This is an exhilarating, transformative time at Salt Lake Community College.

Our growing institution is poised to make a grander and more positive impact on our community than ever before.

We continue our commitment to being a model for inclusive and transformative education, and we are dedicated to our mission of empowering students with the skills and pathways that lead to successful transfer, meaningful employment, and ultimately the knowledge they need to live productively and happily in the world and achieve their dreams. 

We are also more devoted than ever to raising our local profile and claiming the important role we have in the community, and in the nation, as a community college.

Each year at Commencement we recognize a legislator who in the previous session helped us achieve that role and recognized the good work that we do. This year’s champion, Senator Evan Vickers, could not join us at Commencement, so we are recognizing him here today.

Senator Evan Vickers is a true advocate for higher education and a believer in the empowerment that comes with learning.

We thank him for encouraging new thinking in the way we serve our students while ensuring we remain excellent stewards of state resources.

As chair of the Legislature’s Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Vickers has fostered collaboration and sought to strengthen all of Utah’s higher ed institutions while recognizing the distinct mission and value of each school.  Through his leadership, our College has received significant funding increases, enabling us to better meet the needs of our students and more effectively prepare them for employment.

Most of all, I am honored to recognize Senator Vickers for the positive difference he makes to the thousands of students seeking to improve their lives and achieve more through higher education.  We are pleased he is with us today, and I ask that you join me in welcoming Utah State Senator Evan Vickers.

Now…let me take this opportunity to introduce this year’s Student Life and Leadership officers. These excellent and capable students will do a fantastic job of representing their peers and doing all they can to enhance the student experience and advance the institution. Please stand as I call your name:

• Junior Martinez, President
• Shirley Paxtor, Special Assistant to the President on Inclusivity and Equity
• Chase Larson, Executive Vice President
• Darrell Godfrey, Clubs & Organizations Vice President
• Mila Filippi, Central Region Vice President
• Marissa Moulder, North Region Vice President
• Mason Bancroft, South Region Vice President, and
• Gary Eaves, Publicity & Advertising Vice President

And leading the divisions of the college are the executive cabinet members. If you would also please stand:

• Dr. Charles Lepper, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
• Dr. Clifton Sanders, Provost for Academic Affairs
• Alison McFarlane, Vice President for Institutional Advancement
• Dennis Klaus, Vice President for Finance and Administration
• Jeff Aird, Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness
• Tim Sheehan, Vice President for Government and Community Relations, and
• Dr. Roderic Land, Special Assistant to the President and Chief Diversity Officer.

I’d also like to recognize this year’s Faculty Association, Faculty Senate and Staff Association leaders and thank them for the guidance and insight they provide the College. They are:

• Craig Ferrin (Faculty Association)
• Edward Engh (Faculty Senate)
• David Brower (Staff Association)

I would also like to extend a special welcome to all of our new faculty and staff. Thank you for joining our team!  If you started working at the College after August of last year, please stand so we may officially welcome you to your first Convocation at SLCC.

This past year has been one of the most exciting in our 70-year history. Together, with our students, we have made many great things happen.  Here are some highlights:

During commencement just a few short months ago, we proudly sent off more than 4,000 graduates into the world, with over 1,500 of those identifying as first-generation college students.

Washington Monthly Magazine named SLCC as one of its “Twelve Most Innovative Colleges for Adult Learners” recognizing we do a terrific job of serving adult students 25 and older.

Last year our men’s and women’s basketball teams played in national tournaments.

Our Development Department has been very busy this year and has made remarkable strides toward the College’s effort of raising $40 million in time for College’s 75th anniversary in 2023.

Although we are only two years into this campaign we have come a long way toward achieving our $40 million goal. We have received pledges and gifts totaling over $10 million, which exceeds our two-year benchmark by about $3 million.

Many of you here today have personally helped with that lift..thank you.  More than 200 of you generously donated during our employee giving campaign and collectively contributed $40,000 toward our $40 million goal.  These donations are critical to helping us serve more students and help them succeed.

