Sorenson Legacy Foundation Gives USU $3 Million Arts Education Endowment
The Sorenson Legacy Foundation has given Utah State University a $3 million donation to fund an interdisciplinary endowed chair and an endowed arts program to develop the skills of those who teach art — music, dance, theater and visual arts — to elementary school students.
Half of the donation will fund arts education initiatives to research and develop best practices for integrating the teaching of the arts with core curriculum subjects (such as mathematics, science, reading and writing) in elementary school classrooms and to improve the arts teaching skills of pre-service and in-service elementary school educators in Utah. The other $1.5 million will fund a joint-appointment endowed chair in elementary arts education to be shared by the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services and the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and will be filled by a qualified teaching artist.
Half of the donation will fund arts education initiatives to research and develop best practices for integrating the teaching of the arts with core curriculum subjects (such as mathematics, science, reading and writing) in elementary school classrooms and to improve the arts teaching skills of pre-service and in-service elementary school educators in Utah. The other $1.5 million will fund a joint-appointment endowed chair in elementary arts education to be shared by the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services and the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and will be filled by a qualified teaching artist.
“With this gift from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, the university is well-positioned to advance arts education in Utah, and the children of our state will benefit for generations to come,” USU President Stan L. Albrecht said. “The arts are at the very core of our shared experience as human beings, and this unique, interdisciplinary initiative for preparing elementary school arts educators will help the best teachers in the state integrate art into the core subjects of reading, mathematics and science in classrooms.”
USU is uniquely positioned to develop and deliver programs that improve the skills of elementary school teachers. USU’s Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services prepares more elementary school, special education and early childhood teachers than any public university in Utah, drawing on a system of school district contacts, regional campuses and its own statewide, distance-education network that uses video conferencing and online technologies, which are especially effective for reaching teachers in rural areas of Utah.
“USU has been committed to expanding the teaching skills of those who educate our children,” said James Lee Sorenson, a trustee for The Sorenson Legacy Foundation. “And we believe this university can become a national leader in developing research-based teaching methods that deliver high-quality arts education to elementary school children.”
The new university chair will be named the “Beverley Taylor Sorenson Endowed Chair for Elementary Arts Education” in honor of Beverley Taylor Sorenson, a philanthropist and former teacher who has worked for the past 13 years to make the arts a fundamental part of every Utah child’s elementary school education. Sorenson developed Art Works for Kids of Utah, a model program which has demonstrated that teaching the arts in elementary schools fosters a child’s social and emotional growth and measurably aids their comprehension of mathematics, science, reading and writing.
The new art education initiatives are unique in that they draw on talent from both the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services and the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, said Albrecht. “And the new endowed chair position will be highly visible and should attract one of the top professors in the field.”
Based in Salt Lake City, The Sorenson Legacy Foundation is a non-profit corporation established by the James LeVoy Sorenson family for the purpose of promoting charitable, religious, educational, literary and scientific endeavors.
Contacts: Tim Vitale, USU Public Relations, 435-797-1356; Jacob Moon, Sorenson Legacy Foundation Public Relations, 801-490-1017.
Beverley Taylor Sorenson of the Sorenson Legacy Foundation has given USU a $3 million donation to fund an interdisciplinary endowed chair and an endowed arts program to develop the skills of those who teach art to elementary school students.
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