Dia dhuit - (Dia Yuich)
Ceud mille failte (Kee-ut meeluh fah-ill-cha)
Good morning and a hundred thousand welcomes.

As a Scot, I love the sound of bagpipes but they conjure up different images for different people.  There are certain symbolic reasons for the use of the pipes in our culture.  One of course is to go into battle.  The Scots were always sent in first - probably because if the sound of the pipes didn't scare people off then a bunch of ragged looking men wearing skirts was supposed to incite fear!

The second symbolic use was as a sign of mourning.  The sound of the ceol mor (kyoll mor) a specific type of pipe music signalled a death and called people to mourn.

The third symbol was to call people to celebrate. The music included in ceol baig (cyoll bayg) brought people together to parties or ceilidhs and with a couple of fiddles, accordions and the pipes people danced jigs all night.

Well, today, the pipes do not signify going into battle; that's not on my work plan; nor do they signify mourning, even as our nation reels from the events of last week.  The pipes celebrate coming together as we start out this new school year. And as I said on Friday at the Observance particularly with what is going on in our country, it is even more important that we come together, care for each other and, as educators, do our part to eradicate the ignorance and intolerance that leads to such hatred and cruelty.

So again, Dia dhuit, ceud mille failte.  Good morning and welcome.

Before I get started I do want to make a couple of announcements. Introduce board members.  Introduce Margaret, Alen, Patti.

Immediately following this there will be a reception in Bristow Square.  The Focus on Academic Issues scheduled for 10:30 today has been cancelled.  There will be a pizza lunch served in cafeteria around noon. There will be an LCCEA meeting here in the gym today at 2:00.  I want to remind you of the two conversation that are scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday where we will have an opportunity to dialogue with one another about what's happening this year at Lane. I think that's all the announcements.

So here we are..My mother called me from Scotland yesterday and knowing that I was giving this speech today, the first big deal since I started she said: Mary, Hen, jist dinnae forget tae breathe.  Don't forget to breathe. Always good advice. 

When I was applying for this job, I wasn't really thinking about standing up here before you giving an in-service speech.  So what was I thinking?  What was I thinking? 

Perhaps like all of you, I was thinking about whether I might help make a difference in a student's life or in this organization's life.  

I was thinking about the aims of community colleges- the belief in equity and social justice that under girds what we do.  
I was thinking about the fact that education truly can lift people up and give them untold opportunities. 
I was thinking about how it would really be something if I had a chance to work with you as president to grow and develop Lane Community College.  I was thinking about all of those things but I was not thinking about standing up here in front of all of you giving this speech.  A daunting task.  Since then, I have given it some thought but my principal thought is. 

So here we are - what are we going to do together that will make a difference for each other and those we serve?

I've done my share of complaining about this in-service gathering in the past, I am well aware now of the difficulty in meeting everyone's needs- 
the linear thinkers, the experiential expressives, 
the visual learners, 
the just get to the point and tell me what I need to do group, 
the oh man how long do I need to sit here listening to this group, 
the inspire me I want to be moved crowd, 
the "oh gosh it's not going to be touchy feely, is it?" crowd and 
the "do you think anyone would notice if I just got up and left?" group.  By the way the answer to that question is "Yes"

It's probably not possible to satisfy everyone- as those of you who teach well know.  However, a good friend told me -just speak from your heart and it'll be okay. 

Parker Palmer who wrote The Courage to Teach affirms this when he says, "good teaching cannot be reduced to technique, good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher."  The core of the word education - from educare is couer - meaning heart and that as Parker Palmer writes:

"Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness.  They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students.  The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts - meaning heart in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit converge in the human self"

I think that's true of any work we do at Lane - whether it's cleaning, supporting, plumbing, electrifying, producing, cooking, filing, managing, scheduling, counting, processing, serving or teaching.  It all start with who we are and our good intentions. So I want to accomplish a couple of things this morning.  I want to let you know concretely what goals I will be working on.  And I want to share with you what I think needs to be in place in order for us to accomplish these goals

First, I want to provide some frames.
I have been asked many times, "What is your vision for Lane?" or "As the new president what do you want for Lane?" I think that's the wrong question.  I think the question is "What is our vision for Lane?" What do we, collectively, want for Lane?" Over the last few months I've talked with some of you about that question and this is how I would frame what I heard.

First and foremost, we want Lane to be a community that places students and their learning at the heart of what we do.  Each of us, regardless of the job or title is a steward of this.  The community has entrusted us with the responsibility of educating our citizens. Each of us in the work we do is connected intimately to that obligation. Is there a connection between your work and this responsibility?  If that isn't true for you, what needs to be done to create that connection?

The second frame is creating the conditions where people can do their best work.  There are two schools of thought on this- one is that you take care of customers/students and everything will be okay the other is that you take care of staff first and students automatically will be well served.  This debate can go back and forth and I don't think it's very helpful.  It should be a both.and proposition, not an either.or.  Both placing students learning at the heart and creating the conditions where people can do their best work.  

Since I started to think about this speech the vice presidents and associate vice presidents and I have met and had further discussion about how we want to frame our work. - The themes that we plan to have guide us as we go about our daily routine. Before I share them perhaps now would be a good time to introduce the the VP's and AVP's:

Marie Matsen -  VP College Operations
Cheryl (shirl) Roberts - VP Instruction and Student Services
Cheryl came to us from Seattle Central Community College.  You can hear more from her tomorrow at the Conversation. Cheryl, Marie and are working very closely together.
Steve Pruch - AVP Information Technology
Donna Koechig - AVP Instruction and Student Services
And finally, a new interim AVP for Instruction will be announced this week.

I am very excited about this group and really believe we can do good work for you and the community. 
So back to the frames or themes:
I've already talked about students and their learning and creating the conditions and there are five more:

So if you are wondering, what's Mary going to be like?  These are the things that I'd want you to know.  I care about placing student learning at the heart and I care about creating conditions where all of us can do our best work. I care about living in these frames so that they become a reality. Fortunately I think this is a reflection of what I have heard you say you want for this college.

When it comes right down to it it, if this is a place where people want to be, what needs to be done?

Fortunately, we don't have to start from scratch.  We can look to the past that can be our prologue.
We have:
an ethos of caring for students
a tradition of transforming lives
a cadre of exceptional staff
community support

We should honor this past, all the work that has gone before.  The Tao offers the following thought:
"Those who talk of making changes but do not first take time to see how matters stand now have nothing to build on and their efforts usually fail.  Pronouncing the "old ways" of doing things irrational or dysfunctional is more a commentary on the commentator than on the old ways.  A sound leader pursues change carefully and knows when to let be- whether old ways, other people, or herself."

Some of you were here at the beginning and helped create this college.  We should be grateful for that and we can build on that and take the college to even greater heights.

To do that it starts with values, because values drive our behavior.
Staff have worked to articulate the values that the college desires to live by every day and they are arrayed on the easels in the back. They are: Learning, Diversity, Innovation, Collaboration, Integrity, Accessibility.   Now these need to be more than words.  This is not just wallpaper.  We need to own these values and share them. They need to be in front of us at all times to inform our actions every single day.  If they are merely empty words or we cannot live by them then this organization will not be the kind of place we want it to be.

In the context of these values we must have a set of organizational practices so we really do provide quality learning experiences in a caring community.

Then we need to look at what it takes to create the conditions where we can do our best work:
Last December during the search process for this job, I proposed these ten conditions:
Stable financial condition
*Positive respectful relationships with co-workers, managers, students
Participation in governance and decision-making
Good physical working environment
*Climate that is tolerant and accepting of difference
Information sharing
Clear communication
Opportunities to innovate
Access to professional development
*Meaningful work 

You can see that the frames, values and the conditions are all inter-related and mutually supportive.

I want to highlight three of these:
Positive respectful relationships, climate, and meaningful work.

Positive Respectful Relationships
To me this work we do is all about relationships.  Yes we need technical skill, yes we need subject matter expertise but it is the coming together in relationship that allows us to use that technical expertise or subject matter knowledge as in the student teacher relationship.  There is no other way to get the work done that to be in relationship.  To do that effectively it requires that
      Expertise of everyone is valued
      I mean everyone - faculty, classified, students, managers and yes, even me. 
Treating each other unconditionally with respect and belief in each person's competence to do his or her job.  If you don't have this present in the work place, basically it doesn't matter what else you do.
       Authentic interactions - dealing with each other on a human level - not based on our status or classification.  Yes we must honor the culture and traditions of the different employee groups but let's not perpetuate a class system.
       Civility - treating each other as we would want to be treated
       Conflict expected, dealt with constructively
       Forgiveness we are very hard on each other.  One mistake and you're history.  As educators, surely there is room for people to grow and develop.  Trying to overcome mistakes and develop in a climate that is hyper-critical where people already expect you to fail is almost impossible.  So forgiveness and taking the developmental route first is essential.

