President Albrecht Attends Humanities Ceremony

Utah State University President Stan Albrecht attended the Utah Humanities Council’s recent Human Ties Celebration. He was on hand as former and current Utah State University faculty members were honored.

The state’s top humanities award, the 2006 Distinguished Humanities Award, went to Utah’s Poet Laureate Ken Brewer.

 

Brewer, a Logan resident, was named to a five-year term as the state’s poet laureate by Gov. Mike Leavitt on Jan. 23, 2003. Brewer, a professor of English at Utah State University for 32 years, has published numerous books of poetry and hundreds of individual poems. He has conducted hundreds of readings and writing workshops throughout the western states.

 

Accepting the award on his behalf was Brewer’s wife, Bobbie, a long-time faculty member in USU’s Department of English. The award was presented by Greg Thompson, chair of the Humanities Council Board of Directors. Cynthia Buckingham, executive director of the Utah Humanities Council, communicated with Brewer during the ceremony via cell phone.

 

Also honored were Elaine Thatcher and Bruce Saperston, who received a 2006 Humanities Award, recognizing their work with the Mountain West Symposium on Song. Thatcher is the program director of the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at USU, and Saperston is department head of USU’s Music Department. The Mountain West Center for Regional Studies and the music department combined efforts to present the Mountain West Symposium on Song.

 

The 2006 Humanities Awards are presented to Utah citizens who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the humanities.

 

The Utah Humanities Council is an independent nonprofit cultural agency established in 1975. UHC is a statewide leader in lifelong learning with programs that reach more than one million Utah residents across the state each year.