The name's Blake, Spencer Blake. 2.1.09

Many professors who teach at Salt Lake Community College are fully capable of teaching at universities such as the U. Each professor has their own personal reasons for choosing to educate at a communitycollege, and Spencer Blake happens to be one of them.

Blake is a Sociology professor here at SLCC who, prior to his dedicated decade here, has taught at Brigham Young University. “Blake sees thesociological perspective of things. He loves it here and knows he’s a great contribution to his students’ education. For him it’s about what’s right- not what’s most “prestigious” or better paid,” says Denver Jensen, a current SLCC student currently enrolled in Blake’sIntro to Sociology class. Jensen believes that Blake could teach at anyschool of his choice and because of that, is extremely grateful Blake chose to teach at SLCC.

There are three main classes that Blake teaches each semester that include Introduction to Sociology, Family and Marriage, and TheIntermountain West. He teaches social problems as well, but hasn’t forthe last few years. Blake doesn’t consider any one class to be his favorite because he loves them all for different reasons.

Blake is passionate about the subject matter in Intro to Sociology.It’s that fact that inspired him to major in the subject. It is Blake’s goal with each new class to get his students to where they start to integrate his lessons to life outside of school. He enjoys his Marriage and Family classes because typically many students who enroll in it have had him before, thus enabling him to better get to know them and their personalities and converse on a deeper level. In his Intermountain West class, Blake simply loves talking about the region and sharing his passion of this land with anyone and everyone who will listen.

Blake’s favorite element of teaching is getting to know the students.“When you start to get to know the students and their personalities start coming out and they start showing critical thinking back in their questions is by far the most fun,” says Blake.

Many of Blake’s hobbies revolve around the outdoors. He claims just exploring and seeing nature is by far his favorite pastime. Southern Utah tends to lure Blake’s attention because of the “starkness,” he says, “of the red rocks and the desert- when you find a little bit of water and all the life around it.” Blake loves to visit ruins of past cultures such as the Aztecs and Anasazi Indians, and also loves too bserve the natural arches and bridges of Southern Utah.

Another passion of Blake’s would be college football. He claims hetravels all over the nation to watch college football games. The vigorous rivalry between the U and BYU is one of Blake’s reasons for loving Utah.

As far as his current goals go, Blake would love to obtain more education. He loves to gain knowledge of new things and constantly keep an open mind to do so. Blake enjoys writing and publishing, and has a couple more books he’d like to get out. His father, too, is a sociologist, who wrote the text book for Blake’s Intermountain Westcourse. Blake co-authored that edition, and is now working the second edition that his father is co-authoring.

There are no extravagant relocation plans for Blake’s retirement when it comes because he’s right where he wants to be. “I love the mountains, I love the winter, I love the fall, I love the spring- I want four seasons,” says Blake.

Blake is a loving husband and father of two. He has a twenty year old son and a seventeen year old daughter whom he considers to be his life’s greatest success.

One characteristic Jensen admires about Blake is how down-to-earth he is. Blake’s favorite food exhibits that attribute clearly. “A bacon cheese burger- so long as it’s got a good tomato on it,” says Blake.

“It’s teachers like Blake that make SLCC feel like I’m attending the U,” Says Jensen, who continues, “I’m only hoping they understand how grateful their students are of their dedication.”