Climate
Each of us controls the climate at the college.  This is not just my job.  It belongs to all of us.  Can we create a place where no matter who you are you this is a good place to be?

Where we honor diversity in its broadest sense and that is manifested in all our actions?

Where the climate is welcoming and hospitable for all?

A climate that is not only welcoming but that creates a culture of achievement?  That is where we do more than welcome. A place where we believe that students can succeed we show it so they know it. A place where we believe that staff can succeed and they know it.
And a climate where we demonstrate intellectual tolerance where there is respect for divergent opinions.

This is especially important right now. In the aftermath of the horrific events of last week, anger is certainly a normal reaction.  But it is what we do with our anger that matters.  

We must curb any tendency to strike out against innocent people.  As educators, and everyone who works at Lane is an educator, we must not allow our anger against the evil people who did this to spill over in to how we treat our students, especially our international students from the Middle East or Arab American students.  We have a sacred trust to provide a safe and hospitable environment for ALL our students. And that is what I will expect us to do.

All of us play a vital part in creating that climate.

The last condition is Meaningful Work
This comes from being connected to something bigger

All of us want to be connected to something bigger.  It is part of the human condition. For us it can be focused on making a difference in students' and co-workers lives

It is being connected to that no matter what the job is.

Creating the conditions where people can do their best work while placing students at the heart of what we do is not easy. Creating that community is not easy but we can walk to wards it.  Let's not pretend we have it. Let's not kid ourselves - there are parts of the college that are not functioning well, we live in a bureaucratic morass of FTE, paperwork, and rules.  We do. We need to work on that.  But we can walk towards a different way of being. If we can focus on these ideas, rise above the morass and ask what will move us forward, and advance our goals we are more likely to find our way through.

Now I've talked about frames, values, and about creating conditions.

Now for the concrete thinkers, you are probably saying to yourselves, now this is all very well but what do we need to do?  Well there's a lot to do.  

A couple of weeks ago I met with the board of education and we scoped out a work plan for the year.  I have this very exhausting, I meant exhaustive, work plan to which I am going to be held accountable. But I would like to tell you briefly about the ten goals or outcomes. I think you will see a great deal of congruence among the frames, values, conditions and goals.
They are:

It may not be easy to do all this work to live by these values and frames, to create conditions where we can achieve these goals but I am comforted by the knowledge - beautifully summarized by the poet Goethe:

"Until one is committed there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.  Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
The moment one commits oneself,
Then providence moves too.
Multitudes of things occur to help that which otherwise could never occur.  A stream of events issues from the decision, raising to one's favor all manner of unforeseen accidents, meetings and material assistance that no one could have dreamed would come his/her way. Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

The moment one commits oneself.  Then providence moves too. I am going to make some commitments to you and to the college and I would ask you to think about the commitments you are willing to make.  Now you will see from mine they are perhaps small and inconsequential.  But I want to keep it simple so that I can deliver.  There's nothing worse than a commitment undelivered.

So here are my commitments to you:

A place of realized potential opens itself to change, to contrary opinion, unsettling ideas, involvement
Offers opportunity to learn and grow
The gift of challenging work
Sheds obsolete baggage
Helps people decide what to measure
Heals people with trust and with caring and with forgetfulness - forgives the mistakes of growing up
Celebrates
We can do this if we choose to.

Remember it is an ineluctable /inevitable fact of life: we are sentenced to live with who we become.  This is true at an individual level.  It is true at an organizational level.  We are sentenced to live with who we become.
  
Who we become is in our hands.  Not just my hands.  I invite you to be part of realizing the potential at Lane to place student learning at the heart and to create the conditions where we can all do our best work.  We can make Lane live up to our dreams. Whatever we can dream we can begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

In conclusion, I want to share a piece of poetry with you.  It's one of my favorites. It is simple and to me inspiring.  It's by David Whyte
We shape our self
To fit this world
And by the world are
Shaped again
The visible 
And the invisible
Working together
In common cause 
To produce
The miraculous

Working together in common cause to produce the miraculous.  
That is what inspires me and I hope will inspire you.
Thank you and let's all make this a great year at Lane.
Go n-eiri leat (Gaw n-eiri leach.)
All the best.