HONORARY DOCTORATE RECIPIENTS

R. Adam Dastrup

Professor, Geosciences School of Science, Mathematics & Engineering

Geographic education is important because it gives people a sense of place and belonging in a complex and ever-changing world, says R. Adam Dastrup, SLCC’s 2022 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer. Everyone has a unique world view, and society needs people who understand both physical and cultural environments and who are committed to being good stewards of the planet.

Adam’s faculty lecture will focus on his efforts in using data and geographic information systems (GIS) to spatially and historically analyze racial, economic and environmental segregation along the Wasatch Front. The data will come from a variety of sources, including the Utah State Board of Education, the 2020 Census, the University of Utah and local community organizations. During the course of his research, Adam has already found that diverse communities in Salt Lake County and students who do not speak English as their primary language live in economically suppressed regions of the valley. Further, his research shows these areas generate less property tax revenue, which results in underserved populations not having the same access to education as students from the county’s predominately white regions. “This could impact our future economy and lead to large-scale gentrification within the valley,” he says.

During his more than 15 years at SLCC, Adam has taught courses in natural disasters, physical and world geography, GIS, environmental science and global positioning systems. In 2019, he created the Utah System of Higher Education’s first drone certificate program, and he is also the founder of Open Geography Education (OGE), where he developed online textbooks and made them available at no cost to students. With the three textbooks that he created, Adam has saved SLCC students roughly $1.3 million since 2015. The books are also available to students worldwide.

Adam holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Utah, and he is a certified GIS and drone professional. He has led multiple organizations at the college, including the school’s Sustainability Committee and Faculty Senate. With the help of students, the Thayne Center for Service and Learning and SLCC’s Facilities Department, Adam also created the school’s community gardens and recycling programs. Senator Kirk A. Cullimore began his service in the Utah State Senate in 2019. In a short period of time, he quickly earned the confidence of his colleagues and assumed key leadership positions in the legislature. As a first-year lawmaker, Senator Cullimore was appointed chair of the Infrastructure and General Government Appropriations Committee. More recently, he was elected to serve in Senate leadership as the Majority Assistant Whip. In that role, he helps set the agenda for the Senate and serves as a member of the Executive Appropriations Committee.

Since taking office, Senator Cullimore has been a strong champion for Salt Lake Community College and its students. He has met with college leadership on numerous occasions and has taken the time to visit and learn more about SLCC’s Miller Campus, which is located in his legislative district. He also played a critical role in helping the college receive state funding for SLCC’s future Juniper Canyon Campus in Herriman and worked tirelessly for two years to ensure it was prioritized and ultimately funded by the Utah Legislature.

Senator Cullimore graduated from Utah Valley University with an associate’s degree in music and from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s in music. He taught and played music professionally for six years, including teaching private lessons, leading youth ensemble groups and starting his own music studio. The senator eventually went on to pursue a law degree from the University of Oklahoma, and he currently practices at a firm located in Draper.

Besides his work in the Utah Legislature, Senator Cullimore is active in the community and has served in many volunteer positions, including chairing the Brookwood Elementary School Community Council and the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute. He is married to Heather Cullimore and they have six children, who are all deeply involved in music and sports.

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 . The Salt Lake Community College LEGISLATIVE CHAMPION AWARD honors state legislators who demonstrate through their legislative activities a commitment to advancing and improving higher education for the state . The college’s Legislative Champion is selected at the conclusion of every legislative session .

Kirk A. Cullimore

Utah State Senate District 9 Salt Lake County

TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD RECIPIENTS The TEACHING

EXCELLENCE AWARD

is given by the Salt Lake Community College Foundation Board to recognize excellence in professional education at SLCC . Both full-time and adjunct faculty are eligible . The award reflects a cumulative body of teaching excellence rather than just a single year of exemplary work .

