Good Morning and Welcome

Good Morning and Welcome.  It is great to see all of you.  I want to first express my appreciation to all of the staff and the faculty who were working at the college this summer.  We know the work it takes to keep things going and prepare for the fall term.  So thank you.  Welcome back to all of you who were not around this summer.  And a special welcome to all of you are with us for the first time.  We are so glad you said "yes" to Lane.  

I love this time of the new year.  I have to say that I was wondering if I would have the same sense of excitement this year, given the budget situation and the challenges it presents.  But I am happy to say that I still love this time of year.  A time of new beginnings, fresh starts, that burst of energy that hits our campuses when students and most of the faculty come back.  I can honestly say it remains a privilege to stand before you and talk with you about what lies ahead for us.

But before I do that, I would like to thank Roger, former board chair Bob Ackerman, who can't be here today as he is working on our behalf in the legislature, and all the board members.  I couldn't have asked for more support and encouragement in my first year as president.  I am very grateful.  I particularly want to express my appreciation to George Alvergue.  Most of you know George as a long time faculty member but he was a good board member who always had the best interests of the college at heart.  I am saddened that his illness has caused him to resign. I hope you will keep George in your thoughts this year.  He is very upbeat.

I am also honored to work with a first class Executive Team.  Marie, Cheryl, Steve, Donna, Steve, Tracy, Linda, Craig and Jane.

Next I would like to start with something upbeat by recognizing our classified employee of the year.

Now just a few words about what is coming up this year. 

Earlier in the summer I was thinking about this speech and I was inspired by the sculpture that sits in front of the campus.  I look at that sculpture every day as I walk in and it reminds me every day of what we are here to do.  It is called Transformation through Education and that is what we are about at Lane - transforming peoples' lives.  And, if you know the sculpture, you see a book that morphs into a beautiful bird taking flight.  I thought that would be the theme of my speech.  We could use that as a metaphor for what we will accomplish at Lane this year and in the future.  The notion that after the challenges of last year we could look up and forward and take flight.  However, as the summer has unfolded and we continue to be challenged by state revenue shortfalls, I wondered if it would be misleading to say we are taking flight.  Perhaps taking flight but not in the way I mean!  So I spent Saturday afternoon up at East Lake in Central Oregon floating on a drift boat.  While my husband and daughter were fly-fishing, I sat and took in the beautiful surroundings, listening to the swish of the line and thought about that.  I must admit I was stumped.  My first challenge was, Yes, we want to fly but it feels that just as we are taking off, we have a tether line that is holding us down.

This is the time when we should be looking forward with positive anticipation to the future, safe in the knowledge that we have the resources to do what our community expects.  It's a time to be optimistic, hopeful (and I am hopeful) but how do we do that without denying the realities we are facing?  I don't want to be in the position of acting today like everything is hunky dory and then tomorrow talk about the problems we are facing.

I think it's a "both.and"  We must look forward to the future and we must deal with the realities of today and tomorrow that have the potential of interfering with what we want to create.  

My second challenge was how do I say what I want to say differently than I did last year.  Because the truth is that much of what I said last year (it's on the web for those of you who weren't here) still holds true.  It's not because I can't think of anything new to say.  It's because this transformation we are engaged in is not a one-year proposition.  It's a long-term agenda that requires focus, consistency and bears repetition.

T.S.Eliot in the Four Quartets says it this way:
You say I am repeating
Something I have said before.  I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not, 
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way of ignorance
And he goes on in the Four Quartets to describe the paradox in which we are living now.  We are trying to look to the future and transform ourselves at the same time as we are being held down by the state situation.  Charles Handy states that, "paradox is inevitable, endemic, and perpetual.  The more turbulent the times, the more complex the world, the more paradoxes there are.  We can, and should reduce the starkness of some of the contradictions, minimize the inconsistencies, understand the puzzles in the paradoxes, but we cannot make them disappear, or solve them completely, or escape from them."..F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the test of a first-class mind was "the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the head at the same time and still retain the ability to function. We need to find the pathway through the paradox to build a new future while maintaining the present."

