Skip to main content
Close
A-Z
Quick Links

Breakout Sessions

Strengthening Student Success Through Collaborative Advising

Anni Tedder, Senior Director, Academic Advising
Maria Murguia, Health Science Academic Advisor
Cher Knupp, Program Manager, Health Science Admission
Joel Shelton, Science, Math & Engineering Academic Advisor
Michael Empey, Assistant Professor, Engineering

This presentation session will focus on the value of collaborative advising and how shared approaches can enhance student support and success. We will highlight the collaborative efforts of academic advisors, faculty and colleagues from their academic program, with each sharing their unique experiences, strategies, and insights. Their stories will illustrate how partnership-based advising strengthens relationships, improves communication, and leads to more meaningful outcomes for students.

Panel Session: Building a Relationship-Rich Education

Sarah Billington, Associate Professor - Communication, FTLC Faculty Fellow
Kristin Morley, Assistant Director, FTLC

Join us for an interactive discussion on relationship-rich education where we explore how meaningful connections between students, faculty, and staff transform learning and success in higher education. Our faculty panel will share insights, practical strategies, and real stories about creating a culture where relationships matter. Whether you teach in person, online courses, or livestream, you'll leave with actionable ideas to strengthen students' educational relationships and belonging.

Shaping the Ideal Student Learning Experience: Faculty at the Heart of Student Success

Kristin Cartwright, Associate Professor - Mathematics, FTLC Faculty Fellow
Alia Criddle, Director of Faculty Development, FTLC

SLCC's Ideal Student Learning Experience envisions a holistic journey for students—from admission to post-completion. Much of that experience happens in the classroom, where faculty have the greatest impact. This breakout session focuses on exploring what an "ideal classroom" looks like for SLCC students. Join us to brainstorm practical strategies, pedagogy practices, and structural needs that put faculty at the center of student success. Help us co-create actionable ideas to build meaningful, engaging, and equitable learning experiences—because the classroom is key to the ideal learning experience.

Growing Together: Building Careers and Teams

Cecile Delozier, Interim Dean, Salt Lake Tech
Kathy Shipley, Manager, Facilities and Key Office
Richard Diaz, Senior Director, Orientation and Student Success
Gavin Harper, Assistant Provost, ELearning/Digital Initiatives

This session creates a collaborative space for faculty, staff, and supervisors to explore strategies for career development and personal growth. Together, we'll discuss how to craft meaningful career conversations, identify growth opportunities, and provide actionable feedback, while also learning how to advocate for your own development. Join peers in discovering ways to empower yourself and others, enhance engagement, and encourage ongoing growth.

Learning Objectives

  • Empower individuals to share their personal vision for the future
    • Practice strategies for both sharing and listening to career aspirations.
  • Enhance engagement by providing a safe and healthy workspace
    • Explore ways everyone can contribute to psychological safety and well-being.
  • Encourage ongoing growth personally and professionally
    • Identify practical steps to leverage existing resources (wellness hours, mental health time, tuition benefits) for both individual and team development.

Cultivating Emotional Strength in Times of Transition

Christina McWhinnie, Employee Wellness Manager
Employee Wellness Team

Change is inevitable, but how we respond to it can shape our personal and professional trajectory. This interactive session focuses on fostering adaptability and promoting growth during challenging transitions. Through evidence-based strategies, participants will learn how to build emotional resilience, reframe uncertainty as an opportunity, and integrate self-care practices that support long-term well-being.

From Data to Decisions: Advancing SLCC's Institutional Analytics through the DSA Roadmap and Data Governance Framework

Leonel Nieto, Associate Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness

This presentation outlines Salt Lake Community College's comprehensive data strategy designed to unify analytics, governance, and decision-making across the institution. Grounded in the Data Science and Analytics (DSA) Roadmap, this strategy articulates how SLCC is building an integrated data ecosystem that connects operational data systems, strategic performance metrics, and student experience insights.

The session will highlight the evolution of SLCC's Data Governance Framework – establishing clear data ownership, quality standards, and stewardship practices – and demonstrate how these efforts are merging Institutional Analytics into a cohesive model that supports the Vision Matrix's Engage, Complete, and Thrive objectives. Through collaborative governance, transparent reporting, and modern analytics infrastructure, SLCC is positioning data as a shared institutional asset that drives measurable progress and mission fulfillment.

