Convocations

President of Southern Utah University, Steven D. Bennion is the 14th chief executive to guide a school with a long and distinguished history that has included five different names. President Bennion is a grandson of the founder of the university, Milton R. Bennion, and joined SUU in 1997 after successful terms of service as president of both Snow College and Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Noted for his genuine interest in students, President Bennion has taken time to periodically teach a political science course at SUU in addition to his many administrative duties.

SUUSA is the Southern Utah University Student Association - the Student Body of SUU. The Student Government of SUUSA is the representation and voice of SUU on the students' behalf. If you want to be involved (or more involved) in student life at SUU, or have concerns or need some help, talk to a member of the Student Government. That is the reason SUUSA and the Student Government are her to help students! We cordially invite you to learn more about SUUSA and to get to know your representatives by coming to this new and interactive introduction to SUUSA presentation. We will have a brief overview of the Student Government, a question-and-answer period, and an up-close-personal opportunity to see the Student Senate at work. We look forward to meeting you there and hearing all your ideas!

Brenda was born in Utah, raised in California, and is Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Scots. She was a founding faculty member of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University and is on the Theatre Arts faculty at U.C. Santa Cruz and lectures and teaches at colleges across the nation. An outstanding dancer and master communicator, Aoki was awarded the National Storytelling Championship in 1996 and was named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans by Avenue Magazine the same year. Her plays have become part of the curriculum on several university campuses. Her presentation of "Kuan-Yin" debuted in Bethlehem and splices two stories of how compassion has overcome terrorism, a fitting topic on this date. Brenda lives with her husband and son in San Francisco.

Fueled by a lifelong commitment to serving others, Dr. William T. Close, M.D. has made remarkable contributions to the human family. Not content to live the "normal" life of an American doctor, Close spent the first 22 years of his medical career providing global health care and surgery to those in great need. Sixteen of those years were spent residing in the Republic of Congo/Zaire. Although reared primarily in France and England, Close, and American citizen, left Africa in 1977 and established a rural medical practice in Big Piney, Wyoming. Dr. Close was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from the University of Utah when he gave the commencement address there in May of 2001. His books include Subversion of Trust, A Doctor's Life and Ebola: Through the Eyes of the People.

Arnold Leibovit is an award-winning writer, director and producer. He was the executive producer of the $150 million 2002 Dreamworks Warner Brothers remake of the Time Machine. He also directed and produced the Puppetoon Movie and served as the associate director/editor of Rascal Dazzle, featuring Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies and narrated by Jerry Lewis. Mr. Leibovit has received the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy Film, three CINE Golden Eagles, two International Film and TV Festival Awards, and three Awards of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board. He and his wife recently settled in Cedar City.

Jon Turk earned a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1971 and began to write environmental and earth science textbooks. Hounded by a restless spirit, however, Jon has kayaked in the Arctic and off Cape Horn, mountain biked through the Gobi Desert, made first climbing ascents of big walls on Baffin Island, and first ski descents in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzia. Jon's recent Cold Oceans: Adventures by kayak, rowboat, and dogsled, explores the mind games of expedition success and failure. His new, as yet published book, explores the role of adventure and migration in both modern and Stone Age cultures. He will be accompanied by his wife and traveling companion, Christine Seashore.

Karl R. Braithwaite, a Cedar City native, is Dean of the the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Braithwaite joined the Muskie School in 2001 after a distinguished career at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico where he served as Director of Government Relations, guiding the Los Alamos Laboratory's relationships with federal and state governments. These duties included handling congressional investigations regarding the Wen Ho Lee spy case. A 1962 graduate of (then) College of Southern Utah, he holds a Ph.D. in political science at Duke University. He is a son of the late Royden Braithwaite, former president of Southern Utah University and his wife Alice.

Brian Ransom is an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is a sculptor, potter, composer and performer. Ransom fashions unique sculptures from clay which also serve as musical instruments, and has made numerous recordings of original music in ensembles of his own inventions. Professor Ransom has been a Fulbright scholar in Peru, studying ancient musical instruments. Listed in Who's Who in American Art, Brian has displayed his work in numerous museum and private collections across the country, and he has exhibited both nationally and internationally.

James Twitchell is a Professor of English and Advertising at the University of Florida. A prolific author, Dr. Twitchell has special interest in the "branding of culture." He contends that our brand-conscious society has created an environment where the label on our shirt, the make of our car and our favorite laundry detergent are today filling the vacuum once occupied by anchors such as religion, education and family name. The downside of such focus on materialism is that it "robs us of our roots and leaves us adrift and anxious." Twitchell's recent publications include Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism, Twenty Ads That Shook the World and Living It Up: Why We Love Luxury.

At age 23, Stacey Bess, author of Nobody Don't Love Nobody, began a teaching career at a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City. Confronted with many challenges, Bess has become a strong proponent of individual rights and the worth of all the human family. Her book title was inspired by a student who observed that everyone must love someone. She has appeared on the Phil Donohue Show and been featured in People magazine for her work. Bess has observed, "I believe we are a caring society still, but we don't know how to serve. My purpose is to teach people to serve; if we spend our time judging, we may lose the opportunity to serve."

Winthrop Lindsay Adams has taught at the Universities of Virginia and Michigan as well as the University of Utah. He is the author of a score of articles on ancient Greek and Roman history in professional journals and anthologies, and has just finished a biography of Alexander the Great for the Peter Stearns World Biography Series.

Dr. Cox is Director of the Congressionally chartered National Tropical Botanical Gardens in Florida and Hawaii. In 1997, Time magazine honored him as one of 11 "Heroes of Medicine" based on his ongoing search for new medicines from plants. For his efforts in saving tropical rainforests, he shared the $75,000 Goldman Prize in 1997. A former Brigham Young University Dean, Cox was named in 1998 by CHOICE magazine as one of the top university leaders in America. A passionate ethnobotanist, Cox received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University, and his master's degree in ecology from the University of Wales. He has authored three books and over 120 scientific papers. Married to the former Barbara Wilson, he resides with his family on the island of Kauai.

In 1915, Ernest Shackleton became stranded with twenty-seven men in Antarctica. How he accomplished the impossible and brought them all home safely after a two-year life-and-death struggle is the subject of this exciting lecture. Michael Christian is an authority on Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic explorations. He has taught English at Boston College since 1986. Christian entertains with an adventure story that has an urgent lesson for our time about how leadership can make a difference. Christian was nominated as speaker of year in 2001 by the National Association for College Activities. He lives in New York City where he is currently producing an off-Broadway play about Shackleton.

Dr. Paystrup's research focuses on how various "stakeholder" groups try to influence the processes of making, implementing, and enforcing environmental public policy. Her doctoral dissertation The Wolf at Yellowstone's Door won an International Communication Association award for the best dissertation written in the field in 1993. With a bachelor's in journalism and a master's in mass communication from BYU, Dr. Paystrup joined the SUU faculty in 1985. She currently teaches public relations courses and technical writing.