Luciano Pesci

When Luciano Pesci, a graduate instructor in the Economics department and the Director of Research for Utah Community Research Group (Utah CRG), gave the commencement speech for the University of Utah graduating class of 2008, he said, "as graduates, it is now our obligation to perpetuate the knowledge we gained during our time here and to maintain this institution, which has given all of us a greater chance at life."1 Now, in 2012, Luciano's work and creation of a service learning class within the Economics department, already in its second successful year, is proof that he intends to take his own advice.

An Educational Foundation

Luciano is the first to admit that he would not be where he is today without the help of his family, friends, and teachers. According to him, his parents were "the perfect model of parental involvement." As a child, his parents constantly supported him by reading to him and emphasizing the importance of an education. All of his siblings before him went to college, leading him to learn to strive for knowledge at a young age.

Once he became an undergraduate, he quickly found a similar support system within the Honors Program (now known as the Honors College). He says that the three Intellectual Traditions classes he took through the program shaped a large portion of his college experience.

The hands-on learning that he embraced through an internship with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts also helped him realize how important real world experiences are to a well-rounded education. During his internship, he catalogued and created an exhibit of Roman glass for display. He says, "that was my first experience with education that wasn't from a textbook—education that involved not just remembering something for an exam, but synthesizing it to the point where you can put it to practical use."