As an institution, we continued to prioritize partnerships that foster meaningful and positive effects on our community. One such partnership is the work we do with Flourish Bakery.

Flourish is a non-profit organization that promotes hope, health and personal growth by training and employing people who are working to regain their lives after substance abuse and incarceration.   We lease the kitchen at our South City Campus to Flourish, and they administer a 12-month pastry arts training program. After training, those in the program are placed into jobs at local hotels, bakeries, restaurants and catering companies. This program truly transforms lives, and we are proud to support organizations like Flourish and their mission.  Some who have participated in Flourish have gone on to become farmers and growers, artisan craft makers, professionals in the retail and marketing fields, and small business entrepreneurs.

We were also privileged this year to join with Salt Lake City, the Utah Department of Workforce Services and others to create the SLCC Workforce Training Program.

This pilot program helped transform the lives of a group of homeless persons by teaching them the skill of construction framing. The college facilitated the learning while other partners provided housing, transportation and tools.

This powerful combination of housing security and relevant training allowed participants to finish the program, and all who completed were interviewed for jobs by local construction firms.  As an institution, we are proud we could play a role in a program that supports not only the booming construction industry but also those who had the courage to undertake a huge, life-altering change by learning new skills.

And, of course, tomorrow for the first time the college will welcome hundreds of students to our new, state-of-the-art Westpointe Workforce Training & Education Center.

Westpointe is the culmination of innovative thinking, committed partnerships between education, government and industry, and endless hours of hard work and negotiation.

Westpointe is poised to become a crown jewel for both SLCC and the community.

Our region, with its vibrant economy, needs skilled workers more than ever before. These workers are needed to literally build and maintain our regional economic prosperity.

At Westpointe, students will receive hands-on education and experience in welding, machining, diesel systems technology, injection molding, composites manufacturing, commercial driving and other high demand areas.

The impact of these trades cannot be underestimated. In the coming years, the Westpointe Center will not only benefit thousands of students but also the entire state by driving economic growth through the development of a top-notch workforce.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to recognize the dozens of faculty and staff who have been directly involved in creating the Westpointe Center. Many of you have been essential to the success of this building.  If you worked on the building, please stand as I call the name of your specific department:

o          The administrators, faculty and staff from Workforce and Economic Development and The School of Applied Technologies and Technical Specialties

o          Facilities

o          Information Technologies

o          Marketing and Communications

o          Government and Community Relations

o          Development

o          Public Safety, and

o          Business Services.

Thanks to each of you for bringing us to this day.

Along with the state legislature, our community partners and industry, we are proud that we’ve made Westpointe a reality. It is a great achievement and should be celebrated.

And, I’d like to personally invite each of you to Westpointe’s official ribbon joining ceremony. We feel a ribbon joining is more appropriate for this occasion than the traditional ribbon cutting as we have brought many parties together in building the Westpointe Center. If you can make the ceremony, please join us on Wednesday, September 19 at 9 a.m. for this great occasion. 

And while the opening of Westpointe is a great milestone, there is more on the horizon for SLCC.

We understand the importance of continually improving access to education. That’s why our next major goal, and our primary legislative request for this coming year, is to fulfill the vision of our first building in Herriman with the help of our partners from the University of Utah.

It’s well known the southwest portion of Salt Lake County is growing and growing fast – at nearly double the rate of other quadrants.

We anticipate the Herriman campus will serve more than 1,500 students at opening and more than 3,000 students by 2025, which is really just a few short years away.

Programs available at the Herriman campus will include nursing, information systems and computer science, teacher training, economics, business, criminology, and sustainable tourism and hospitality management.  The campus will offer a full-range of services including admissions, advising, tutoring and transfer support for both SLCC and the University of Utah.

Students will be able to earn a certificate or a two-year degree from us, and then remain at the Herriman campus to complete their final two years to earn a bachelor’s degree from the U.

