made us better as an organization in that we're able to fulfill that goal of being a learning and leading organization in ending the killing of pets in our nation. It's given us a prestigious partner, an academic partner, a very logical partner when you look at geography.Tawny Hammond, National Director of Learning Advancement, Best Friends Animal SocietyLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith talk with Ken Hall, SUU School of Business Associate Dean, about the overhaul and growth of the MBA program over the last few years. They discuss the importance of maintaining quality between face-to-face and online courses and how holding the same admissions standards for all students - regardless of how they take classes - has really strengthened the program.Featured Quotes:It’s nice to see the numbers grow, absolutely, there’s a lot of positives that come with growth, but one of the things that I think we’re most proud of is our admissions standards have stayed the same and the quality—especially the quality of our online classes—has increased during this time.Ken HallLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith talk with SUU's Faculty Senate President Bill Heyborne about the Three Year Degree program. They discuss the initial concept, the ripple effect it had on campus - specifically among faculty members - and how authentic communication and using the brilliant minds available made the program setup a success.Featured Quotes:After you approached me about participating in this podcast, I started thinking about the things that have gone well, the things that haven’t gone so well, and as I thought about the things that haven’t gone so well from the faculty perspective, I then started thinking, “Well, what is it that these things all have in common? Why did they not go so well?” And the place where I’ve landed is: faculty are creatures of habit. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way at all.Bill HeyborneWhat impressed me and what I learned from this experience, is that all I had to do was say to you and your committee in the Faculty Senate, "Whatever you want to do is fine." [ . . . . what I learned is that those who care the most about something have to be in at the beginning, not reviewing proposals.Soctt L WyattLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith kick off the 2020-21 season by introducing this year’s podcast theme: Innovation in Higher Education: Lessons Learned. They preview some of the topics to be discussed, like the partnership between SUU and Southwest Technical College and SUU’s Three Year Degree program.Featured Quotes:We don’t give salary increases for people that are creative, we don’t give a bonus to anybody like that. But as you move up the ladder and get to the top, so you’re at the point where you can be the most creative and influence change the most, it seems like in the public sector, that you also tend to irritate more people. And, as we say in politics, “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.”Scott L Wyatt. . . disruptions always lead an organization or a person into being better or worse at the end of the disruption. So, that’s…and the approach that we’ve tried to take as a university is we are going to be better at the end of this pandemic.”Soctt L WyattLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Show Notes:Author Christopher Corbett joins the podcast today as we discuss his book The Poker Bride.Featured Quotes:Mark Twain talks about not writing about mankind, but writing about a man and I was very interested in putting a human face on an experience that we don’t know that much about, and that is the experience of the Chinese in the West and more particularly, of Chinese concubines in the West. And that’s how I found Polly Bemis, who was and is now and probably always will be known in Idaho as 'the Poker Bride.'Christopher Corbett. . . when you’re looking at a story like Polly Bemis’, you really have to start at the end, not at the beginning. And the reason for that is quite simply that we know a great deal about Polly Bemis, and you’ve read the book, but we know a great deal about her because of the end of her life in the 1920s and ‘30s.John M. BarryLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook