Oral History Program Alisa Hansen Interviewed by Lyhana Rael Brewer 20 June 2008 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Alisa Hansen Interviewed by Lyhana Rael Brewer 20 June 2008 Copyright © 2012 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: Hansen, Alisa, an oral history by Lyhana Rael Brewer, 20 June 2008, 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 Alisa Hansen. The interview was conducted on June 20th, 2008, by Lyhana Rael Brewer, in the apartment of Alisa Hansen on Harrison Blvd Ogden, Utah. The subject of this interview describes student life at Weber State University from the perspective of Alisa Hansen. LRB: Alisa, if you will please begin by stating your name, age and where you were born; spelling your last name for the record. AH: Okay, I'm Alisa K. Hansen, I was born in Orem, Utah, on July 22nd, 1983. LRB: And where are you currently attending school? AH: I'm currently attending Weber State University. LRB: What year in school are you? AH: I am a senior. LRB: What's your major? AH: I'm an Interior Design major. LRB: How long have you been attending Weber State University? AH: I've been attending since '04, but I took a year off in between. LRB: Now, is Weber State the first school in Utah's higher education spectrum that you've attended? 1 AH: No, I got my Associate's at UVSC, now UVU. LRB: Why did you attend UVSC? AH: They gave me a scholarship. And at that time, it was close to home and I got free rent from my parents and free food and free education. I thought it was a good choice for me. LRB: Just for clarification, UVSC is Utah Valley State College? AH: Yes. LRB: Why did you change to go to Weber? AH: Well, I actually got my Associate's in Biology. I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do. The career that I wanted in Biology was gonna take me a Doctorate plus 15 to 20 years of experience to get the job that I wanted, and I didn’t think it would work well with me maybe having a family someday, and things like that. Also, while I was in school, I always had to have a creative output of some sort, so even though I was taking my biology classes and doing extremely well, I was always taking an art class, a creative writing class, something that let me be creative. I decided to do Interior Design. I took Interior Design in high school, then I also took a class of it at UVSC and I loved it. I just loved how you can make a place a home and use things to make things safer and have a wonderful environment. I thought a lot about it and pondered and decided to switch major’s halfway through. Instead of going to the University of Utah for Biology, I 2 decided to go to Weber State for Interior Design- one of the few schools in Utah that have it. LRB: Are you aware of how the Weber State Program in Interior Design compares to those other schools? AH: Yes, actually. The main one we're mainly comparable with is Utah State. The other one is a two-year degree at LDS Business College. Weber State this year is actually trying to get our CIDA accreditation which is a...CIDA is an organization that accredits a school's Interior Design program. LRB: What does the acronym stand for? AH: I don't have a clue at this moment, but I think that it's Certification Interior Design Association, or something like that. So, I've noticed from talking with some of the students at Utah State that our program is more technical based. We do a lot more technical things while Utah State does a lot more artsy things which you need both for Interior Design- the artsy with the technical. So we at Weber State have a Kitchen and Bath class, while some people at Utah State have never even designed a kitchen. Since kitchens are one of the most difficult rooms of the house, it's good to know how to design them, how to work with one. LRB: You mentioned before that one of the reasons you changed to Interior Design is because you had concerns with the requirements in regards to your Biology profession 3 not necessarily being compatible with your family goals. How has that affected your goals other than in choosing your major? Do you believe that an education and a family are not necessarily compatible? AH: No, I do think that they are very compatible. It's just that I wanted something that... ‘Cause I have many friends that are going into the scientific field and they love it, and I still love it. The main reason that I think I switched is one: I just didn't think that I wanted to spend that much more time in school and I just wanted to be able to focus on and get a career almost right out of college instead of get another degree and another degree and another degree and then get a job. I wanted something that could get me more of a job right out so that I could work and have a family at the same time instead of spend so much money on school and then not having the financial capability of doing things with the family. LRB: You mentioned finances. Now, before you also talked about how when you were at UVSC, you were able to live at home and not pay rent. What is your living situation going to Weber State? AH: Drastically different. Before, I didn't have any student loans and things like that. Coming up to Weber, I do have help from my family to help me pay for school and rent. Lately, my school has been paid for by student loans. So, it's kind of different now that I have to worry about paying off loans and paying my own bills and paying rent. It's actually made me grow up more, I think, and it's been to my benefit to actually have to do those things. It makes you realize what