Spotlight on LYNN COLEMAN

Currently Vice President of Administration and Finance at Howard Community College, Lynn Coleman says she grew up in Maryland, attending a small private school (there were only 11 in her high school graduating class) outside of Baltimore, and then went from there to Michigan State, as she declared, exactly the opposite in size of her previous academic experience. She was attracted to Michigan State through her godmother’s cousin who was president of the university at that time. She majored in mathematics with the idea of becoming a teacher until she realized that career wasn’t really what she wanted for her future. Lynn said she got involved in accounting on a bet. Her roommate had taken and failed an accounting course and when Lynn looked at the material, she told her roommate, “This is easy. How could you fail it?” Whereupon, her roommate challenged her to take the course which she did – and passed with a 4.0! Unfortunately, her decision to stay away from teaching as a career didn’t hit her until she was a senior and involved in practice teaching. Interestingly, Lynn mentioned that a test she took as a freshman indicated she showed aptitude for accounting.

After graduation, she found that the non-teaching jobs available were not particularly attractive so she decided to head to graduate school instead. Her next stop was Clark Atlanta University for their MBA program from which she graduated in 1977. She spent the next two years with Arthur Anderson in Baltimore. Lynn said she didn’t like that work, primarily because of the constant change of location, never having an office she could declare was her own. In 1979, she left AA and went to work for The Rouse Company in Columbia, MD, as an internal auditor. (It was during this time that she completed her CPA requirements.) Rouse was a well-known developer of regional shopping centers, including the Baltimore Harbor complex and the South Street Seaport in New York City, Faneuil Hall in Boston, and Union Station in St. Louis, as well as their planned community in Columbia. Rouse has recently been purchased by General Growth Properties. Lynn declared that it was “an extremely interesting job, and she really liked working there. Over time, she moved up in the Rouse organization to become a Group Controller and eventually a Senior Group Controller, supervising the financial accounting functions for ten regional shopping centers.

In 1986, with a change in management, she decided to leave Rouse, accepting a position at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD as Comptroller, and has remained there ever since. In 1988, “vice president” was added to her title and in 1997 she became VP of Administration and Finance.

Howard has 6,800 credit students and 14,000 non-credit, a small campus, about 120 acres, with 470,000 square feet of space. Lynn credits her current president for significant changes in the college during the past five years, putting them in a growth mode with enrollment having increased at least 5 to 7 percent each year. While currently non-resident, the school has done a market study that indicates the feasibility for providing 300 beds, particularly for their growing-international student population. Interestingly, the school has a number of international exchange programs, including with Mexico and Denmark. While a majority of their students go on to four-year schools, Howard has a substantial nursing program as well as offerings in other health-related fields.

Howard County is located between Washington and Baltimore in what Lynn described as one of the wealthiest counties in the country. An important consideration in their funding, a third of which comes from the county with an additional 16 percent from the state and about 40 percent from the student fees, the balance from auxiliaries and such. Interestingly, Howard has embarked on capital campaign pledging to raise a quarter of the funding for their new Horovitz Visual and Performing Arts building, the first community college in Maryland to raise funds for a new building. The county provides an equal amount and the state the remaining 50 percent.

In her spare time, Lynn volunteers through her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, at a homeless shelter, including participating in clothing drives for people in the community. For hobbies, she declared she get her exercise participating in a “spinning” group, that is, riding a stationary bike and through aerobics. In addition, she finds time each morning to go for a long walk in the wooded area near her home with her dog, Raven. (It just occurred to me that my dog’s name is in the article and not my husband - Carlton - of 27 years. We do have a wonderful marriage. If he ever found I out I mentioned Raven and not him, it might not be so happy! )

We turned next to her participation in association activities. Lynn has been a member of the Maryland Community and Junior College Business Officers Association since 1986, having served as President in 1993. For NACUBO, she served on the annual meeting Host Committee in 1993, became a member of the Community College Council in 2003 and is currently chairing that group. With the Eastern Association, Lynn was a part of the Annual Meeting program committee 1995 – 1997, has served on the Two-Year College Committee since 1999, and joined the EACUBO Board in 2004. When asked what got her involved, she declared it was the opportunity to network with others, that she has learned a great deal at almost every meeting she has attended, and encourages all her staff to become active participants as well. We welcome Lynn as a valuable member of the EACUBO Board.