People

Shannon Babb

Natural Resources

A day of collecting water bugs and learning water testing skills yielded a long-time mentoring relationship between USU professor Nancy Mesner and Shannon Babb, a budding teen scientist who has garnered impressive awards in national and international science competitions.

The pair met when Babb, then a middle school student, participated in a watershed science workshop Mesner led for USU Water Quality Extension. In the ensuing years, the two stayed in touch as Babb sought guidance from Mesner and conducted a series of exhaustive water research projects in her Utah County community. Babb eventually was named the 2006 Intel Science Scholar and three-time state winner of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize.

"Intel's science talent search is like the holy grail in youth science research," says Babb of the prize that carries a $100,000 college scholarship.

During a whirlwind of activities surrounding Intel's awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to meet President Bush, Babb was invited to publicly thank one person who helped her achieve success. Babb chose Mesner. "I chose Nancy Mesner because, as a woman scientist, she was a positive role model for me and introduced me to a host of learning opportunities in watershed science - the start of an amazing journey."

Sought by numerous universities around the country, Babb chose Utah State has her college destination.

"USU's Watershed Sciences Department is one of the few of its kind in the world."

Nowadays, Babb, still only a freshman, has a curriculum vitae rivaling those of doctoral candidates. Many have asked Mesner how she mentored Babb. "I always answer, 'What Shannon's accomplished, she's done herself," says Mesner, who serves as associate dean of the College of Natural Resources and program leader for USU Natural Resources Extension. "My job is simply to plant a lot of little intellectual seeds and provide a little nourishment along the way."

Sandra Reategui

Business

Economics graduate student Sandra Reategui put what she had learned in the classroom to work in the real world when she started a non-profit organization in Lima, Peru, to help women entrepreneurs.

In June 2004, Reategui started the organization ORDEM, an acronym in Spanish meaning "organization for the development of women entrepreneurs."

The organization provides microloans of $100 to women who want to start their own businesses. It also serves as a source of business consultation to help women formulate effective business plans.

"Once given the opportunity, the women found skills they never even knew they had," says Reategui. "Many of them felt like it redefined who they were, because they were now able providers."

Microloans have become recognized worldwide as a major impetus to jump-start small businesses. Loans of even a small amount of money make it possible for an entrepreneur to take the first step toward starting their own business, Reategui says. Additionally, small business owners are able to repay the small amount of money quickly and easily.

Reategui traveled to Huanchaco, Peru, in summer 2006 with a group of students from various universities and applied an economic strategy they had learned in the classroom to a real-life scenario.

"We used asset-based community development," says Reategui. "This strategy focuses on using the existing assets of the community to create economic growth from within."

She said she enjoyed seeing the changes in the people with whom she worked.

"The opportunity to contribute to their community and better provide for their families gave them a feeling of self-reliance and increased their self-esteem," says Reategui. "We gave them the first, small step, and this generated a sense of purpose and direction that drove them the rest of the way."

ORDEM is currently on hold while Reategui works on her master's degree, but she plans to return to Peru this summer.

Ray Reutzel

Education & Human Services

If you are reading this, you probably need to thank a teacher or a parent - maybe both. And if you are the one teaching reading to children in Utah, it is likely that Utah State Professor Ray Reutzel had some hand in your training, in the educational resources you use, or in the research-based models in practice at your school or even your home.

Reutzel is the Endowed Chair and Director of the Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education in the College of Education and Human Services.

The center provides educational experiences and resources for teachers and parents that reflect the most current understanding of the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of children from birth through age eight.

In other words, anyone who wants to know anything about teaching reading to young children should put in a call to Reutzel.

He is the editor of the world's most prestigious and most widely read journal in early literacy education, The Reading Teacher. His notoriety extends across the state of Utah and reaches national and even international audiences. Reutzel's list of accomplishments in the field of early childhood reading is surpassed only by his passion for the subject matter - kids and their potential for success in life.

"There is no social justice for non-readers," he says.

"If children can't read, the consequences will follow them throughout their lives—in jobs, welfare dependency, incarceration, and their inability to participate in a democracy."

One study showed that the chief predictor of whether or not a child will become incarcerated later in life is third grade reading scores.

"This is a shocking statistic, but it shows how fundamental reading is to a child's development," he says. "Reading is the essential hinge upon which the gate of social justice swings, and it is central to all human endeavor."