To Belong

President Dawn Lindsay sits down with host Dan Baum to talk about redefining moments, and how a phone call in an Annapolis restaurant was one of hers. Hear what she’s proud of, how she feels the college has evolved the past 10 years and what AACC’s future looks like.

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(gentle acoustic guitar music)- Welcome to Redefine U, season five. I'm Dan Baum. Over the last few years, this podcast has been a place to share powerful stories of redefinition and lightning strike moments, and to learn and grow with one another through adversity and change, even through a global pandemic. This season, to close out the college's 60th anniversary, we invited members of the community, past and present, to join us in sharing their favorite AACC memories. Be sure to check out all of this season's episodes, available now for your binge listening pleasure.(smooth guitar music) This is Dawn Lindsay. I am the proud president of Anne Arundel Community College.- So you've been with the college for 10 years. I'm sure you have a lot of favorite memories of being here, but what stands out? What's one of your favorite memories?- I had a hard time coming up with just one, to be honest with you. So I started thinking about, well, I really love commencement. I really like watching people come across the stage. I really enjoy the first week of class when everybody comes in, new students, and they're excited and happy and hopeful, but you asked me about my favorite memory. So I really had to think about it. And what I came up with was, in 2012, I was sitting at Cafe Normandie eating dinner and I received a call that I had been offered the position while I was sitting at Cafe Normandie. And unfortunately, I didn't have anybody physically present with me to celebrate the news, but the table next to me, they kind of noticed my excitement, and they asked me, "What just happened?" And I told them, and this whole dialogue began and we turned out to be great friends for the evening'cause they told me about their personal connection to AACC and how much they love the college. And I thought, well this is kind of interesting that I run into people that have a relationship with the college and here I am, the first night getting to celebrate this. So the evening ended and they wished me the best and they reiterated how fortunate I was to be the selected candidate. And I have to say, I had so many emotions all at the same time. I was excited, I had joy, I had anticipation, I had nervousness. And one of the things I've learned from this is when I see our faculty and staff sometimes kind of feeling down or defeated, I tend to ask them that to recall the feeling that they had the day that they got the phone call offering them ultimately a position to come work at Anne Arundel Community College and what they were feeling then and how they got that initial feeling. And for me, I know when I do that little exercise, what I come up with is gratitude.- That's excellent. I remember when you started, you talked about how you were struck by the number of people in the community that had a personal relationship with the community college. and that it was hard to go anywhere like a restaurant like that and not run into people that had that kind of connection. What about a person you met or an experience you had at AACC that really made an impact on you?- So again, there are so many people and experiences that have impacted me over the last 10 years, like my job. Obviously, a big part of my job is now in the community and really understanding the needs of our students. So I really enjoy working with donors, I really love the legislative aspects of my job, I like working with and through our constituent group leaders. But I think one thing that I have that's different than everybody else's, that's very specific to my work as the president, is I have the opportunity to work with our student trustee on a very close and personal basis. Many people might not know that our student is a full participating member of the board. They have a full vote, they're appoint by the governor, so they are a real trustee that's serving a one-year term. So I really enjoy building a relationship with each of them. And I really love seeing their leadership come to surface as their skillset grows throughout the year. I meet with the student trustee at least once a month, sometimes more if we're preparing for some type of an elected official meeting or if there's a special project that we're working on. Every year, I take a group of students to Student Advocacy Day down in Annapolis where we interact with all of our elected officials, and the student trustee has always been a part of that group as have the other student leaders. So it's interesting, because as the elected officials begin to hear about the experiences that our students have had or the obstacles that they've overcome, the opportunities that they've had, why the elected officials should support community college, AACC specifically, is so important. And all I see... All I usually have to do is simply an introduction, because the students are so well prepared to share their stories, it's just really, it's touching. And it makes me proud, very, very proud of the student leadership that we have. The other thing that's unique about our trustees is we've had student trustees that are on both sides of 40. So some younger, some older. They bring different life experiences, different life challenges, different stories. But the one thing that's been consistent is they're always passionate and they're committed to AACC, they're committed to the community, they're committed to their fellow colleagues. And then after they graduate or after they leave, sometimes I see them around the county or they'll send me an email or they'll friend me on Facebook. And it's just amazing to see how they're doing and where they're doing. And I actually went back through all of the 10 that I've worked with in the 10 years that I've been here, and every one of them has just brought a different skillset to the table. So I think I'd have to say that, that experience of having the ability to have that much interaction with the student trustee, probably more so than most of the other students from a leadership perspective, I mean, I see them every month at the board meeting as well. So I think that's a unique experience that I have as president that really stands out for me.- What a great experience for them too.- Mmh-hmm.- Well, of course, our theme has been "Redefine Yourself" for many years, and this podcast is called Redefine U. So how has being part of the AACC community redefined you?