Board Report - October, 2005

Report from Lane Community College President Mary Spilde
To the Lane Community College Board of Education
October 12, 2005

The year got off to a good start at the all-college gathering. Several faculty and staff shared information about priority projects for the year. During that time David Shellabarger, Math faculty, who is leading the NSF project on Flexible Sequence Algebra, demonstrated a new tool that he is using in the classroom that allows students to give immediate feedback. It was used for faculty and staff to answer questions about each of the projects. It was a fun and informative way to engage a large group in the process. Faculty and managers spent a day talking about assessment and how we will approach that. Also, SLI had a keynote speaker from Montgomery College in Maryland present on an Honors Program –Montgomery Scholars. There were also a number of workshops on the use of technology and a Health and Wellness Fair among a number of other opportunities.

It’s great to have the students back on campus and hard to believe that we are already in the third week of the term. Students have had a number of events already including a kick off for OSPIRG, Coming out Day, and a meet and greet with our Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered students, as well as Constitution Day, which I am sure Jeremy will report on. More and more students are using ExpressLane to access the college. For example, there were 5,782 unique (each person counted only once no matter how many times they logged in) uses of ExpressLane on Monday. Usage was sustained at a very high level from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 5,782 is the new all-time high. We have had five days with more than 5,000 unique accesses.

The budget projections are being finalized and will be brought to the board next month along with a review of the assumptions on which the projections are built, and the budget process for 2007. The College Council and Finance Council have been engaged, with more work to do prior to the November board meeting, in developing the process and principles and criteria for the budget decisions for 2007. Shining a light on the budget development process with the board as we have the past few years, and now with the governance councils, is part of our efforts to make the budget more transparent.

In November there will be a Strategic Planning Session on the future of community colleges in Oregon held at the coast. Mike Rose and I will represent the college as OCCA board members. The OCCA board will be joined by representatives of the State Board of Education, the Governor’s Office, as well as some other invitees. I expect that the issue of governance of community colleges will be on the agenda.

Last week the RTEC Steering Group hosted a meeting to review the legislation passed earlier this year that affects K-12 and community colleges, and in particular SB 300, which provides access for high school students to come to community colleges supported by a portion of the school’s funding. Most of the school districts and some of our business partners attended. This is just one more example of the good work that college staff are doing to connect with K-12.

Progress is being made on the design of the Longhouse, and you might want to take a look at the drawings that are along the wall. There is an increase in costs, partially due to the infrastructure costs, as the Longhouse is the first of other buildings that will be cited on that side of the college. We need to consider how much of the long-term infrastructure the Longhouse project should bear. Fundraising efforts are continuing. Conversations will begin regarding in-kind donations very soon, and Wilma Mankiller and Kathleen Harrison are hosting a luncheon for some key donors.

Last weekend, the Staton family was in town to hold their annual family foundation meeting and meet with the Staton scholars. As usual, they were very impressed with our students. This is the first meeting that has happened since Bernice passed away, but it was very upbeat and positive. The Staton Foundation is planning to make a large donation to endow these scholarships. Finally, on fundraising, the Harvest Dinner is on October 28. I hope you have your tickets. It’s going to be a great event.

We held our first ever Fall Kickoff Event on September 22. There were many people who participated in making this event happen such as Marvin Clemons, Barb Delansky, David Doctor, Karen Edmonds, Anthony Hampton, Alise Lamoreaux, Tina Lymath, Anna Kate Malliris, Tracy Simms, and Dan Timberlake. But it was Dana Halttunen who spearheaded an effort that resulted in such a successful event, and we would like to honor him for his work with an award and a check in the amount of $50. The event oriented 166 new students (some with family members in tow) to the campus and disseminated valuable information on how to be successful at Lane. Fall Kickoff had workshops for family members and friends on how to support the students’ academic efforts, workshops for students including: applying for scholarships, managing stress, budgeting for college, and a student improv group put on skits about being a student at Lane. Students participated in a scavenger hunt for answers to important questions about how to be successful at Lane that required them to visit many key departments at Lane. Many students received door prizes and giveaways, including two $250 gift certificates to the bookstore and four vouchers for a free three-credit class. Lane Employees were invited to participate in making the new students and their families feel welcome during a lunchtime barbeque which provided meals to over 725 people. The event was covered by KVAL TV and was well publicized in the community as one of Lane’s efforts to support student success. We look forward to making the event a tradition to help new students succeed at Lane and help them and their families feel welcome.