Utah State University Celebrates Old Main Society

Friends, alumni, faculty, staff and students gathered in mid-November to honor members of the Utah State University Old Main Society. Distinguished guests were honored during the festivities, including Herb and Helen Champ, who received the Spirit of Old Main Award; David Lancy and Joyce Kinkead, who received the Emeriti Award; and Bret and Chalisa Wursten, who received the New Generation Award.

The Old Main Society was established in 1967 to recognize those individuals who have risen to the challenge of the university’s founders to assist USU through their private gifts that augment the university’s public funds.

Old Main Society members were a vital component to the success of the university’s comprehensive campaign “Honoring Tradition, Securing Our Future, The Campaign for Utah State University.” The campaign allowed the university to improve its academic programs, retain quality faculty and provide better facilities for students and researchers. The $500 million raised over the course of the campaign is not a replacement for, but works with and enhances, the university’s state-funded budget.

Utah State University thanks and honors those individuals willing to contribute their resources for the future of Utah State University.

Herb and Helen Champ

Spirit of Old Main

Born and raised in Logan, Utah, George “Herb” Champ was destined to become a Utah State Aggie. His father, Frederick Percival Champ, was a prominent Logan businessman who served as a member of USU’s Board of Trustees and was responsible for the creation of the beautiful USU landscaping patrons enjoy today. After leaving to attend the New Mexico Military Institute for high school and then serving in the infantry for three years during World War II, Herb returned to Logan, where he studied commerce at Utah Agricultural College and graduated in 1949.

Herb began his career in Boise, Idaho, where he was affiliated with the Champ family-owned Utah Mortgage Loan Corporation. It was during this time he met, and fell in love with, Helen Mae Adams, who became his wife in 1952. Helen grew up in Boise, Idaho, and attended Boise State College.

In 1956, Herb and Helen returned to Logan where Herb went to work at Utah Mortgage Loan Corporation headquarters where he served as CEO until his retirement in 1983.

In addition to being active in local and philanthropic organizations, Herb’s ties with the university became increasingly strong. He was involved with the USU Quarterback Club, the USU Athletic Association, the USU Big Blue Club, the USU Old Main Society and the USU College of Business.

Helen was very active in many local philanthropic organizations, including the Sunshine Terrace Foundation and Red Cross fund-raising projects. She worked with the Cache County Youth Center Committee and is a past member of the Logan Jaycee Jill’s Service Club. She is a member of the AC Women’s Club and Order of the Eastern Star. She and Herb, along with Herb’s family, have been long-time members and generous donors to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Herb and Helen have both been honored with the USU Distinguished Service Award, the Distinguished Executive Alumnus Award and as members of the USU Alumni Association Hall of Honor.

The Champ family has given generously to USU in many areas. Honoring Herb’s father, the Champ estate funded Champ Hall in Old Main, as well as Champ Drive and the Champ Room in the Spectrum. And the Frances Winton Champ Carillon bells ring from Old Main’s tower in honor of Herb’s mother.

The Champ family legacy continues through Herb and Helen’s children: George Champ and Tere Champ-Major (Rick Major), and their five grandchildren, Charles and Nicholas Major, and Adam, Katie and Sarah Champ.

David Lancy and Joyce Kinkead

Emeriti Award

Cooperative yet competitive describes this year’s honorees for the Spirit of Old Main Emeriti Award. David F. Lancy has garnered prizes for both teaching and research while a professor of anthropology at Utah State University. The Carnegie Foundation recognized him in its U.S. Professors of the Year Program in 2001. The D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, the most prestigious research accolade given by USU, honored Lancy for his accomplishments challenging narrow, culture-bound conceptions of childhood and children’s learning. Lancy has authored or edited numerous books and more than 75 articles and chapters in multiple fields. His seventh book, The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings, helped launch a new sub-discipline in anthropology. The volume just appeared in a second edition from Cambridge University Press. Since retiring three years ago, Lancy has published 14 articles and chapters, given as many, mostly sponsored, lectures in the United States, India, France, Israel and England and has just begun work on a new book. He earned degrees from Yale and the University of Pittsburgh and has done fieldwork in Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad, Sweden and the United States. He is the proud parent of two daughters, Nadia, a senior writer at CNN, and Sonia, a psychotherapist.

Joyce Kinkead, professor of English, was named USU’s 13th Carnegie Professor and also Researcher of the Year for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2013. The Council on Undergraduate Research designated her a Fellow in 2012, the first humanist to be so honored. She is the author or editor of a dozen books, and is currently juggling two more book length projects. Growing up on a farm in Missouri inspired her most recent book, Farm: A Multimodal Reader. Arriving at USU in 1982, she continues her faculty role.

Both Lancy and Kinkead have supported USU in numerous areas, significantly with University Libraries and the Merrill-Cazier Library. The Kinkead Honors Study Area is a tribute to her many accomplishments on behalf of undergraduate education. The May Swenson Study Lounge was funded by Kinkead. They are exemplars of Andrew Carnegie’s dictum to give back to worthwhile causes.

Bret and Chalisa Wursten

New Generation Award

Bret and Chalisa Wursten attended Utah State University and were both involved with the ASUSU Activities Committee.

Chalisa was raised in Smithfield, Utah. Both her parents and her siblings attended USU. Chalisa graduated with a dual bachelor’s degree in 1993 in early childhood education and elementary education. She worked several years as an educator before becoming a stay-at-home mother. Chalisa believes in the power of education and has been very involved in the schooling of her three children. She is active in her church where she has served in a variety of positions. She is also actively involved with the English Language Center.

Bret also comes from a family background where many have attended USU, and was raised in Hyde Park, Utah. Bret received a bachelor’s degree in management and human resources from the Huntsman School of Business in 1993. He is currently the president/owner of Central Valley Machine.  He has served on the Board of Directors for the Big Blue Scholarship Fund and is a past president as well. He also serves on the Machining Technology Board of Directors for Bridgerland Applied Technology Center.

Bret and Chalisa have been members of the Old Main Society since 2009. They loved their educational experience at Utah State University and realize the importance and value that education provides. Utah State University is vitally important to their business and the community that they are involved in, providing a valuable resource of many first-class support staff.

The Wurstens are parents of Jaden (19) currently serving an LDS mission in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and daughters Aubre (16) and Kaimbre (14).