Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson is retiring today after 22 years in the role.
“I tell every student that there is a secret of life and it’s hard work. And the harder you work, the luckier you’re going to get,” Denson said during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. “And the second thing I tell them is you must be present to win. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to show up on time. Because there’s so many of these soft skills or employability skills that companies want. Our students, they’re willing to do it. They just don’t always know what they’re supposed to do.”
DMACC’s enrollment has dramatically increased during Denson’s tenure and it has the lowest tuition of any college or university in the state. Last spring over 17,000 high school students took courses for college credit at DMACC and over 55,000 students were taking continuing education or courses for credit.
“In Iowa we do something that’s pretty unique. The state gives us a lump sum of money every year, and then we divide that money…Smaller colleges who don’t have an economy of scale that we do, they need more money than DMACC does…We get about $2,300 per student. Iowa Lakes in Emmetsburg gets about $6000 per student,” Denson said, touting the formula as a way to ensure all 15 community colleges in the state can be successful.
DMACC offers 220 degrees, certificates and diplomas and has recently started a course in Artificial Intelligence. Denson said eventually every college student should be taking at least one AI class. “We want to make sure our students are ready, know how to effectively and ethically use any A.I. ’cause literally everybody’s going to have to deal more with it,” Denson said. “I’m 78 years old and I’ve learned how to do it, how to give better queries to get the information you want.”
About 55% of DMACC students are the first person in their family to go to college and 35% come from low-income households. Denson has helped create a fund for low income, “highly motivated” students who need to buy books, fix a vehicle or face some other financial hurdle to finishing their course work. Denson’s mother, who taught in a one-room school and eventually got her bachelor’s degree from Coe College in 1957, provided the seed money.
“Before she passed away last summer, she helped create a fund at DMACC for students that are here, they just need a little help getting through and my mom, from her fund, put the first $50,000 into our Opportunity Scholarship and we’ve now raised about $350,000 as an endowment and we’ll use the interest, so it’ll go on forever.”
Denson grew up on a farm near Homestead and graduated from Marengo High School. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iowa State University. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida and, after working for several years as an attorney, he became an administrator at a community college in Gainesville, Florida. He served as president of Northest Iowa Community College from 1998 to 2003. Denson put himself through college driving a semi for the Kent Corporation and two Iowa trucking companies have given him the keys to semis to drive in parades promoting the Commercial Drivers License training at Northeast Iowa Community College and then DMACC.
“It’s at no cost to the college other than a tank of fuel and some decal work, but Pat and I had done over 400 parades since 1998 and I really love. I’m not sure I’ll ever be driving a truck ever again — but I’m keeping my license!” Denson said, laughing.
Denson and his wife, Pat, will continue to be residents of Ankeny where DMACC’s main campus is, but he indicated they plan to travel often to Birmingham, Alabama and Tacoma, Washington to visit their children and grandchildren.