STEM Center Delivers Tremendous Impact Across Southern Utah Education
Published: October 29, 2025 | Author: Kierstin Holloway | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Southern Utah University STEM Center for Teaching and Learning is making an amazing impact across the Southern Utah region. In the last academic year alone, the center recorded nearly 46,000 services provided, and is already working hard to increase that number through the current academic year.
“Partnerships like the Hughes General Contractors STEM Library have made a big impact by providing more than 9,000 STEM items to schools, homeschool families, and local groups,” said Dylan Kirklin, director of the STEM Center. “The BZI Youth Engineering Academy brought nearly 1,000 students together for weekly summer camps, and the SC Broadband Mobile Planetarium is expected to reach close to 6,000 students this school year.”
There are many different resources and extensive outreach programs offered through the SUU STEM Center, to support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. This includes the Mobile Planetarium and Animal Ambassador programs, homework help for all K-12 Utah students, and the Hughes GC STEM Resource Library.
Kimberly McCollum, who teaches 9th and 10th-grade biology and computer science at the SUU Success Academy, uses the resources from the SUU STEM library to offer her students more experiential learning opportunities.
“In my biology classes, I mainly use models to help my students experience abstract concepts in a more concrete way,” said McCollum. “I have also used resources from the STEM library to support my students' independent research projects for the Southern Utah Science and Engineering Fair.
McCollum has also used the STEM Center’s TI Innovator Rovers and Hubs in her computer science classes to provide her students with programming experiences.
“The library allows me to offer my students more hands-on experiences and helps to create more engaging, hands-on lessons,” McCollum said. “Engaging lessons raise student interest in STEM subjects, and hands-on experiences help increase student confidence when pursuing STEM careers. I think the STEM library is an excellent program.”
SUU students who are interested in volunteering or serving as a STEM Ambassador are encouraged to visit the STEM Volunteers and Ambassadors webpage for more information.
Students do not have to be a science or engineering student to join.
About SUU STEM Center
The SUU STEM Center is dedicated to fostering science, technology, engineering, and math education. Its mission is to build a better future for Utah by offering free high-quality STEM experiences and instruction. Through its initiatives, the Center provides critical resources to empower both educators and students.
Tags: Campus Education College of STEM Community STEM Center
Contact Information:
Brooke Heath
435-586-5400
brookeheath1@suu.edu