- I'll start by saying, as an academic, I believe that I practice and commit to lifelong learning. So many organizations talk about their values, but they don't necessarily use them. They don't define them. They don't incorporate them into their daily work. And I take tremendous pride in the fact that we actually use our values to guide our work. I believe we're a values-oriented institution and our values are equity and inclusion, positivity, community relationships, opportunity, innovation and creativity, and I think they're all important and they all align with my own personal values and they really guide me in decision making. I mean, our values right now are so important that we're actually including them in our evaluation process. So I think it's a really clear statement to our campus and the community as a whole that we really care about this. So for me, what I've learned and what I've been working on as far as redefining something is I have taken the opportunity to use and really reaffirm our values, and they've really, truly redefined my decision making process and how I approach opportunities and challenges.- Since you are the president, I have some questions about the future that I'm curious about. We've just concluded our 60th anniversary and we seem to be, hopefully, moving from a pandemic to endemic, how do you think we've changed over the years that you've been with AACC?- Well, the first thing I'll say is we can no longer assume that if we build it, they'll come. So I think that's one lesson learned for sure. I think we realize the need to be strategic and deliberate as where we're putting our resources, both human and fiscal. We've got a really make sure that we're remaining true to our mission. And I think over the last 10 years, we've continued to grow programs as we seek different opportunities that benefit our community and our students and those that we're educating as a whole. I think our county footprint continues to expand as we've been offering classes throughout the county and in a variety of different locations. This year alone we opened two brand new buildings. The largest is our 175,000 square foot$116 million Health and Life Sciences Building designed to really double our nursing program and provide opportunities for people to find employment, but also for employers to find talent. For the first time ever, the foundation launched a capital campaign in which they fully funded the cost for the Clauson Center for Innovation and Skilled Trades. I think our relationship with elected officials has probably never been tighter or with more mutual respect. I think our external decision makers are acknowledging the important role that we play in the county. For the first time in history we've been fully Cade-funded. Each year, we've been able to provide some type of compensation increase. There's a very close relationship now amongst in between the divisions that I'm really proud of and enjoy working with vice presidents, we make decisions. I think we've grown academically. We're a very, very complex college with credit non-credit options. We've got transferring workforce credentials, we've got face-to-face classes, hybrid, online, remote. You name it, we've worked to create it. Our students are multigenerational. I think our students are more diverse for sure. Our workforce is more diverse. We did hire our first chief diversity officer in 2015. So we were the first college in Maryland to support this position. In 2015, we also brought forward a new strategic plan that supported the national agenda for completion. We're stating that success is no longer based on how many students enter our doors, but how many students persist to attain their educational goal and get through that door. Last year, our foundation raised almost $10 million through donor foundation building. That's incredible for us. And I can't forget the national pandemic. And as I've said many, many times, there's just no playbook on how to lead a college through a national pandemic. So we've learned a lot there. We had safety as our north star and every decision that we made was based on when it was safe and what would be safe. So I take a lot of pride in the commitment that we made as a college to our workforce and our students. That said, I think COVID did provide us an opportunity, and that was to really test our strength and our muscle when it comes to remote and virtual presence. And in March of 2020, our faculty moved 1200 classes to online within two weeks because we couldn't come back to campus. Our staff brought back all the student support programs. They brought them back to being online, which had never been done before. So I think that actually tied into an older goal, which was taking a look at how we can become the premier online learning environment. And we got pushed into it a little bit faster than I thought we were probably prepared for or what we were looking for. But I do think that that was an opportunity that COVID gave us. I'm really excited that we're getting ready to return to campus and have a campus presence and seeing people and interacting with our students. And what I have to say that hasn't changed over the last 10 years, which I'm also very proud of, is the passion and the dedication and the commitment that our faculty and our staff and our board support, and really the high regard that we've earned in this community because of the work that we do. So no other college I would've wanted to go through a pandemic with or some of these challenges with, but I just think we've got the workforce and we've got the leadership, we've got the board and we've got the county support, and obviously, we're nationally known for what we do. So I think we've got a lot to be proud of.- Yeah, I can hear the passion in your voice. I'm gonna give you a crystal ball. What do you see for the future? Where do you think community colleges and perhaps AACC specifically are headed?