So in the next few minutes I will try to do the following:
Speak briefly about the revenue situation as it stands right now,
Talk about the vision we share for the college and some of the things that will occur this year to further that vision, and finally, how we can go about working with each other to create our preferred future.

Let's take a look at reality first.  My mother always told me that if there was something on my plate I didn't like, to eat it first so that I could enjoy the rest - so think of this first part as the Brussels sprouts or broccoli!

We continue to be challenged by state revenue shortfalls.  In addition, last year, we still spent more than we brought in.  I asked the board to give us two years to address that and so by the end of this year we will need to bring our expenses in line with our revenues.  Our cost containment measures of last year helped accumulate a carryover slightly larger than budgeted, so thank you for your contribution.  It will help with the latest state shortfall.

The uncertainty that I was predicting last year has played out in reality.  Although it was very painful to do what we did last year I believe now more than ever that it was essential.  I recognize that this is little consolation for those who were affected personally, but had we not taken the steps we did last year we would be in a very different situation today.  Instead of being in a position to manage the latest state shortfall, we would likely be declaring financial exigency, we would be making decisions that took us months last year in a matter of weeks, and we would be careening from crisis to crisis rather than making decisions that would put us on the road to recovery.

I have sent an e-mail to you about our approach for this year's revenue shortfall.  You will receive another update within the next seven days once we learn the results of today's election and the special session (if it ever concludes).  By the second week of classes we will have a proposal ready for discussion.  Also, within the next three weeks we will be starting our budget process for 2003-04.

I believe we have at least a three-year problem. In the event that there is a plan to increase taxes it will not have immediate impact.  A referral to voters will not take place until January at the earliest so we will have to plan for at least a $2.8 million rebalance this year.  A recovery in the economy will take at least a year before we benefit.  So we must prepare for further cuts in state revenue next year while doing everything we can to tell our story and make our case.  Another paradox.

We must take the necessary steps to take our fate in our own hands and not expect the state to solve the problem.  Many colleges have given up on the state ever getting their act together and are making plans accordingly.  We need to deal with what is within our control.  Yet, (another paradox) while we are doing that we need to work together to initiate a grass roots campaign to secure adequate funding for public education.  What was once the pride of this country, Oregon's education system, is being decimated as we speak.  And we must be vocal in saying that this is not acceptable.  This is just not acceptable.  Oregon deserves better, Lane County deserves better, our students deserve better and yes, we deserve better.  So I ask each one of you to engage in the political process to help solve this problem.

Let's talk about our vision for the future. We must look toward the future even though none of us can surely predict what it holds.  Peter Senge observed that "the future ain't what it used to be."  Also there are few clues that we can take from the past.  The forces that affecting us are transformational forces.

Now, I am skeptical of a leader with a strong personal vision that he or she imposes on the organization.  As I said last year, I have always thought that very presumptuous.  But a good leader gives voice to the vision that comes from deep in the organization.  A good leader articulates that vision and nurtures it.  When the vision comes from the organization it has the power for real change, progress, movement in the organization, engenders commitment to make it happen, and capacity to keep moving it forward and overcome barriers to its achievement.

So imagine with me for a moment if you will:

First think about the state level:

Imagine that Oregon has developed a fair tax structure. 
Picture an Oregon that funds education first!
Think about politicians who realize that there is a connection between education and a healthy society so they don't have to debate whether it is necessary to raise revenue to fund education.
Imagine an Oregon that has stopped building prisons and started to expand community colleges.  
What about an Oregon that no longer bashes public employees because it is not operating in a scarcity mentality and it is convinced that we are the most effective and efficient we can be.
And while we are it, think about a PERS system that has a $2 billion dollar surplus!

Now let's think about what Lane would be like:

What if:
Students took personal responsibility for their learning.
Students' completion of a class really meant mastery of the learning outcome.
Success rates were no different for students from any socio-economic background, race, ethnicity or nationality.
The number and percentage of graduates doubled.
Students, the university, employers, and legislators viewed Lane as the best choice for learning and the best investment.
And what if Lane was a model of healthy work and learning - a place where work was meaningful, relationships were imbued with respect, and personal and professional growth was supported.
A place where action was balanced with reflection.

