By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Utah State University Eastern has hosted several speakers over recent months as part of its “From the Book Cliffs to Blanding” series of events. These guests have covered Eastern Utah’s past and present, and now, to close up the event, they look to the future through a discussion with author Terry Tempest Williams on Monday, April 21.
Micheal Harris, the head of Eastern’s Library & Learning Commons, joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss this event and preview what may lie ahead for Eastern Utah.
“It started with just a conversation I was having with a couple of our faculty. I’ve been trying to do this since I got to the university as a librarian; I’ve been trying to do faculty talks and stuff to engage with the community and also bring more recognition to the wonderful research and resources that our faculty bring to this community,” explained Harris of the speaker series,” so it’s been this big, expansive view of the history of Eastern Utah. We started with our geology professor, Evey Ganaway Dalton. And recently, our history professor, Nichelle Frank, looked at the more recent history. And so we’ve been looking at this big view. And we’ve been focusing on our faculty. But I wanted to cap the series off with a look to the future.”
To accomplish this glimpse into the future, the college has invited Williams to speak on what may come to pass in the area. “Her father has this deep history with Utah. They laid gas pipes and all these other things. Her father’s company laid some of the pipe that runs underneath our feet here in Price,” shared Harris,” she used to teach at the University of Utah and has published numerous books … She currently is sort of writer-in-residence now at the Harvard Divinity School. So she splits her time between Utah and Boston now. But she is a writer who, if you engage with her work, has this deep empathy for people and understanding. She tries to understand everything about a subject and brings a very humanistic view. She does not shy away from difficult topics.”
The event is free and open to the community and will be held in the Geary Theatre at USU Eastern. Registration is open at eastern.usu.edu/speaker-series/. A virtual attendance option is also available for USU Eastern students and faculty.
Harris discussed what excites him the most about this event,” I’m excited to hear her perspective because she is someone who has this vast, expansive experience. She is from Utah. She’s lived here most of her life. She is someone who’s deeply ingrained in this community. Like I said, her family helped build parts of this state. And so I think she’s someone that can speak to not only the academic crowd but also the community.” He added,” And that’s what I think is the mission of the institution of USU Eastern. We want to be part of this community in a way that serves not only the academic needs of our students but also the needs of the community.”
Closing our conversation, Harris said,” It’s general admission, so if you want the good seats, get there early and everything. And please do come support this event because the more people we get for this, the more reason I have to ask to continue doing stuff like this year after year.”
An Evening with Terry Tempest Williams will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 21, in the Geary Theatre on the USU Eastern campus. Registration for this event is open at eastern.usu.edu/speaker-series/.
*Updated to reflect a change in date from April 7 to April 21.