As an institution, we are very excited about the possibility of a Herriman campus, and we know it will be a tremendous asset to the College and to Salt Lake County. 

Even with all the emphasis this year on brand-new buildings, as a college we are also working to improve the existing Student Pavilion on our Jordan Campus.

Thanks to our student leaders and their efforts to continue funding student spaces, we recently debuted plans to transform the Student Pavilion into a new Jordan Campus Student Center.

The existing building will be remodeled and expanded and will offer immense value and convenience to our students.

The Jordan Campus Student Center will have more space for clubs and organizations, informal student engagements, and large events.  It will be a great addition to an already stellar campus.

The facility will also house key services including the Center for Health and Counseling, Academic Advising, the Disability Resource Center, and Student Life and Leadership.

The move will allow us to expand our general education and nursing courses to accommodate more students in achieving their goals.

Improving access to education through new facilities isn’t the only tactic we’re using to make higher education available to everyone. We also remain committed to making college financially accessible as well.

During the last academic year, the College awarded 46 PACE and 1,000 SLCC Promise scholarships.

PACE was created to increase higher ed participation among high schoolers in underrepresented populations or who are first-generation college students.

Students start in 9th grade and after completing college readiness coursework and career exploration, successfully earn a two-year scholarship to the College. Currently, we have 282 high school students participating in PACE, and that number is expected to grow to around 400 as the new school year gets underway.

The SLCC Promise program, which at three years old is still relatively new, is a reflection of our belief that higher education should be available to anyone who desires it.  The program covers the cost of tuition and fees for full-time students when federal grants fall short. Filling this financial gap has made a tremendous difference in the lives of many students and has encouraged them to complete their degrees or certificates.

Let me highlight this program by sharing Mikelle Wrobel’s story.

When we debuted the SLCC Promise program she, like many of our students, worked nearly full-time during the fall and spring semesters, and then took on full-time work in the summer.

Working and going to school full time is difficult, and Mikelle was having a hard time earning enough to cover all of her school expenses and her other financial needs, and her family wasn’t in a position to offer much support.

Mikelle received a helping hand in the form of an SLCC Promise scholarship. The scholarship helped close the gap between what her Pell grant covered and her remaining school costs.

SLCC Promise has helped many students like Mikelle. Since its debut in 2016, the program has awarded more than $1.6 million to more than 1,300 students.

I’m also pleased to report that the College’s Collaborative Work Teams have accomplished a great deal since our last convocation.

One of the reasons our work teams, as well as our academic departments, have been so successful is because as an institution we are more committed than ever to using data as a way to better understand our students.

SLCC is relying more and more on data to help drive completion rates and encourage student success.

An example of this is the work currently being undertaken by our math department. 

Data show when it comes to math, performance on an early assignment or exam can be very predictive as to whether or not a student will pass that particular class. The math department has taken this information and created early milestones for students. Those who do poorly are offered options to help them improve their chances of completing and passing their math classes.

Our use of these types of analytics is still in its infancy, but we are seeing some early gains, and these efforts are helping us improve student outcomes as well provide guidance on the direction of our collaborative work teams.  All of the teams have done an amazing job this year, and I’d like to cover a few highlights.

During the last academic year, our Strategic Enrollment Management CWT has focused on applying SEM concepts to our non-traditional students including those participating in competency-based, non-credit, online and short-term workforce training programs.

We’ve streamlined the enrollment and registration processes as well as developed systems that provide more support to students in areas such as navigating financial aid and academic planning.  The work of the SEM team helps SLCC achieve a more integrated and effective system for recruitment, enrollment and retention. Ultimately, the work fosters an environment where more students can succeed in college.

As many of you know, Pathways has the ability to revolutionize this institution and community colleges across the country and is geared toward improving the student experience as well as graduation rates.

At SLCC, we are developing a Pathways model that will increase college completion and encourage better transfer and career planning. The Pathways model calls for the College to design and implement eight areas of study that are guided by a common framework for curriculum, instruction, advising, assessment and learning climate.

