Story 9

Michael Seymour is the vice president of operations at the Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) Coon Rapids Campus. He has worked as the VP of ARCC for the last eight years, but for the first five years of his ARCC career he worked as one of the first technology directors of the school. Seymour says that now, there isn’t a second that he is not thinking of the institution. He stated that after being involved with the college for as long as he has, his career became bigger then himself. He stated that ARCC helped him to mature as a person, openly stating that he has grown much more patient since he took on the role of VP, but admits that if he had been asked 12 years ago, he would never have imagined himself sitting in the vice president’s chair that he is sitting in now.

Seymour was born in Milwaukie Wis. 1964, he was raised in Sheboygan Wis. for the first half of his childhood with is little brother Mando, and his parents Eufemia, and Jerry Seymour. Seymour commented on how his brother and mother both had unique names. He explained that his mother was full blooded Mexican-American which sheds light to her distinct name. Mando however, was coincidently named Mando short for the American title Commando of the 1962 film Maria o Crepa, Seymour recalled however, that most people just called him John. When he was about six-years-old, Seymour’s mother became quite passionate with the civil rights movement for bettering rights of migrant workers. Sadly, it was her passion and involvement that his mother had for this cause which ultimately led to the divorce of Seymour’s parents.

When Seymour was about eight-years-old, he and Mando went to live in Escanaba Mich. to spend the rest of their childhood with their father’s mother, Elizabeth Seymour. Seymour calls his grandma, as a “real heck of a lady,” He stated “There were a lot of good times growing up in upper Michigan, it was outdoorsy, a lot of hunting, fishing, snow mobiliing, so all of that was good.” However, for Seymour growing up in what he classifies as a broken household he admitted it was hard to get involved in his school work, not to mention he could receive no help from his grandmother who had only a 6th grade reading level.

Seymour worked his first Job as a dock attendant in Escanaba and continued to work this position for all four years of his college career. Seymour attended Ferris State University for his Associates and Bachelors in television production, and also achieved earning his masters in teaching there as well. After attending Ferris State, Seymour initially worked making and editing training videos out for the corporate offices of General Motors, he admitted that it was a dull, unfulfilling job and decided to pursue a more technological career, because he had learned a lot in the way of computer functionality due to the ever changing technological advancements in the television production field.

Seymour moved to Minn. because of a job offer, he started working as a technology college professor at a small university located in Austin Minn. Seymour stated that the market was too small for his career in Austin, which is how he ended up at ARCC, where he started his path towards Vice Presidency; he worked as what he says was “one of the first technology directors of the school.” While it may seem odd to have jumped from technology director to Vice President, Seymour explained that the mindset between the two is not as different as they may seem. He described that as a technology instructor he usually thought in a mathematical business-like manner, which he says is the sort of thinking he is required to use as the Vice President as well.

Seymour is now living with his wife Karla, and their two children, Tori, 15 and Tyler, 11 along with their dog Murphy Macray in Andover Minn. Seymour stated that besides hunting with Murphy, he mostly enjoys spending time watching his children participate in their own distinct activities. However, he states that he is happy to take advantage of all the time he can get with his family, admitting that the hardest part of being the VP of ARCC is finding a balance between the college and his family.

Seymour said that he has been part of many changes he has been a part of at ARCC over the last 12 years. He admits however, that nothing is really done by one person, saying that “a lot of people contribute to the success of ARCC, I would never say, so and so works for me, but that they work with me.” He says that he feels the biggest impact he has had on ARCC is what he calls the coming together of the Coon Rapids and Cambridge campuses over the last decade, stating that when he came on as the VP, the campuses were like two separate entities, and now the relationship in regard to business alignment as well as student services is better than ever.

He accredits the faculty and students for helping to make the institution what it is today, acknowledging that every new day presents new obstacles that challenges the established perimeters, obstacles that he and the faculty have to find solutions to in order to keep the “highly regarded” reputation ARCC has earned over the years strong, but Seymour says that after time “It seems easy. People just look around and they see that thing are not that bad, we have facilities, nice technology, nice Do-able workloads, and all those other things that make for a nice place to work. Safe environment, civil people, doesn't just happen, it takes leadership from the president down, or the students up."