Imagine a Lane that had all the resources we need to support what we do.
Students and their learning are at the heart of what we do.
We have the conditions where all of us can do our best work.  
We find meaning in coming to work every day.  
Students are learning; they get the support they need in an out of the classroom.
We are innovative and have developed the infrastructure to support systemic innovation.
There are outstanding services.
The services are abundant enough to support everyone we serve.
We assess student learning and document it.  
We continue to attract and retain the very best faculty and staff.  
There is a rich diversity in our staff and students.  
Our buildings are well-maintained and offer the best working and learning environments.
Our equipment is state of the art and provides experiences that students will face in the workplace.
Our technology supports administrative and instructional processes.
Our labor relations are positive and we have been able to provide competitive salaries and benefits.
There's enough parking for our students.
Innovation is evident throughout the college.
KLCC has moved from cramped quarters into a state of the art station.
The fourth floor is finished.
We have carpets without duct tape!
We have chairs that students fit into!  
The Longhouse is built.  
We have the appropriate levels of full and part time faculty and staff. 
Workloads are appropriate. 
We have participated in several League for Innovation grants and have received a Title III grant that focuses on improving learning.
The Foundation capital campaign has provided enough resources to have scholarships for every student who needs one!
We have an endowment that supports the college and a professional development fund that allows us to continue to innovate and improve.  
We have beautiful art work displayed all over the college that transforms and inspires us.
We have water in the Fountain,
Flowers, trees and grass provide a peaceful environment.
We have aligned our resources with our expenses to the point that we have what we need to support what we do.
Quality is built into everything we do.
Lane is renowned for its students.

Can you imagine that?  Can you picture it?  That's what we are striving for.  And we need to make sure that what we do now will be leading us to that vision.

If students and their learning are at the heart of what we do and we want the best conditions to do our work, we need to do some things this year to lead us in that direction.

It is time to take our learning centered initiative from the pilot stage to a central piece of the college's strategy for the future.  For the past three years a team of faculty, classified staff, and managers have been involved in the Vanguard Learning College Project.  We are one of twelve colleges selected nationally to think about what being learning centered means and to implement policies and plans to move the college in that direction.  We need to broaden the dialogue on this.  Learning is one of the college values but it needs to be more.  We need to be asking ourselves when we make decisions:
How will this support improved learning?
How do we know?

This value of learning needs to be operationalized and we need a culture of evidence.  Look for this focus on learning in our vision and mission, and as a driver in our planning and budgeting. 

This year we will be starting our accreditation self-study in preparation for our full- scale evaluation visit in October 2004.  I feel so fortunate because I came to Lane after the last visit and I managed to move out of the VP role before the next one!  Now Cheryl has that task well in hand.  You will be hearing more from Cheryl and the great steering group working with her a bit later this morning, but let me just say accreditation is not just about external evaluation.  It's about connecting our daily work to our preferred future.  We will go through this process so that we can tell our story, learn from it and improve.  Part of this requires that we update our strategic plan this year. It became clear last year that we needed to review our vision, mission, values and strategic directions to make sure they are governing our decisions and financial allocations.  College Council has agreed to take on the update of our strategic plan so that it has more focus and clarity.  We will be convening a number of focus groups of the various segments of the community and a Citizens Advisory Committee to assist us in this work. The board has already had a discussion about the vision and mission and will be working with us as we move toward finalizing the update and presenting it for their approval.  Now I know that strategic plans, for many, are what yawns are made of.  But a plan that is coherent, focused, and aligned with budget decisions touches every one of us.

League for Innovation

Lane has been a member of the League for Innovation in the Community College since its inception. The League's mission is to catalyze innovation.  When there is a change in the president, a college must reapply for its League board seat. Frankly, I had some misgivings about moving forward with this application and there are one hundred colleges lined up who want our League board seat.  If we weren't committed then why do it?  After careful consideration and discussions with board members we have decided to do so.  It became clear that while we had implemented some League activities we have nowhere reaped the benefits we could from membership in the League.