Pathways has two components – the first is about guiding students to select an area of study. Ideally, a student’s first year in a given pathway will prepare them to enter any program of study within that area.

The second component provides students with an integrated and deliberately- designed academic experience that will improve learning, increase persistence and encourage program completion in a timely manner. This clears the way for students to enter the workforce or transfer to a baccalaureate program.

To help students in successfully completing a pathway, they will be provided with carefully-designed program maps to help them make better decisions about course work and minimize the impact if a student decides on a different pathway at a later time.

During the past academic year, guiding principles for an SLCC pathway system have been established and a case management advising model has been designed.

We have begun creating a prototype map with the University of Utah in the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Education and Human Services Area of Study and have made significant progress toward better program articulations.

Lastly, a version of the comprehensive communications and marketing strategy for Pathways has been finalized.

By this time next year, Pathways will bring about several significant changes to the student intake process.

The “academics” page on our website will feature the eight areas of study and will lead to the SLCC application. The application will then route students to existing degree and certificate programs available through the eight pathway areas of study.

More information on Pathways will be detailed in today’s Provost meeting and during student affairs’ afternoon session.

It’s with great pride that I can say Salt Lake Community College truly exemplifies the word “Community.”

Community, in fact, is the most important word in our name, and we reinforce this belief by establishing community as one of our College values.  We specifically partner with the community in the transformative, public good of educating students.

For instance, last fall we held SLCC’s first-ever Day of Service.  On that day, more than 125 of you improved our community by painting the Family Support Center, sorting food at the Utah Food Bank, cleaning up the Jordan River Millcreek Confluence, and landscaping Magna Elementary’s courtyard.

To strengthen Community Engagement an institutional cultural norm, a Collaborative Work Team is looking for ways to increase the amount of service we provide to the community.

Currently, the college is evaluating a number of policies and initiatives designed to encourage more of us to participate in the Community Leave Benefit program and SLCC Service Days.

Later this year, look for new guidelines regarding Community Leave Benefit opportunities as well as sponsored service programs in which all students, faculty and staff will be invited to participate.

Again, all of our Collaborative Work Teams have made remarkable progress in advancing the institution. This is due to the fact Salt Lake Community College has top-notch, incomparable faculty and staff.

Each of you is a wonderful asset to SLCC, and our success is because of you and your commitment to providing students with the assistance and knowledge needed for them to accomplish their dreams.  By way of illustration, I’d like to highlight one of your colleagues who exemplifies this commitment.

Lynn Kilpatrick, an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Science, believes in consistently thinking and rethinking her teaching style to help her students succeed.

One of her greatest strategies is taking time to meet with her students one-on-one.

During these meetings, she learns a great deal from her students. She learns their stories and how amazing they are. She also learns about their strengths and the incredible challenges some of them face as they pursue their education.

Lynn believes these meetings ultimately make her a better teacher. By talking with and listening to her students and recognizing when they need help, she lets her students know that she cares, and that she is committed to helping them make their time at SLCC a resounding success. That can make all the difference. 

Stories matter.  And today, I’ve had the opportunity to highlight several stories for you during our time together.

The fact is all of us are storytellers for the college.  Each of us has many interesting, amusing, or inspirational stories that have taken place here and that are worthy of telling. Our students, our community, our donors and our legislators need to hear these stories.

Our stories are unique and varied.

Through SLCC Promise and all of our scholarship programs, our outreach and admissions folks hear almost daily the stories of students who did not see a financial path to the College and nearly gave up.

Some of us in this room, through their fundraising efforts hear stories from donors about why they contribute to the College.

Any of you who have served on hiring committees, have stories to tell about our search for talent who exemplify our values of inclusivity, innovation and collaboration.

Faculty in the room who have led study abroad or service learning courses have stories to tell about the transformative role those experiences play in our students’ lives. They have stories to tell about how they are constantly improving the learning climate to strengthen their teaching.

What story can you tell?

Share Your SLCC Story