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Pam Hallam believes that teaching is the best way to learn. She eagerly put that idea to work when she received a $1.2 million Governor’s Reading Initiative Grant, launching into a public education project she had of dreamed for years. Her work with twenty-one curriculum consultants to improve math and literacy instruction resulted in her reception of the 2006 Utah Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Project in Public Education Award.

Hallam is an instructor in the McKay School’s Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations. She also serves as Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Alpine School District.

She began her project by hiring expert teachers as curriculum consultants for a unique professional development opportunity. The curriculum consultants were instructed in coaching and mentoring skills and then assigned to help other teachers in twelve schools with their at-risk students. Each teacher identified five children who were having difficulty with math and five children who were struggling with literacy. Individual learning plans were devised to improve the children’s skills.

Hallam says she felt this approach was promising “because it strived to blend what is known about effective professional development with school-based and school-specific needs regarding both content and school climate.”

The consultant teams were effective in aiding the at-risk students, but even more remarkable was the professional development that the curriculum consultants experienced. Each consultant was able to work with 15 teachers and 300 students in four different settings. All of the consultants reported that the experience was “the best professional development they [had] ever had."

The teachers with whom the consultants worked also confirmed that their practice was positively impacted, thus a total of 300 teachers and 6,600 students in the Alpine School District benefited from Hallam’s project.

Although she now works as an educational administrator, Hallam admits she likes to spend her extra time hearkening back to her former occupation as a home economics teacher. Her hobbies include everything from cooking and sewing to interior decorating.

Hallam is also a fan of the outdoors and enjoys spending time four-wheeling with her family at their cabin. She and her husband have five children.

Robyn Ence

If you ask Robyn Ence what she loves to do, her answer is likely to involve some kind of service. Whether she is visiting nursing homes, working with troubled youth, or even just helping family members, she says that in serving others she finds her greatest joy. It comes as no surprise, then, that Ence has her sights set on becoming a nurse.

It was not until recently, however, that Ence pinpointed nursing as her future career. She graduated from BYU with her bachelor's degree in psychology, a field that deeply interested her, yet she was unsure it would dictate her eventual profession. She began working full-time as a secretary in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education (CPSE) at the McKay School, partially basing her decision on her love of the BYU environment. She soon found that her time as a secretary for CPSE would also heighten her desire to further her education.

"The importance of education here is constantly emphasized," she says. "It helped me in my decision to go back to school. The faculty here are incredible, and they get you excited about learning. They're so enthusiastic about their research that you get excited about it too."

Another source of inspiration for Ence has been her volunteer work. She frequently visits the residents of nursing homes, offering them her sincere concern and a listening ear. One friend she has made during her visits, an elderly woman from Holland, loves nothing more than to share her life stories. "I've heard the same stories over and over," Ence laughs, "But telling them makes her so happy. She's just glad someone cares about what she has to say." Ence also loves how the stories can take her back to a simpler time, reminding her of the basic principles that make life happy and meaningful.

This clarified perspective is something Ence also learned while working at a youth detention center with boys aged 12-18. She recalls playing Bingo with them, each square on a Bingo card representing something for which the player is grateful: "It was interesting to see what the boys came up with," she says. "They were realizing what was really important- things like their health, the love of others, and family."

These and other experiences have led Ence to the conclusion that as a nurse, she can aid people physically by helping them to stay positive emotionally. While she recognizes that life circumstances can be extremely painful or disheartening, she has also come to understand that healing on the inside makes all the difference.

Joyce Terry

The importance of education has played a consistent role in Joyce Terry's life. It was something she learned at an early age, being the daughter of two public school teachers. It was something she carried with her as she went through college, her career, and the raising of her four children. She now works in Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (CITES) in the McKay School.

After Terry graduated from BYU with a degree in elementary education, she worked for five years as a teacher in the Alpine School District. During that time she learned what she feels is a vital characteristic of being a good teacher. "I found that you really need to have a love for your work and for your students," she explains. "If you have that love, your job is a joy and it doesn't feel like a drudgery. You look forward to getting up and going to work every day."

Now that Terry has returned to BYU, she continues to enjoy her work. As part of a BYU family – her parents both attended and her mother was even homecoming queen – Terry has come to love the spirit of the campus. "I love the students, the staff, and the teachers. I love all of it!" she exclaims. Terry also laughingly admits she has enjoyed finding her mother's portrait among those of the homecoming queens in the Wilkinson Center hallways.

