Utah State University

Utah State University's main campus is located in Logan, Utah . It was established in 1888 . USU has 850 faculty, and 23,128 students (total) were enrolled in Autumn of 2005 , down nearly 800 from the previous year.

ACADEMICS

As Utah's Land-grant University , USU conducts world-class research into many Agricultural and Natural Resource disciplines. Utah State's Extension community provides cutting edge resources and support for the state, including an excellent Continuing Education program. Under the Carnegie Classification Of Institutions Of Higher Education USU is classified as a Doctoral/Research University–Extensive; under the previous Carnegie classification, it was considered a Research I University. It spends around $141 million for research annualy. It is ranked 3rd Tierby U.S. News And World Report (2006).

USU is well known for its engineering program and Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL). The SDL is a world-famous research facility focusing on military and science applications. It frequently submits projects to the Department Of Defense and NASA .

The University boasts a highly respected undergratuate music program, as well as fine performance facilities, including the Kent Concert Hall and the Manon Caine Russell/Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall. Notable faculty include vocalist Michael Ballam and pianist Gary Amano .

Colleges and departments

USU has seven colleges, each is shown here with its respective departments:

ATHLETICS

USU's sports teams are known as the Aggies . Recently, the men's Basketball team, under coach Stew Morrill , has become known as a nationally elite program, with several trips to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship . The Football program, which has a rich history ( Merlin Olsen is an alumnus), has struggled lately, following an ill-fated two-year stint as an independent program and two more years in the geographically distant Sun Belt Conference . Following the decision of the Big West Conference to stop sponsoring football in 2001, USU's other teams remained in that conference until the school was finally invited to join the Western Athletic Conference (a long-sought goal) in 2005 .

Before the beginning of its decline in 1998, the football program had experienced some successes, including Big West Conference championships in 1993 and 1997. In 1993, the team earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl , where they defeated Ball State University . In 1997, the team lost to the University Of Cincinnati in the Humanitarian Bowl .

In recent times, the men's basketball team has won invitations to the NCAA tournament in 1998 (under coach Larry Eustachy ), 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 (all under Morrill). All of these invitations were a result of winning the Big West Conference tournament. Despite a stellar season in 2003–2004 and a national top-25 ranking toward the end of the season, the Aggies did not receive an at-large tournament bid after being upset in the conference tournament. This was the most notorious snub in that year's tournament, and earned the derision of head coach Morrill. A highlight was a first-round victory against fifth-seeded Ohio State University in 2001.

Of women's sports at USU, Gymnastics has probably been most successful, and the school also sponsors women's Softball and Volleyball . Women's basketball returned in 2003 after a fifteen-year absence. At the time, USU was the only Division I program that did not have women's basketball besides the mostly male Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel . The women's team has as yet not produced a winning season.

The most used sports venue is the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum , where basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics events are held. Its reputation as a tomb for visiting men's teams (as of Summer 2005, USU has only lost eight games there since the 1997–98 season), and its loud, rambunctious atmosphere have contributed to difficulties assembling a nonconference schedule. An interesting fact about the Spectrum is its close proximity to the Logan city cemetery.

The football team plays in Romney Stadium , slightly north and west of the main campus. The stadium had natural grass until 2004, when artificial turf was installed.

As of the 2005-2006 season, the Aggies will compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

MEDIA

Two primary media outlets serve the USU student body: (1) The ''Utah Statesman'' is sponsored by the university and is published three times per week. (2) The ''Hard News Cafe'' news website is operated by USU's Department of Journalism and Communications and has won numerous awards for its student reporting, partially because it is often the only entrant in the categories in which it wins.

SPEECH & DEBATE

USU sponsors one of the premiere speech & debate programs in America. The program is lead by Director of Forensics Dr. Tom Worthen. Dr. Worthen has coached many nationally recognized teams at universities across the country. Dr. Worthen organized the program in 2004. Since that time, the program has won back to back Northwest Forensic Conference championships.

NOTABLE ALUMNI