Photo: front row, left to right: Annabelle Harris, Nathan Hole; middle row, left to right: Mike Beasley, Barbara Hughes, Jeff Stephens, Judy Jeppson Hurst, Brittany Page Benko; back row, left to right: Bill Hughes, Craig M. Trewet, Pete Sands, Winslow Hurst; photo by Robert Casey
WSU Salutes
Weber State University honored 11 outstanding individuals for their contributions to the campus and community at the 52nd Annual WSU Salutes ceremony in October 2021.
“ The WSU Salutes program is a wonderful way to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of these distinguished members of our Weber State family.” — Nancy Collinwood, Alumni Relations executive director
Student Alumni Royalty
Anna Harris AS ’21 & Nathan Hole
Anna and Nathan exemplify the Weber State ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. Anna is working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. She is a Presidential Scholar as well as an Aletheia Club member. Anna served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, working with youth. She is fluent in American Sign Language and is a member of Family, Career & Community Leaders of America. Nathan is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in geography with an environmental emphasis and a minor in international studies. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Yugoslavia, where he learned Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin. At WSU, he has served as Geography Club president, LDSSA club student council member, Presidential Leadership Fellows member and Campus Connections coordinator. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in corporate sustainability.
Emeriti Alumni Homecoming Royalty
Winslow BS ’67 and Judy Jeppson Hurst BS ’64, MED ’86
Judy and Winslow first met in their seventh-grade English class. At Weber, Judy, a physical education major and member of the women’s basketball team, served as student body activities vice president and Winslow joined a student committee that fell under her umbrella of responsibility. Winslow later served as sophomore class senator, junior class president and chief justice of the student supreme court. He also did a one-year stint as sports editor of The Signpost. After Judy’s graduation in 1964, the couple married. They later settled into the newly constructed LaSal Hall dormitory as head residents. The Hursts moved out of state for graduate school, where Winslow earned his master’s degree, but returned to Ogden after Winslow was offered a job as assistant to Weber State’s dean of students. He progressed through a variety of administrative positions, including university registrar. Judy started working part time at Weber as a student affairs advisor in 1984. She eventually became the full-time director of student activities. In 2000, she was named assistant dean of students at Weber State University Davis. Winslow and Judy retired in 2005 with 56 years of combined service to their alma mater. Active supporters of the Emeriti Alumni Council, the couple proudly notes each of their six children (and their spouses) either attended or graduated from WSU.
Distinguished Service
William and Barbara Hughes
William “Bill” and Barbara aren’t native Utahns — they arrived here separately in the early 1980s and married in 1994 — but, after developing friendships with many Weber State professors and administrators, the couple “adopted” the university as their own. The Hugheses are longtime supporters of the Bonneville Chamber Music Festival and generously provide scholarships within the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities and the Department of Social Work & Gerontology. They also included Weber State in their estate planning. Barbara was raised in Pittsburgh and originally worked as a dental hygienist. After relocating to Utah, she earned a master’s degree in social work and now maintains a part-time counseling practice. She also conducts pet therapy at Ogden Regional Medical Center and SLC International Airport. Bill was raised in Nebraska and attended college on an academic scholarship. He graduated from medical school in Omaha and completed an OB-GYN residency in San Diego before establishing a practice in Layton. The couple raises puppies for Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that serves people with disabilities.
Lewis W. Shurtliff Award for Contributions to Education
Jeff Stephens BS ’84, MED ’88
Jeff earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Weber State before completing his doctorate in curriculum and instruction at Utah State University in 1994. He began his career teaching language arts at Wahlquist Junior High School in Farr West, Utah, later serving as principal at South Ogden Junior High School and curriculum director for the Weber School District. In 2011, he was named Weber School District’s superintendent. Jeff, a highly respected leader in local, state and national professional organizations, has received numerous honors for his skills and professional insights, including being named 2021 Empowered Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators and the Consortium for School Networking. Jeff is active in his community. He recently served as a trustee for Weber State University and is currenlty a trustee for Ogden Regional Medical Center.
Outstanding Young Alumni
Pete Sands
At Weber State, Pete’s faculty mentors encouraged him to explore a variety of interests, and he left the university in 2008 with the confidence to spend years on the road, performing original musical compositions across the American West. In 2017, he was commissioned to write music for and appear in the TV drama, Yellowstone. Soon after accepting a position as communications director for the nonprofit Utah Navajo Health System (UNHS), Pete became alarmed by the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the Navajo Nation. With the support of UNHS leaders and community partners, he established a relief effort that delivered food, water, firewood, hand sanitizer and other supplies to an estimated 4,000 households a week. He also orchestrated traveling COVID-19 test sites. In 2020, Time magazine honored Pete as a healthcare guardian.
Distinguished Alumni
Brittany Page Benko BS ’97
Brittany serves as Huntsman Corporation’s senior vice president of environmental, health and safety and manufacturing excellence. She was the first in her family to attend college and graduated from WSU summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in zoology. Three years later, she received a master’s degree in biology from the University of Nebraska. Prior to joining Huntsman in August 2020, Brittany was vice president of health, safety, environment and regulatory at Southwestern Energy. Before that, she served in a variety of environment, safety, and health-related roles with increasing responsibility at several companies, including Anadarko Petroleum, Chesapeake Energy and BP. In 2018, Brittany’s name was included in Houston Woman Magazine’s list of 50 Most Influential Women.
Distinguished Alumni
Craig M. Trewet BS ’90
Craig graduated from Weber State with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology and earned an MBA from Seattle University. He also completed executive programs at Columbia University and the University of Washington. Currently, he is senior director of the Boeing Production System for Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes Delivery Operations organization. Additionally, he is vice president of the Boeing Leadership Network, and has been a member since accepting his first management position in 1995. Previously, Craig led fabrication for the New Mid-market Airplane office, helping to develop and transform the Enterprise Production System. Craig has led two fabrication manufacturing business units — Boeing Salt Lake and the Electrical Systems Responsibility Center. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for Bloodworks Northwest, an independent, nonprofit organization that harnesses donor gifts to provide a lifesaving blood supply to hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. He also serves as chair of the President’s National Advisory Council for Weber State, which advises WSU’s president in support of the institution’s core themes of learning, access and community.
Emeriti Alumni Lifetime Achievement
Mike Beasley BS ’71
Mike, who retired as Rocket Software chairman, was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but moved to Utah in 1964 when his father was offered a job in Ogden. Mike graduated from Weber State with a bachelor’s degree in data processing and was hired at IBM. After a series of promotions, he initiated the formation of Icing Software, an independent business unit of IBM Software, and later received an IBM Executive Leadership Award. He earned an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s prestigious Sloan School of Management, and, in 2000, was named Most Prominent African American in High Technology by Black Press Online. Mike served a lengthy term as board chair of the California chapter of MESA USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates access to high-quality STEM education and training for underrepresented students. In 2015, he collaborated with a team of WSU software engineering students to develop a mobile app that helped Santa Clara County document its homeless population. He has created funds that assist WSU computer science students by pairing incoming freshmen or sophomores with a Beasley Scholar student mentor.