Terry has been a vital part of the CITES staff for 3 ½ years. The work in CITES has reinforced her belief that working with others as a team is essential for effectiveness. This truth was also apparent during the four years Terry worked as a treasurer and city recorder for Woodland Hills and the time she spent volunteering as an athletic driver for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. “I’ve learned…that everyone has different strengths and talents. It’s important to recognize [this] so everyone can work well together,” says Terry.

Terry's positive attitude is inspired by two exemplars of optimism: Gordon B. Hinckley and Sheri Dew. Terry admires both LDS leaders for their accomplishments as well as their ability to persevere by keeping things in perspective. "They have taught me to keep going and stay positive," she shares, "because they understand that no matter what, everything is going work out."

Janet Young

One of the aims of the McKay School of Education is to “prepare noble educators to teach, guide, and strengthen their students." Dr. Janet R. Young believes the best way to reach this goal is by incorporating her Latter-day Saint perspective. She emphasizes that part of being a noble educator is being able to recognize the Spirit’s role in education: “A good educator will use the inspiration he or she receives to inspire others. That’s what education is: inspiration.”

Dr. Young has been a source of inspiration as she has sought to help young educators. She began a research project two years ago in which she studied beginning teachers who were in the first year of their careers. Collaborating with Robert Bullough (CITES) and Lynnette Erickson, Roni Jo Draper, Leigh Smith, and Kendra Hall of the Department of Teacher Education, Dr. Young examined the various forms of support and mentoring that new teachers receive. Her study dealt with cognitive complexity, or the teacher’s ability to deal with uncertainties in the classroom and make decisions when an issue has more than one answer. The study was completed and the manuscript submitted during the 2006 Winter semester.

Since then, Dr. Young has been working on several other projects, including a study on integrating social studies and social skills instruction under the umbrella of Peaceable Schools. She is also conducting a study on preparing educators to better teach literacy, and is working to create an electronic survey about teacher educators and teacher awards.

Another recent accomplishment of Dr. Young’s was her presentation in February 2006 for the Harold B. Lee Library lecture series titled “Of Cell Phones, Blogs, and Books: Social Interaction and Our Sense of Being Literate." Dr. Young explained in her lecture that literate identity is “who we take ourselves to be as literate individuals within our social worlds.” The lecture also explored the tools and relationships of our literate lives and considered the social and personal implications of literacy.

As the daughter of a principal and a schoolteacher, Dr. Young learned from an early age the importance of education and what it requires to have a strong, positive impact on students. “To be an effective teacher, one must have a depth of knowledge and understanding of children and the purpose of teaching,” she advises.

Dr. Young was raised in Provo and received her Doctorate at Oklahoma State University in Norman. She is married to an attorney in Provo and has four children and five grandchildren.

Eula Monroe

Dr. Eula Monroe is a self-proclaimed “numbers person,” which is a likely proclamation from a woman who has been in math education for over 40 years. However as of late, Monroe, professor of Teacher Education in the McKay School of Education, has found that although numbers can make the world go round, qualitative data can be just as useful as quantitative data. This acknowledgement stems from her recent passion for researching the area of self-study.

Self-study is defined as a medium of study that relies on one's own self to follow through on learning tasks related to a course, module, lesson, or lab medium. Monroe, who is continually searching for new ways to improve her teaching and reach her students, came across the method of self-study and wanted to implement it in her life. She saw self-study as a good way to evaluate the community of discourse in her classroom. “I asked myself what I could change in my practice to reach all my students,” Monroe said.

Monroe believes that the effectiveness of self-study is best described by a passage in James 4:17: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.”

Continual self-evaluation has long been a part of Monroe’s life. Monroe was born in western Kentucky where she and her husband, Matt, raised their daughter. She worked diligently at Western Kentucky University for a decade and was very satisfied with her job. However, she felt like she was not as closely aligned with God as she wanted to be. After praying with her family, she began to consider other teaching opportunities. A devout Baptist and a southerner at heart, Brigham Young University was not exactly on Monroe’s radar. But a national conference for mathematics educators held in Salt Lake City and a few BYU acquaintances changed that.

Monroe has been teaching at BYU for over 13 years. She strongly feels the Lord’s hand in her life and knows this is the place where He wants her. She is a member of the First Baptist Church in Provo and serves on campus as advisor to the Baptist Student Union. She and her husband Matt live in both Kentucky and Utah. She has felt her faith strengthened and her spirituality more focused as she works at BYU. “My years at BYU have been a time of learning and reflection about my faith and its Author,” Monroe said.

