Board Report - May 2008

This is the time of year when there are many events celebrating our students. The Lane Foundation has named Molly Bedortha of Eugene, Sherry Duerst-Higgins of Cottage Grove, Lorraine Kerwood of Eugene, and Juan Carlos Valle of Eugene its Distinguished Alumni for 2008. The awards go to alumni who completed at least 30 credit hours or earned an associate’s degree at Lane, have demonstrated achievement in their chosen profession, provided service to the community, and made an outstanding contribution to the college.

Bedortha worked her way through two nursing degrees at Lane, once staffed the Ask-A-Nurse program, and now heads up the Triage Team at the University of Oregon Student Health Center. Duerst-Higgins has dental assisting and real estate training from Lane, has worked 16 years as a leading broker in Cottage Grove, and is a former South Lane School Board member. Kerwood, the founder of NextStep Recycling, is a Business Development Center client and serves on Lane's Computer Information Technology Advisory Board. She's also Lane’s 2008 co-op employer of the year. Valle was a homeless immigrant when he arrived in Eugene, barely spoke English and lacked a high school diploma. Eugene's Centro LatinoAmericano gave him shelter and access to education. He earned a degree in hospitality from Lane, a bachelor’s and master's from the University of Oregon, and now works for the Social Security Administration.

On April 30, we held a Founders’ Day lunch, hosted by Cart Woodard and John Altucker. The guest speaker was Dale Parnell, former Lane Community College President. It was a wonderful event. We also hosted a Retiree Lunch on April 29 with many of our retirees and Dale Parnell in attendance. On April 29, we hosted the annual Advisory Committee dinner.

Back On Course (BOC) is a one-credit class designed as an intervention for students who are not meeting college academic progress standards. BOC was collaboratively developed by faculty and staff in Financial Aid, Counseling/Human Development and Enrollment Services. The curriculum for BOC uses Skip Downing's On Course text and was developed collaboratively by faculty and staff in Financial Aid, Counseling/Human Development, and Enrollment Services. Outcomes indicate Back On Course is effective in assisting students to meet academic progress standards with 73 percent of the students who completed BOC achieving good standing. A committee of prior Innovation of the Year winners made this selection, which will be featured on the League for Innovation website for national recognition.

During the week of May 12, we celebrate Lane staff and students' efforts to address human and environmental needs on campus and in the community. Volunteers will work for the Day of Caring at the Food for Lane County Grass Roots Garden. Students and staff will continue their efforts to address hunger in the community by starting a “I Can, One Can” food drive. We would like everyone to commit to buy one can of food each month to donate. Donated food will go to Food for Lane County.

You may continue to be proud of our Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) chapter. Here are the awards Sigma Zeta received at the PTK awards ceremony held in Eugene on May 10:

--Most Distinguished Chapter (the highest award of the convention and our second in a row!)
--Scholarship Hallmark
--Leadership Hallmark
--Distinguished Service Program
--Distinguished Advisor Award - Velda Arnaud
--Most Distinguished Chapter President - Dee Lauzon
--Distinguished Chapter Officer -- Josh Farnsworth
--Distinguished Chapter Member -- Jeff Phillips
--Most Supportive College President -- Mary Spilde
--Travel Award
--Participation Award
--Chapter Newsletter Award
--Chapter Website Award
--Five Star Program Award

While the number of awards is down slightly from the previous year, the ones we earned were of a higher caliber. We take pride in encouraging other chapters to grow and develop. Terri Sullivan was elected to the Regional Vice President position for 2008-09. Dale Parnell was also the guest speaker at this event.

The Community College Moment, the faculty-led journal of professional development and scholarship published annually at Lane, announces publication of the 2008 issue, with its timely theme of Democracy.

The Moment, now in its eighth year, is a rarity at community colleges. The focus at these schools is on teaching — as it should be. But faculty and staff bring so much more to their professions. The Moment was founded to showcase the breadth and depth of experience and expertise found at a comprehensive community college like Lane. This is a way for students, and the community, to see the diversity of expertise and ideas, and the professionalism that translates into Lane being consistently recognized as a top ranked school.

I attended the State Board of Education meeting to see the decision to award Lane $632,000 in Strategic Investment Funds accepted. These funds will allow us to augment enrollment in Health Careers and Sustainability/Energy program areas.

The First National Community College Conference on Sustainability was held here in April. It was a very successful conference. Thanks to Jennifer Hayward, Sustainability Coordinator, for all of her work.

We have been developing plans based on the Management Structure changes. I will be leaving vacant the VP of College Operations and the Assistant to the VP for College Operations. Similarly, we will not fill the HR position until later in the year. We plan to fill the Chief Information Officer position immediately. This is a critical position (vacated by Stephen Pruch). I plan to fill the Governmental Relations position in the fall, prior to the legislative session. The remainder of the positions will be filled with interims for one more year. We are still working with department faculty and staff to identify “pilots” for the department chair model. Hopefully by next meeting I will be able to share a complete chart for next year’s management assignments.

Now I would like to recognize two of our outstanding students. Both students were nominated as Lane’s Oregon Student Scholars, the All-USA Academic Team, and recognized at an event in Salem on April 18. Jeffery Phillips is an Administrative Assistant major and plans to transfer to the University of Oregon to major in Business Administration. Dee Lauzon is working on an Association of Arts Oregon Transfer degree and plans to transfer to the University of Oregon.

I’d like to welcome Kristen Jones from Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon Council of Basic Skills Director chair, and David Moore, State Adult Education Director to make a special presentation for Dawn DeWolf, who received the Oregon Council of Adult Basic Skills Development 2007 Leader of the Year Award.