News Releases
News from Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon
Public information officer: Joan Aschim, (541) 463-5591, aschimj@lanecc.edu
Contact: Steve McQuiddy, Co-editor, Community College Moment, (541) 463-5780, mcquiddys@lanecc.edu
For release April 21, 2005
Award-winning LCC faculty journal takes on "The Diversity Issue"
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EUGENE, OR - The Community College Moment, the award-winning journal of professional development and scholarship published by Lane Community College, announces release of "The Diversity Issue," 150 pages of thought-provoking work by 25 authors, artists and scholars on the West Coast, covering a broad range of topics and perspectives.
"It is critical that we confront our collective past and present and thoughtfully discuss how we create a respectful environment for everyone at Lane," says Lane President Mary Spilde. "We have taken many positive steps but there is much work yet to be done. My hope is that reading the Moment will open our hearts and our minds and give us the courage we need to take on the issues of race relations in our college and community."
The faculty-led journal, in its fifth year, presents high quality progressive works that reflect a new vision of scholarship at the intersection of academic, activist and community interests. Founded by members of Lane's Strategic Learning Initiative, the Moment fills a special niche in academic circles.
Most universities have professional journals that provide a forum for research, discoveries and scholarship. But community colleges, long viewed as "teaching mills," are being populated more and more by instructors with Ph.D.s and extensive research experience.
"This is the new scholarship we are finding at community colleges across the country," says co-editor Steve McQuiddy. "The Moment functions as a bridge between the traditions of academia and the innovations stemming from today's need for creative education."
The journal's special topic of diversity arrives at a key moment in Lane County history, when issues surrounding race relations are at the forefront of public attention.
Contributor Ruth Wren addresses race and "white privilege." Paintings by Monique Janssen-Belitz show an often-overlooked side of diversity dealing with mental and physical ability. An interview with LCC Diversity Coordinator Jim Garcia explains the college's diversity plan and core values, and takes a look at society's "isms."
Claudia Chaves and Sandy Jensen provide Spanish and English translations of their poem, "Primer Poema / First Poem." Rosanna West Walker offers a poignant allegorical tale of a rare flower species that brings a strange and wonderful enlightenment to all who encounter it.
Register-Guard columnist Bob Welch gives his views on taking an ethnic studies class in fall 2004, his six columns reprinted here as a single piece. "Above all, as our community wrestles with such issues as racial profiling, let's keep the dialogue going," Welch writes. "This is an open-book, ongoing test...."
Sharp perspectives show in pieces such as "Cultural Taxation," Michael Sámano's examination of workload issues for faculty of color in predominantly white institutions. Mark Harris provides both a chess metaphor and historical interpretation of race relations at LCC and Lane County in "From the B.A.S.E. Files: The Justice Chess Gambit." Jeffrey Borrowdale posits that institutional diversity may not be so diverse itself.
"In my 20 years of living in Oregon, I have never seen a time more ripe for open and honest discussion about race relations and diversity," McQuiddy says. "The works in this issue lay the foundation for what we hope will be an ongoing discussion."
The Community College Moment is free to the LCC community beginning April 22. The public is invited to a publication event featuring readings, exhibits and discussion on Friday, May 6, from 5-8 p.m., with readings from 6-7:30 p.m., at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St. in Eugene.
For more information contact Co-editors Steve McQuiddy (463-5780) or Tracy Henninger (463-3406).###