you have and what you don't have. 4 LRB: Are either of your parents a college graduate? AH: Both of them are. Both of them got their bachelors in Education at Utah State, and my dad has his Masters in Administration from the University of Utah. LRB: Have you ever discussed their experiences going to college and getting those advanced degrees? AH: Yes and no. I mean education has always been extremely important in my family. Obviously, since both of my parents are in education. So, education to my family has always been something you always take seriously. It's going to help you in your life. It helps you grow and on your own. Yeah, I've talked to them about getting their bachelors. That's where they met and things like that. I hear many stories about their college experience...the good things, the bad things. I was there when living with my parents when my dad got his Masters so I got to hear a lot of stories about that one. LRB: Did they primarily pay for school using student loans? AH: I know for my mom that my grandfather worked at the university so she got a discount on education, but I'm quite sure that they had student loans, but I'm not 100% because we never really talked about that subject. LRB: Do you think that, comparing to what you understand of your parent's life, immediately graduating from college and moving into family and work, do you think that based on your experiences with accruing debt in order to pay for school—and also having family 5 help, how do you think that will affect your marketability and your ability to move once you have a degree and you have to pay for those loans? AH: Actually, I don't have as much debt as I know that some of my friends do. It's just one of those things that I know once I graduate college, I need to get a job and pay those off. So, wherever that job takes me, I'll go there so I can start paying off my debts and start running my livelihood, so I don't think it's too much of a hindrance 'cause I know that if I'm really desperate, I know that my family is always there to help. LRB: Do you think that that is something that's unique to the family structure in Utah? AH: You know what, I really don't know. I don't know a whole bunch of people out of state, I mean, I know a few, but I've never really discussed that kind of structural thing. LRB: Now, going back to your experiences at Weber State, overall, how would rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 on being productive verses educational? AH: Well it's kind of hard to distinguish between the two schools I've been to because they were totally drastic types of learning. Going from a learn-the-information-and-take-atest major into a peer-project-oriented major, it's kind of hard to sort of compare them, but I've learned a massive amount. So, I guess if I have to put a scale on it, I'd have to put it around an 8 or a 9. Probably more in the 9ish range 'cause I never give perfect scores on anything. LRB: How do you feel about the quality of education that you've received? 6 AH: The quality I think is pretty high. I'm also one of those "if you love what you do, you're gonna learn more anyway." So, if you love a class, if you love what you're doing, even if the education isn't 100%, you're gonna go above and beyond what they're gonna teach you anyway because you love it. I have wonderful teachers. There's only around five teachers in my major and I love them all. They all have their pros and their cons, just like every teacher does. Some teachers I learn better things with and others I don't, so it just matters what the class is and the situation. LRB: Working with your different teachers, have you had opportunities to reach beyond the campus to explore the field of your interest? AH: Explore Interior Design outside of Weber? LRB: Have you been facilitated through any of your professors or to perhaps to enter competitions? I know that you're interning right now with someone in Interior Design. How have your professors been able to facilitate that for you, or have they? AH: Actually, at the beginning of every school year, our teachers sort of insist that we start joining professional organizations. They tell us we should join ASID which is the American Society for Interior Designers, IIDA - International Interior Designers Association, and NKBA- National Kitchen and Bath Association. Because they push us to join those associations...you know, those groups, we get to have lots of other opportunities. There's lots of competitions. So far, I've been involved with three to four competitions. One of them, I ranked pretty high, and in the other, I was a finalist. The 7 other two, eh, I didn't do so hot, but that's okay. There were amazing people who did win and that's what mattered to me. LRB: Are these local or national competitions? AH: One of them was for just our chapter of ASID, so that one was more of a local involving Utah State, Weber State, BYU-ldaho and LDS Business College. So that was more of a localized one-that was our edible chair contest. The other contest that I did pretty well in was the National Kitchen and Bath Charet Competition which is a competition where we had to sit down with all our drafting supplies, we didn't have a clue what we were gonna do once we sat down, but they gave us the information. We had to design the kitchen with the information that they gave us in less than three hours. LRB: Now, first on the local and then on the national, how did Weber State students compare? AH: We do exceptionally, exceptionally well. For instance, at this edible chair contest, we won probably a good...over half the awards. Recently, they had a senior portfolio review and our students go first and second place...we didn't get anything lower than that, we got first and second place. In the charet competition, we had three finalists, one Honorable Mention, and I think a First Place. We've also had students nationally recognized in magazines through NKBA, and we've actually had a lot of recognition, we're actually doing really well in competitions. 