Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services Building

Ernest A. & Eva M. Jacobsen Conference Room
Room 119

Ernest A. Jacobsen, dean emeritus of the College of Education at Utah State University, was a teacher, administrator, consultant and educational specialist. An advisor to the dean of Karaj Agricultural College in Iran, and a research assistant to the Utah Coordinating Council of Higher Education, Jacobsen also directed a Teachers’ Placement Bureau for teachers seeking employment.

Jacobsen was featured as a Faculty Honors Lecturer in 1955, speaking on the “Obligations of Higher Education to the Social Order.” He received a Distinguished Service Award in 1960.

Oral (1925-2016) and Tacy (1925-2015) Ballam Room
Room 130

After graduating from North Cache High School in 1941, Oral Ballam enlisted in the United States Navy on his 18th birthday and served three-and-a-half years as a radioman and gunner in dive bombers in World War II. He married Tacy Chambers on December 29, 1947.

Oral graduated from Utah State University in 1949 with a degree in English, then earned a master’s in speech/dramatics in 1955. He received a Doctorate of Education from UCLA in 1961 and became a faculty member at Utah State University in 1963. He was appointed dean of the College of Education in 1969.

While he was dean, the college received many state and national recognitions of excellence, and USU awarded him several citations. He was an active member of national and state professional organizations and was elected president of the American Association of Colleges of Education.
Tacy Chambers Ballam was a member of the USU Alpha Chi Omega Sorority and the USU Army ROTC Sponsor’s Corps. She began her teaching career in 1947 at North Cache high School, her alma mater, where she taught English, shorthand and typing. She also taught kindergarten, first grade and third grade at Smithfield Summit Elementary School. She retired in 1987 after 30 years of teaching. Tacy always held the firm belief that every child should be helped to reach his or her full potential.

Joshua F. Siegfried Auditorium (1900-1988)
Room 131

Joshua Floyd Siegfried was born May 20, 1900 in Blaine County, Oklahoma to Frederick Siegfried and Ann Elizabeth Held. When Joshua was 10-years-old, his family moved to Bear River City, Utah, and began farming.

Joshua received a bachelor’s in geology from Utah State University in 1923. He was a dedicated philanthropist and a member of the Old Main Society.

Allan M. (1910-2005) and Ferne P. (1909-2010) West Room
Room 132

Ferne Page and Allan M. West met in 1931 while attending Utah State University. In 1932, Ferne graduated with bachelor’s degrees in English and political science, and Allan graduated with a bachelor’s in business. The couple wed the same year and enjoyed 72 anniversaries together.

Education and leadership were important parts of the West’s lives. Ferne obtained post-graduate education, engaged in the Women’s State Legislative Council and other civic organizations and played a key role in raising the couple’s two sons. She supported Allan throughout his career, but especially as he served as executive secretary for both the Utah Education Association and the National Education Association (NEA).

Allan did graduate-level work at USU, the University of Utah and the University of Chicago. After leaving Utah in 1961 to assume NEA leadership posts in Washington, D.C., he promoted collective bargaining by educators and worked to unify African American and white teachers’ affiliates under one organization. In addition to his Distinguished Service Award, he received an Honorary Doctor of Education degree from USU in 1973.

Adele and Dale Young Education Technology Center
Room 170

Adele and Dale Young were highly dedicated to education. Their motto was “Education is the key to a better world.”

The Adele and Dale Young Education Technology Center is a resource center for students and faculty in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. It is home to a K-12 curriculum library, an open-access computer lab for students and a NASA Educator Resource Center. The center also has tutorials for using hardware and software in the classroom.

Izar A. and Carol L. Martinez
2nd Floor SW Alcove

Izar Martinez spent several years serving in the Navy following his high school career. He then attended the University of New Mexico, where he received a bachelor’s in mathematics and a master’s in school administration. He served for eleven years at Menaul High School, with the final four as principal. The Martinez family came to Utah State University so Izar could pursue a doctorate in educational administration. He spent the remainder of his career as associate dean and then dean of the College of Education and Human Services.

Carol Martinez married Izar A. Martinez in 1957. Carol attended Macalester College and Wesley Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University, graduating with her RN certification and bachelor’s in nursing. Carol continued her studies in health care professions at various universities, including Utah State. Her professional career included years of nursing and teaching at the high school and college levels. Carol served as founder of a cancer rehabilitation program at Logan Regional Hospital and is the founder and first executive director of the Hospice of Cache Valley.

Dee A. (1911-1996) and Belva W. (1911-2005) Broadbent Room
Rooms 230 and 232

Dee Albert Broadbent attended Wasatch High, graduating in 1928. Following his service in the California Mission, he married Belva Wilson on December 21, 1934. They moved to Logan, where he continued his college education and received a degree in agricultural economics from Utah State University. Dee also earned a master’s from the University of Illinois.
Dee joined the staff of Utah State University in 1938 and retired 39 years later in 1976, having served as professor, assistant director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and business manager and vice president of the university for 23 years.

Belva graduated from Wasatch High School and earned a normal certificate in education from BYU. Belva and her two daughters graduated at the same time from Utah State University in 1958.

Thomas A. (1908-1989) and Edna C. (1915-2007) Taylor Science Room
Rooms 231 and 233

Thomas Alva Taylor was born September 21, 1908 in Almon, Missouri. When Tom was 12-years-old, his parents divorced, leaving him on his own to earn a living and pay for his education. He moved to Fruitland, Idaho with his high school coach when he was a junior, and graduated from Fruitland High School, where he was active in football, boxing, basketball, wrestling and track.

