As he begins the transition to his new position as Senior Executive Director of State Online Education, President Scott L Wyatt reflects on his service at SUU and future opportunities.

It has become so much a part of my identity and my whole life, along with my wife Kathy. It seems that being a president of a university is not a job, it's a lifestyle. It's every day, weekends, evenings... my whole life is consumed in Southern Utah University and it's been a spectacular time.
Scott L Wyatt, President, Southern Utah University

I hope that you, our listeners, have enjoyed this as much as we have. And because it's the last podcast in this form, I do hope that we quickly get back into the podcast in whatever version it is.
Scott L Wyatt, President, Southern Utah University

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President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith share a conversation with Dr. Frank Dooley, chancellor at Purdue University Global, focused on the non traditional students that are largely overlooked by higher education.

I think that the biggest thing that has changed in the past year, I think the acceptance of online education has moved forward—and I mean by both faculty and by prospective students—has probably been moved forward a decade.
Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor - Purdue University Global

...we're serving a set of students, when you look across the country, that largely have been ignored by higher education for a long time.
Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor - Purdue University Global

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President Scott L Wyatt and host Steve Meredith sit down with members of Southern Utah University’s faculty and staff to discuss how the University has adapted teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sylvia Bradshaw, Matt McKenzie, Johnny MacLean, Lynn Vartan, and Matt Weeg all share their perspective on the last year.

I think all of these offices and probably all of the offices across campus have really learned a lesson in being nimble with the changing priorities as we’ve tried to address the challenges that…kind of the ever-changing challenges that have been confronting us. And I believe we’re going to take that nimbleness forward with us as we continue to be a leader in innovation across the USHE system and across the Intermountain West.
Johnny MacLean, Assistant Provost for Faculty Affairs, Southern Utah University

I tell you, the most exciting piece of it that came from this, we are now absolutely paperless. You can imagine a grants office and the amount of paper that was involved…we had already started making that transition and when the pandemic came along, that was beautiful. We have no more stacks of paper anywhere, it’s lovely.
Sylvia Bradshaw, Director of SPARC Office (Sponsored Programs, Agreements, Research, and Contracts)

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President Scott L Wyatt and host Steve Meredith speak with two members of the Southern Utah University Dance program. Danielle Sheather, assistant professor of dance, and Bailey Walker, a first year senior dance student, share they had a memorable year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

. . . I think as artists, all of us are really enthralled by the unknown, at least I am. I think it’s exciting to discover new things, I do take the approach that I am forever a student. And so, I think learning about multimedia…I know a little, and just being thrust into a situation where you have to learn is exciting.
Danielle Sheather, Assistant Professor of Dance, Southern Utah University

And all of these things that we’ve learned from screen dance, I do think they can be applied to live dance and I think it will make creative works moving forward, especially for me and for my fellow choreographers from this last concert, I think we have a richer understanding of what dance can be.
Bailey Walker, Senior Dance Major, Southern Utah University

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President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith are joined by Peter Fuller, president of Workflow Academy. The trio discusses Workflow Academy and how it upscales students, preparing them for placement in cloud technology related careers. 

. . . a massive opportunity that I see, one that makes me try and partner with SUU and with other universities, I want to tap the immense talent pools that you’ve done such a good job of preparing. And the implicit message there is you’ve prepared them 80% of the way . . .
Peter Fuller, CEO The Workflow Academy

. . . I worry that higher ed might not be fast enough to build the infrastructure necessary to teach people what we have to teach. Because, I’m not saying it’s going away, but the immediacy of the talent need is right now. We need to make solutions right now.”
Peter Fuller, CEO The Workflow Academy

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This week on Solutions for Higher Education, President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith are joined by Seana Murray, business program manager and John O’Brien, chief technology officer, at Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Services. The group looks at how HoloLens is changing the landscape of virtual higher education and many other industries.  

And so, the new [Case Westen University] medical school is going completely holographic, and they have taught already a number of semesters doing holographic anatomy and cadaveric research. And if I remember correctly, they had decided at one point that approximately…their students are getting approximately 30% additional recall by learning anatomy via spatially contextual holograms versus flat textbooks. And so, that is a huge uptick in recall, and particularly since these are our future doctors.
Seana Murray, Business Program Manager, Microsoft Mixed Reality Team

There are certain topics that it’s so much easier to teach and for people to appreciate if you can see it in three dimensions instead of on a screen or in a book—and I love reading, don’t get me wrong—but as human beings, we’re used to operating in a 3D world. We spot patterns and process information; our brains are geared to process information that way. And so, I think this is going to open up kind of a whole new frontier for history, for astronomy, for physics, for… you name it.
John O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Mixed Reality Team

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President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith welcome Aaron Osmond, Workforce Transformation Leader with Amazon Web Services and the Vice Chair of the Utah Board of Higher Education, the governing board that oversees Utah’s colleges and universities. The three discuss the technology industry, how they partner with higher education, and how students can obtain jobs in technology.  

Last year alone in the United States, there were 5.3 million open cloud jobs that were posted in the U.S. Of that, more than half of those jobs remained unfilled. We were not able to find students or existing industry professionals to fill those positions, and that problem is growing at a rate of 30% to 40% every year. There’s a huge skills gap.
Aaron Osmond - Amazon Web Services

First of all, the technology industry is clearly sending signals around its frustration with higher education and the slowness and, frankly, the lack of level of preparedness of students graduating out of our education system across the country - not specific to Utah . . .
Aaron Osmond - Amazon Web Services

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In the first episode of the spring 2021 season, Southern Utah University President Scott L Wyatt and Solutions for Higher Education host Steve Meredith introduce this semester’s topic, Alternatives to Traditional Higher Education. The two discuss the upcoming season and begin to dive into the variety of options available for people outside of higher education.  

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