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All faculty communication May 11, 2011:

Dear Faculty Colleagues:

We have only four more weeks to the end of the spring term and five more weeks to graduation, and I wanted to take the time to update you on a few projects.

AACU Roadmap:

Lane has been selected as one of the twelve community colleges to participate in the AAC&U Roadmap project funded by the MetLife Foundation, called Developing a Community College Student Roadmap: From Entrance to Engagement in Educational Achievement and Success. This initiative will create academic support programs to engage and teach students from the outset how to become active partners in their own quest for educational success. The project will connect varied student support programs by creating roadmaps for success that are anchored in learning outcomes essential for all students to succeed in life beyond college. Find the original press release from AAC&U at http://tinyurl.com/3phumh8 .

For more information on this project please contact Craig Taylor, taylorc@lanecc.edu , Mary Parthemer, parthemerm@lanecc.edu , Barbara Breaden, breadenb@lanecc.edu , Sarah Ulerick, ulericks@lanecc.edu , Anne McGrail, mcgraila@lanecc.edu , Mary Brau, braum@lanecc.edu , Sonya Christian, christians@lanecc.edu .

Honors Program:

Creating a community of honors students has been a long-standing goal of the Learning Communities plan. This goal was incorporated as one of the implementation initiatives in the 2009-2010 revision of the college’s strategic plan which led to the focus on Liberal Education as one of the six strategic directions.

The purpose is to create and nurture learning environments that support the intellectual, social and civic development of all of our students, from under-prepared to high-achieving, across all areas of the college's comprehensive mission. The Honors Program will fill a long-standing gap at Lane, providing advanced pace and levels of academic rigor, scholarly inquiry, student engagement, and civic growth for academically talented and motivated students.

The co-directors of the program, Nadia Raza (Sociology) and Ce Rosenow (English), have been working closely with the Leadership Team to plan the Fall 2011 program launch. The plan is to start with a small inaugural set of two or three classes and then build the program gradually, working with the students of the inaugural group and area faculty to help craft additional offerings through the year as well as to shape the program. The development of the program will continue into next year and your ongoing participation is key to its formation.

Members of the Leadership Team put together a break out session during Spring Conference on What makes an honors course? We will continue this workshop with one or two more sessions during spring term. Please plan on attending one of these sessions to learn more about the Honors Program and help shape its development. Stay tuned for updates from the co-directors.

For more information please contact Nadia Raza, razan@lanecc.edu , Ce Rosenow, rosemowc@lanecc.edu , Susan Carkin, carkins@lanecc.edu , Sarah Ulerick, ulericks@lanecc.edu , Katie Morrison-Graham, graham@lanecc.edu , Mary Brau, braum@lanecc.edu , or Sonya Christian, christians@lanecc.edu .

Achieving the Dream:

Lane has been selected as an Achieving the Dream school for 2011. This initiative started in 2004 as an effort to focus on creating a culture where information and inquiry drive broad-based institutional practices to improve student outcomes and particularly focus on closing the achievement gap for minority students. A team from Lane will be attending a work session in Seattle this summer.

For more information on this project please contact Craig Taylor, taylorc@lanecc.edu .

In reviewing our progress on these projects, it is rewarding to be able to work together to provide students with programs and resources that can truly take each student from where they are to where they want to be. Thanks particularly to those of you who have taken the lead in helping shape these initiatives as well as pulling together suggestions from a broad spectrum of our campus community.

That’s all for now. Until next time...

Sonya