SLCC Responds to Industry with Mortuary Science Program

Salt Lake Community College recently held an open house to acquaint regional funeral service representatives with Utah’s only Mortuary Science Program. The event was held in the College’s Health Sciences Center at the Jordan Campus and showcased the College’s new embalming lab facility.

Area funeral directors in attendance were treated to refreshments and given a tour of the Mortuary Science classroom, the new Funeral Planning Room and Embalming Lab.  SLCC provost Chris Picard, SLCC dean of Health Sciences Loredana Haeger and mortuary science program director David Hess welcomed those in attendance and gave a brief history and status update of the program.



“The open house was an excellent event that was really well done,” said Rob Larkin, senior vice president of Larkin Mortuary. “Everyone in attendance could hear and understand the speakers. It was nice to get to see what the program has to offer our industry.”

Like Larkin, the other area funeral directors and board members of the Utah Funeral Directors Association were impressed with the facilities and expressed continued commitment and support of the program.  Many are exploring options that would allow their employees to complete clinical training at the College’s facility and provide internship opportunities in industry for SLCC students. “One thing this program means is that those people who have a real passion for the industry will have more opportunities,” Larkin said.

The College mortuary science program was created to serve an industry need. Because Utah—and the surrounding states offered no such programs, local and regional funeral directors benefit from having a mortuary science and funeral service program in the state to accommodate those interested in the funeral services profession from the need to travel out of state to attend a mortuary school.

“I can really appreciate having something local for people who want to go into this business,” Larkin said. “I had to go to southern California or somewhere else to get the education I needed.”

Sherrie Loewen, SLCC division chair of Allied Health believes the opportunities provided to local residents already working in the industry will be a major benefit to the funeral industry—and that the program’s influence will extend beyond the state’s borders. “I think that this program and this state will attract people who want to work in this industry from across the Intermountain West,” she said. “Students from states like Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will likely attend SLCC, because there are no degree programs offered in this area in those states.”

Larkin agrees, saying, “I think this program will draw people who want to work in this industry into the community.”