Facility created to help children and families
The Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services is receiving an upgrade through the Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Education and Research Center and the Dolores Doré Eccles Center for Early Care and Education. The new facility was dedicated Tuesday in front of the new building.
Stan Albrecht, president of Utah State University, said that the programs housed in this new building are “already literally changing the lives of children and families.”
The new facility contains a school for children with permanent hearing loss, a new childcare facility complete with observation rooms for parents, and language and listening research labs.
Beth E. Foley, interim dean of the college of education said that the facility will focus on teacher training and education as well as research. She said the college of education ranks in the top two percent of educational schools. President Albrecht said the new facility will help the College of Education become the best.
The facility is covered in child-friendly paint colors and decorations. Each of the classrooms is named with different elements of nature such as earth, wind and sun.
According to Kristina Blaiser, director of the Sound Beginnings Preschool for children with permanent hearing loss, the school will help children learn how to hear and speak with hearing aids or cochlear implants.
“We expect children to hear within a normal range,” Blaiser said.
President Albrecht said that children with hearing loss could be helped, but only if the problem is identified early in life. The new facility provides hearing assessment for children.
The research in the new building is headed by professors as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Foley said students are excited about their research. She said one student wrote, “I love research” on a white boards in the new building.
The research will be used to help children with speech impairments and difficulty reading.
The building is a combination of an education and research facility with an early care and education center. Each section is named for two members of the Eccles family: Emma Eccles Jones and her sister-in-law, Dolores Doré Eccles. During the dedication ceremony, portraits of each of the women were unveiled. There was a photograph of Eccles and a painting of Jones by Heidi Darley. The portraits will be displayed in the new building.
Spencer F. Eccles, chairman and CEO of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation spoke about Eccles at the dedication.
“Her perspective was always right on target,” he said.
Reverend Frederick Lawson, trustee of the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation spoke about Emma Eccles.
“Aunt Em was keenly interested in early childhood education,” he said.
He went on to say that Emma’s true passion was sharing her knowledge of teaching with other teachers.
Both Lawson and Eccles spoke about the convergence of the two programs. Eccles said that one of the most rewarding aspects of the new facility is that it brings together legacies of two great women.
Children from the Edith Bowen Honors Choir sang a song about reading and education. Speaking of those students, Albrecht said, “This is why we’re here.”
“In a few months from now we will see this building take shape,” Larsen said.
Eccles summed up the program in a few short words, “The best is yet to come.”
–lauren.harper@aggiemail.usu.edu