Good journalists are always on the lookout for a good story.  Some stories require extensive digging and hard, manual labor; other stories are simply handed on a golden platter with virtually no work required.

For instance, a story involving snakes inhabiting Weber State University’s Receiving and Distribution Services building has captivated a statewide audience.  Some employees of The Signpost spent much time and effort into procuring the story.

On the other hand, some stories — that are just as great and important — are easily obtained due to the great faculty, staff, and students we have here at WSU.  Logging into www.weber.edu, one can easily see the array of accolades WSU touts under the “WSU Today” headline.

Briefly, here are a handful of those accolades (in no particular order) that fit nicely under the Business and Science banner:

• The John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics has been included in the most recent Princeton Review of best business schools in the nation.  This is the fifth consecutive year that GSBE has been included in the yearly publication, “The Best 294 Business Schools.”  To its existing three MBA graduate-level programs (contract management, information systems and technology, and environmental sustainability), the college will add another MBA graduate-level program in aerospace management.
• In today’s edition, you’ll find that the same building that housed a perhaps-family of snakes is a recipient of a top honor in an “energy savings” competition administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.  Topping the EPA’s 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition, the WSU building managed to reduce its energy use by 6.3 percent and prevent 16.21 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in a one-year period.
• The Signpost printed an article about WSU earning the T-TEN validation last week, but it’s worth a little more attention.  Ranking among only six other schools nationwide to have received the highest level of certification, WSU’s Department of Automotive Technology and the Technician Training and Education Network aced the validation.  This validation will enhance the already existing partnership between Toyota and Lexus.
• A paper written by Assistant Economics Professor Brandon Koford has been dubbed as the best article of the year by the academic journal Public Budgeting and Finance.  Koford’s article, “Public Budget Choices and Private Willingness to Pay,” received the 2010 Jesse Burkhead Award.  The paper describes the important role citizens play in the process of public budgeting.
• College of Science Dean David Matty has joined the ranks of WSU after a two-year assignment of the National Science Foundation.  While on the assignment, Matty reviewed proposals, mentored principal investigators and oversaw funding research requests.  In a past interview, Matty said he looked forward to updating and acquiring new scientific equipment and computation equipment that will encourage faculty- and student-reared research.