|
History: Online Exhibits | LCC: The Parnell Years/Welcome Page
Lane Community College: The Parnell Years
Part Two: The Parnell Presidency, 1965-1968
|
|
|
The Enornous Challenge
Charter Board of Directors, 1964
Left to right, standing: Ken Schmidt,
Bill Bristow,
Cliff Matson, Al Brauer; sitting: Lyle Swetland, Olga Freeman, Dean Webb
|
The enormity of creating a new college didn't seem to faze board members. They saw the challenge as a rare opportunity; to be approached with enthusiasm and energy.
The newly elected Board of Directors held its first official meeting on November 4, 1964. The board quickly got to work, meeting twice monthly.
The board appointed Bert Dotson as district clerk and instructed him to get a presidential search underway. They elected a chairman and vice chairman and appointed subcommittees to acquire land for a campus, negotiate for absorption of Eugene Technical-Vocational School into the college, develop the curriculum, and choose a name for the college.
|
|
Finding a College Name
Lane Community College seal
designed by
David Spriggs, student, 1964
An early version of the Titan,
Lane Community College mascot, 1965 |
Among the suggestions for a college name were Emerald Valley, Rivers View, Green Mountain, Upper Willamette, and Joseph Lane (the first governor of Oregon Territory). Lane Community College was chosen, naming the college after the county.
ETVS students were invited to suggest a design for a college seal. The seal was designed in1964 by David L. Spriggs, future student body president, and was adopted by the board on March 17, 1965. He started with a hand "because workers use their hands; added a 30-degree triangle to represent drafting engineering, mathematics, science and surveying; a gear wheel to represent machinists, mechanics and others; a hammer to represent carpentry and cabinet makers; a symbol for the atom to represent electronics and science; a spark for radio; the book of knowledge for college-transfer students; and a lamp of knowledge for nursing."
ETVS students requested that their school colors, blue and white, be adopted for the new college. In the first student body election in fall 1965, Titan, a Greek mythological figure, was chosen as the school mascot. The student newspaper was named The Torch at the same election. |
Choosing a President
Second Board of Directors, 1965
From left, Robert Ackerman, Olga Freeman, Dean Webb, William Bristow, Lyle Swetland, Clifford Matson, Albert Brauer, Dale Parnell
|
Some 20 applicants responded to the board's national search for a college president. Five were interviewed including Dale Paul Parnell, Intermediate Education District Superintendent in Eugene.
There was strong support for a homegrown man to lead the new college. "I know that Parnell excited me in a lot of my thinking," board member Albert Brauer remembers. "He really had a vision that made sense. Nearly all the school districts gave him support.... He knew the area, he was an Oregonian, and that's special."
At a special meeting on February 24, 1964, the board selected Parnell as the first college president. |
Hiring a Staff
Bert Dotson,
Assistant to the President, 1965-1982
I.S. "Bud" Hakanson,
Dean of Student Services, 1965-1969
Dale Parnell (left) with
William Hein, Dean of Instruction (1965-1968) viewing construction of new campus, 1966-1967
|
Dale Parnell was the first person the board paid to work for Lane; Bert Dotson was the first person the board hired, first in February 1964 as college planner and in October 1964 as clerk.
The first staff was built around ETVS, which brought 41 people to the new college. A total of 157 employees were hired that first year; the total number of staff grew to 247 in the second year.
National searches to fill both administrative and faculty positions were routine from the beginning. Oregonians from high schools, community colleges and a few universities were well represented among the early employees, but the mix included people from around the nation.
Prior to fall term 1965 salary schedules were created for classified staff, faculty and managers. A staff handbook was prepared, and plans were made for formal staff input into administrative decision making.
Openness and emphasis on communication characterized the Parnell years at Lane. He formed a division council in 1965 to act as a sounding board between departments and their staffs and the administration.
In December 1965 employees elected the first Staff Personnel Policies Committee. Parnell, in effect had an in-house union. However, the cohesiveness found in the college in the early years began to dissolve as the staff grew larger in numbers, its needs and requests expanded in the face of tighter funding, and it found the board and administration less able to be accomodating. Collective bargaining was a few years away.
|
Return to: Lane Community College: The Parnell Years / Welcome
|
|
