Business chamber hosts new vice-chancellor of USU Eastern

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Emery County business chamber hosted their January Lunch and Learn at the Palenque Grill in Huntington. Gary S. Straquadine was the guest speaker. He is the vice chancellor for Utah State Eastern. Ethan Migliori is the chamber president this year. He welcomed everyone out to the event. He recognized Laurel Magnuson of Magnuson’s Lumber with the Business of the Month award.
Dr. Straquadine said he has been in the area for 18 months and just loves it here. He has been with Utah State and Ohio State. He has three degrees in agriculture. He is originally from a small town in New Mexico.
He spoke on the college’s role in a community. According to Moore’s Law, every two years capacity would double. This started in 1968 when Gordon Moore formed the Intel Company. Technology has gone crazy, it’s hard to keep up. He talked about the field of medicine and the advances there have escalated with the advances in technology.
What accelerated all of this advancement? For centuries advancement was slow, the industrial revolution started speeding things up. Social, technological and political all play a role. Do we like the century we are living in? At times humans adapt to change very slowly. This was part of the reason advances were so slow in coming throughout the centuries. The adaptability of the people now seems to have increased. It took a long time for things to change, but now they change at a rapid pace. “Where are we on this curve today. What is the distance between the ability to adapt and the technologies out there. What happened in 2007. Microprocessing, the cloud, the smart phone. Broadband technology and connectivity; things began to shift. Some people are experiencing cultural angst. What do we do, in small towns or big towns. We have to learn faster.
“Just like when automobiles first started sharing the roads with horses. We had to adapt. We had to have regulatory laws.
“According to the US Patent office a patent is good for 20 years; after that the technology is available to the public. The formula for Coke is available, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s secret recipe. The 20 year patent is to protect intellectual property. With technology multiplying every five to seven years, it’s all changed. How do we handle that?
“Changes. In 2007 apps became available. Uber came into existence. People started getting into strangers cars. Uber is in Salt Lake, my kids use it. Soon self-driving cars are coming. We have to learn faster, we have to govern smarter. We can’t govern fast enough to keep up with Uber for example. Should they be allowed at the airport?
“We have a university program, an electrical course. This past week I had three students that wanted to get into that course. But the entry for that course was September. Why? We need to learn faster. With online courses, students are tuned in 24-7. I walked by a classroom the other day and the professor was showing a video. Kids can watch a video at home, when you’re in the classroom then discuss. We’ll be out of a job in 20 years. Education should be scared.
“We need to be prepared as an administration. We need to optimize. We need to learn faster and stronger. If it’s not working we need to change it. We need to fail fast and get that out of the way.
“The future is in automation. The factory of the future will have two employees. Someone to feed the dog and the dog to keep the man/woman from touching the machines. How are we preparing for this. We need to be open to ideas. We need a strong work ethic and we need to fail fast. This digital age, the kids before they’re a year old are on devices. They are picking them up earlier. We need to teach kids math, we need year-round schools and extended classroom hours. We need to turn out better students to be better employees.”
The March meeting for the business chamber will be their installation banquet and awards on March 15.