Distinguished Faculty Lecturer
Every year the college community comes together to hear about the exciting work of one of its faculty. The Distinguished Faculty Lecturer is both a recognition of quality work by one of our full-time faculty and also a charge to develop that work over the course of an academic year into a public presentation that might take the form of a lecture, demonstration, or performance. The lecture typically takes place in April each year, and the recipient is recognized at Commencement.
Application Process
Applications for the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer are solicited a year in advance. Each December, the Faculty Development Center puts out a call for applications for the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, and a committee composed predominantly of faculty choose among the applications. The chosen applicant will be the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer in the following spring, giving him/her a year in which to complete their project and polish their presentation.
The Current Distinguished Faculty Lecturer
Melissa Hardy, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology
Dr. Melissa Hardy is an Associate Professor of Biology at SLCC. She joined SLCC’s faculty in 2011 and has taught and designed courses in general biology, ecology, animal biology, and marine biology. One of her favorite pedagogical practices is facilitating undergraduate research experiences. Additionally, Melissa is deeply committed to developing and disseminating open educational resources so that students can save money and have a better educational experience.
Melissa’s talk, “Biocurious: The Power of Curiosity in an Age of Assessment,” will be an antidote to the recent trend in higher education to streamline and standardize curriculum, which often prioritizes the needs of institutions over the needs of students. She describes her lecture this way:
How do we combat this trend? My lecture will focus on reigniting the natural curiosity of our students. We are here to help students earn their degree or certificate or credits, but we are also here to show them what makes our disciplines worthy of study and empower them to exercise their curiosity and agency. I believe we need to push back against the automation and regimentation of higher education by building meaningful and high-impact experiences into our curriculum. Empowering students with authentic research experiences and watching them react to the natural world with awe and excitement is the best thing I do at work. Topics in my lecture will range from parasitic worms and dung beetles to the student experience at SLCC to the state of higher education.
Melissa received an MA in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University and a PhD in Neurobiology and Anatomy from the University of Utah.
Previous Distinguished Faculty Lecturers
- 2024 — Kristi M. Green, Ph.D
- 2023 — Anne Canavan
- 2022 — Adam Dastrup
- 2021 — Craig E. Ferrin
- 2020 — Jane Drexler
- 2019 — Marlena Stanford
- 2018 — Lon Schiffbauer
- 2017 — John Close
- 2016 — Ted Moore
- 2015 — Melissa Helquist
- 2014 — Karen Kwan
- 2013 — Lisa Bickmore
- 2012 — Tiffany Rousculp
- 2011 — Anne Graham
- 2010 — Jason Pickavance
- 2009 — Harry Hughes
- 2008 — Lynn Kilpatrick
- 2007 — Howard Ingle
- 2006 — Danny A.C. Martinez and Sharon DeReamer
- 2005 — Randal Chase
- 2005 — Katherine Bruner
- 2004 — Rodayne Esmay and Deidre Ann Tyler
- 2003 — Lynn Suksdorf , Larry Hancock, and Sheila Chambers
- 2002 — John Fritz
- 2000 — Paul Lerdahl
- 1998 — Dorleen Jenson
- 1997 — Grace Vlam
- 1996 — Ron Valcarce and Clifton Sanders
- 1995 — Katherine McIntyre
- 1994 — Terry Martin