Skip to main content

SLCC Names New VP for Student Affairs


When Charles Lepper flew in to Salt Lake City from Virginia to interview for the job of Salt Lake Community College vice president for student affairs, he asked a cab driver on the way to his hotel about her impression of SLCC. “She said, ‘Oh, it’s an institution on the move,’” Lepper recalled her saying. “That stuck with me.”

The cab driver’s response is reflective of what drew Lepper to the job, which he officially started July 1. While VP for student affairs at Tidewater Community College in southeastern Virginia, Lepper said he was attracted to SLCC by its “laser” focus on student success and completion and its desire to be the “premier” community college in the nation. “That was something I really wanted to be a part of,” he said at the time. He also had a colleague tell him, “’There’s a shortlist I keep of places I’d like to work at one day, and that’s one of them.’”

Dr. Charles Lepper

SLCC President Deneece G. Huftalin said Lepper brings a “wealth” of experience in working at large, “complex” community colleges, where he led initiatives to strengthen student access and success. “He is committed to creating inclusive environments and working collaboratively alongside academic colleagues to enhance student learning in both the transfer and workforce arenas,” Huftalin said.

Lepper said he plans to focus on continuing efforts at SLCC to foster an environment in which to learn, work and play where all people feel “appreciated, respected and accepted” and where “all voices are heard and their uniqueness is appreciated and recognized.” In the short time he has lived in the community SLCC serves, Lepper said he’s been treated with warmth and kindness. “I can’t think of a friendlier community that I’ve been welcomed into,” he said. The impressions Lepper has heard, on a national scale and at the local level, from the cab driver to his new barber, whose chairs in the shop came from SLCC’s retired barber program, all point to a community college he says is highly regarded among its peers and valued and very much visible and a source of pride in the community at large.

Prior to Tidewater, Lepper was assistant vice president for student development at Ivy Tech Community College, an institution in Indiana with 23 campuses serving 200,000 students. Lepper, a first-generation college student, started his own post-secondary career at Ball State University. “Because of the mentoring I received and the people who cared about my success, it led me to where I am today,” he said. Lepper went on to earn a master’s degree from Grand Valley State University and a doctorate from Indiana State University.

Lepper’s heritage is a quasi coming full circle that started with his great, great grandparents’ role in the early days of establishing the revered Pine Mountain Settlement School in southeastern Kentucky. “It’s a fascinating story, and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of in my heritage,” he said. “In many ways, I kind of feel like I’m continuing their legacy by working at a community college.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SLCC Business School is Utah’s First to be Named Exclusively After a Woman

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) proudly announces a partnership with the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation to modernize its Business Building and transform its School of Business. The improvements are made possible through a generous $10 million gift from the Miller Family Foundation and Gail Miller, the largest-ever single cash donation received by the college.  SLCC is renaming its Business Building the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Business Building in honor of the Miller family’s legacy and contributions to the community. The business school will be named the Gail Miller School of Business in recognition of the strong business acumen Gail Miller displays as a community leader and as the owner and immediate past chair of the Larry H. Miller Company. This name change will make SLCC home to the only business school in Utah and one of only a few in the country to be named exclusively after a woman.  “We are deeply humbled by the generosity of Gail and the Miller fam

SLCC Technology Services for Students

SLCC provides several technology services to current students.  The below list covers some important items that most students should be aware of. Wireless Internet Access – SLCC has over 700 wireless access points distributed across our different campus locations.  To access the wireless system, login to the “SLCC-STUDENT” wireless network using your MyPage username and password. Computer Labs – SLCC has over 150 labs with thousands of computers for student use in either a classroom setting or in open use labs.  Open Labs are student funded labs that available for all registered SLCC students.  Each lab has different hours but most are available Monday—Saturday. Locations: Taylorsville Redwood —Markosian Library,  Student Center 2nd Floor; South City —2-149, 1-061R; Jordan —JHS Atrium, HTC 100; Miller —MFEC 207 Laptop Checkout – There are a limited number of laptops at select open labs that ca

SLCC Student COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement – Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why is SLCC implementing a vaccine requirement? A. State leaders recently granted Utah System of Higher Education institutions more flexibility in decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccination requirements for Spring semester 2022. The surge in cases due to the Delta variant has put a huge strain on Utah’s health care system, and the college can play an important role in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 by requiring students to get vaccinated. Q. Why are SLCC employees not subject to the vaccination requirement? A. The college is currently waiting for a legal review and authority to consider a vaccination requirement for SLCC employees. Updates will be provided as the college receives information on this matter. Q. Why is SLCC implementing a vaccine requirement rather than a mask mandate? A. Utah law only allows state and local health departments, with approval from the relevant county legislative bodies, to issue mask mandates. With that said, SLCC encourages every