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Farewell
Prominent author, scholar
dies after 50 years at SUU
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Flowers were placed at the Centurium Wednesday
by Gene Woolf’s family in remorse to his passing.
The Centurium was created under Woolf’s direction.
Woolf believed a university was a “stimulating”
climate for students.
KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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By ELIZABETH MILLER
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Gene Woolf, director of the Grace A. Tanner Center and
a man described by friends as one who ascribed to the
virtues of love, truth, honor, and service, passed away
Jan. 3 after a battle with cancer.
“He was the best combination of intelligence and
knowledge, coupled with a great sense of humor,”
said Larry Baker, a friend and colleague.
He was a man intensely admired and one whose contributions
to this town and the surrounding university are legendary,
Mayor Gerald Sherratt said.
“As a people, we can’t afford to lose our
stalwarts, the people to whom we have looked for guidance
and direction, and Gene was just such a man, someone we
could depend upon, someone we knew always had in mind
our well being and that of the institutions we dearly
love,” Sherratt said.
Woolf believed that a university was, first and foremost,
a stimulating climate where students and faculty alike
can be immersed in what John Henry Newman called the “discipline
of the intellect,” Sherratt said.When Woolf first
began at SUU, there were 310 students
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enrolled. In the 50 years of his service to
the university, the number of students grew to more than
6,000.
“In every important decision over those five decades,
Gene played an important role as an adviser and counselor,
and, often, as implementer,” Sherratt said. “He
played a vital part in the advancement of the university,
and all with a special regard for SUUowe him their everlasting
gratitude.”
“He was just a wonderful man,” said Jackie Bulloch,
secretary to the president. “He was very intelligent
and just a special person.”
Sherratt said Woolf spent his life trying to guide people
to that which ennobles mankind.
“We can honor him by striving a bit harder to be the
kind of person he would have had us be,” he said.
Woolf joined the SUU faculty in 1953 as an English and philosophy
teacher. Some other positions that he assumed were chair
of the English Department, dean of the College of Arts and
Letters and administrative assistant to the university President,
Sherratt said.
He was a public servant who served for eight years as a
member and later chair of the Iron County School Board,
Sherratt said
Woolf also was presented with the lifetime achievement award
by the Utah Council of Teachers of English.
Woolf dedicated time to the Utah State Office of Education
and the Board of Regents and for 15 years he served on the
board of directors for the Utah Shakespearean Festival.
After his official retirement in 1998, Woolf continued to
teach and serve as the director of the Grace A. Tanner Center
for Human Values. He is the link that has brought so many
prominent members of society to speak at the Grace A. Tanner
Distinguished Lecturer Series, which takes place in April.
“Gene brought many of the world’s leading scholars
to SUU in an attempt to acquaint the university’s
students and faculty with the great contemporary ideas and
thinkers. . .that we might be able to surmount the illusion
and glittering nonsense that pervades modern society,”
Sherratt said.
The Centurium monument just outside the main entrance of
the Centrum Arena was created under the direction of Woolf.
“In significant ways, it represents much of what Gene
valued in life, and what he believed a university should
value as well,” Sherratt said.
In 1997, Woolf wrote Odyssey of the Mind, a book about the
philosophers who are featured in the Centurium.
In total, Woolf presented five papers to professional organizations,
he had 13 papers published and he had six books published,
including one additional book he edited, according to his
resume.
Woolf is survived by Leslie, his wife of 58 years, and their
four children, Terry, Ron, Larry, and Bret.
Funeral services took place Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the
Southern Utah Mortuary with an interment at Cedar Cemetery.
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Legislators slate forum
on Friday for tuition
By TYLER JOHNSON
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Rep. DeMar “Bud” Bowman and Rep. Thomas Hatch
of the Utah Legislature have slated an open forum to discuss
Utah’s affairs with students Friday at 10 a.m. in the
Living Room of the Sharwan Smith Center.
Kolby Day, academic vice president, said the representatives
will discuss the reasons behind the upcoming Fall Semester’s
tuition increase and any other issues concerning students.
Day said SUUSA representatives asked Bowman and Hatch to visit
SUU because state legislation is primarily responsible for the
latest cuts in higher education.
Earlier in the year, Utah’s legislators found a $400 million
shortfall in the budget, causing a mandatory 4.5 percent tuition
hike for every college and university in Utah.
During Christmas break, the legislators also felt the need to
cut an additional $3 million from the state’s higher education
budget. Day said even though he thinks $3 million is a relatively
small cut, he thinks it needs to be discussed with the legislators.
“Three million dollars for all the universities in the
state isn’t that high, even though it’s not good,”
Day said.
Even though the Legislature cut an additional $3 million from
the state’s higher education budget last month, Day said
the additional cut will affect SUU but promised the tuition
proposal figures would not go any higher.
Because of problems with SUU’s budget, school administrators
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also decided to increase tuition up to an additional 19 percentbut
not higher.
“When we talked to President (Steven) Bennion, we agreed
that 19 would be the maximum amount we would go up,” Day
said.
Last semester, SUU administrators met with students and faculty
to discuss SUU’s proposed tuition increase.Of the roughly
100 people in attendance, most were in opposition to the hike
and suggested other ways to aid the budget without hindering
students.
At the forum, administrators promised to schedule another meeting
in January to discuss the hike further.
SUUSA representatives, Day and Matt Glazier, SUUSA president,
met with students on Wednesday to discuss SUU’s role in
the proposed increase, as promised.
Students voiced concerns about not being able to transfer credits
from smaller colleges, about high prices charged at the Bookstore
for textbooks and about cuts in the Legislature.
Day said the forum with Bowman and Hatch also will serve as
part of the administrators’ commitment to continue to
meet with students about tuition.
Bowman said he and Hatch will be willing to discuss any concerns
the students would like to discuss, not just tuition.
“I think between the two of us, we can field them,”
Bowman said.
A new state bill is in the works to mandate public school students
to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Bowman said students could ask questions about issues that are
similar.
Day said even though the floor will be open for any issue students
have, he thinks the primary focus of the discussion will be
on tuition.
“That’s the issue that’s going to be near
and dear to the hearts of the students,” Day said.
Bowman and Hatch will be available for an hour on Friday.
University Journal staff member Jennifer Hickman contriburted
to this story.
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