There are many projects and grant opportunities in which we can participate that align with our goals and will bring resources to the college.  It is our goal to diffuse the League into the life of the college in a more meaningful way.  Tamara Pinkas, who graciously agreed to be our League representative last year, is doing just that.  At this point, Tamara knows more about the League than I do because I needed to skip the meeting last year when we were in the middle of budget cuts.  

Tamara and English faculty member, Anne McGrail, worked on our self-study for re-application.  They have put together a wonderful document that is testimony to the innovation that is occurring at Lane.  I am so incredibly proud of the work all of you have done.  I think when you see the document you will be too.  If our self-study is accepted in October, we can expect a site visit from the League to verify that innovation is alive and well at Lane.

Look for a shift in placing primary importance on growth to putting primary importance on quality and aligning our expenses with our resources.  Growth is important because it means we are serving more students.  In the past it has been growth at all costs.  No more.  We will not have growth as our first priority. Rather we will focus on alignment, build in quality and grow intentionally and strategically.  In this way we can start to address the workload issues in the services and support staff.  And we can afford to adequately support what we offer in the community.

Finally, I need to say something about how we who are stewards of this fine institution can be together to accomplish this work.  It is up to all of us to achieve this vision.  Many of us are working to transform our colleges.  You don't have to be a president to have that as your mission.  In fact, if only I have that as my mission it will never happen.  There is enough wisdom in the room to find the answers to the challenges we face. 

Rilke says: Live your questions now and perhaps without knowing it you will live along some distant day into your answers."  I believe that what we need is right here.  And it is not just in me or in the Executive Team.  You know this.  It is in yourself and others around you.  Often we believe that somebody else has the answer - stop hoping for this.  We need to figure this out together by being clear about who we are and what we want to achieve.

I know that this does not just depend on the role or title- a role or title which might be taken away at any moment.  One thing I have learned and which I know for certain, especially after this last year, is that who I am does not depend on what I do; who you are does not just depend on what you do.  As Parker Palmer notes: "Identity does not depend on titles.  It doesn't depend on degrees.  It doesn't depend on functioning.  It only depends on the simple fact that we know who we are and are treasured for that."

Now it's about this point that I wonder, "Oh this is a bit risky.  Are they with me?"  Or in the philosophical tidbits you get when you're ridin' the range with cowboys, (And I know I have a nerve saying this with my accent.)  If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with ya.   Or,  Don't interfere with something that ain't bothering you none.

MLK said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.  You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love."  
When a person knows that - the classroom is different, the office is different, the college is different.
The first thing to do regarding leadership, as Meg Wheatley suggests, is to resign from being the savior of the world.  It's essential to turn it back to the people.  I'm not the answer.  We're in this together.  People will want to go back to the "strong" leader when problems arise but we just have to go into it together to make learning available to the whole group.  So to unleash this power of coming together we can ask what's possible and who cares?  That will bring the right people together to move us forward.  Lest I ever get to big for my britches, I just have to go back to the cowboy wisdom:  If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

But when we are clear about our own identity we can start to build community. We are struggling to build community.  The Dalai Lama said that "We human beings have a great need for one another.  Without the human community, one single human being cannot survive."  As described by the West African writer Maldoma Some, we have "an instinct of community."  However, this instinct to be together is turning into growing fragmentation and separation.  Sometimes I think we want community without an awareness of what it takes to be a community.  It takes time and commitment.  

Eudora Welty said, "My continuing passion is to part a curtain of that invisible veil of indifference that falls between us and that blinds us to each other's presence, each other's wonder, each other's human plight."  Meg Wheatley suggests that as a member of this community this is what you can do.  You can part this curtain, move it back and say in our organization.  "There is more here.  There is more capability.  There is more talent.  There is more creativity.  There is more spirit." 

Or again, in the words of the cowboy philosopher:   If you find yourself in a hole, the very first thing to do is to stop diggin'.

