Takashi Hiraoka, a former Hiroshima mayor, spoke on Aug. 4 to UVU students and faculty about the bombing of Hiroshima and his reasons for nuclear disarmament.

The UVU School of Continuing Education received an American Chariot from Klune Industries, Inc. The presentation of the gift took place on Aug. 7.

At a household in Provo, the organization BYU Students for Barrack Obama convened to listen to guest speaker Bennion Spencer, who is the democratic candidate for Utah’s 3rd congressional district. His challenger is Jason Chaffetz, the republican candidate who took the GOP nomination from incumbent Chris Cannon.

On Aug. 4, Utah state facilities began a four-day workweek. Utah’s governor, Jon Huntsman Jr., has been developing this plan for a while now, hoping to create a more economically efficient state system. The plan is known as “Working 4 Utah.”

UVU has been asked to provide an intern for the Czech Republic as the country assumes the rotating European Union (EU) presidency in January 2009.

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS — With the announcement of Liz Hitch, VP of academic affairs, moving into the position of interim president of UVU in a few weeks, it has caused a shift of other positions within the academic affairs office. Karl Worthington will be interim vice president of academic affairs as Hitch fills her interim presidential duties. Also, there is a new hire for VP of academic administration, Dr. Mohammed A. El-Saidi, who comes to UVU from Tarelton State University – Central Texas.

The growing sport of disc golf has made its official debut at UVU with the addition of a disc golf course to the campus, designed for recreational play and as a practice green. The course features 13 holes as well as a practice hole. All the holes are par-2 and range from 83 to 209 feet.

Heidi Gray is not only a UVU student and mother of four, but also a multimillion-dollar business owner. She is our hero for the week. Here is what she had to say:

HEALTH INSURANCE CONCERNS — According to a survey released by Reuters on Thursday, more than eighty percent of Americans think the U.S. health system needs either fundamental change or a complete overhaul. The Harris Interactive poll found that access to care, better coordination between different health providers and better flow of health information were among respondents’ chief complaints. Another poll found that health insurance costs have doubled for Americans since 1996.

Haagen Klaus, a new faculty member in the UVU Behavioral Science department, recently took part in an important archaeological find in northern Peru: an ancient tomb belonging to the Moche civilization.