Oral History Program Jenessa Knotts Heidi Orchard Ca. 2007 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Jenessa Knotts Interviewed by Heidi Orchard Ca. 2007 Copyright © 2015 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Knotts, Jenessa, an oral history by Heidi Orchard, ca. 2007, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Janessa Knotts. The interview was conducted in 2007, by Heidi Orchard. Knotts discusses her time at Weber State University. HO: This is Heidi Orchard with Janessa Knotts. We are doing an interview for Dr. McKay’s history course. It is basically about Weber State and Weber State experience. Janessa do you understand that this is being tape recorded and do you consent with it being used with the Special Collections and transcribed? JK: Yes. HO: Perfect, thank you. Okay first off, when did you start here at Weber? JK: I started fall of 2000. HO: Fall of 2000? JK: Uh huh. HO: And you’re currently a senior? JK: Yes. HO: When will you graduate? JK: Hopefully this coming fall. So, fall 2007, I beat you! Just kidding. HO: Alright, define for me your overall perspective of Weber State. JK: My overall perspective… HO: As a School. JK: That’s a big question, overall perspective as in classes or just the University in general? HO: Let’s start with the University in general and then we will get more specific. 1 JK: I think that Weber State is a great University because of the small class sizes and the opportunities they have, like undergraduate research. Just most of the teachers in the afternoon classes know your name and they know you individually. It’s not like you’re part of the big group as a whole. It is a University. HO: Good, so the small classes that you referred to, has that been, have the majority of your classes been like that? JK: The upper division courses, yes. HO: Do you have a favorite Professor here at Weber State? JK: That’s a tossup, I really can’t choose a favorite. HO: That’s good actually! What about, could we go into different subjects, like who is your favorite History Professor? JK: That’s not fair because I am a History Major! HO: Fine we won’t go into that. But overall what do you think of the History Professors here at Weber. JK: I think they are great, they are student oriented and they are really helpful, they want to see you do your best, even if you are not doing your best at the time. They are very encouraging. HO: Have you had any frustrations while you have been at Weber State? JK: Yes. HO: Personal ones or ones that are caused in your opinion by school? JK: Umm, I would have to say by the school. I have had a lot of trouble with the Financial Aid department. Getting my aid and getting it early sometime and I had 2 to go in and find out why they wouldn’t release my aid last year. They had me down as a man and I am not a male. HO: So would you encourage students looking to go to college, would you encourage them to attend Weber State? JK: I would. HO: What would you say to them? JK: What would I say to them? Weber State, isn’t the most expensive school in the state, but it doesn’t matter because most of the professors are here to teach and to help you learn. I was going to go to the U and one of my professors that I had named Dr. Malk and she said, “Just because it’s a bigger school, doesn’t mean it’s better.” And I came back the next year with a different attitude and I loved it. HO: Okay, thank you very much for this interview. 3