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- Welcome to Redefine U, season five.

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I'm Dan Baum. Over the last few years,

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this podcast has been a place

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to share powerful stories of redefinition

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and lightning strike moments, and to learn and grow with

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one another through adversity

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and change, even through

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a global pandemic.

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This season to close out the

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college's 60th anniversary,

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we invited members of the

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community past and present,

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to join us in sharing their

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favorite AACC memories.

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Be sure to check out all

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of this season's episodes

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available now for your

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binge listening pleasure.

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- I'm Joyce Dawson, and I'm the Assistant Director

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for Facilities Planning

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and Construction here at

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the community college,

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and our mission is to design, plan,

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construct, all of the

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buildings for the campus,

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and also we do smaller projects too.

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It might be you just

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need to move your office,

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or reorganize your office, or

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redecorate your office suite.

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But whatever it has to do

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with design and construction,

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our department is supporting that. - Excellent, thank you.

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So what's your favorite AACC memory?

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- Well, I received my construction

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management certification

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through AACC, and later I was working

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as the college's owner's

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representative for the construction

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of the CALT building. One day a tour came through

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with the architect, engineer,

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and construction management faculty.

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So that was kind of a

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great surprise moment

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to see the people who had

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added to my education,

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coming through a building that I was acting as the

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owner's representative

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for construction management. So our joke between everyone was,

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I had better have been paying attention,

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and they better have taught me well. (Joyce laughs)

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So that was a great memory,

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to see the people that added

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to my education, actually get to see me doing something

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that was going to be meaningful for them.

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- That's excellent. I'm sure they were excited to see that you are putting

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what you learned to work.

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It has driven your career.

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- And it's still standing, Dan.

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(both laugh)

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- That's the best part. - The best part. - Yeah.

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Now, is there someone you met through AACC

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who made a big impact on you?

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- Well, as I thought about this, it was really all of my

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instructors that I had here.

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Each one of them impacted

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me in a very positive way.

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Everyone was so qualified,

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and gave so much personal

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attention as I was studying.

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The other thing that I noticed too is,

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how approachable all my instructors were.

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I never felt like if I had a question

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or a need, that I couldn't bother them,

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or couldn't talk to them. In fact, they were very clear that

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that was part of their job,

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is to make sure I learned

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what I needed to learn, and I rose to the level that

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they were trying to convey

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through that class. So I was just very impressed

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that I had such a great

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group of instructors,

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and a lot of people would say, "At a community college?"

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But yes, at a community college.

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- That's great. How has being part of the

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AACC community redefined you?

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- Well, this is my second career.

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I took some time off to raise a family,

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and then I came back into the workforce.

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So really coming here to

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refresh my credentials,

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and come back into the workforce,

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has really promoted my career

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and helped me do what I do today.

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It was only logical 14 years ago

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when I had the opportunity

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to join the staff

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here at the college to jump on that opportunity

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and take part in that.

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So here I am, I'm AACC educated,

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and I work for AACC, and

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it's wonderful to be here

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and just watch our

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campus grow and improve.

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And you know what we always

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say, we finish one thing,

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and it's always, "Well, what's next?

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What's next?" So it's an exciting place to be.

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- Well, next has been this Health and Life Sciences building.

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It must be exciting for you

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to see the fruits of

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your labor so clearly.

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You mentioned CALT, but the things that you do,

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there they are, they remain,

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they're still standing,

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that must be pretty exciting. - Well, it is a cool career,

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'cause we're there at the inception,

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working through the planning

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and the vision of what's to come.

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Then we work through the design of what's

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to come, and we begin to

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formulate what it takes

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to give us that educational experience,

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or administrative experience

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that we're looking for

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on this campus. So that's very exciting.

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And then that first teaspoon of soil

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comes out of the ground, and from there it's just a forward path

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of moving through our plans and reviewing.

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And the other thing that's wonderful here,

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is we're so collaborative. I don't think there's any department here

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that doesn't get touched at

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some point when we're building.

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We need opinions of faculty, staff,

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and students to guide decisions,

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and we need people to look

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at things as we're building,

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to be sure that we're hitting the mark.

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"Is this what you expected? Would this be a surprise if you saw this,

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and would that be a good

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surprise, or a bad surprise,"

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you know, kind of thing. So all of this talent

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comes in, that's right here

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within our campus, and

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we form this huge team

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that just works until we're successful.

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So when we walk and look

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at a building like HLSB,

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you think of all of the hands

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that have touched that project

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from within the campus,

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and it's something the whole

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campus can really be proud of.

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And it's so cool to go in

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and watch the students use the building,

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and feel the thrill of, "Oh look, they really do

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like the laptop bars."

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Or "Look, they are using the study rooms."

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Or "Look at this great setup they have

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to practice the skills

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of their profession."

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So anybody that knows

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me, knows I love my job.

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It's like Legos for big girls, and it just never ceases

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to be fun.

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(Dan laughs)

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- That's great. I love it. Well, thank you, Joyce.

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Appreciate you sharing, and the Health and Life

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Sciences building is gorgeous.

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CALT is also gorgeous, we have really, really lovely buildings.

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- Yeah, well, I tell you as a campus, we've been very, very fortunate

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with a very robust building

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and renovation schedule,

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and so, like I said, "What's next?

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We're ready." - All right, well thank you again.

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Appreciate you taking the time. - All right. Thank you all.

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- Thank you for joining

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us for this special season

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of Redefine U celebrating

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AACC'S 60th anniversary.

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We hope this season inspires you to think about your own

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favorite AACC moments.

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How is being a part of this

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community, near or abroad,

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as a student, faculty, or staff

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member, parent, or friend,

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redefine you. (gentle instrumental music)

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Redefine U is a production of Anne Arundel Community College.

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Our executive producer

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is Allison Baumbusch

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and our producer is Jeremiah Prevatte.

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Others who help with this

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podcast include Amanda Behrens,

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Angie Hamlet, Ben Pierce,

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and Alicia Renehan.

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Special thanks to all our guests for sharing their stories.

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Subscribe, find show

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notes, and other extras

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on our website, aacc.edu/podcast.

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I'm your host and creator of this podcast, Dan Baum, thanks for listening.

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