Founders Week - SUU's Birthday Celebration
To all who have come to love Southern Utah University, the story of the founding of the institution has long stood as a source of pride and of inspiration. It is a story of heroism and selflessness, and serves as a constant reminder of the precious value of higher education. Watch the docudrama Back Up the Mountain, and read Fae Decker Dix's poem Tribute To the Founders.
Each March, our Founders Celebration salutes our rich past and promising future with a variety of events. Importantly, it pays tribute to the steadfast and visionary men and women who sacrificed greatly to establish the institution and to the enduring spirit of those founders, as it honors, as well, those who have devoted comparable service to the building of the University over many decades.
Tribute to the Founders
Give us the work and strength to get it done
So rang the burden of the decision,
We must and we will, every woman and man,
This was their prophecy, this their vision.
Then face this task, 'tis time for actual deeds,
We've logs to get, and brick and sullen lime,
And rocks to cut from yonder firm red cliffs,
And roads to build, and many hills to climb.
So break the earth and raise the towering walls,
This our privilege - this our blessed task,
To build for those ahead, those yet to come,
This be our answer when the future asks!
With a stubborn trust, and unflinching faith,
They toiled and the labored from dawn to dark,
In the barren fields and the frozen hills,
By dint of hand labor they left their mark.
Till, from a thousand dreams they had built this one,
And taught it as a part of the way to live,
Not what I will get back from this life,
But only how much can I give?
-Fae Decker Dix
