The Anne Arundel Community College Board of Trustees last week awarded emeritus status to retired board member Donald C. Roane, M.D., for his leadership and vision during his 18 years of service to the college.

The board also presented him with a medallion and a chair in recognition of his contributions to the college community.

Roane was first appointed to the board in July 1988 during Thomas E. Florestano’s presidency. He quickly assumed his first leadership role, serving as vice chair from 1989-1990 and as chair from 1990-1992. He served as vice chair again from 2000-2001. During his chairmanship, he established the Donald C. Roane, M.D. scholarship, which helps students attending AACC who want to work in the medical profession.

During his tenure, the college’s footprint on the Arnold campus and in the county expanded to include a new Student Services Center, the entire west side of the Arnold campus, a renovated Glen Burnie Town Center, a new Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute in Glen Burnie, AACC at Arundel Mills in Hanover and a Sales and Service Training Center in Arundel Mills.

During this period of expansion, the college experienced record enrollments, an explosion in online education, burgeoning continuing and professional studies and an increased number of workforce training contracts. He was part of the board that chose Martha A. Smith, Ph.D., as Florestano’s successor, which began her era focusing advances and strategies around "Students First."

In addition to serving on the AACC Board of Trustees, Roane has led an activist role in both his professional and civic life. He served in the U.S. Air Force 1953-57 before earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University and a medical degree from University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1965. He began his medical career as a staff physician in the Reynolds Memorial Hospital emergency room in Winston, S.C., rising to the position of chief in 1968 before leaving in 1973 to start his private practice in Maryland. He retired in 2001.

In his private life, Dr. Roane has quietly subsidized youth to attend a number of cultural and educational events including the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast. He also has supported numerous causes over the years, including the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial. The county Human Rights Commission recognized him for his volunteer work, presenting him with the Dallas G. Pace Sr. Humanitarian Award at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast in 1995.

Among his volunteer activities are serving on the board of directors for the Providence Center, the YMCA of Central Maryland and the Maryland Chapter of the American Heart Association. His memberships also have included the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, the county medical society and the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

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