Humans of ACC, is a series of Q&A presentations about students, faculty and staff.

Today’s focus is on ACC President Dr. Diana Doyle, who has been in higher education for 38 years.

Arapahoe Pinnacle: Do you have anything exciting planned for the summer?

Diana Doyle: Actually, I am going to take some vacation this summer and I’m going to take two consecutive weeks off and travel in Europe. Normally, when I take time off for the summer, I take two weeks but I take them separately. This summer I decided, well, I haven’t been overseas in a while and this is the summer to do it! I’m excited, I’m going to be going to France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. I am going with a tour group so that I don’t have to do all that decision making. In my job, I have to make tons of decisions and plans for the college. It’s kind of nice to let somebody else decide.

AP: How do you relax after spending all day planning for and running the college?

DD: [laughing] This is probably not the week to ask me that! I am definitely a person who needs a workout regimen in order to feel balanced. Oftentimes whenever I leave the college, I’m already changed into my workout clothes. When the weather is nice, like it is now, I will do 3 – 5 miles, a combination of running and walking. I often will stop at Wash Park on my way home; I love to do that. I’m a big hiker on the weekends, once the weather gets a bit nicer up in the mountains.

I’m also an avid reader, I love to read.

AP: What’s the last book you finished?

DD: A Thread of Grace. It’s about the end of WWII, when the Germans moved into Italy. It’s fascinating because it’s about the stories of different Italians whose lives were impacted by all of that. This is of interest to me because I am Italian. I am first generation American. My family came over from Italy after WWII so that’s why I am very interested in what life was like for my mother growing up in occupied Italy.  I was particularly drawn to that book because my mother’s still living and she has incredible stories of what it was like to be in Italy through all of that. When the war was over and she and her family moved to America, she was 16 years old at the time. She remembers very vividly what things were like then. So that’s why this particular book caught my attention.

AP: Is there a message you wish to share with our readers?

DD: For me, personally, life is about experiencing new adventures–it really is. I’m amazed when people don’t try new things. You don’t have to try things that necessarily are impossible to master, just try something that’s different than what you normally would do and learn something about yourself in the process. What are the takeaways that you learn about yourself from it and what is the next step you can take based on all that knowledge. Life is an adventure. We should experience that adventure.