The Engagement Advantage: cultivating students and communities that thrive

Lucy Smith, Director, Engaged Learning
Jen Seltzer Stitt, Director, Community Relations
Anita Lui, Assistant Director, Community Engagement

Join us for an energizing, hands-on session designed to spark collaboration and inspire meaningful community engagement at SLCC. Through interactive activities and real-world strategies, we'll explore how community-engaged learning, college community-engagement policies and programs, and meaningful service can break down barriers and help students, the college and our communities thrive.

Learning outcomes for this session include:

  • Identify strategies to integrate service in the academic curriculum. Build relationships across campus that strengthen our internal and external communities.
  • Discuss how to build and sustain reciprocal partnerships where students, staff, faculty, and community partners flourish.
  • Explore useful community engagement tools for teaching, learning, connection, belonging, and collective success.

Whether you're faculty, staff, or administrator, you'll leave with practical ideas and renewed energy for building a more connected SLCC.

Designing Programs for Student Success: From Structure to Scheduling

Rachel Lewis, Associate Provost, Academic Systems
David Brower, Senior Director, Curriculum and Academic Scheduling

As we revise existing programs and develop new ones, it is more important than ever to design them with student completion and success at the forefront. Programs should lead to meaningful employment or seamless transfer as efficiently as possible, with requirements that are clear and easy to navigate. Courses must be intentionally selected to build the knowledge and skills students need for workforce readiness or smooth transfer to partner institutions. Beyond program design, course scheduling plays a critical role, ensuring required courses are offered in sequence so students can complete their chosen program without unnecessary delays. In this session, the Curriculum and Academic Scheduling Office will share recent work and newly established practices aimed at removing barriers for students, improving clarity of program requirements, and supporting timely student completion

Working Smarter, Not Harder: A Hands-On Lab for Untangling Processes at SLCC

Christina Holm, Assistant Director, Library Academic Services
Shawn Adrian, Coordinator, Catalog & Degree Audit

In this session attendees will learn how the Vision Matrix Strategy Teams Four and X translated a big strategic goal into a simple, action-based plan designed to resolve friction points for students while also supporting SLCC colleagues.

After a very short story about our strategic goals and our solutions, participants will use a guided worksheet and plenty of quiet thinking time to map one friction point in their own work and sketch a low lift, centralized starting point—whether that's a Canvas hub, web page, checklist, or streamlined communication. With optional pair and share and an emphasis on "good enough drafts," this lab is designed so attendees leave with one tangible idea and a realistic next step, not a new project on their to do list.

Strategic Doing at SLCC: Turning Vision into Collaborative Action

Brandi Mair, Chief of Staff
Natalie Spendlove, Program Manager, Operations, Engagement, Events & Analytics

This session centers on the book Strategic Doing, with a focus on moving beyond theory and into practice—applying its principles to the work we do across SLCC. Together, we'll explore how to address the wicked problems facing our departments and the institution by using the Ten Skills for Agile Leadership. These skills help us build trust, foster innovation, and take small, strategic steps that lead to measurable progress.

Participants will be challenged to shift from traditional planning to collaborative doing—co-creating solutions that are adaptive, inclusive, and aligned with our shared vision for student success.

We encourage attendees to read the book in advance. A free digital or audio version is available through SLCC's library: https://go.exlibris.link/nZYKLdpJ

The RACI Advantage: Project Management for Every Employee

Anjali Pai, Director, Staff Development & Employee Experience
Gabe Byars, Faculty Senate President

Ready to make projects run smoother? SLCC is championing the RACI framework to boost clarity and collaboration. In this interactive session, you'll learn when to use RACI and walk away with a practical tool to apply to your own projects immediately.

Operational Planning That Works: Real SLCC Unit Examples and Metrics

Alonso Reyna Rivarola, Director, PACE Programs
Gabe Byars, Associate Vice President, Facilities Services

You have seen SLCC's operational planning framework. This session shows how it works in practice. Two SLCC unit leaders will walk through how they translated the framework into a clear purpose statement, a manageable activity inventory, and a small set of metrics that drive weekly and monthly decisions. You will leave with practical tactics you can apply immediately, plus a simple method for selecting metrics that strengthen alignment, accountability, and continuous improvement across your area.