{"id":45199,"date":"2018-02-06T20:30:15","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=45199"},"modified":"2018-02-06T21:38:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T21:38:26","slug":"building-success-stories-100-semesters-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/02\/06\/building-success-stories-100-semesters-and-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Building success stories 100 semesters and counting"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you do after teaching 100 straight semesters? If you\u2019re Warren Heatwole, Austin Community College professor of construction management, the answer is simple. You keep going. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t choose to be a teacher. You are born to do it,\u201d says Heatwole. \u201cBeing in the classroom is my joy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Heatwole teaches at Riverside Campus and has been there since it opened in 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Construction technology professor Warren Heatwole celebrates the conclusion of his 100th semester as faculty for ACC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the heart and soul of this department. He created the culture here. He mentored students who are now staff and administrators,\u201d says Dana Gutierrez, DMCAT administrative assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the decades since he first stepped into a classroom at ACC, Heatwole has touched the lives of some 4,000 students. He\u2019s served as department chair and professor and helped launch the gateway program at ACC to prepare incarcerated individuals with marketable skills for success after release. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is fearless with reinventing the wheel to meet students with what they need,\u201d says<\/span> Donnie Thurman, assistant professor. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is more to this job than just teaching,\u201d explains Heatwole. <\/span><\/p>\n

For Heatwole, each day is about setting others up for success. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the students at the beginning of each semester who are eager and ready to learn,\u201d he says. \u201cGetting them where they need to be isn\u2019t a single person\u2019s job. It takes a dedicated team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That team is what Heatwole describes as his greatest accomplishment. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a unique ability in recognizing teaching talent in others, so when I became department chair, I started putting people into place that helped build the program,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you surround yourself with good people, you don\u2019t have to look as good,\u201d he joked. \u201cWe\u2019ve had fun over the years and still do. Work hard and do a good job, and everyone appreciates it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day you learn something new. He inspires students, faculty, and staff to do better,\u201d says <\/span>Thomas Alvarado, a former student and current employee in the building construction technology program. <\/span><\/p>\n

After more than 33 years leading a classroom, Heatwole isn\u2019t ready to stop just yet. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the best job I\u2019ve ever had, heck, it feels like the only job I\u2019ve ever had. For the next four semesters, I plan on improving as a teacher and hopefully influencing others to be better teachers as well,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This spring semester, Heatwole is teaching\u00a0Construction Methods and Materials and\u00a0Beginning Woodworking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you do after teaching 100 straight semesters? If you\u2019re Warren Heatwole, Austin Community College professor of construction management, the answer is simple. You keep going. \u201cYou don\u2019t choose to be a teacher. You … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4107,"featured_media":45200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1822,1823,1005,1824],"class_list":["post-45199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facstaff-news","tag-anniversary","tag-dmcat","tag-facstaff-accolades","tag-faculty-highlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}