- I think our future's bright. I think we need to realize that we need to continue to innovate and be strategic, but I think we're gonna be just fine and I think we're gonna continue to grow. I believe we need to keep innovating based on the foundation of the work that we've already been successful with. So I think we've got a platform with which to move forward. We know at the national level, we continue to see a decrease in enrollment and we have to stabilize that decrease. It's impacting all community colleges, it's impacting four-year colleges. So it's nothing that we've done. It's being done to us for things that are often out of our control. But we have recently learned of some colleges that are starting to see an upswing. We are starting to see a bit of a flattening with our enrollment, which is good. So I'm very excited to see what we're gonna do to address this as a team and continue to provide highest quality rigor to the most students that we can. I think in order to do that, we're gonna have to continue removing barriers for our students, creating, I know, what we've been referring to as frictionless experiences for our students, where they can kind of move through our requirements and access resources easily. I think we have to recognize that the demographics of our community is changing and we have to respond accordingly. I think the goal of our students feeling included is important, but I also think that we need to look at students, all students, regardless of race or disability, gender, et cetera, that they belong. They feel that they're not only included, but they with us and they feel comfortable with us and we're a safe haven for them. I think funding's gonna continue to be a challenge. And now that we've been fully funded from the Cade Formula, I think we need to protect it. I think we have a lot of opportunities as far as bolstering things like credit for prior learning, not only offering our classes in the traditional 15, 13, eight-week semesters that we've been doing, but take a look at being creative at maybe putting three five-week semesters and embed that into one 15-week semester. So students can choose to possibly take one or two classes that's very, very focused and continue to build their success from that perspective. I think that's an opportunity and option that students would probably appreciate. I think we can be expanding our Regional Occupational Center, where we have four-year colleges coming and offering baccalaureate and some master's degree programs right here in Anne Arundel County in one of our facilities through the Regional Occupational Center. I think we need to be open to new pedagogical approaches that are creative and innovative and attractive for our students. And we already have some programs that have been successfully implemented that are somewhat unique, and one example is our Three Plus One programs. And these are programs where students can take 90 credits at our cost, and transfer to a four-year college, and in another 30 units, get a bachelor's degree. And then I started thinking, wouldn't it be really wonderful if we could make sure that the Regional Occupational Center is an area for transfer for these three plus one, where our students could stay totally in the county? And when we're looking at our average student being 26, they're not looking for a residential experience. They're not able to necessarily drive to some of these four-year colleges that are outta reach. But if we bring those colleges to us in support of the degrees that we're doing and create more of these three plus ones, I think that's gonna be a competitive win. And the fact that not every college has a Regional Occupational Center, I think that's a great opportunity for us. I think the competition for our market has increased as other colleges who have never been in the picture before while recruiting our students and pulling them away from us, and we need to take a look at what's going on. And we're also starting to just see a decline in student admissions to college or interest in attending college. We see more students stopping out or dropping out. So we've gotta take a look at the student market that's traditionally been coming to us that we've been very comfortable with over the 60-year history that we've had and really take a look, an honest look at what's changed with our students in 60 years? What's changed with our students in 10 years or five years or even two years? The opportunities, again, that COVID's presented is it's evidence to students that they can do things differently as well. So they can benefit from a lot of different options. I'd love our workforce to take a look at what their skillset can bring to our retention and completion programs in that every one of us has a responsibility and something that we can offer. And if we all tap into our own specialization and spread that, we're gonna have a very, very successful student experience, which is obviously what we're looking for. In summary, when I started to think about words that would come to mind when I thought about the upcoming years, I think of words like strategy, thoughtful, informed, analytical, honest about our fears, but continuing to be strong and being a leader and moving ahead. And ultimately, I think if we live those five values that I spoke about earlier and we talk about what's important, I think our college is gonna continue to thrive simply based on the people that we hire, our mission, and everybody wanting to be part of this winning team.- So not a lot going on is what you're really saying.(Dawn chuckling) You're a dog person, I so was hoping you were gonna say for the future. Yeah, I think pets on campus would be great.- I would be a campus leader if it wasn't for all the other considerations that we had for sure.- Hey, well, we've been able to enjoy them at home for a while.- Yeah, I know. Mine are just going into major depression with me being at work. I mean, they're tearing up my house, they're eating door handles, they're scratching up the walls. They're just very, very anxious with me being gone.- They've got to be spoiled. Yeah.- I've got one to my right.- Well, thank you for all that you do for the collagen for the community.- Thanks Dan, thanks Dan. I really enjoy my job and I really enjoy the people that we work with and I've got just such pride in our mission and what we are able to be successful at.- It shows. Thanks so much.- Okay, thank you.(gentle guitar music)- Thank you for joining us for this special season of Redefine U, celebrating AACC's 60th anniversary. We hope this season inspires you to think about your own favorite AACC moments. How is being a part of this community, near or abroad, as a student, faculty or staff member, parent or friend, redefined you?(smooth guitar music)(gentle guitar music)(bright music) Redefine U is a production of Anne Arundel Community College. Our executive producer is Allison Baumbusch and our producer is Jeremiah Prevatte. Others who help with this podcast include Amanda Behrens, Angie Hamlet, Ben Pierce, and Alicia Renehan. Special thanks to all our guests for sharing their stories. Subscribe, find show notes and other extras on our website, aacc.edu/podcast. I'm your host and creator of this podcast, Dan Baum. Thanks for listening.(smooth music fading)