President Albrecht and Vice President Peterson Participate in StoryCorps

Utah Public Radio Development Director Bryan Earl heard how successful the StoryCorps project was in Austin, Texas, from public radio station KUT-FM. He decided to pursue the project and initiated a request to host StoryCorps in Logan. It seemed like a great opportunity to serve the community ­— Logan and Cache Valley — as well as the USU campus and listeners along the UPR translator network.

When the staff at UPR heard that StoryCorps was coming to Logan — the first stop ever in the state of Utah — it was decided that Utah State University President Stan Albrecht and Vice President for Advancement Ross Peterson would be naturals, and invitations were offered.

 

StoryCorps is a national project to record, in sound, the stories of American citizens to add to the country’s oral history tradition.

 

“We’re here to help you interview your grandmother, your uncle, the lady who has worked at the luncheonette down the block for as long as you can remember — anyone whose story you want to hear and preserve,” the StoryCorps Web site states.

 

As host station, UPR was offered five appointments to fill as desired, and President Albrecht seemed a natural choice as a native son of Utah with roots in rural Wayne County, said Nora Zambreno, a development and public relations specialist for UPR.

 

“Ross Peterson is a natural partner to President Albrecht,” Zambreno said. “They are close friends, come from similar backgrounds and have served USU and the community faithfully. Stan and Ross can represent USU’s significance as Utah’s land grant university.”

 

StoryCorps offers roughly 130 interview appointments during stays in host cities. Approximately half are filled by listeners who are familiar with the project.

 

“Many public radio listeners tune in weekly to hear segments from recorded interviews featured on National Public Radio’s weekly news magazine ‘Morning Edition,’” Zambreno said.

 

During their recording session, President Albrecht and Vice President Peterson focused on education, especially USU’s land-grant mission, including international students in that mission. They shared stories and talked about the university’s location in Logan and Cache Valley. Peterson opened the interview with a question, but from that point on, a free-wheeling conversation took place.

 

Peterson shared success stories of people who attended USU, coming from the rural areas of Utah and southern Idaho. Albrecht, too, took a student-focused approach. USU’s first capital campaign was brought up during a discussion of the need for fundraising in higher education.

 

The public support of the StoryCorps project in Logan has been impressive, Zambreno said.

 

In addition to inviting Albrecht and Peterson to participate, representatives from USU’s Special Collections and Archives Latino Voices Project, the USU Folklore Program and the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies were invited to act as program ambassadors. Also involved are the American West Heritage Center, Cache Chamber of Commerce, Cache Community Connections, CAPSA, LDS Family History Center and others.

 

“The ambassadors from these organizations have been instrumental in the scheduling process,” Zambreno said.

 

USU’s Center for Persons with Disabilities, Sunshine Terrace and the Cache Memory Study have participated in outreach activities conducted onsite by StoryCorps facilitators Rachel Falcone and Daniel Littlewood.

 

Major funding for StoryCorps is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It is a project of Sound Portraits Productions in partnership with National Public Radio and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

 

 

Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354, patrick.williams@usu.edu