Alumni Chapters Soar in 2007-08

University of Utah Alumni Association chapters are now thriving all over the country, with groups scattered from San Diego to New England. Recent chapter activities have included a private picnic for Denver-area alumni and friends hosted by Colorado Rockies owner Charlie Monfort BS’82, a tour of the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory for the Bay Area chapter, a golf tournament in Las Vegas for area friends and alumni, and an evening hors d’oeuvres reception with President Michael K. Young at The Modern, the restaurant adjoining the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. President and Mrs.Young also made their first visit to alumni chapters in the Pacific Northwest in August, with events at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Utah vs. Oregon State game in Corvallis, Ore., including a tailgate party.

Several events scheduled for areas with chapters along the East Coast this fall feature Katharine Coles PhD’90, poet laureate of the State of Utah. Football tailgates, another golf tournament, and more are also being planned by various chapters. For more information about Alumni Association chapters and related events, visit www.alumni.utah.edu/chapters or contact John Fackler at (801) 581-3895.

New UUAA/UNP Partners Scholarship Inaugurated

The first University of Utah Alumni Association / University Neighborhood Partners Scholarship was awarded June 12 to Lotoa Nicole Tavui at the first Partners in the Park event of 2007, held at Salt Lake City’s Jordan Park.

Nicole, of Samoan extraction, was born in San Francisco and moved to Salt Lake City when she was 3. She graduated this spring from Salt Lake City’s West High School with a 3.3 GPA and is a freshman at the University of Utah this fall. A member of her high school Pacific Islander Club, Tavui intends to be involved with the U’s club as well. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she hopes to pursue dentistry, “because I want everyone to have healthy, beautiful smiles,” she says.

The Alumni Association partnered with UNP in creating the UUAA / UNP Scholarship, a $4,000 full-tuition grant funded by the Association. The scholarship was established to help students from Salt Lake City’s west side (including such ethnically diverse neighborhoods as Glendale, Rose Park, and Poplar Grove) attend the U of U. Partners in the Park, initiated in summer 2003, is a free, community-wide summer event series to connect west-side families with U of U community members through activities that raise awareness of the benefits of higher education. The weekly get-togethers—which often feature a picnic dinner, along with face painting, magic shows, piñatas, and bingo, as well as educational displays and speakers—rotate among various west-side parks. The Alumni Association sponsors three interns who assist with Partners activities.

The June 12 Partners event also included a ceremony recognizing the 117 west-side students who graduated from the U this year, along with six West High graduates (including Nicole) who participated in the UNP partnership “LEAP to the U” program and began attending college this fall.

LEAP to the U—which kicked off in 2006-07—is a U of U program that groups small cohorts of U students together with high school students to help ensure their college success. During this inaugural year, the college mentors presented a series of workshops for West High School students on topics ranging from filling out a college application to public speaking; in turn, the would-be LEAPers toured the U campus.

LEAP began in 1994 by offering one-year programs linking small groups of entering freshmen in some of their first-year courses to help ease the transition from high school to college; LEAP programs now also include multi-year programs aimed at women, first-generation college students, and other individuals typically underrepresented in universities and who are planning careers in the health professions, law, or engineering. Nicole is set to be a part of the U’s multi-year Health Sciences-focused LEAP cohort. “I’m excited,” she says. “I can’t wait to learn more.”