Byran Korth

Byran Korth is an assistant professor in the McKay School's department of Teacher Education as well as the coordinator for the Early Childhood Education program. He has tried to model his career after words of President David O. McKay. These words, which use to hang on a plaque in the halls of this building, are "The highest purpose of education is not just to teach facts, however important they may be, but to train the mind, to make good citizens, and to develop character." Korth believes that these keys accurately embody his aims as an educator.

Korth earned his undergraduate degree and master's from BYU in Family Sciences. Before returning to BYU to work in the Teacher Education department, Korth received his doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from Auburn University in Alabama. He worked at Auburn for five years as an assistant professor and was the Director of the Harris Early Learning Center, an infant through kindergarten program managed by Auburn University and located in the Civil Rights District of Birmingham, Alabama.

Korth returned to BYU in 2004. As for his role as the ECE program coordinator, Korth hopes to build on the unique and strong early childhood foundation of the program and prepare teachers to work with young children in a way that brings to pass President McKay's purpose of education. "As a program we need to work on developing in our students a strong combination of content knowledge and teaching skills while enhancing the appropriate dispositions to work with young children," Korth said.

Currently, Korth is applying his background and research in parent-child relations to the teacher-child relational context. He is developing a survey that will measure teachers' style of interacting with their students. From his research he hopes to identify what specific constructs and behaviors unique to the teacher-child relationship lead to positive social and cognitive development in young children.

Korth is also working with Kendra Hall and Gary Bingham, Early Childhood Education assistant professors in Teacher Education, to evaluate the differences between full day and part day kindergarten. Other collaborative projects include examining the meaning of "teacher educator" among partnership and non-partnership schools and a meta-analysis on parenting styles of parents of disabled children.

Korth has had the opportunity to visit Guatemala with the Rose Education Foundation-a BYU affiliated organization to promote, support, and establish educational opportunities for children in disadvantaged areas of Guatemala-and use his Spanish to present there at the International Education Conference. He has been invited to return in June.

Korth has three children ages eight, two and one. His wife, Sheia, received her Elementary Education degree from the McKay school and has taught 1st and 2nd grade for over five years. Korth loves being able to spend time with his family, especially at BYU sporting events. "We are huge sports fans," Korth admits.

Michelle Marchant

There is something to be said for a woman who will spend over four months to train for a 26.2-mile race. Michelle Marchant, professor in the McKay School's Counseling Psychology and Special Education department ran the Top of Utah Marathon last September. Marchant's accomplishment of this feat demonstrates the determination, dedication, and foresight that are also prevalent in her work as an educator and an educational reformer.

Currently Marchant is Elementary Director of the Peaceable Schools project while she also teaches behavioral classes in the McKay School. Through Peaceable Schools Marchant is working to help the social and emotional development of elementary school students within the BYU-Public School Partnership. Most recently the project has worked with mentoring to enable the effective implementation of successful counseling methods.

Marchant believes that her grandmother, a librarian who worked with underprivileged children, has inspired her work in Special Education. She said, "My Grandmother was always an advocate of the underdog." Marchant earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree from Utah State University in Behavior Disorders and Special Education. She has worked in at risk schools in Salt Lake City and in a rural school in Idaho.

Marchant served a mission in Haiti and is the loving aunt of 11 nieces and nephews. Though she is usually kept on the run with work, she loves the outdoors and music as well. In the future Marchant would like to see a continued relationship between the school districts and BYU. "My biggest goal would very much be to keep this relationship so we can empower them [the schools] to employ the practices that we jointly believe in."

As Marchant has worked as an educator and while she continues to look for ways to help improve the way educators reach students, she has found that human relationships and not getting caught up in research are what really matter. "The most important thing is to relate with people in order to find their potential," said Marchant. "Then we can help them reach their potential and help them see what they do well."

Bonnie Bennett

"We are lucky to have her," commented Buddy Richards as he passed by Bonnie Bennett's office. Bonnie Bennett is the department secretary for Educational Leadership and Foundations in the McKay School of Education. And while the rest of the department would agree with Richards, Bennett feels like she is the lucky one. "I have been so blessed to have a job that I love, and a job where I enjoy working with the people around me," said Bennett.

