Excerpts from SLCC Today and SLCC website.
2020 COMMENCEMENT HONOREES
From the SCHOOL of ARTS, COMMUNICATION & MEDIA
Professor Craig Ferrin – Performing Arts, Music
Associate Professor Kerry Gonzáles – Visual Art & Design
Assistant Professor Jodie Jones – Communication
Student Kaori Schrank – Visual Art & Design
Distinguished Faculty Lecturer
The Distinguished Faculty Lecturer is a recognition of quality work by one of Salt Lake Community College’s full-time faculty and a charge to develop that work over an academic year into a public presentation. A committee chosen by the Associate Provost for Learning Advancement selects the faculty lecturer each year. The lecture takes place in the spring.
Craig E. Ferrin, PhD
Professor, Performing Arts, Music
The need for creative problem-solving and leadership has increased exponentially in our complex and mobile society, says Dr. Craig E. Ferrin, SLCC’s 2021 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer. Students today must learn to be specialists and require formal training in creativity and leadership skills to be successful.
Craig’s faculty lecture, titled “Instructional Agility: A Framework for Teaching Creativity & Leadership in Content Rich Courses,” will adapt several “Agile” frameworks for instructional delivery. These are iterative development approaches that evolve incrementally through collaboration. They encourage research and experimentation in the creative process.
“The creative process is messy,” Craig says. “Without frameworks, creativity can spiral out of control to the point that little is accomplished within the required time frame.” The Agile approach provides structure to the creative process by emphasizing teamwork, organization, accountability, inspection and adaptation.
Craig’s presentation will seek to provide effective methodologies for improving productivity skills, including critical thinking and problem-solving; adaptability and flexibility; innovation and creativity; communication; and leadership.
Craig earned his undergraduate degree and his doctorate from the University of Utah and his master’s from Northwestern University in music education. After teaching in public schools for 12 years, he joined the faculty at SLCC in 2002, where he instructs students in performance and music business. Outside of the college, Craig performs regularly with the Murray Concert Band, the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble and Utah’s CityJazz Big Band.
Teaching Excellence Award
The Teaching Excellence Award is given by the Salt Lake Community College Foundation Board to recognize excellence in professional education at SLCC. There are three campus-wide annual Teaching Excellence Awards: two full-time faculty and one part-time faculty. The award reflects a cumulative body of teaching excellence rather than just a single year of exemplary work.
Kerry Gonzáles
Associate Professor, Visual Art & Design
Kerry Gonzáles was fresh out of high school when she began her two-plus decades career in graphic design, working as an intern while studying at the University of Utah. She was invited to join SLCC in 1997 as an adjunct instructor of graphic design and in 2002, she became a full-time faculty member.
Today, Kerry teaches seven different courses in SLCC’s Visual Art & Design (VAD) Department. She considers her work in maintaining strong, ongoing connections with alumni of the VAD program one of her greatest professional achievements. Kerry is in constant contact with more than 200 former SLCC students, and she often invites them to her classroom with a belief that current students benefit from seeing first-hand the connection between academics and career. Kerry is also a huge promoter of former students’ work and helps organize and promote the annual INK show, in which Graphic Design & Communications alumni display their art and design skills at the Center for Arts & Media at SLCC’s South City Campus.
With GD&C student Sophia Araujo Jacobs.
Photo: Whitney King Hyans
In addition to her focus on alumni, Kerry is dedicated to recruiting new students into the program. Once a student is on board, her main goal is to prepare them for entry into a work environment. One of the ways she does this is to develop projects that challenge students to think critically and to be self-starters and persistent while maintaining a good attitude. She believes this combination of perseverance and positivity often makes the difference between success and failure. “If I raise the bar, students will learn to fly over it,” she says.
Jodie Jones
Assistant Professor, Communication
For one of Jodie Jones’ students in her Conflict Management & Diversity course at SLCC, what she learned in the classroom, along with the help Jodie provided outside of school, was life changing. Other students and Jodie’s colleagues describe her as empathetic, helpful, kind, generous and patient, someone who makes learning fun and links theory to practice, making course materials relate to real events and situations.After teaching at Dixie State University, the University of Utah and Westminster College, Jodie began her work at SLCC in 2010 as an adjunct professor of Public Speaking and Conflict & Diversity. Since then she has taught three additional courses in communications and has become an assistant professor.
Jodie has a passion for teaching and helping students succeed by training them to think critically and introspectively. She views her teaching philosophy as a constant work-in-progress, and she is always considering ways to improve student engagement, incorporate diverse methodologies, build a collegial classroom community and develop robust curriculum. “I want students to leave each class with a sense that they can converse in course material with confidence, and I want students to feel they can call on the skill-sets they are learning because they are better communicators,” she says.
Jodie is also deeply committed to bettering her community. She holds a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Peacebuilding and since 2006, she has maintained her status as a volunteer mediator for victim-offender mediation in Utah Juvenile Court. In 2007, Jodie received the Victim/Offender Volunteer of the Year award, and she is currently a board member for the Restorative Justice Collaborative and the Utah Council on Conflict Resolution.
Provost’s Graduates of Excellence
This prestigious distinction recognizes hard work, commitment and selflessness. One student is selected from each school of the college and General Studies. These are students with excellent GPAs who typically have received scholarships and awards for their academic achievements. They have demonstrated leadership skills and a dedication toward serving others, in addition to other notable achievements related to the creative arts, athletic excellence or involvement in SLCC beyond the classroom.
Kaori Schrank
Visual Art & Design
“I am originally from a rural community near Kobe, Japan. Learning new concepts in my second language has been one of the most difficult tasks for me. In all of my classes at SLCC, the faculty members were so kind, caring and supportive. They were very willing to help me when I needed it. As a result of their help and my continuous effort, my GPA is 4.0, and I also received the Academic Excellence Award (Pride in Academics) for both 2019 and 2020. My artwork has also received awards and been on display in numerous shows and in printed materials for the college. Salt Lake Community College has given me many opportunities to excel, and I’ve strived to embody excellence during my time here.”
Kaori recently had these pieces accepted into the online 2020 SLCC Student Art Showcase gallery
“Mirai ( Future )”
“Vega’s Echo”
“Snow Life”
Go School of Arts, Communication & Media!
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