A Little More

Lawrie Gardner loves to help people. Her compassionate and caring nature are vital in her dual roles as a teacher and a certified public accountant (CPA).

Gardner has loved every minute of teaching at AACC since joining the college full time in 2003. She said she most enjoys the diversity of students at the college and loves that each student has their own life story. She finds their ambition and drive inspiring.

“We have so much opportunity to learn from our students,” she said.

She tries to instill her love and passion for accounting to all students and considers some of her major accomplishments in life as those where she helped a student realize their goal of pursuing a degree in accounting or becoming a CPA. 

Her knack for helping others also was instrumental in bringing a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to campus. In VITA, AACC student volunteers help qualifying members of the local community prepare their federal and state income tax returns. 

Gardner herself is quite busy during tax season, running her own solo tax practice. She’s also active in her local chapter of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and is an advisory board member for the University of Baltimore accounting department. 

Her interest in helping others extends beyond teaching and accounting. She volunteers in her church and with her local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Any free time she has left is spent with her three grandchildren or her pets, a pit bull mix named Stella and a Siamese cat named Jasmine.