SLCC Scores NFL Speaker for 2018 Commencement at Maverik Center

Salt Lake Community College will honor graduates during commencement ceremonies May 4, 9:30 a.m. at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

New England Patriots wide receiver and award-winning children's book author Malcom J. Mitchell will give the keynote speech. Mitchell is well known for his role as wide receiver on the New England Patriots and helping the team win a Super Bowl in 2017, but in literary circles, particularly among young readers, he's been receiving a lot of attention off the playing field. While a student athlete at the University of Georgia, Mitchell was recognized as the National Captain of the Allstate Good Works Team for his frequent visits to elementary schools to read to students and talk about literacy, the first student ever at UGA to win this honor.

Ashok Joshi and Pam Perlich have been chosen to receive honorary doctorates. Both have made significant contributions to SLCC and their community over the years. A past SLCC Trustee, Joshi now considers himself retired, though recently he was executive director of Technology Holding LLC. Known as a serial entrepreneur, he has ten ventures under his belt and 137 patents, mostly in the electrochemical area, that bear his name. Perlich is currently Director of Demographic Research at the Kem C. Gardner Institute for the University of Utah, having previously taught economics at the U of U and Westminster College. Perlich also held the post of research economist for the Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget from 1993 to 2000.

SLCC has named Angela H. Brown, executive editor of SLUG Magazine, and Manoli Katsanevas, owner of Manoli's restaurant, as SLCC's 2018 Distinguished Alumni award recipients. SLCC faculty receiving this year's Teaching Excellence awards are Gordon Storrs, Kristen Taylor and Deidre Tyler. Students chosen as the 2018 Graduates of Excellence are Aaron Hornok, Alondra Melendez Rivas, Blake Hrubes, David Johnson, Ethel Wilson, Febechukwu "Febz" Megwalu and Nathan le Duc. The College's Legislative Champion honor this year goes to Sen. Evan J. Vickers.

Salt Lake Community College is an accredited, student-focused, comprehensive community college meeting the diverse needs of the Salt Lake community. Home to more than 60,000 students each year, the College is Utah's leading provider of workforce development programs. SLCC is also the largest supplier of transfer students to Utah's four-year institutions and a perennial Top 10 college nationally for total associate degrees awarded. The College is the sole provider of applied technology courses in the Salt Lake area, with multiple locations, an eCampus, and nearly 1,000 continuing education sites located throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Personal attention from an excellent faculty is paramount at the College, which maintains an average class size of 20.

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