August 13, 2009 - Salt Lake Tribune

"Salt Lake Community College more robust than ever"
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Taylorsville » In 1948, Salt Lake Community College -- then known as Salt Lake Area Vocational School -- had just 299 students.

Now in its 60th year of operation, SLCC offers services to more than 60,000 students annually at 14 locations throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

And while still offering various vocational courses -- from cosmetology to electronics to welding -- the two-year college has assumed a large role in preparing students to enter universities and pursue four-year degrees.

"We are No. 4 in the nation this year for associate degrees produced," said Mason Bishop, SLCC vice-president for institutional advancement.Added Director of Public Relations

Joy Tlou: "We are outperforming schools vastly larger than we are."

The outward face of the college has also been changing.

A new Health Sciences Center -- offering nursing, dental hygiene, occupational therapy and other medical courses -- has been in service at the college's Jordan Campus for two years.

At the South City Campus, planning is under way for a new Digital Design and Communication Technology building, where classes will be taught in graphic arts, film, television, visual arts and design. And at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, the quad area is being redesigned to make it more accessible to both students and the public, officials say.

A time-worn O.C. Tanner fountain will be replaced by a new fountain, benches will be installed, trees will be moved and new trees planted.

In later phases of the project, perhaps five to seven years down the road, an administrative building on the east side of the campus will be torn down, allowing the quad area to expand out toward Redwood Road.

Bishop said the quad will then act as a "welcoming entryway to the entire campus."

Meanwhile, the college is inviting students, faculty, alumni and friends to be a lasting part of the redesign project by investing in personalized commemorative bricks for $60, pavers for $260, tree markers at $660 and bench plates, $2,060.

SLCC computer information systems student Ryan Linschoten, who aspires to be an architect, was part of the quad design team.

Linschoten, 23, who happens to work for the contracted designers, GSBS Architects, provided a student's perspective. He suggested ways to make the quad more attractive and usable for students by opening up the area and providing more seating.

He also articulated a theme that will be reflected in the project's expanding walkways, which will radiate from the central circular fountain: "The college is a gateway and a launch pad in unlimited ways."

Linschoten said SLCC's relatively inexpensive tuition (about half that of the University of Utah), smaller class sizes and extended hours have allowed him to determine what he wanted to do with his life, while working full-time.

"I did my exploring here," said Linschoten, who plans to finish his education at the U.

Like Linschoten, many other SLCC students are preparing for university degrees, Bishop said.

But the school also serves people who merely want to upgrade job skills or re-train for another job -- a category of enrollment that has increased dramatically because of the ongoing economic downturn, Bishop said.

Whatever reason students come to the college, they aren't turned away.

"We're open enrollment. We take all comers," Bishop said. "That's the beauty of a community college."

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