Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) has selected Dawn Lindsay as its sixth president. The announcement came after an extensive, nationwide search to find the successor to Martha (Marti) Smith, who is soon retiring from the position after 18 years. Lindsay will officially assume her new role Aug. 1.
From a pool of 120 applicants, 12 candidates were interviewed by the Search and Screening Committee led by Trustee and Former Chair James Johnson, Jr., and made up of board, faculty, staff and community members. Three top candidates were invited back to the AACC campus to meet further with the college’s eight-member board of trustees and the wider college community before a final decision was made.
A native of Maryland, Lindsay has served as president of Glendale Community College in Glendale, Calif., since 2009, where she oversees a combined college and state-allocated budget of $157 million. She also previously held the positions of executive vice president and vice president, instructional services, at the college.
With more than 25 years of experience in higher education, she has served in the role of staff, faculty and administrator at Riverside Community College, Saddleback College and Argosy University in California, as well as adjunct professor and instructor positions at Dundalk and Howard community colleges in Maryland.
Lindsay is a commissioner for the American Association of Community Colleges and an active representative for the needs, values and importance of the community college system in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. She is a regional CEO representative and serves as a board member for the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, the Alex Theater and the California Community College Athletic Association.
Lindsay has also developed numerous community partnerships, including partnerships with the Verdugo Power Academy, the Tri-City Fire Academy and an emerging Middle College for high school students.
Lindsay earned a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, a master’s in Educational Counseling, a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S.W. in Social Work from McDaniel College.
The announcement of her hire came on the heels of the death on March 31 of Thomas Florestano, who preceeded Smith as the fourth president of AACC. He led the college from 1979 until his retirement in 1994 — just three weeks shy of serving a then-record 15 years as the college’s leader.
