2025 Teaching Excellence Awards

Teaching Excellence Awards, presented by the Salt Lake Community College Foundation Board, recognize excellence in professional education over the span of careers. Both full-time and adjunct faculty are eligible.

KRISTEN HALL

Associate Professor, Dental Hygiene

In 2012, Kristen Hall was a busy mom trying to balance her career as a dental hygienist with her family life when she met Renee Mendenhall, associate professor and program coordinator of Dental Hygiene at Salt Lake Community College. Their sons played on the same soccer team, and their shared profession sparked a conversation in which Mendenhall asked Hall if she would consider teaching at the College.

“I initially declined,” Hall says. “While I liked being a hygienist, I didn’t care for my experience in hygiene school.” Eventually, Mendenhall convinced

Hall to join the faculty at SLCC, and she became a full-time instructor in 2019.

Hall strives to ensure her students feel supported. “I sometimes felt like just a number to my professors, so I make sure to meet with my students several times each semester to learn what’s going on in their lives and how I can help,” she says. “I’m honored to help my students reach their full potential and see their profession not just as ‘mouth janitors’ but as a way to help people live their best lives.”

EMMANUEL SANTA-MARTINEZ, PhD

Assistant Professor, Biology

tudents in Emmanuel Santa-Martinez’s classes learn that bumblebees can carry pollen across three miles, expanding the gene pool for plants and promoting greater crop yields. Likewise, Santa-Martinez encourages his students to enhance their educations by venturing beyond the classroom for immersive field research. “I feel a deep responsibility to guide my students in developing essential skills, encourage critical thinking, expose them to extracurricular opportunities, and nurture their love for biology, all of which will help them thrive in their future careers,” he says.

Other examples of “cross-pollination” in Santa-Martinez’s work include internships and classroom innovations. He pioneered a

program that connects students with local internships, and he developed the College’s first dual-language biology class. Here, Emmanuel presents course material in Spanish and leads discussions in both English and Spanish.

Santa-Martinez’s interest in biology began on a farm in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. “I learned from my father the importance of understanding and taking care of plants and animals,” he says. This work inspired him to eventually pursue an undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Puerto Rico and a PhD in Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He began teaching at SLCC in 2019.

N. CAROLINA BLOEM, PhD

Associate Professor, Spanish

Director, Center for Latin American Studies

Creating a positive learning environment where students can develop knowledge and thrive is Carolina Bloem’s guiding principle. “My goal is to provide students with the necessary tools to succeed in the classroom,” she says. “That path may look different for each student, but together we will get there.”

Bloem, who describes her teaching style as student-centric, encourages her students to connect the material in her classes with what they are learning in their other courses. She believes this

interdisciplinary approach deepens understanding and fosters both creative and critical thinking. “My role in the classroom is to be a leader,” she says. “I am guiding my students toward a shared outcome of gaining knowledge, and together, we can reach that goal.”

Bloem is grateful that her journey led her to SLCC. “I am incredibly lucky and honored to work here. Our students are at the heart of everything we do, and I take my role in helping them build their dreams very seriously.