Tradewinds, 1983-01-10

              Volume 10 Number 14 UTAH TECHNICAL COLLEGE AT PROVOOREM P.O. Box 1609, Provo, Utah 84603 January 10, 1983 E-Mgbee edks Fraadmg To ESeep Up Wi& Grow President J. Marvin Higbee, plans to iet the Utah Legislature know that Utah Technical College is in need of funds in several areas, and unless the school receives the funds, students will be turned away from attending the college. In a recent meeting with members of the Utah State Legislature, he stressed that the college needs money to build a health technology and administration building, to reduce student-teacher ratios, and to buy more books and equipment. President Higbee said that in the past 10 years, UTC has grown by 125 percent, but appropriations haven't kept pace. "While UTC has had growing enrollment, it has suffered the most dramatic decreases in dollar expenditures of any higher learning institution in the state," he said. In constant dollars, UTC's expenditures have decreased by 27.6 percent since 1978. Besides dollars, teacher-student ratios have also dropped because of spending cuts. "Vocational student-teacher ratios should be about one teacher for every 15 students, yet in many divisions at the college there are 20 and 26 students for every teacher," he added. Another area where Higbee would like to see improvement is in the library. The recommended number of volumes for the college is 50,000, however, UTC has only 16,325 books. Counseling is another sore area with only one counselor for every 1,000 students, when the ratio should be a counselor for every 250 students. "We understand that dollars are tight, but we want our problems understood. In the electronics industry, 300 workers were imported into Utah last year - workers we could have trained from our own population. We could be retraining many unemployed workers right now, but instead we're turning students away because we don't have enough facilities," he said. Community College Concept Another area Dr. Higbee will discuss in the upcoming session of the legislature deals with the concept of incorporating the school into a community college concept. The president says many Utahns don't understand the community college concept and fear vocational classes will suffer if General Education classes are introduced. "Vocational education won't suffer. It's interesting to note that twice as many students transfer from general education programs to vocational classes," he said in regards to UTC students. "UTC will always have 80 per cent of its courses in vocational education. We simply believe the community benefits having both options," he explained. Dr. Higbee's cousin, Jack C. Higbee, executive director of the Utah State Advisory Council, is against the president's request, saying that general education classes should not be expanded because the technical-vocational courses will suffer. "As more and more students flock to the two technical colleges, it will be much easier to channel and counsel students into communications, biology, social studies and other general educations classes than open up to open up new sections or start new vocational programs, " said Jack Higbee. X f X, President J. Marvin Higbee discusses the concept of the community college. Photo by Steve Robinson. President Higbee feels that one reason. Utah Technical College should be a community college, is that it is located in the second largest county in the state, yet no college exists in this county for students to attend. Students must either enroll at Brigham Young University or attend colleges away from home. He feels that the community college would fulfill the needs of these students and the needs of the community. One of the ways this would be accomplished is by adding courses, as soon as there is a need in the community for courses in a vocational, technical or general subject. Officials Concluding Evironmental Probe Testing for environmentally induced health problems in the Learning Enrichment Center has proven to be negative, according to LaVar Rockwood, vice-president of Administrative Services. Rockwood added that the verbal report indicated there is no excess of chemicals which could have caused the health problems, cited by several of the employees. A written report is expected by January 25, concluding studies done by Ken White, Industrial hygienist, under the direction of Dr. James Lockey, of the University of Utah.