Thomas attended McPherson College in Kansas, the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Idaho in Moscow. He received a bachelor’s in forestry and wildlife and a master’s in elementary administration from Utah State University in 1939. He taught and coached high school sports in Idaho and Washington for 10 years and for 23 years at the Whittier School, Edith Bowen and USU, from which he retired as an assistant professor of elementary education in 1974.

Edna Cardon Taylor was born April 16, 1915 in Logan, Utah. She graduated from Logan High in 1932 at the age of 17, having skipped 3rd grade, and from USU in 1936 with a degree in business. Edna and Thomas were marred on April 1, 1938. Edna owned and ran the Logan Credit Bureau from 1951 to 1955, when she decided to return to USU to get her teaching certificate. In 1955, she began teaching first grade at Adams Elementary. She later taught at Hillcrest Elementary, where she also acted as head teacher while the building was expanded in following years. She was offered the principal position there, but chose to stay in the classroom. She taught for 22 years, retiring in 1977.

Leslie S. Jr. (1926-2015) and Marion Eskelsen (1925-2016) Dunn Seminar Room
Room 391

Leslie Dunn (Les) was born in Logan, Utah to Leslie S. Dunn and Anne Mitton Dunn. Marion was born in in Brigham City, Utah to Ruel M. Eskelsen and Elizabeth Anne Morrison. Both went to Logan High School, where they first met and started dating. They attended Utah State University and were married in June 1945. Their five children are all graduates of USU with bachelor’s degrees in education.

Les graduated with a degree in math education from Utah State. He taught and coached at Lava Hot Springs High School in Idaho, then came back to Utah State and got a master’s in physical education and recreation. He taught and coached for 8 years in California at Ft. Bragg, Auburn and Crockett High Schools, then moved back to Brigham City in 1960 to teach and coach at Box Elder High School until 1971. Les also worked in the Box Elder District Office, coordinating the adult and community education programs until his retirement in 1989. Along the way, Les received his education specialist degree from the University of Utah and his Ed.D. in educational administration from BYU.

Marion graduated with a degree in elementary education from Utah State University and taught first grade for nearly 20 years at Bunderson Elementary in Brigham City. She retired from teaching in 1989. Marion was active in a variety of community service organizations in Brigham City, serving on local boards and in presidencies.

Carol and William Strong Alcove
3rd Floor SE Alcove

Carol Strong began a distinguished teaching career in 1973 in the department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at USU, where she had earned her bachelor’s in communicative disorders. She received many teaching and research awards over her years at USU, including the Eldon J. Gardner Professor of the Year award. She later was named a Trustee Professor of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education. From 2004 to 2010, as dean of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, she helped secure endowments for seven faculty chairs in various disciplines, including arts education, as well as funding for a world-class facility for early childhood education and research. Her cross-college alliances brought new faculty to USU to strengthen teacher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

William Strong served as Secondary Education department head and as executive director of Distance Education Programs at USU. He has received a number of awards at Utah State, including the Teaching in Excellence Award in 1988 and 1998 and the Faculty Researcher of the Year in 2003. In 1979, he founded the Utah Writing Project, an award-winning effort to improve K-12 writing instruction.

C. Don (1910-2001) and Marion Bishop Alcove
3rd Floor SW Alcove

Cleo Don Bishop was born December 27, 1910 in Hinckley, Utah, and graduated from Hinckley High in 1929. He studied at Branch Agricultural College in Cedar City and Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, where he completed a bachelor’s, followed by a master’s in education administration in 1957.

Moving to Cache Valley for study at USAC, Don worked as assistant purchasing agent and as a fourth-grade teacher at the Whittier Training School in Logan. He taught Seminary at Logan High School and later served as principal. In 1961, he became the first director of the David O. McKay Student Living Center at USU. In 1963, Don purchased the Mitchell Motel. He retired in 1971.

Dr. Marion Bishop, a Cache Valley native, graduated from Utah State University in 1987 with a bachelor’s in English before moving to New York to pursue a master’s and doctorate in English and American literature. At the completion of her doctorate, Marion taught at the collegiate level at several universities in the eastern United States.

While at Bentley College in Massachusetts, Marion decided to switch career paths and pursue her dream of becoming a physician. Marion’s interest in medicine began as a youth watching her father work as a physician and as the first emergency room director at Logan Regional Hospital. Overcoming the fears and worries she had about attending medical school, Marion found herself back at USU to complete her medical school prerequisites. During this time, she founded Women in Medicine, a group that encouraged women to pursue careers in the health sciences.
Marion attended medical school at the University of Utah and completed a three-year emergency medicine residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Marion Bishop worked as an emergency medicine physician at Cache Valley Hospital and Brigham City Community Hospital.

George S. and Myrtle L. Cooper Alcove
3rd Floor SW Alcove

George Spence Cooper and Myrtle Olive Larsen, both Cache Valley natives, attended Utah State University. Myrtle earned her bachelor’s in 1940, with a major in elementary education and a minor in sociology. The two were married June 29, 1938.

Walter D. and Dorleen W. (1926-2010) Talbot Seminar Room
Room 454

Walter Talbot earned his bachelor’s in physical education from USU in 1949, a master’s in education from the University of Utah in 1952, and his Ed.D. in educational administration from USU in 1966.

During his educational career, Walter did postgraduate work at UCLA and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a visiting professor at Utah State University, Brigham Young University and Kansas State University. Walter served as an assistant and state superintendent of Utah for education.

Ruby Dorleen Williams spent her youth on a farm in Pleasant View, Utah, where she learned to work hard. She used her many talents to bless the lives of others. Her greatest talent was a soft and compassionate heart in the service of others.