Southern Utah University inducted two new members into the institution's Hall of Honor recently during the annual SUU Alumni Banquet.
The two, Parley Dalley and Dixie Leavitt, were honored for significant contributions to the university.Leavitt's son, Michael O. Leavitt, a candidate for governor and a member of the Utah State Board of Regents, was presented with the "Outstanding Alumnus Award" and was the guest speaker.
Fred C. Adams received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award for his service to the university and the community for founding the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 1962.
Dalley, who was a professor at the school for 43 years, retired in 1952 but continued to teach part time nearly until his death in 1970. He helped establish the College of Science and created the geology department. Recognized as a top authority on the geology of southern Utah, his collections of minerals and fossils are displayed in the science center.
Pres. Gerald R. Sherratt, reading Dalley's citation, said, "His skill, talent and knowledge of the school went beyond the classroom. When Director (Henry) Oberhansley died in office in 1945, Professor Dalley became the acting director of the school until a successor could be found."
Dixie Leavitt, a graduate of SUU in 1947, was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1963 and to the Utah Senate in 1965. He served for 12 years and acted as majority and minority leader for six years. His efforts were instrumental in obtaining four-year status for SUU in 1965 and university status in January 1991.
He founded the Leavitt Group in 1952 and now has 34 agencies in four states.
Sherratt said Leavitt and his wife, Anne, "have been unstinting advocates for the university." He said the couple have been "enthusiastic contributors to the Centrum, the library, the scholarship fund, the Utah Shakespearean Festival and the university's athletic program."
Michael Leavitt said that the men who founded the university saw something that needed to be done and did it. "It's easy to look at the accomplishments of the past and honor them, but we have a pres-ent need. We are people who are faced with challenges that are every bit as difficult as getting the timber out of the mountain during a January snow storm. There are issues that badly need to be faced today."
Adams, who received his bachelor's and master's degrees from BYU and studied at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Utah, has taught in the SUU theater department since 1959. In 1962, on a budget that was nearly non-existent, Adams and his wife, Barbara, founded the Utah Shakespearean Festival. They produced three plays that ran for two weeks in nightly rotation on a small stage behind the auditorium. This past summer, the festival was seen by approximately 170,000 people and is a festival that has gained national exposure and respect.
Adams said that in his third year of teaching he was asked to attend the alumni banquet at homecoming where "our beloved Paul Manning gave the address. In that address at the Hotel Escalante, he asked me to stand and said to me, `Remember this, Adams, you can go any place in the world and walk in someone's path, or you can stay here and make your own."' Adams said it is the most intelligent piece of advice he was ever given.