A New Name, a New Era of Leadership
USU renames its highly ranked college:
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services
Utah State University celebrated two significant gifts April 23 and announced at the same time that it will rename it prestigious college of education the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.
The $25 million gift from the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, announced in December 2007, will support design and construction of a new building and five endowed faculty chairs in early childhood education. An additional $1 million gift announced Wednesday from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation will support a new Center for Early Care and Education named for Dolores Doré Eccles.
Carol Strong, dean of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, said the gifts will allow the already highly ranked college to affirm even further its status as one the nation's leaders in early childhood education, research and service.
“The synergy created by these generous gifts will serve as a powerful catalyst, helping to transform early childhood education not only regionally and nationally but internationally,” she said.
The new building will house all of the college's important programs and research in early childhood education, including the Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education and its endowed chair, Ray Reutzel. It will also be home to the Sound Beginnings Preschool, a one-of-a-kind program in the Intermountain West where children with cochlear implants or digital hearing aids can learn spoken language.
Also under the same roof, the Dolores Doré Eccles Center for Early Care and Education will provide much-needed child-care facilities for infants and young children whose parents are USU students, staff or faculty. In addition, the facility will offer early childhood education, student and parent training, a model research environment and endless opportunities for USU undergraduate and graduate students to observe, tutor and experience hands-on learning internships.
"These will be the critical training grounds for students who will become our nation's best teachers, deaf educators, speech-language pathologists and audiologists," Strong said. "These gifts have far-reaching potential - they aim to create a bright future for our children and grandchildren, and theirs as well."
Spencer F. Eccles, chairman of the board and CEO for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, said the celebration was a reminder of commitment to education by Emma Eccles Jones and Dolores Doré Eccles, who were sisters-in-law.
“This is a great day to celebrate and honor the contributions of two incredible women,” Eccles said.
"Both were strong and spirited women who shared a firm belief in the value of education. They would be pleased to know what they have contributed to, and I believe that here at USU in the College of Education, the best is yet to come."
Clark Giles, chair of the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, echoed those thoughts.
"We are pleased to provide this gift to further enhance the early childhood education program at USU, and we are honored they are naming the college after Emma," Giles said. "Aunt Em focused her career on providing training and education for teachers of early childhood education, and the new center at USU will be a great benefit to the university, the state and the nation."
The Very Reverend Frederick Q. Lawson, trustee of the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, told a packed Sunburst Lounge in USU's Taggart Student Center that Emma Eccles Jones, Logan's first kindergarten teacher, was a model teacher with a progressive spirit that is reflected today in USU's College of Education and Human Services.
"She was a dedicated teacher and a loyal friend to the teaching profession," Lawson said. "She serves as a model for this wonderful school of education, and we are privileged to know that every teacher who graduates from this program will carry on that great tradition."
USU President Stan L. Albrecht said Emma Eccles Jones touched the lives of many children when she was a teacher herself, and the college, named after her, will extend that touch to countless generations of young children.
"These gifts are a reflection of the great confidence these foundations have in us," Albrecht said. "We are humbled by that confidence, but we enthusiastically embrace this great challenge."
Utah State University announced today that The Emma Eccles Jones Foundation is making a $25 million gift to USU's College of Education and Human Services. The gift will be used for construction of an additional education and research building and to fund a number of endowed professorships in early childhood education.
“The College of Education and Human Services is already renowned nationally, and this gift culminates a long-term relationship between the College, the Foundation, and its founder, Emma Eccles Jones,” said USU President Stan L. Albrecht.
"Jones's legacy is one of dedication to the education of teachers and children," said Albrecht. "This gift is a fitting tribute to her."
Jones spent her life seeking to improve the opportunities and experiences of children - first as a kindergarten teacher in Logan at the Whittier School, which was later incorporated into what is now the Edith Bowen Laboratory School, and later as a philanthropist. She personally funded the construction of the current Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, and the Foundation she established in 1973 continues to support the causes with which her name is synonymous. The Foundation's directors have carried forward her special relationship with the College.
"This College is among the elites in the country in both academics and in the impact of its programs on people in our state and across the nation," said Albrecht. "This gift will allow the College to continue to excel - and continue the work that Emma loved."
“This significant gift reflects the strengths of the programs and the commitment of faculty in the College to making a difference in peoples' lives,” said Carol Strong, dean of the College of Human Services & Education.
Strong said the support of The Emma Eccles Jones Foundation has been a key factor in the national accolades the college has received. For the past nine years, the college has been ranked in the top two percent of graduate programs nationally by U.S. News and World Report. This past year, it ranked 26th in a field of more than 1,200 colleges of education, and was second in the nation in research funding generated by its faculty.
"All that is in addition, of course, to training the largest number of early childhood, elementary and special education teachers among all state institutions," Strong said. "And our cutting-edge programs in distance education continue to develop highly qualified 'home-grown' teachers and educational leaders who truly understand the needs of rural communities. This College is not just a building or a number of buildings. We are a community of people and services committed to meeting critical educational needs."
The University is planning a ceremony in April 2008 to celebrate the gift and honor the Foundation for its support.
