APEX Events - SUU's Premier Event Series

✨ Imagineering Your Life: Creativity Is Not Enough
🎤 Jennifer D. Roberts (Lighting Designer, Fine Artist, Educator, Former Disney Imagineer)

📅 March 5 | ⏰ 11:30 a.m. | 📍 Great Hall

Multidisciplinary lighting designer, fine artist, and educator Jennifer D. Roberts has spent over 30 years shaping environments across themed entertainment, architecture, and the performing arts throughout the American Southwest and California.
This lecture explores how creativity, technical craft, and artistic vision come together to shape meaningful human experiences—revealing how light, design, and imagination can transform spaces and tell powerful stories.

OUR SPEAKER THIS WEEK —
🎤 Chris Hoke (Jail Chaplain, Author, Founder of Underground Ministries)
✨ Wilderness Unlocked: Prison, Healing, and Access to Outdoor Wonder

📅 Feb. 19 | ⏰ 11:30 a.m. | 📍 Great Hall

Jail chaplain, author, and founder of Underground Ministries, Chris Hoke has spent over 20 years walking alongside incarcerated men and women and those returning home.
This lecture explores how healing, restoration, and second chances can happen through community, meaningful work, and even connection to the outdoors—opening new pathways for hope and transformation.

📚 Author of WANTED: A Spiritual Pursuit Through Jail, Among Outlaws, and Across Borders
✍️ Book signing to follow the event

🇺🇸 Grace A. Tanner Distinguished Faculty Lecture 2026

🎤 Dr. Michelle Orihel (Associate Professor of History)
✨ American Independence: Stories of Freedom, Struggle, and Resilience

📅 Feb. 12
⏰ 11:30 a.m.
📍 Great Hall

This lecture looks beyond the Founding Fathers to explore how everyday people shaped the fight for independence. From women and enslaved people to Loyalists and Indigenous communities, Dr. Orihel highlights the many voices and struggles that helped drive the events of 1776.

Dr. Orihel teaches at Southern Utah University and was named Outstanding Educator for Diversity & Inclusion. Her research focuses on early American politics, print culture, and social movements.

🎤✨ The ’26 Eccles APEX Spring Season is here!
Join us in the Gilbert Great Hall every week at 11:30 AM for an incredible lineup of speakers

Swipe to see the full schedule and mark your calendars! 📅

🔗 More info: www.suu.edu/apex

Thunderbirds

Our speaker this week is Kevin Koontz! ✨

Kevin Koontz presents Hetch Hetchy: Yosemite’s Lost Valley 🌲
Join us for this week’s Eccles A.P.E.X. event as SUU’s Outdoor Pathways Academic Coordinator and adjunct professor explores the history and impact of one of Yosemite’s most debated landscapes.
This talk is part of the SUU America 250 Lecture Series.

🗓 January 22, 2026
⏰ 11:30 AM
📍 Gilbert Great Hall

We’re excited to welcome Donna Law as our speaker this week! ✨
Appointed by Governor Spencer Cox in January 2024, Donna serves as the Executive Director of the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. With 26 years at Southern Utah University and leadership experience across the arts, she brings a deep passion for culture, community, and public service.

🗓 January 15, 2026
⏰ 11:30 AM
📍 Gilbert Great Hall

We hope to see you there!

Hey SUU!
We've got another fantastic APEX Radio Hour this week with SUU's very own, Dean of College of Performing and Visual Arts, Michael Schmidt! You can tune in live at 3 p.m. on KSUU Thunder 91.1 and if you miss it you can find it after on our APEX webpage or wherever you get your podcasts.

For more info: https://www.suu.edu/apex/

The SUU Eccles APEX Team

Hey T-Birds!

Join us Tuesday, April 1 at 11:30 a.m. in the Gilbert Great Hall for this year's Festival of Excellence keynote with Jean-Michel Molenaar. His presentation is titled, "Beyond Prototypes: Building a More Inclusive Future with Fab Labs". It's the last APEX event of the season as well, you won't want to miss it!

For more info: https://www.suu.edu/apex/

The SUU Eccles APEX Team

Hey SUU!

Join us this TUESDAY for the Howard R. Driggs Memorial Lecture with Director of the Adams Presidential Center, Dr. Kurt Graham! His presentation is titled, "Presidential Legacies in Four Centuries". Join us TOMORROW, Tuesday March 25 at 11:30 a.m., and at 3 p.m. on KSUU Thunder 91.1 for the APEX Radio Hour. You won't want to miss this one!

For more info: https://www.suu.edu/apex/

The SUU Eccles APEX Team

Hey T-Birds!

We're back to our regularly schedule programming this week, we've got a great one for you! Join us in the Gilbert Great Hall this Thursday, March 20 at 11:30 a.m. for Dr. Mark Applebaum's presentation, "The Contemporary Composer's Moral Panic". You won't want to miss it! After the presentation, join us on KSUU Thunder 91.1 at 3 p.m. for the APEX Radio Hour.

For more info: https://www.suu.edu/apex/

The SUU Eccles APEX Team

Hey SUU!
We've got another fantastic APEX Radio Hour this week with Author Elaine Vickers! She has authored picture books, middle grade books, and young adult novels. You can tune in live at 3 p.m., and if you miss it you can find it after on our APEX webpage or wherever you get your podcasts!

For more info: https://www.suu.edu/apex/

The SUU Eccles APEX Team