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Read stories from the most recent issue of the Discovery, including features focused on " A Sense of Place ". We cover notable happenings on campus , the exciting early careers of recently-graduated alumni and a special overview of alum Terry Whitworth's efforts in building a company in Tacoma, Washington after graduating from USU with his PhD in 1975.
Above - USU Alum Terry Whitworth (Entomology, MS'72, PhD'75)
Given a choice, Utah State University alums Terry and Faye Whitworth would have likely stayed in Logan to pursue their post-graduate careers. But Cache Valley in 1975 had limited employment opportunities for Terry, a newly minted PhD.

“There were just too many well-educated people in Cache Valley,” says Whitworth, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees in entomology from Utah State. “But we hated to leave.”

The region’s mountains were what drew the young married couple, both natives of the Midwest, to Utah State in the first place.

“We loved the year-round recreational opportunities,” he says. “We hiked Logan Canyon in the summer and cross-country skied in the winter, we skied at Beaver and camped all over Utah, southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming.”

Opportunities beckoned on the East Coast, particularly Florida, but the pair chose location over earning power. Plus, Terry surmised, the traditional academic calendar’s confining schedule would hinder his beloved pursuits of fishing, hunting and camping...
USU Eastern Blanding Alum Onri Benally with USU Faculty Member Dr Alexis Ault
Above, from left - USU Eastern-Blanding Alum Onri Benally (AS'16) and Dr. Alexis Ault of USU's Department of Geology
USU Eastern-Blanding alum Onri Benally, AS’16, is a renaissance man. He was a “maker” before “making” became trendy. On any given day, the 22-year-old can be found tinkering in a nanoscience lab, getting to know his new Minneapolis home on a custom-made electric bike he built with a 1-kilowatt lithium manganese/polymer battery system or playing and maintaining a 1957 model Hammond B3 organ with vacuum tubes and a tone wheel generator.

“I also enjoying playing piano,” says Benally, a native of Oaksprings, Arizona in the rugged, red rock Carrizo Mountains of the Four Corners region. “It’s been 14 years now; I’m self-taught. Improvising is the best with 5th and 9th block chord combinations. Same with the organ.”

Currently completing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota and conducting research within the university’s Nanospin Research Group, Benally chose physics as his undergraduate major and hopes to work toward a PhD.

“I pursued physics, because I really enjoy building systems, machines and devices,” he says. “This stems from my upbringing as a carpenter.”
The Animal Science Building at USU celebrates its 100th year
Above - The USU Animal Science Building on the historical Quad.
As USU’s new Life Sciences Building nears completion and prepares to welcome eager scholars, it seems appropriate to reflect upon two, stately sentinels that grace the university’s beloved Quad. The Animal Science Building, current home to USU’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and the Geology Department’s home, the Geology Building (originally known as the Plant Industry Building), happen to have acquired the title “centenarian” this year.

As a student moves through the undergraduate years and, especially, if that scholar seeks an advanced degree, that familiar building, to which one trudges through the summer sun, the colors of autumn, the startling chill of winter and the fragrances of spring, becomes a home. Visits back to campus likely evoke all manner of emotions-- from nostalgia to the remembered dread of finals to nearly forgotten memories that spark a smile, a tear or laughter.