This will be Bennett's tenth year working in the Ed Leadership department of the McKay School, and her second year as department secretary. "This is such a great program," said Bennett. "I would encourage anyone who is interested in graduate school in education to apply to our department."

Bennett was raised in Louisiana and moved to Arizona in 1965. Growing up, she did not feel there was enough emphasis on the importance of education for women. This motivated Bennett to take a position in a high school in Kingman Arizona where she would be able to help students see the blessings of education. For thirteen years Bennett worked as secretary to the principal at Kingman High School. While working there all four of her children passed through the school. She loved interacting with the students and she kept a candy drawer in her office. "My children would come and visit me and get some candy, and sometimes their friends would stop by, and even sometimes friends of their friends would stop by."

In 1996 Bennett and her husband moved to Utah so they could be closer to their children and grandchildren. "My thirteen grandchildren are the pride and joy of my life," said Bennett. On a file cabinet in her office Bennett displays a collection of framed photographs of her children and grandchildren. "If I get stressed or a little tense I look over at my grandchildren file, then I can pick up and go on," said Bennett.

Bennett has loved working in education and being able to help provide students and professors with the tools they need to do well. A positive resolve and determination to help other's succeed are apparent in Bennett's work. She humbly stated, "I just try to keep things organized and in line so the professors have all they need to teach and do their research. I try to stay one step ahead, and occasionally put out a fire or two."

After her years of experience in education, Bennett believes that a good attitude is invaluable. "I believe that attitude is a very important tool in all aspects of life. With a good attitude, an individual, or a group, can always achieve a positive end result," said Bennett. As she works in Ed Leadership, Bennett is practicing this trait and helping others to become the best they can be. "That is what BYU is all about," said Bennett. "Giving students the tools to go out into their career as the best person they can be."

Macleans A. Geo-JaJa

Macleans A. Geo-JaJa is a specialist in development and the economics of education, as well as a professor in the McKay School's department of Educational Leadership and Foundations. During two decades, he has worked on a wide range of development and education issues throughout (primarily) Africa.

Recently, Dr. Geo-JaJa has conceived and advanced accelerated development; a reform program designed to accelerate human development and renewed development in Sub-Saharan Africa through an eco-education mainstreaming program. He has also pursued research in Achieving Schooling for All in Africa: public and private sectors in the provision of education, and Marketizing Education in Nigeria.

In 2004 Dr. Geo-JaJa was asked to serve as a volume section editor of the prestigious International Handbook on Globalisation, Education and Policy Research that was published by Springer in 2005. This handbook, that offers an overview of how the last decade has changed education and education policy in the world, is only the fifth of its kind.

In May of 2005, another invitation to serve as a book series editor for a book entitled, Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research was extended to Dr. Geo-JaJa. "This Series that complements the International Handbook of Globalisation and Education Policy Research, by focusing on comparative education themes and case studies in greater depth than is possible in the Handbook will provide substantive contributions to knowledge and understanding of comparative education and policy research globally," commented Dr. Geo-JaJa.

Through his research interest, Dr. Geo-JaJa has been passionate in shifting the concept of development away from a purely economic focus to a more people-centered approach. Consequentially, Dr. Geo-JaJa explains that in his classes this approach provokes thoughtful discussion and debate among students on how best to define, interpret or achieve development.

Dr. Geo-JaJa is from Nigeria, and his research takes him around the world. In 2004 he presented at an international conference in Cuba, and in 2005, he was invited to present his paper, "Education, Public Spending and Social Justice in Nigeria" at the Oxford University Round Table at Oxford England. By focusing on the issues of empowerment, equity, sustainability and human rights. Dr. Geo-JaJa's work provides a definitive alternative to the traditional focus on economic growth as an end in itself to African emancipation. He said "How you define poverty has an awful lot to do with how you work with the poor, and how well poverty can be mitigated."

Steven Baugh

Enculturating the young in a social and political democracy; Providing access to knowledge for all children and youth; Practicing a nurturing pedagogy (the art and science of teaching); Ensuring responsible stewardship of schools. These are the Moral Dimensions of Teaching, which was the subject of Steven Baugh’s presentation at the Rural Schools Conference in Cedar City last July.

“In the state of Utah there’s quite a division between the school districts,” said Baugh. “The rural districts are very small and their needs are quite a bit different than the needs along the Wasatch front. My presentation focused on what [the moral dimensions] mean, and how they impact the teacher in the classroom.”

