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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 Teaching & Learning 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 them a year in which to complete their project and polish their presentation.

The Current Distinguished Faculty Lecturer

andrew-vogt-sfedit

Andrew Vogt, PhD
Associate Professor, Engineering

Dr. Andrew Vogt’s teaching philosophy is guided by two principles, curiosity and efficiency.

“Curiosity leads us to study a topic and allows us to really understand the ins and outs of research, while efficiency is all about sustainability,” he says. Andrew describes curiosity as a pure, open-minded impulse to explore, such as the ease with which children learn new concepts with virtually no instruction. Efficiency adds maturity to that childlike impulse, creating structures and pathways for accomplishment.

Andrew’s work has always been grounded in the sensations of the body, and he teaches his students at Salt Lake Community College to learn using multiple senses—for example, sight and hearing can provide radically different understandings of acceleration. His instruction also relies on non-academic activities, like music and endurance exercises, to encourage a comprehensive understanding of engineering concepts.

“Authentic experiences help us connect what we teach with our lives,” Andrew says. “For example, the wave patterns of music directly correspond to stability of motion, and running can help us understand efficient biomechanics.” His lecture, to be delivered in Spring 2026, will follow that approach and use running as a lens to examine how curiosity drives exploration and how efficiency promotes sustainability of inquiry.

Andrew earned an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho and holds a PhD from the University of Utah. Since arriving at SLCC in 2012, he has taught many subjects ranging from statistics to engineering applications for the guitar.

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Previous Distinguished Faculty Lecturers

  • 2025  Melissa Hardy
  • 2024 Kristi M. Green
  • 2023 Anne Canavan
  • 2022Adam Dastrup
  • 2021 — Craig E. Ferrin
  • 2020Jane Drexler
  • 2019Marlena Stanford
  • 2018Lon Schiffbauer
  • 2017John Close
  • 2016 — Ted Moore
  • 2015Melissa 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