Board Report - March 2009

There is not much new information to report on the budget since the last meeting. The bill to rebalance this year's budget did pass, and we received no additional cuts. We are still awaiting the co-chairs' budget. In the meantime, the Budget Development Subcommittee has been meeting, and we will begin to review proposals for balancing the budget next week. We are looking at both revenue and reduction proposals related to the strategies that the board approved. Since we don't have an indication of the state revenue, at this point we are working with the $440, $460, and $485 million projections and will likely do a tiered approach and "if . . . then" methods so that the board has something to work with. I believe it will be necessary to schedule an additional meeting in mid-April to share the proposals publicly. As I have said before, it is my goal, and I believe it is shared by the board, that we keep as many people working as possible. Depending on the number we get from the state, this may or may not be possible. To achieve preservation of jobs, it will take shared sacrifice. I will be the first in line to be part of that sacrifice once we have the co-chairs' budget. However, it means that we can continue to serve students and deal with enrollment growth, which improves the situation for everyone. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee at this point that there will not be layoffs since we don't know how much the economy is going to decline. April and May will prove to be challenging months for all of us.

We are still waiting to hear about the capital construction. We have a strategy to receive Senator Carter's endorsement to lift the limit on the lobbying effort so that we can make a strong push for our Downtown Center project. We are tracking a number of bills that affect community colleges.

Now for some good news. Our appropriation for $333,000 for equipment for the Health and Wellness building was included in the Omnibus Budget bill passed by the Senate yesterday. President Obama signed it today.

The state stimulus package is creating a large amount of work for the college. We are moving forward and doing a lot of planning and hiring. We will start fifteen projects in April.

I am pleased to recommend approval of the collective bargaining agreement with LCCEA. I want to congratulate both bargaining teams for reaching agreement under difficult circumstances. Though we are right back into bargaining, we should take a moment to celebrate this accomplishment.

You are aware that we have been working with experts in International Education to review the feasibility and help us develop plans for moving forward. Mike McIntyre has visited Lane and completed a needs analysis that indicates that international program will be a revenue generator for the college. We are now in Phase 2 of our planning process where Sonya Christian, Cathy Lindsley, and Mike McIntyre will be developing a detailed business plan, staffing plan, and marketing plan which will be completed in April for implementation next year.

Velda Arnaud has been selected to serve as the regional coordinator for the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Rocky Mountain Cascade Region. Arnaud teaches business courses at Lane and advises the college's Sigma Zeta Chapter of PTK, the international honor society for two-year colleges. She is a three-time winner of the society's Paragon Award for Advisors and is one of only 24 people nationally selected as a 2009 Faculty Scholar for the International Honors Institute. Our PTK chapter president, Terri Sullivan, was selected as a recipient of the Coca Cola scholarship and is in the running for the All American student award.

Lane student Toby Kubler was invited to the Clinton Global Initiative. Toby is one of a dozen students recognized for the commitment he has made to the initiative for our student-run learning garden.

Our women's basketball team won their last game of the regular season-their 72nd win on our home court. It was also the 400th career win for Coach Greg Sheley. The team went on to win the regional championship last weekend. Go Titans!