SUU GRADUATE STUDENTS SUCCEED IN RECENT INTERMOUNTION HEALTHCARE PROJECT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1/30/12
Michael French

Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator
College of Performing and Visual Arts
Southern Utah University
Office: 435-865-8667
michaelfrench@suu.edu

Photo: Jamie Nelson, courtesy of Jamie Nelson

SUU GRADUATE STUDENTS SUCCEED

IN RECENT INTERMOUNTION HEALTHCARE PROJECT

Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah: To generate fresh perspectives on healthcare aimed at university students, Intermountain Healthcare created a special think tank project that invited two-person teams of graduate students from around Utah to participate. William J. Byrnes, Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies, is pleased to announce that the Southern Utah University team consisting of Jamie Nelson, Public Administration, and Jennifer Feld, Arts Administration, placed second in the competition.

The Intermountain University Student Think Tank program sought out non-business graduate students for the competition. The seven teams from Utah universities were given the task of addressing issues such as identifying new business development opportunities. After an orientation in Salt Lake City for the teams, Nelson and Feld returned to Cedar City and began working on the project. As non-business graduate students, the SUU team focused on Intermountain’s website and devised concepts to improve it – making it more user-friendly and attractive to students. Nelson and Feld returned to Salt Lake City four weeks later to give their 30-minute presentation to the other teams, members of Intermountain’s steering committee and moderators. The final result was that the Feld-Nelson presentation strongly reflected the think tank’s goal of aligning with Intermountain’s mission, vision and values. The SUU team met the program’s criteria of being out-of-the-box thinkers who demonstrated distinctiveness in providing creative solutions to the topic. For their efforts, Feld and Nelson were awarded a substantial cash prize.        

Feld and Nelson’s accomplishment has drawn praise from William Brynes who said, “We are very proud of our students for placing so well in this very competitive state-wide project. Jamie in our MPA program, and Jennifer in our Arts Administration MFA program, are great examples of the quality of students pursing graduate studies at SUU.”

Jennifer Feld, a first year graduate student in the Arts Administration program, hails from Cincinnati, Ohio. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts and Art Education from the University of Cincinnati; College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, and graduated in June 2004. Jennifer has been the gallery director of the MarX Gallery in Covington, Kentucky, the Art Gallery Director of the Eva G. Farris Art Gallery at Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, and the Senior Art Consultant at Artonom, Inc. in Cincinnati.

Jamie Nelson is from Riverton, Utah. She received her Bachelor Degree last May from Southern Utah University in Political Science with a minor in Creative Writing. As a student in the Master of Public Administration program at SUU, Jamie has developed a visitor survey strategy for Brian Head Township and has also done research with other students in order to make recommendations for improving the SUU MPA program. She currently interns at the Frontier Homestead Museum in Cedar City as their volunteer coordinator.

Rising to the challenge put before them, Jennifer Feld and Jamie Nelson succeeded and brought unique distinction to the creative thinking that is encouraged throughout Southern Utah University’s graduate programs.