Monday, Feb. 1, 2010
Utah Statesman The
Campus Voice since 1902
Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com
USU may Personal integrity key, alumnus says face more budget cuts By MEGAN ALLEN staff writer
By CATHERINE MEIDELL assistant news editor
USU budget cuts may increase from 3 to 4 or 5 percent this year, as a result of recent legislative discussion concerning state finances. The Utah Legislature suggests that the 3 percent cut will not be enough to balance USU’s budget this year and have therefore encouraged USU’s executive committee to prepare for an additional 1 percent cut, equaling approximately $1.4 million, said Ray Coward, USU’s executive vice president and provost. Spencer Lee, student body vice president, said it is more likely that the additional cut will be executed if students sit back and watch it happen and suggests that students involve themselves by writing a letter about their concerns to legislative representatives. “If you don’t write a letter, then don’t complain in the fall,” Lee said. “Students don’t realize they could come back to school and their major isn’t offered anymore.” The 3 percent cut for this year is affecting all central administration members and will require them to take a five-day furlough, a
- See BUDGET, page 4
Go abroad and see the world, Ambassador Lynn M. Hansen told students Thursday in the Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series for the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Hansen graduated from USU in 1960 with a degree in German and minors in Russian and physical education. He was involved with USU during his years and was given the Man of the Year Robins award. “Everything that has happened in LYNN HANSEN my life started here at Utah State,” Hansen said. While at USU, Hansen joined the Air Force ROTC. “I joined the ROTC to avoid being drafted by the Army,” he said. “I grew to love it and what it meant.” Hansen spent 23 years in the Air Force working in a variety of positions and agencies. “If you look at my biography, you’d think, ‘There’s a man who can’t hold a job,’” he said. Hansen said he spent time in the Soviet Union working “more or less as a spy” and was in Vietnam for much of the Vietnam War. Time in a war zone was not always spent in combat.
He told a story of a time in Vietnam when it was decided a type of holding cell for the captured enemies was needed. Hansen went scrounging for materials to build the cell. He dropped the materials off and went on another assignment. By the time he came back, a building had been built, but instead of a holding cell, they built an officer’s club. Hansen said he enjoyed all of his years in the military, except for the eight years he spent working in the Pentagon. After not getting a promotion he thought he deserved, his résumé got stuck to a pile of someone else’s papers, which led to an even better promotion as the assistant director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Hansen retired from the Air Force in 1983, after 23 years of active service. “We have the finest military in the world,” he said. “Bar none.” After his retirement he went to teach at Texas A&M University. “I always wanted to be a professor,” he said. In 1986, Hansen was sent to Sweden as the U.S. delegation to the Stockholm Conference with the title of ambassador. After the conference, Hansen received a call from the administration at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., to teach in the political science department. The administration offered him the first endowed chair, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of National Defense and Security Studies. He took the job because he didn’t think he would fit in working in George H.W. Bush’s administration, as well as for the salary offered. After a few months there, he was asked if he wanted to be the vice chairman of the NIC.
“Yes,” he replied, “what’s the NIC?” Hansen spent a few years going back and forth between working for the National Intelligence Council and his job at the Air Force Academy. After the NIC he spent time at the U.S. Intelligence Community and as director of the Collection Concepts Development Center for the CIA. “The CIA was head and shoulders about all the other agencies I worked for,” Hansen said. Hansen gave a few words of advice to students. The first suggestion he had was to go abroad and see the world. “So many people have never lived or been abroad and don’t understand that there are people different than us,” he said. “It’s a different experience. It makes a difference.” Next, Hansen had a leadership lesson to offer students. “Personal integrity is the number one thing,” he said. “It is the ability to talk and listen to someone with a different point of view.” His ultimate advice was to “think like an adult.” He said he talked to the audience like he would talk to his grandchildren, who are young adults. “Children are after instant gratification,” he said. “The things you do at the university stick with you for the rest of your life, so make the most of it now.” Hansen said he has lived his life the best he can. “Things just happen,” he said. “You learn to deal with them the best you can.” – megan.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu
Students glimpse stages of cloning at Science Unwrapped By CATHERINE MEIDELL assistant news editor
In the Eccles Science Learning Center, a large projector screen displayed two cow ovaries and lab manager Ben Sessions showed the audience the blister type modules where eggs would be extracted for cloning. Among other presentations and activities, department head and professor of animal, dairy and veterinary science Kenneth White spoke about genetics and cloning, emphasizing USU’s success in this research, in his speech “Seeing Double: The Origins of Cloning,” a part of Science Unwrapped. Sessions held one of the cow ovaries for attendees to see it up close. Each blister-like formation on the ovary was called a follicle and housed one egg, he said. There were multiple follicles in each ovary, those that did not contain an egg were full of scar tissue. Sessions pointed at one of the follicles and said when extracting an egg a scientist will look for a follicle the size of a hole punch or smaller rather than the dominant follicle, which is a few times larger. The fluid from the follicle must then be sucked out to retrieve the egg. This topic did not only interest students of the collegiate level, but it drew elementary and high school students, as well, who arrived eager and ready to learn. “We have gone to all of the Science Unwrapped activities because they are really interesting,” 13-year-old Logan resident Simon Davies said. “There are hands-on activities at the end and one time we actually got to dissect a pig heart.” Michelle Larson, assistant provost, said Science Unwrapped is an event that happens on the last Friday of every month, each month providing scientific minds with new concepts. She said through these events the “hiccups” and “hurrays” of science are shared. “Science and genetics are a really big part of
my major, and I’m going to need to learn about this stuff in my labs,” said Alli Windley, freshman and pre-veterinary major. “We (my friends and I) are so geeky.” Quinngang Weng, a genetics and cloning researcher, showed the audience the beginning steps in cloning a somatic cell on an overhead projector. The cell was magnified by a microscope and Weng used a small pipette to make a hole in the cell and then place the donor cell in the egg. Weng completed these steps successfully for all to see. White said that in 2003, USU made a name for itself among other prestigious colleges, for successfully cloning an equine. The accomplishment recognized USU as a smart school, in the ranks with Stanford. Three identical mules were produced from this project, however, White said it was the most difficult project he has been involved in. One of the reasons the cloning process was difficult to sort out was that mules have an odd number of chromosomes. Before successfully creating the mule clones, the research group spent nine years studying cattle eggs, White said. In 1999 the equine research group tried one small cloning session with no pregnancies. In 2000 three large sessions were conducted with still no pregnancies, and four large sessions the following year also yielded no pregnancies. Finally, in 2002, three large cloning sessions were conducted with positive pregnancy results and the three foals were born the following year. When the mules were full-grown, White said they became racing mules, one ranking third fastest mule in the nation. “They really do race mules, believe me, but you probably won’t see it on ESPN,” White said. White explained why cloning animals is important to humanity and said it is ideal when cloning to duplicate those animals with
- See CLONE, page 4
GUESTS OF SCIENCE UNWRAPPED Friday see different stages of cloning in cells through microscopes. Science Unwrapped explores scientific concepts on the last Friday of every month and attracts college students as well as elementary and high school students. STEVE SELLERS photo
Inside This Issue
2/1/10 The poor economy makes students believe it’s now harder to get rich. Page 5
Bendall and Jardine combine for 37 points as men’s basketball wins 6th in a row. Page 8
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