Working Iowa: Eastern Iowa Airport Director teaches aviation course at Coe College
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Director of the Eastern Iowa Airport is stepping into the classroom to teach the next generation at Coe College. Marty Lenss is using his wealth of experience to help those interested in a career in the aviation field.
Lenss says teaching was never a goal of his.
“Never, never thought about teaching to be honest with you. I joke that I wasn’t a valedictorian, you know but yeah I enjoy it,” Lenss said.
Lenss has decades of experience in different roles at airports in different states. This includes working on environmental factors like airport noise, and operations. He was even a sworn peace officer in Oklahoma, working with airport law enforcement. He’s been Airport Director for the last ten years in Cedar Rapids.
“Trying to bring some of that breath of experience, I guess, to the classroom and share that with students and maybe introduce them to things beyond what they traditionally think about,” said Lenss.
When looking for someone to teach introduction to aviation for its new aviation and flight operations program, Coe College was hoping Lenss could do it.
“We were looking for someone who would bring a lot of experience and hands-on knowledge to the classroom, not just sort of a lecture-based course, and Marty would have been, Marty was the obvious choice. We honestly didn’t think we’d even be able to get him,” said Angela Ziskowski, Provost & Dean of Faculty at Coe College.
Lenss hopes sharing his knowledge can help expose students to a variety of opportunities in aviation.
“If it’s a pilot, that’s awesome because we have a pilot shortage in the industry. We need pilots, we need mechanics, we need air traffic control so getting them into the industry is kind of the overall goal, where they end up I think is where their passion leads them,” Lenss said.
For Lenss, teaching has been a learning experience.
“He’s learning to be a professor. We have lots of conversations about best practices in the classroom, pedagogy. How would you handle this? How would, you know how would you grade this assignment,” Ziskowski explained.
“It’s tough work. It’s a lot busier than I expected. I spend a quite a bit of my weekend time planning, you know, the next lesson, quiz, tests, whatever,” said Lenss.
“I’m finding it to be a very great experience in that it’s, it’s very rewarding,” he added.
For students, it’s a great chance to learn from and get to know the person leading the Eastern Iowa Airport.
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