Meet Jennie: School dean, mom of three children – 5, 7 and 10

““Every family needs to find what works best for them – there isn’t one ‘best’ way of navigating these times.” ” 

Jennifer (Jennie) Baar, M.S., dean of the School of Business, Technology and Industry

• What do you do at HACC?
  I am responsible for the academic offerings for the School and ensuring faculty have the resources and support they need to provide excellent instruction to their students.
   
• How old are your children?
  My son is 5 years old and my daughters are ages 7 and 10.
   
• How are you effectively juggling your professional duties and your personal duties of having your children at home while you work?
  We developed a schedule together to give my children some structure during my “prime times.” We check in as a family about the schedule daily and have made changes as we’ve discovered things that aren’t working as well as they could for all of us. My husband is also working from home. Communicating with each other and with our children has been an important part of finding balance.
   
• What tips (things to do and things to not do) would you offer to other parents who are struggling with this?
  My kids hear me say that every day we need to do three things: be kind, be curious, and learn something new. Being kind to myself is just as important as making sure my kids are kind to each other. My advice to other parents is that every family needs to find what works best for them – there isn’t one “best” way of navigating these times that will work for every family.
   
• Is there anything else you would like to share that we did not ask?
  I know our faculty have always been amazing in developing creative opportunities for student learning, and I have been so impressed by the support and encouragement faculty have been giving each other to meet this new challenge for our students