Education makes a workforce great STORY BY BETSY ILER & PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE, CLIFF WILLIAMS & AUDRA SPEARS
Every community needs organizations that move relentlessly toward a great future, and through the eyes of its president, Jeff Lynn, Central Alabama Community College concentrates all of its energy and resources on that mission. Lynn took the reins as acting president at CACC two years ago with a single-minded vision, to renew the school’s role as a difference-maker in the community. Within a month, he was named interim president, and he stepped into the fulltime role of president last year. “Community college can make a difference in a person’s life, a company’s life, a family’s life, a community’s life,” Lynn said. Working toward that goal requires the pursuit of progress through myriad routes, from infrastructure to academics, economic development and beyond. Lynn 88
hit the ground running in June 2020 with a review of the campus facilities and has attached infrastructure upgrades to a pending bond issue. “We had a staff meeting recently, and I looked around at the really good team of folks we have who just go above and beyond to bring up the quality of what they do, and I just think we need to get the facilities looking as good as they do. I told them we need to raise the standards for the facilities up to where they are,” said Lynn. A thorough needs assessment suggested improvements in a number of campus buildings and classroom resources, but Lynn – a self-professed man of little patience – was not content to focus on the infrastructure alone. He took a broad view of education and defined student demographics and needs, threw himself
WE MAKE IT GREAT HERE! | FEBRUARY 2022