8 LRB: Are you familiar with the placement rate after graduating from Weber State in Interior Design? AH: I do not, actually. But, from every senior that I've talked to that's graduated in the past two years, I think all but maybe a few have a job in Interior Design. LRB: How large is the Interior Design program at Weber State? AH: Not very big, actually. We range usually between 60 to around 80. We just don't...our major is a lot more difficult than people realize. They'll come into the major, find out it's not what they thought it was, and then they usually leave. So, we have huge freshman and sophomore level classes and then the people that are really dedicated to what they do go into the junior and senior. So, the senior class this year is going to have around eleven graduate. LRB: How does being in such a demanding field effect other areas of your student life—the social, romantic, friendship— are you focused on your schoolwork or are you able to expand and have a life outside of that? AH: It matters what time of the year it is. If it's near finals time, there is no social life, unless you're at work because you have huge projects. These projects take over 80 hours to do and when you have work, plus other classes, they can be pretty demanding. I've tried to have romantic stuff during it, you just don't have the same amount of time as you probably do. I know I had more time as a Biology major than I do as an Interior 9 Design major. But, I keep my friendships strong no matter what. There's some weeks where I won't be as social because I have to get work done, but they know that. LRB: Do you feel that Weber State has facilitated your ability to have these extracurricular activities in your life outside of just your education? AH: Social type things are you meaning? I haven't really been to that many of the Weber State ones. I've been to a lot more of the Institute of Religion, the Ogden Institute of Religion for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I do a lot of activities through them because they usually have either bi-weekly or Friday night activities that I usually attend. LRB: Even though you may not attend Weber State activities, being on campus, being exposed, you know, talking to other students a campus life that people are involved with? AH: Yeah, there is. It really does help if you live on campus, or you live at a...there's a certain apartment complex called...oh, crap, what is that called? I don't know...we call it... LRB: Promontory Towers? AH: No, we call it "the Heights" and it's just down the street from where I live and it's all college students. You have that great social interaction through there, but Weber State, being a commuter school, not everyone is within walking distance from the school. 10 They do try to get people to come back, or at least socialize with people who are right here to have activities. I know that last year they were having Bingo nights and dances and sporting events, of course. But they try to entertain people who are stuck on campus. LRB: Aside from your participation in the Institute of Religion, are there any clubs or organizations on campus, outside of your major, that you are affiliated with? AH: Yes. Actually, I was thinking for a second...I'm like, 'yep, I'm a part of that one, I guess I better say it.’ I'm actually apart of what is called WYVERN on campus, which is the Weber State Anime and Gaming club. I love it. To me, it's the only time I can socialize with geeks like myself and ya know, be pretty content and happy. LRB: What does WYVERN do? AH: Actually, every Thursday night around 6:30, we meet at the University Village in their basement in their common building and we watch shows and Anime-Japanese animations. Or we play card games. Or we play role-playing games down in their basement. LRB: How does being a part of this organization help or hinder your educational experience here at Weber State? AH: Well, I think it helps because everyone needs a times to relax. And, to me, my club...I love them to death. I've been a part of this club for three years and to me, I get to go 11 there, I get to socialize. I get to just forget about school for a little while. That's what I enjoy. Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off from school and just be your normal person. LRB: Granted that we live in a time right now where yes, education is important, but, ya know, prices on everything—especially inflation—is growing so rapidly, how have the recent prices in tuition and textbooks affected your educational experience? AH: Well, you pretty much have to cut other places. 