RMA Newsletters

Rocky Mountain Views Newsletter

In the 1950’s, most of the administrative offices associated with plant operations were pretty stark and simple. The mimeograph machine, which was the standard of the day, was not capable of producing high quality materials.

With the advent of plain paper copy machines, however, the process became much easier or at least manageable. In those early days it was the responsibility of regional presidents to publish and distribute a quarterly newsletter during their year in office. This was a “hit and miss” proposition that was carried out with great diligence by some presidents and with not-so-much-diligence by other presidents.

At the Region’s 35th Annual Meeting (1987) in Estes Park, Colorado, the appointment was made for Val Peterson of Utah State University to be the editor of the newsletter. The name of the newsletter was still “Smoke Signals” as it had been since the publication began. The newsletter was published quarterly, usually in January, April, July and October.

Val’s goal was to not only publish a regular newsletter, but to make it newsworthy as well. To do this he organized a series of correspondents, one in each state and province within the Region, to report on happenings at the institutions there. Also included was a periodic Campus Profile. In addition to reporting on the happenings within the Region, he included an editor’s column with topics and subject matter that attempted to brighten up the reader’s day with a little humor.

After four years, the newsletter was pretty much “institutionalized” and Val suggested at the Annual Meeting held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1991, that perhaps there might be others in the Region that would like an opportunity to serve as editor. Bill “Ramblin” Rose from Montana State University accepted the editorship. Val was asked to continue his column and was given the title of Contributing Columnist and Eclectic Humorist.

Since Rose’s term as editor, others have served in the same capacity. These have included Robert Lashaway of Montana State University, Pieter van der Have of the University of Utah, Paul Smith of Pima Community College (with a lot of help from Esther Federico), and Joseph Metzger of Arizona State University.

In 1994 the RMA Board of Directors voted to change the name of the newsletter from “Smoke Signals” to “Rocky Mountain Views”, which included a new logo as well. The change was a reflection of the “Board’s desire to be more responsive to current issues.” The Board also endorsed the inclusion of current topics to be highlighted in each issue. Since that time there have been an insightful sharing of information on such topics as ADA compliance, labor relations, risk management, safety training, master planning, and other contemporary subjects.

In 2009 the RMA Board decided to move away from a printed format in favor of a web delivered communications strategy. The By-Laws were amended to reflect a title change from Newsletter Editor to Communications Coordinator and Metzger was “promoted” to that position by a vote of the Board of Directors at the fall meeting.

Below are links to the last ten years of the Rocky Mount Views, all in PDF format: