Board Report - May 2010

In Congress, Senate Bill 3206, the "Keep Our Educators Working Act of 2010" introduced by Senator Tom Harkin, now has 26 cosponsors and should be on the Senate floor soon, possibly before Memorial Day. The House passed similar legislation in December in its jobs bill. If approved, $23 billion will be distributed to states to help lessen the impact of historic budget shortfalls. Oregon’s share is estimated at $271 million.

Voting is underway in Oregon’s Primary. I’d like to congratulate ASLCC for another successful vote drive and encourage everyone to get their ballots in by May 18th.

Oregon Speaker of the House Dave Hunt met with local business leaders today at our Business Development Center. The roundtable discussion focused on creating jobs and strengthening Oregon’s economy. Jim Lindly and Brett Rowlett attended.

I'd like to thank the board for hosting our upcoming Downtown Campus public forum on Tuesday, May 25 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Eugene Public Library in the Bascom-Tykeson Room. We will be promoting that event and the downtown project with advertisements, a new website, and a Twitter account.

Fourth week enrollment for spring term shows a 10 percent increase. Winter term final reports showed a 24 percent increase. Our overall year to date increase should be between 13 to 15 percent.

Spring conference inspired a lot of interest in our plans for the downtown campus, perimeter planning on main campus, and the health and wellness center. We used the day to focus on strategic planning. Special thanks to Sonya Christian and her team for pulling it all together.

After the conference, I travelled to Oregon State University to give the Charles Carpenter Memorial Lecture where I presented on, "Community Colleges: The Hopeful Enterprise."

A small flash fire in an art studio on April 30, a Friday afternoon, was quickly extinguished and emergency personnel responded quickly. As a precaution, firefighters evacuated the art building and two adjacent buildings. There were no injuries, and everything returned to normal by the end of the day. We used LaneAlert to get the word out.

The Foundation has announced our 2010 Distinguished Alumni. They are Rosaria Haugland, alumnus of the Small Business Management program; Nancy Kinnard, vice president of Summit Bank, who earned her associate's degree here; Nancy Radcliffe, the first in her family to go to college and who became one of the first women managers at Standard Oil of California; and Paul Machu, video and film director for Chambers Communications, who was both a student and a teacher in our media arts program.

I'd like to congratulate former board member Pat Riggs-Henson for being named the Education Volunteer of the Year by Lane County United Way.

I was interviewed on the PBS Newshour on April 20 to talk about completion commitment proposed by the American Association of Community Colleges. The story also ran in the Wall Street Journal, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Community College Times, and Inside Higher Ed. Thanks to Pat Albright for attending the AACC convention, where the new commitment was announced.

Lane Community College posted a pair of victories at the NWAACC Multi Events Championships last Tuesday as Kevin Godfrey won the Decathlon and Samantha Berryman won the Heptathlon. Kevin cruised to the title while accumulating 6544 points. Samantha scored 4465 points to run away with the title as her closest competitor was over 500 points behind.

The Lane Community College baseball team has won 10 of their last 12 games to move into second place in the Southern Region. With 8 games remaining, the Titans have a chance to make the NWAACC Championship tourney.

Some quick reminders for your calendars:

• U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan will give a public reading tomorrow, May 13, at 7 p.m. in the Center for Meeting and Learning. Thanks to instructor Eileen Thompson for coordinating this event.
• The annual Employee Day of Caring is Saturday, May 15, from 9 a.m.to noon at the Grassroots Garden on Coburg Road. You're welcome to join us.
• The national judges for the League for Innovation Student Literary Competition will give a reading on Friday, May 21, at 4 p.m., in the Blue Door Theater. Reading will be poet Elizabeth Woody, playwright Paul Calandrino, and essayist Laurie Lynn Drummond. Lane is hosting this year's national competition, and I'd like to commend instructor Johnnie Mazzocco for coordinating the event. National winners will be announced in June.

I'd like to congratulate counselor Beth Landy, this year's winner of the Nancy Hargis Leadership Award from the Oregon Career Information Systems. Cheryl Buhl from CIS is here to tell you about the award and why Beth was chosen.

I'd also like to congratulate the winners of the Innovation of the Year Award who designed the Health Professions Online Moodle Advising system. This gives students 24/7 access to advising materials, question and answer forums, links to career information, and more. Not only has this improved advising for students, it has reduced workload for staff. I'd like to ask the team members here tonight to come to the podium: Tammy Simpson, Jessica Alvarado, Jess Reynolds, Lori Kramer, Lisbeth Anderson, Patsy Escobar, Bree McKenzie, Michael Levick, Jill Sigfried, and Dean Middleton.
Finally, our Phi Theta Kappa students again won distinction at the national convention. Lane won the Top 100 Chapter Award; Teresa Sullivan won the Distinguished Chapter President Award; and Dee Christensen won the Distinguished Member Award. Kudos to you and to your chapter advisor, Velda Arnaud.

The regional Phi Theta Kappa convention was last weekend, where the chapter also did very well. Although several chapters sought the #1 position within the region, Sigma Zeta held on to that title. A list of awards follows:

• Regional Chapter Awards
• Five Star Status Award
• Chapter Web Site Award
• Chapter Yearbook Award
• Distinguished Service Award
• Leadership Hallmark Award
• Scholarship Hallmark Award
• Most Distinguished Chapter Award
(Top Chapter in the region—fourth year in a row)
• Regional Individual Awards:

o Chapter Art Award for "Key to Success" in glass and wood:
Trevor Moore, Adam Deering, and Matthew Ray
o Most Distinguished Chapter Member: Dee Christensen
o Distinguished Chapter Officer Award: Tedi Hart
o Most Distinguished Chapter President: Terri Sullivan

I would like to thank outgoing president James Manning. We have had a very active student government this year. They have participated in councils and have been actively involved in budget development. This is a result of leadership, and so I would like to thank James and his exemplary team for their contributions to Lane.

The Cooperative Education Employer of the Year Award was presented to Willamette Family chemical dependency treatment services at the annual advisory committee recognition dinner on April 27. Willamette Valley has provided internships for more than 200 students.