Board Report – July 2007

Report from Lane Community College President Mary Spilde
To the Lane Community College Board of Education
July 11, 2007

Welcome to our newly elected board members, Bob Ackerman, Tony McCown, Pat Albright, and Roger Hall. All of you are familiar with the board in some aspect: Tony sat at the table as ASLCC President, Pat has been on the board for three months, this is Bob’s third time as a board member, and Roger is starting his seventeenth year on the board. I look forward to a productive four years and appreciate your caring enough about the college to serve. Congratulations to Pat and Susie on the election as chair and vice chair. Welcome to Dan Dawson as 2007-08 president of ASLCC.

Since is has only been two weeks since our last meeting, I have a relatively short report.

Last night we had a power outage that resulted in us having to close the campus. It appears it was an EWEB problem, but some of our back-up systems did not function as effectively as we would have liked, so we will be problem solving to improve those systems in preparation for another similar event in the future. Sandy Ing-Weise, Stephen Pruch, and David Willis, our new Facilities Management and Planning Director, were on the scene quickly, and the staff did a great job of doing their jobs in a safe way. Power was restored about 9:20 p.m., and we are cleaning up the after-effects today. My thanks to everyone who dealt with the situation, particularly Todd Smith, Lynn Atkins, Kevin Williams, Shelby Antone, our brand new electrician, and Public Safety officers.

I want to pass around the very nice card we received from Larry Romine.

Kudos to our student Jessica Rojas, who was one of 400 recipients to be awarded the Coca Cola Scholars scholarship. It is a $1,000 scholarship. Similarly, Liberty Bank is awarding seven $1,000 scholarships to a graduating senior from each of the Eugene, Springfield, and Bethel high schools.

Too often you hear when things are not done right. I want to share a letter I received from the parent of a blind and autistic student who is attending Lane.

Lane was recognized in an article entitled “Ahead of the Curve” regarding our computer gaming program which you approved last year.

Judge Ann Aiken also wrote to thank us for participating in the model drug court program in federal court.

I have copies of a photo from Richard Archambault, avid supporter of Lane’s Native American Longhouse. This is a photo which captures the board’s most recent vote supporting the Longhouse.

The Lane Summer Musical opens next week. “The Music Man” is this year’s production, and it runs July 19 – 29.