Welcome to the Ken Sorensen Lecture Series

Not quite an Arizona native, Ken Sorensen moved here with his family as a young child.  He grew up in Glendale and attended high school and junior college there. As Ken married and started a family, he worked in construction equipment related jobs until an economic downturn hit the Valley of the Sun.  Being unemployed, Ken and his young family made the sacrifices necessary for him to return to school. He completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and began teaching high school; a life-long dream. Ken is certified to teach both history and English and, during a 30-year career in education, has taught high school in two states. He also taught junior college at both Mesa and Chandler-Gilbert Community Colleges for 12 of those years. Ken has always taught with a humanities approach believing that if we understand who people are and what their motives are, we will more likely understand what they have written.

In the summer of 2005, Ken won a scholarship to attend Exeter College in Oxford, England for a summer term of graduate studies. That experience changed his life. Ken was able to experience things he had read about and taught all his life. In 2013, Ken was honored to be elected Teacher of the Year by the Mesa Arizona Chamber of Commerce following a student’s recommendation.

Ken is an avid reader and has an extensive collection of books. He also enjoys woodworking and has made children’s furniture, inlaid clocks, and finely crafted pens and pencils.

Ken lives in Gilbert with his wife Susan. They have seven children and many grandchildren.