Baugh said the four moral dimensions are the philosophical under girding of the BYU-Public School Partnership. “They have become an essential part of the conceptual framework of the educator preparation program across campus” he said.

Baugh feels that schools represent our ever-changing and complex society. He lists language and an undermining of the values of democracy and families as challenges that today’s students face. “Teachers are looking for ways to strengthen themselves so that they can meet these increasingly difficult needs of children and youth,” Baugh said. “The conference is designed to bring those folks together, and let them hear of some of the newest and most effective strategies for improving student learning.”

According to Baugh, the reaction he receives after teaching the moral dimensions is always positive because it puts into words what teachers already believe. “People can get enthusiastic about them because they reinforce why they’re in public education,” he said.

Born in Port Townsend, Washington and raised in Orem, Baugh graduated from BYU in 1978 with an Ed.D. He has spent a total of 30 years working for the Alpine School District as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. In 2000 he came to BYU as a professor of Educational Leadership. He’s spent the last three years serving as the director of CITES. He and Cathleen, his wife of 38 years, have eight children and 15 grandchildren. Baugh enjoys playing tennis, boy scouting activities, and reading LDS Church history and Harry Potter books.

He believes the most important tools for educators are, “Competence in their field of study or specialty coupled with deep caring for students, and wanting to make a difference in their lives.”

Krystal Workman

Krystal Workman is the new secretary working in the McKay School Dean’s office, replacing recently retired Sheila Hewett. “I like this job a lot,” Krystal said in a recent interview. “Everybody is so friendly, and I like how I’m busy all the time. I like the educational and spiritual atmosphere here at BYU.”

Raised in New Albany, Mississippi, Krystal came to BYU as a freshman in 1999, and graduated in April 2004 with a degree in Geographic Information Systems. According to Krystal, a self-proclaimed lover of geography, Utah’s geographical features made the transition from the South easy. “I like Utah,” she said. “I love the mountains, and I have found out that I love skiing and snowboarding.”

Prior to working at the McKay School, Krystal spent a summer as an intern for National Geographic. Her primary duty was to review and narrow down hundreds of grant proposals the society receives. When her internship ended she came back to Utah to marry Jared, a Facilities Management student at BYU.

The Workmans live and work together in Orem. For the past four months they have been working at the Family Support and Treatment Center in Orem. “We work with families in crisis by taking care of kids who need foster homes when none are available,” Krystal explained. She and her husband work with children who are subject to drug, alcohol, and physical abuse in the home. “We’ll take care of the kids for a few hours, days, or even a week.” While the circumstances surrounding these children are extreme, Krystal says the work is a good way for her and Jared to learn how to work as a team with their own children in the future.

Ellie Young

To talk with Ellie Young is to feel at once her enthusiasm and humility. Dr. Young is a well-published, well-respected professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the McKay School who maintains a down-to-earth outlook and a sincere love for her colleagues and students. Speaking by cell phone from the sidelines of her son's soccer practice, she told of her love for her students and her work. "I enjoy working and meeting with students. I am always very rewarded by my relationship with them."

It was this attitude that led the 2005 School Psychology graduating class to honor her as the School Psychology Teacher of the Year. She was surprised by the award, which she received at an end-of-year banquet held by the Counseling Psychology and Special Education Department last April, and said she was very honored to have been chosen.

Dr. Young is heavily involved in Peaceable Schools, a program coordinated by the BYU- Public School Partnership which aims to create positive, supportive environments in which all students can grow academically, socially, and emotionally. With the help of a five-year grant from the federal government, Dr. Young and her colleagues are implementing Peaceable School models at Springville Junior High and Payson Middle School in Nebo School District.

"We're looking for the good things students do," said Dr. Young, "and we're teaching them social skills in a direct way-like we teach math-it works very well, especially in large school settings."

In addition to her work with Peaceable Schools, Dr. Young has recently co-authored an article in the journal Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. The article entitled, "Gender Differential Item Functioning in the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale With A Sample of Early Adolescent Students," was co-written with Dr. Richard Sudweeks and discusses gender differences as they relate to developing self-concepts.

Dr. Young earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from BYU, a specialist degree in psychology from BYU, a master's degree in education from BYU, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She lives in Springville, Utah with her husband, Frank, her daughter, Derin, 17, and her two sons, Frank, 14, and Erik, 10.

2006 Faculty & Staff Spotlight

Pam Hallam