'Cause now, not only do I have to have a student loan, but also, now that I'm "old," I guess, you know, the government thinks I am anyway since I'm a non-traditional student now, I get grants as well. The grants pay for my school, and the tuition—but the loan will pay for everything else. It will pay for my books, for my hundreds of dollars of art supplies, ya know. And it pays for living as well, so... Yeah, you just have to be very economical in your spending, especially on food. I've started to now walk to school instead of drive because it's cheaper. LRB: How have the gas prices affected your relationship with Weber State? Is it just the walking to school or do you find that you'd be less likely to go somewhere else other than a college you could walk to? AH: Well, for me, it's like, I chose an apartment that's close. If I went to another school I'd probably choose an apartment that was closer so that I could walk. I have lived farther away, but gas prices were cheaper then, too. I think the main thing that the gas prices have really hit home with is my ability to go home, to my parents and visit them. I used 12 to, when I first started going to school, that was like four years ago. The gas prices were somewhat manageable. I was home every weekend. I was socializing with my family and interacting with my family. That's the main thing that I sort of...it's hard...not seeing my family more often. LRB: Since you're not able to go home as often, you know—obviously, spending more time in Ogden, more time around Weber State, do you find that, especially with the time that we live in with the Iraq War going on now, do you find there to be an open forum for expression at Weber State? AH: You know what? I bet there is, I'm usually in my little zone in my building and that's usually all I really do when I'm at school, unless I'm at work. It's kind of sad, but, when you're spending eight hours in the drafting lab you don't really hear anything. LRB: Understandably, and that in and of itself comments on the political spectrum at Weber State. Do you find that you are more or less likely to vote after attending Weber State as opposed to being at home with your family or in a more politically active spectrum? AH: Actually, I'm more politically active now than I probably would have been, but I think that's mainly because I'm wanting to know more. That's my main thing. I watch the news every morning and what do they usually have? I mean, for the past few months it's been about the democratic debate and trying to get their nominee and stuff like that. So, I'm probably more, even though I was an active voter with my parents, and I am still 13 registered down there in Utah Valley, so I will still have to drive down there to vote...that'll be an excuse to see my family anyway. I'll probably vote no matter what. LRB: Would you say that the reason that you want to know more is with age and experience or, perhaps, are you inspired through your classes? AH: I think it's more age and experience. There are things that we do talk about politics in my classes, but they usually talk about really around architecture and buildings because politics is so involved in what we do we have so many rules and regulations and codes that we have to apply that we have to know a little bit of politics. We have to know what the people that we're voting in think about what we want, about what we do. I've been reading articles about some of the things about what some of the other states are trying to do with their interior designers and it's kind of interesting to sit and read those things. LRB: How do the articles, like the National Perspective on Interior Design compare to, perhaps, your hands-on experience in the classroom? AH: Well, if you think about it, what do most people see for Interior Designers? They see TLC. They see Trading Spaces. They see, you know, they don't see the backbone, they see the fluffing pillows, the choosing paint colors, the painting. They don't see actually what we do. It kind of threw me for a loop at first—figuring, it does most for everyone who joins the major. It's not easy. It's not just fluffing pillows and adding paint to walls. You have to know so much, to know history, you have to know business, you 14 have to know sales, you have to know building codes. There's just so much to know. People don't see that. Television shows you the end result, or the last bit of the result. They never show you what happened before. LRB: Having to have that broad-base education, do you find that there is interdisciplinary cooperation at Weber State? AH: Yes and at the same time, there could be better, but I think that also has to do with my major in itself. Well, some people who are in charge because sometimes, they just don't ask. I think, is the main thing. What we do is deal a lot with the architects and deal a lot with the engineers and the sales because we have to take those types of classes to graduate. LRB: Do you take them from Interior Design teachers or do you actually go to the Wattis Building to take the business education classes? Do you go to the engineering classes and the science? Is there cooperation between the different disciplines or is it all funneled through your five teachers? AH: A little of both, actually. Our business classes are taught by one of the Interior Design teachers. She also has a degree in business and actually owns like four businesses. We take our drafting classes from the Architecture and Engineering Department. They do teach those. We use to take our codes classes from construction management. Now we have our own, which I'm not sure about still. I wonder if I would have learned 15 more in the construction management one. But in the sales classes, we take all from the sales teachers. We do not take them from our teachers. LRB: Do you find that there's any kind of bias from these other disciplines either for or against your chosen major? AH: Well, not many. It’s kind of hard to say because I think the only time we have anyone against us