Hoem presenting message to 2016 undergraduate class

Undergraduate commencement, featuring 144 candidates, will be broadcast at chadronstate.tv.

Hoem, a native of Saratoga, Wyoming, who has taught Social Work at CSC since 2006, is the current Nebraska State College System Office Teaching Excellence Award honoree. During his time at CSC he has also served as the Director of the Social Work Field Program, a position required for accreditation with the Council on Social Work Education, co-chair of the Diversity Committee and co-sponsor of the Social Work Club. He was also the Chadron State Homecoming Parade Marshal in 2016.

Hoem has taught a variety of courses during his tenure at CSC, including courses in human behavior, serving the elderly and differently abled and numerous professional seminars. Students completing evaluations of the courses have commended Hoem on his discussion of real life situations, his enthusiasm and energy, and his willingness to answer questions or help students find the answer.

“I want the students who graduate out of our program to discover that they have the capacity to cause change for few or for many, and that they will one day think back to my classes to realize that I knew they were doing the best that they could do every time they came into my classroom,” said Hoem while accepting his Teaching Excellence Award.

In his letter of nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award, Dr. James Powell, dean of the school of Education, Human Performance, Counseling, Psychology and Social Work, said Hoem regularly uses high impact learning practices, and most of his activities are designed as service learning or experiential projects. Powell also noted that Hoem requires one of his upper level classes to organize and host an annual conference about current social concerns. Topics have included cancer knowledge, resources and empowerment, veteran awareness, bullying, teen suicide, sexual assault, and drug use.

The NSCS Teaching Excellence Award isn’t Hoem’s only brush with accolades. Prior to working at CSC, he was the Director of Surgery, Radiology, Rehabilitation and Social Work at the Sturgis Regional Hospital. In 2003 he received the High Flyer Award for outstanding leadership as a hospital program director from Rapid City Regional Hospital System. In 2005, he received the Venables/Scarbrough Award presented by South Dakota Healthcare Human Resources Association for recognition of kindness, hospitality and dedication.

Hoem, a Vietnam veteran who has worked for the Veterans Administration with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Montana College in Billings, Montana, and a Master of Arts in Social Work and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

In Hoem’s spare time, he enjoys riding motorcycles with his wife Wendy, writing, and Civil War history. Hoem has one daughter, Cinnamon.