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Commencement 2021: Honorary Doctorates

 

SLCC's 2021 in-person commencement ceremony will take place Aug. 6 at the Maverik Center. For more information, click here.


Honorary Doctorates 


Salt Lake Community College has been awarding Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees to deserving individuals since 1955. The SLCC Board of Trustees selects two outstanding individuals in the community who have achieved distinction, made extraordinary contributions to their professional fields and made a meaningful impact in their communities and/or to higher education to receive this honor.


Jerry M.Taylor, Founder, Taylor Electric

Edna Anderson-Taylor, Former KSL-TV Host 


Hard work and a passion for what you do are the keys to success for Jerry and Edna Taylor. These principles aided Edna in developing her career and in helping her to heal during a difficult time in her life. Her husband, Jerry, also used these beliefs to help him build a wildly successful electrical contracting business in Utah.


The Taylors relish talking about their lives and world travels, as well as their long history with Salt Lake Community College and how the college has contributed to their professional success. They recall how, after his three-year stint in the U.S. Army, Jerry attended SLCC’s forerunner, the Salt Lake Trade Technical Institute. In 1975, one of his first hires was a 21-year-old who had also trained at SLCC, then known as Utah Technical College.


The early incarnation of what would become Taylor Electric was just Jerry, his mom as bookkeeper and that first employee. As Jerry built his business, which eventually grew to employ 350, he would often hire workers trained at SLCC. “The community college has great people. Those are the kinds of workers who make businesses successful. I had good people I could trust,” he says. SLCC instructors got to know Jerry and would call him with recommendations of students to hire. His relationship with the college continued to grow, and Jerry eventually became involved in judging national skills competitions that involved SLCC students in the trades.


Edna, a graduate of South High School, which today is home to SLCC’s South City Campus, is still recognized in public as Miss Julie from “Romper Room,” which ran on KSL-TV during the 1970s. The early days of that experience, Edna says, helped her recover from the loss of her first husband. “Find your passion, what it is that you love to do that feeds you, not just materially but also your soul,” she says. “That way, you will be successful.”Jerry and Edna met in 1981 and married in 1984. After passing the Taylor Electric torch to their son Ryan Taylor in 2005, the pair has focused on philanthropy that has benefitted many throughout Utah. This includes SLCC, which in 1989 gave Jerry its Distinguished Alumni Award. The Taylors also are generous donors to SLCC scholarships, assisting many students over the years in building their futures. 

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