is in the drafting lab because we're just all very loud because we're in there for eight hours and we need to socialize. But other than that, really they just treat us like everyone else, in my experience anyway. LRB: Now you say that they treat you the same as everyone else...how is that? AH: Well, they don't treat us any differently. They treat us like one of their students, just like we really are. LRB: You did state before that you have a good relationship with all five of your teachers in Interior Design. What kinds of negative experiences, with those teachers or outside those teachers or Weber State in and of itself have you experienced while being in Ogden? AH: It might just be my personality. I always try to see good in things. I don't like conflicts, so I don't usually bring conflicts on myself. The only times we really have any negative things is when things don't go as planned, when they change things spur of the moment or add parts of the assignment like two weeks before it's due, or when it sounds like it's a lot of time, but it's not when you have a million other things to do at 16 the same time. So most of the negative things I've dealt with has not really dealt with me. It's dealt with the people I work with, the people I interact with. Being a math tutor for three years, I've grown to truly not like the math program just because my students aren't learning as much as... Well, math has always been easy for me, but just seeing how much they struggle and how many repeat students I have from semester to semester. Sometimes I just wonder what they're doing to make them fail. LRB: Now you mentioned that you have been a math tutor, where have you tutored for? AH: I've been tutoring at Student Support Services at Weber State for three years, before then I was tutoring math at UVSC for three to four years as well. LRB: Have you ever taken a math class at Weber State? AH: No, I have not, so that's why I really can't say how much I don't like them. Because, I've never actually personally experienced it. LRB: Would you say that it's a personal struggle with math as opposed to a departmental struggle? AH: I think it's a little of both because I have quite a few students who I'll sit down with them and I'll show them exactly what they're supposed to be doing and they've got it, and they have it. While others, you know, have the traditional math problems in that they just can't do it even though they work hard. Sometimes I just don't think they teach them exactly what they should. 17 LRB: What is Student Support Services? AH: Student Support Services is a federally-funded program where students who are nontraditional, first-generation, low-income or with disabilities can come and get free tutoring and other services. Like, they have book check-outs, laptop check-outs, they have grants, they have workshops, they have tons of stuff. LRB: In your experience at Weber State, are there other forms of help or support that are available to students? AH: There's so much. I mean, I know a lot of my fellow classmates are like, "I don't get this, where can I go?" and I'm like, “okay there's the developmental math lab here and there's the math lab in the math building, there's the one downstairs below us…” There's tons of places, plus they have the SI's—Student Instructors—in certain courses and things like that. They give good help, pretty much. Most of the teachers are really good at, at least my teachers have been really good at being willing to help. LRB: Do you find that the teachers are available outside of classroom hours? AH: Yes. I've contacted my teachers quite a few times during the summer asking questions about the homework we have that's due on the first day of school, so, they've been really willing to help. LRB: When all is said and done, what do you hope to have accomplished at Weber State? 18 AH: To accomplish not only to get my bachelors, but I think...growing in more than just education, but growing mentally and spiritually and socially. I have many friends at Weber that I'm probably going to stick with for quite some time. LRB: And what do you hope to achieve—you know—in ten years, when you say. "I have this degree from Weber State University," what do you hope that that means? AH: Not only does it mean that I have a pretty piece of paper that I can hang on the wall, it means that I have accomplished a major goal. And that goal is a building block to help me achieve my next goal and my next goal. So to me, it's the basis of my future plans. LRB: Are you satisfied with the quality of education that you've received from Weber State? AH: Very much. LRB: Now, you've mentioned that family's important to you and that education is important to you, when you have your family and your children are grown and ready to go off to college, is Weber State somewhere you would be proud to send them? AH: If it has the degree that they wish, then yes. LRB: Is a school something that you need to pick due to the degree, or the quality of education or is it a location and convenience factor? AH: It's a little of everything. Weber is also close to other family for me...and things like that. If you don't know what you're going to do, you choose one that deals with some of the 19 other factors, but once you know what you want to do, to me, you just go for it. Find the one that's going to give you the best education within, you know, your budget and things like that, and then you go. LRB: Has Weber State been that resource for you? AH: Yes. LRB: Thank you. And thank you for your time. AH: No problem. 20