The work is to develop processes that bring us together.  The work is finding each other.  William Stafford poem:
If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't
Know the kind of person you are, then a pattern that
Others made may prevail in the world.  And following the 
Wrong God home we may miss our star.
It is the knowing of another person that truly builds community. 
How many of us today are longing for community, wanting to belong?
We need to remember that we join an organization because we want to accomplish more.  People never join to accomplish less.  We want to create, to find more meaning, to contribute, to belong and we can only achieve this by joining with others. 

Another leadership issue is to realize that it's all about relationships.  Nothing holds firm for very long.  The only thing that does is relationship - deeper and stronger.  Organization is a process, not a structure.  The process of organizing is difficult to chart because it happens in many places, simultaneously, within messy and expanding webs.  It involves creating relationships around a shared purpose, exchanging and creating information, learning constantly, paying attention to the results of our efforts, co-adapting, co-evolving, developing wisdom as we learn, staying clear about our purpose, being alert to changes from all directions.
(Wheatley)

Rosenblatt:
The best in art and life comes from a center - something urgent and powerful, an idea or emotion that insists on its being.  From that insistence, a shape emerges
And creates its structure out of passion.  If you begin with a structure, you have to make up the passion and that's very hard to do."
We can't expect to create structure first and pour people's passion into it.  Yet we do this all the time.  We must learn Passion first, structure later.
I have observed day after day that there is an abundance of passion and commitment at Lane.  If we can channel that passion into a shared future we will be a force to be reckoned with.
Community colleges are society's most hopeful enterprise- through education we prepare people for a future that we do not fully understand.  
As Kay McLenney notes: "to be prepared for the future, community college students need an array of learning options.  And they need a special kind of teacher or staff member - one who expects, demands, sets the sights, raises the bar; one who coaches, cajoles, encourages, incites; one who finds one more way to explain, one more moment to demonstrate, one more opportunity to engage; one who reaches out, lifts up, pushes from behind, pulls from just ahead, learns alongside; one who connects the dots, captures the imagination, remembers your name; one who is unafraid to touch a shoulder, a heart, a mind.  One who listens to a story and offers a tissue.  Let us understand that the person that greets with a smile that looks like hope - that one spark that inspires.

You may recall Merlin, speaking to young Arthur in the Once and Future King, said:  "The best thing for being sad is to learn something.  That is the only thing that never fails.  You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies.  You may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins.  You may miss your only love.  You may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds.  There is only one thing for it, then: To learn.  Learn why the world wags and what wags it.  That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.  Learning is the thing for you."

What Merlin knows is that education at its best -these profound human transactions called knowing, teaching and learning- are not just about information, and they're not just about getting jobs.  As Parker Palmer says:  "They are about healing.  They are about wholeness.  They are about empowerment, liberation, transcendence.  They are about reclaiming the vitality of life. They are about spirit and a system of education that refuses to get engaged with this mess and continues to operate in a sterile environment will not bring out the best in people or allow us to live up to our dreams and ideals."

So if we truly want this for Lane there is much to do but we can do it together.
Now before I finish I am want to share a comment I heard from a colleague. 
Shugart: "The most dangerous thing about communication is the illusion that it has occurred."
Surprised if all of you have heard what I have been saying in the same way.  But let's continue the conversation.  If you have violent agreements or even a disagreement let's talk about it.  We are trying to shape our preferred future for Lane in a thoughtful way, so join us.
If this notion has called you in some way, then jump in with us, get your oar in the water or better yet, both oars, or both feet or engage your mind in this effort.  It can make such a difference.  We need everyone going in the same direction for a journey of this significance.

Ralph Nader said that the best way to control people is to lower their expectations.  I am saying it is time to raise our expectations to new heights because together at Lane we can achieve this vision.  Raising expectations is like raising a barn.  There is a place for everyone.  We are building a field of expectations because of our unwavering, unflinching belief in human possibility.
So let's not follow the wrong star.  Let's do something to make ourselves proud.

To paraphrase Desre:
Listen as your day unfolds,
Challenge what the future holds, 
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard
You gotta be tough
You gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool
You gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know All I Know
Together we will save the day

Thank you.