The Distinguished Faculty Lecturer is a recognition of quality work by one of Salt Lake Community College's full-time faculty and a charge to develop that work over an academic year into a public presentation. A committee chosen by the Associate Provost for Learning Advancement selects the faculty lecturer each year. The lecture takes place in the spring.
Anne Canavan
Coordinator, English, Linguistics and Writing Studies
Associate Professor, English
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
During the pandemic, associate English professor Anne Canavan noticed increased talk about mental health among her peers. It seemed people had more time to write and reflect on what it means to be a faculty member experiencing mental health challenges. As SLCC’s Distinguished Faculty Lecturer for 2023, Anne will review literature on best practices at colleges and universities that support faculty with mental health challenges who, as research shows, are more likely to experience such challenges due to the nature of teaching.
Faculty are often the first point of contact for students seeking advice and support. Students share many traumatizing things they have happening to them, and Anne is concerned about faculty carrying heavy loads as they are not trained counselors. Additionally, professors tend to have high expectations for themselves and are under pressure to perform well.
To prepare for next year’s lecture, Anne will conduct interviews with various professionals about the role of laypeople in mental health. She believes the desire to be the best faculty can for students combined with ever-tightening budgets have created “a perfect storm of circumstances that are likely to result in a sharp increase of incidences of mental illness in the campus community.”
Anne's lecture will include a workshop encouraging open dialogue about mental health. During the workshop, SLCC employees will develop practices and protocols that properly support faculty with mental illness. “I want to reconcile the immense satisfaction of teaching with the hard reality that many teachers suffer from depression, anxiety and other invisible mental conditions.”
Anne is SLCC’s department coordinator in English, Linguistics and Writing Studies. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Tennessee Technological University and a PhD in English from Northern Illinois University. In her seven years at the college, Anne has taught courses in composition, literature, ESL, technical writing and linguistics. In addition to her faculty role, she currently serves as president of the regional Two-Year College Association of the National Council of Teachers of English.
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