Jessica Robin Berryman

Associate Professor/Department Coordinator, Biology

School of Science, Mathematics & Engineering

Ever since she began teaching at SLCC in 2014, students have consistently said they are big fans of the hands-on learning that Jessica Robin Berryman incorporates into her biology classes. The field trips, lab research, robust discussions, her sense of humor – there is a lot about Jessica’s classes that students like.

It’s with good reason that students year after year give Jessica glowing course evaluations. She has a “passion” for biology, and she loves learning about the natural world and sharing that knowledge with students. After earning her master’s in zoology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, she started her career in higher education by serving as a teaching assistant there for seven years. Currently, Jessica teaches six different classes at SLCC, each with an emphasis on providing undergraduate research experiences that she hopes will be life-changing for her students.

Jessica works to support her students by getting to know their individual goals and aspirations. She says her compassion for students has grown through the years, knowing that many in her classes have jobs and families that must be put first. In response, she maintains a flexible learning environment that emphasizes retention, success and completion for each student. Jessica also works to buoy her students’ confidence.

“My goal as a teacher is to provide equitable, supportive, empowering and engaging learning experiences,” Jessica said. “These experiences will ultimately prepare students to think critically, be active in their communities, be environmentally responsible citizens and give them the tools to creatively and knowledgeably address societal problems.”

David F. Pack, PhD

Adjunct Professor, Communications and Fine Arts

School of Arts, Communication & Media

Renaissance man might best describe Dr. David F. Pack, adjunct professor at SLCC for 20 years. Some of his roles include working actor and singer, entrepreneur, and certified tennis pro, and he holds five associate’s degrees from SLCC and seven post-doctoral certificates. David is also recognized as an extraordinary educator, as he has won Utah’s Best of State Adjunct University/College Professor award for 9 of the past 10 years.

David teaches year-round and has taught at six SLCC campuses, including online, across two disciplines – communications and fine arts. Basically, there is almost no teaching assignment he won’t accept.

David’s dean and colleagues say that he is an exceptional faculty member who can always be counted on to go the “extra mile” and is thoughtful, attentive and exemplary. Students often say he's extremely dedicated and an “important influence,” along with being incredibly helpful, proactive and accommodating.

As for his teaching style and his role as facilitator of classroom discussions, rather than serving as the “sage on the stage,” David prefers being the “guide on the side.” He prefers pointing students in the right direction and allowing them to make their own discoveries. When students struggle during the learning process, he keeps in mind there are different types of learners and he tries to determine what he’s not giving instead of why students don’t “get it.”

Outside of his work with SLCC, David is the consummate volunteer, having served in more than 30 positions with various groups and organizations. “I just want to make a difference in my community and in society and be able to look back on my life and know that I did all the good I can in all the ways I can,” he says.

Brett Terpstra

Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice

School of Applied Technology and Technical Specialties

Real-world experience matters in the classroom, and Brett Terpstra draws on a lifetime of work to benefit his students at SLCC. Before he began teaching at the college, he was a special agent for the U.S. Department of Labor and an intelligence officer for the U.S. Marine Corps. Brett, who holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, also once taught students to fly helicopters in Salt Lake City. In 2013, he joined SLCC as an instructor in the Aviation Department and by 2017 he began teaching criminal justice courses at the college.

Brett believes that student learning is enhanced by connecting course materials to ongoing social events, and with police reform in the news lately he has taken the opportunity to connect concepts like “qualified immunity” to what he’s teaching in the classroom. Students who take a class from the “amazing” Brett say they seek him out for other courses in their major, praising him for making complicated concepts easier to understand and for his willingness to work closely with students so that all have the opportunity for success.

Brett also embraces the use of technology to further his students’ learning experiences, and he’s known for using the Padlet web application to post links to the latest news articles that might be of use to a criminal justice student. “I once shared an article about proposed Utah legislation regarding new and modified criminal laws,” he says. “I gave students an overview of the proposed changes and let them know that they could quickly and easily learn more about the legislation by going to the app. Using technology in this way helps students stay informed on relevant issues in the field.”