Lane Community College: The Parnell Years

Table of Contents

Part One: Laying the Groundwork, 1959-1964

• Planting the Seed
• Roots
• Community Support
• Vote 5-1 for College

Part Two: The Parnell Presidency, 1965-1968

• Section A
  • The Enormous Challenge
  • Finding a College Name
  • Choosing a President
  • Hiring a Staff
    
• Section B
  • Toward a Curricula and Accreditation
  • Students by the Thousands
    
• Section C
  • Finding Temporary Facilities
  • Building a Campus
    
• Section D
  • Financing the College
  • The Parnell Precedent
    
    

Dale Parnell, President

Dale Parnell was educated at Willamette University (B.A., 1951) and at the University of Oregon (M.Ed., 1956, D.Ed., 1964) and served as principal of Springfield High School and superintendent of Lane Intermediate Education District.

He was instrumental in founding Lane Community College and served as its first president from 1965-1968. He was appointed Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1968 by Governor Tom McCall.  In 1974 he became chancellor of San Diego Community College and in 1976 he became president of San Joaquin Delta Community College. He was president of the American Association of Community College from 1981-1991, followed by a year as Oregon's community college commissioner. 

He helped establish the Western Center for Community College Development at Oregon State University in 1992 where he taught before retiring in 1997. Since then he has been a visiting professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His many publications include the book, The Neglected Majority, published in 1985.

Credits

Lane Community College: The Parnell Years was:

• written by Larry Rominecopyrighted by Lane Community College, 1998published by Lane Community College Institutional Advancementprinted by Lane Community College Printing/Graphics
• designed by Neil Isaacson

With special thanks to: Gary Anderson, Joan Aschim, Diane Dann, Richard Gorsuch, Trish Hamer, Shirley Nagy, Ram Rattan, Michael Ridderbusch, and Elizabeth Uhlig.

The on-line exhibit was designed by Elizabeth Uhlig. The exhibit text was excerpted from the publication written by Larry Romine and edited and abridged by Elizabeth Uhlig for this web page.