New literacy center to give 3 R's assistance that students often must learn a whole new vocabulary to survive college. “The literacy center works with teaching collegiate skills, to make sure the students can work at college level,” he said. Attendance in the program is voluntary and is mastery-based, meaning that students must demonstrate a complete understanding of each subject before they move to the next. Tutors give one-on-one instruction, and students also spend time on computer tutorials, Jensen said. “The neat thing about one-on-one is that tutors can discuss what the student is interested in at a particular moment. They can select the modules that fit particular needs,” he said. Tutors will mostly be upper classmen from the college who use modules developed over the past summer by a team of educators. The center itself will be comprised of 30 computers and 60 work stations, he said. Funding for the program is a gift from John and Vera Eccles. The donation provided for remodeling and office furnishing of a WSC-owned home next to campus, and the development of teaching modules in reading, writing and arithmetic, he said. “Mr. and Mrs. Eccles are proponents of the life-long learning process, and are committed to the belief that community and educational problems are best solved by organizations and individuals at the local, rather than the national, level,” Jensen said. Jensen noted that the problem which the center addresses is real. A 1986 Chamber of Commerce report states that approximately 12,000 people over the age of 18 in Weber County cannot read a job application. In the United States 25 million adults cannot read. “An indisputable conclusion of the research regarding literacy is that large numbers of our nation’s citizenry are failing to develop reading and writing abilities that enable them to achieve a quality life in a technologically advanced society,” Jensen said. But research also suggests that people can and will learn if properly instructed, he said. “It’s important that students have the opportunity for mastery learning. Most courses are taught at a presentation level—the material is simply presented to the students—but with mastery learning they can’t get out until they can show they know it all,” he said. “The result is an increased likelihood they will stay in college and graduate,” Jensen added. But while the new center encourages student use, adults and children from the community can also take advantage of the services. In addition, the college is also developing modules specifically for learning disabled or handicapped children, he said. “But my biggest worry is that we will be so busy from just college people that we’ll have no slots open for people from the community,” he said. Jensen said he receives about five calls a week from parents with sons or daughters that have poor reading skills. “And once people know what we’re doing up here those calls will mushroom,” he noted. The program has a tuition fee of $180 which covers the one-on-one instruction, while the college picks up overhead and administrative costs. Jensen said he is hoping to establish a foundation of $15,000 to $25,000 to provide tuition for those unable to meet the $180 fee, but he was quick to note that the program is not designed for a group society labels as economically or educationally “disadvantaged.” “I believe kids would rather be thought of as uncooperative or mean, than to be thought of as dumb or that they can’t read.” “This program is not for the ‘disadvantaged’ but for those who need reading, writing and mathematical assistance,” he said. J center to help adults, college students and younger children improve their reading, writing, and arithmetic skills is the concept behind a new literacy center at Weber State. The center, located at 1346 Edvalson, is officially named the Eccles Center for Literacy Development, and is the brain-child of Dr. Don Jensen, director of the college’s educational support programs. The new education center is designed to help improve reading, writing and mathematical skills, and is scheduled to open Nov. 1. “There are many people who read fairly well, but still have problems,” Jensen said. Nationwid, the average freshman entering college, for example, reads on an eighth grade level. But some firstyear collegiate textbooks are written on a much higher level than that. As an illustration Jensen noted that the book for course English 96, which is a remedial English program, is written on the eleventh grade level. A child and family book for first-year Students is written on the fourteenth grade level, a required beginning history course on the sixteenth and a freshman humanities course text reads at grade 17, he said. “That’s so far above the beginning freshman that often they choose not to read the text,” Jensen said. Jensen said he encourages faculty to use appropriate text books, but even at Families, focus of national conference “We all know the family is the backbone of our society. I’m glad to see the spotlight shifting to highlight families.” With those remarks Colleen Bangerter, wife of Utah Governor Norman H. Bangerter, opened the 10th annual Families Alive Conference at Weber State. The conference covered three days of special lectures by such guests as Dr. Carlfred Broderick from the University of Southern California, author Carol Lynn Pearson, WSC professor Dr. Randy Chatelain, editor Cynthia Parsons and many others. “T hope that during this conference you take time to stand back and look at yourself,” Dr. Chatelain told the approximately 400 participants. “That’s a very powerful and healing process.” The conference included scores of workshops on such topics as single parenthood, grandparenting, teenage sexuality, medical concerns, education, dual career families, fatherhood and many others. “What is it that makes a father?” Dr. Al Price, a Brigham Young University professor asked during his workshop. ‘Fathers had very little contact with children historically because it took all of their time to provide. Today we’re almost 180 degrees from that. They’re not busy all the time, but fathers are choosing what they’d ‘rather do,’ and they’re choosing to do activities that ‘fulfill? them while they’re abandoning the family,” said Dr. Price. Conference participants included parents, teachers, college students and family professionals. Two awards were also given as part of the conference on families. Dr. Surjeet Malhan of India and Dr. Jean Kunz, former Weber State professor, received the Nurturing Hand Award. The award honors people prominent in their support of families and education, said Kay Rawson, chairman of the Families Alive Conference. Dr. Mahlan is the director of the Institute of Home Economics at the University of Delhi and has established four colleges for women in India. She is the author of 25 scientific publications and has written 10 books on home economics. She is one of the first social workers to start family life So Dr. Lyall Crawford, a WSC professor of communication, participants at the recent Families Alive conference. education programs for tribal and rural women in Indian, and began India’s training programs for child development in 1975. Dr. Kunz is a former chairman of the Weber State child and family studies department. She has advocated children and child development in local, national and international arenas. She was directly responsible for the start of Weber State’s conference on families, and has. worked with curriculum instruction and education issues for children internationally, serving on the U.S. national committee of OMEP, a national organization to support families. speaks to workshop “This conference has influenced so many lives,” Rawson said. “When you hear mothers cry and express their gratitude — that kind of feeling is hard to describe.”