Snowed at Snow! Obscure historical footnote.

Above: Snow College. Ephraim, UT. 18 July 2018.

In 2009, egged on by my scheming, devious friend, Dan Jorgensen, I threw my hat into the ring in a misbegotten attempt to become President of Snow College. Dan was on Snow's board of trustees. He and Elaine had made a significant contribution to the college's endowment.

I interviewed, along with fifteen other candidates, with selected members of the Utah Higher Education System Board of Trustees at Nephi high school. A few weeks later, Margaret and I were notified that I had made the final cut of five candidates. Margaret and I spent a day in Ephraim interviewing with key Snow College administrators, faculty, and the Utah Higher Education System Board of Trustees.

The decision was narrowed down to two: me and Scott Wyatt an educator from Logan, UT. Scott Wyatt's appointment was supposed to be a slam dunk...he and his supporters had politicked the end game (good for him and bad on us...it's a legitimate part of the game). However, surprisingly, trustee deliberations went on for three hours into the early evening. Margaret and I sat in our parked car outside of the Noyes Building awaiting a phone call for the selection results. In the end, Scott Wyatt got the job...in hindsight, a good thing for him, Snow, and Margaret and me. However, Dan and I learned later that I had had a real shot at becoming Snow College President. A little politicking on our side might have taken us over the line!

Why did I do this? I was an iconoclastic, dark horse entry to be sure. But I was raised by a college educator. My Dad was a Harvard Business School and NYU PhD educated Dean of BYU's college of business from 1965 to 1980. I had an MBA, and several successful experiences managing financial institutions with as large a budget as Snow's, in one case, American Savings of Florida, a publicly traded company. Serendipity has frequently been a factor in my life journey. So why not?

The process was fun and interesting. And there's no credit given for sitting on the sidelines!

Snow College is somewhat of a black sheep amongst Utah's institutions of higher learning. It's located off the beaten track in beleaguered, turkey farming, Sanpete County on Utah's US 89 corridor.

Ephraim, where Snow College is located, is originally a Scandinavian Mormon convert settlement in the 1850's. Like most of the rest of Utah's US 89 corridor, Ephraim has missed out on Utah's economic boom experienced in the last three decades by the Wasatch Front and Washington County.

Snow College doesn't let its outlier status slow it down. Originally a two-year junior college, Snow has succeeded in building successful four-year programs...music for one.

Circa 2007, largely due to Dan Jorgensen's engineering, Snow entered into a partnership with Julliard School of Music, New York City, NY, that lasted for nine years. There were faculty exchanges and Julliard coordinated summer workshops in Ephraim.

Julliard, under its new (2016) leader, Winton Marsalis, has charted a new course, that doesn't include Snow, but many of the old Julliard faculty still come to run summer workshops at Snow. That's why I'm here today. I'm chaperoning my 12-year-old grandson, Phin, an attendee at Snow's summer Jazz Workshop. NYC based jazz drummer great, Carl Allen, runs the drum segment of the workshop.

Most of the jazz workshop participants are older than Phin. But Phin was admitted provided he had an adult to take him overnight. I'm sharing those chaperone duties with his mom. Ephraim is 130 miles south of Park City, where mom Phoebe Hailey and I live.

Snow two-year graduates are highly desired by Utah's four-year institutions. Snow students graduate Utah four-year programs disproportionally high in their graduating class.

The price is right at Snow. Tuition levels are low, compared to other Utah options, and a student will be taught by a tenured professor who loves teaching and not by an under qualified graduate assistant.

Snow College has a perennially top ten nationally ranked junior college football program. Four players from Snow College are currently playing in the National Football League.

I enjoy being back in Ephraim after not having been back for eight years or so. Off the beaten track or not, Ephraim, with its "Mormon Pioneer Wide" streets, is clean and well-manicured.... testimony to the strong community values deriving from its aspirational pioneer heritage. Notwithstanding, I am also grateful that I was "Snowed at Snow" in 2009.