Welcome

Good Morning and Welcome. Ceud mille failte. A hundred thousand welcomes. Bienvenido a nuestro colegio comunitario. It is great to see all of you.

Before I start I want to acknowledge the hard work of some people who helped me put this presentation together. Josh Taylor, graduate of our own Multimedia Program, Donna Zmolek and many others who contributed.

Let me take care of some housekeeping details first. After this presentation, we will have a short break, and then we will have conversations regarding the topic of: If we were building it now what would it look like? We will have two facilitated sessions in this room. Also, for those of you who want to work less at the 30,000 feet level and more concretely, there will be facilitated sessions on streamlining work processes, leveraging technology and sustainability. You will noticed that we will not be discussing instructional redesign today as we have a full day scheduled for that on Thursday. Decide which conversation you want to have, and go to that room after the break. There will be a slide on the screen and information in the lobby in case you forget. In the mean time, if too much coffee kicks in, I will assume that you will take care of your personal needs. That doesn’t mean there can be a mass exodus right now!

So here goes for my sixth annual in-service address. It’s probably no secret to anyone that last year was the toughest year I’ve had. I keep thinking that perhaps the worst is behind us but it just seems to be getting tougher. This is not the kind of work I thought I would be doing as president. But my mum always used to tell me that you just need to deal with what you have been given so there you are. This poem gives some suggestions:

This being human is a guesthouse.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and attend them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Welcome difficulty.
Learn the alchemy True Human Beings know;
the moment you accept what troubles
you've been given, the door opens.
Welcome difficulty as a familiar
comrade.
Rumi

Well, I am certainly trying to do that but it’s extremely difficult!

Of course, it was a very hard year for everyone. It was particularly hard on the classified staff, many of whom lost jobs or were transferred to different positions or different work. I must commend the classified staff for the grace with which they handled themselves. It is a testimony to their dedication and it makes me proud to be associated with them. I also want to thank many of you for the personal support you provided for me. Your suggestions, ideas and notes of concern and support meant a lot to me and in many ways kept me going. Thank you.

To be honest, as I finished last year I had my doubts if I could work my way out of the drudgery of dealing with budgets--which I must say is particularly joyless work--and if I really would be looking forward to a new year, but while I am not fooling myself that this will be an easy year, I have reaffirmed that I am in this for the long haul. Taking a couple of weeks to think about my professional and personal goals over the summer, I realize that I am still committed to seeing the college through this difficult time. So, although there are some aspects of this year that I am not excited about, I can honestly say that the good outweighs the bad. We will get through this year. One way or the other we will get through this year. And if we make the right choices this year, it will hopefully position us for the future.

Don’t you turn back
Don’t you set down on the steps
“cause you find it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now-
For I’se still goin, honey
I’se still climbin’
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair

Langston Hughes

I often cite the poem by Gabriele D’Annunzio that begins
September, let us go. It is time to migrate.

This is a poem about journeys, sustenance, relationships, renewal and tradition. All of these are true of our life at Lane.

Teaching and learning is a journey. It can be challenging and arduous but it is journey of hope, promise and fulfillment. And we have the privilege of starting that journey every year. As educators we are blessed with being able to have a fresh start, a new beginning every fall. Another chance to get it right! Get it right as an organization, get it right with students and get it right with each other.
I can’t think of a place I would rather work because of the wonderful faculty, staff and students. When I reflect on why I want to be here, it always comes back to our compelling mission and vision and the difference we make working together.

So welcome. I want to first express my appreciation to all the faculty and staff who were working at the college this summer. We know the work it takes to wind up last year’s activities, keep things going and, simultaneously, get ready for the new year. As always I am extremely grateful for your dedication.

We all know there is a great mythology about faculty working only ten months. Summer is a time when many of you evaluate your classes and think about the things you can do to improve the learning environment for our students. However, without the pressure of teaching loads, I hope you had some time to rest and enjoy this glorious Oregon summer.

Thomas Moore writes: “When you are enchanted, your imagination transforms ordinary life into something extraordinary.” Moore says that children are easily enchanted, but when we become adults our ability to become enchanted diminishes….as do lots of other things, I must say!! “Fantasy goes into hiding and emotion succumbs to reason.” (Moore) It is my hope that you all had an enchanting summer….that the summer was full of encounters with nature and loved ones that filled you with awe, made you laugh, helped you relax or granted you a new insight.

I would like to welcome the board members that are here today. Our elected board does a great job on behalf of the community and provides solid leadership for all of us. I especially want to thank Jay Bozievich for stepping up to be chair.

And a special welcome to all of you who are with us for the first time. Could everyone who has joined the college since this time last year, please stand? Please welcome them. We are so glad you said “yes” to Lane. I wish you a long and successful relationship with the college.

I don’t need to tell any of you that the college is undergoing enormous changes. Our environment and our students continue to change and so must we. While we are changing, however, we must keep offering programs and services. It’s a bit like living in a house while it is being totally remodeled. Not everything goes smoothly. I have been using the metaphor of building a bridge to our future while we are walking across it. We just hope that there is enough infrastructure in place out there ahead of us as we move forward so that we don’t, like the cartoon character, careen into the chasm.

Looking back over the bridge

Even as we have been challenged, amazing things have been happening. As a board member of the League for Innovation in the Community College, I visit the other board colleges; places like Miami Dade, the largest post secondary institution in the country, Maricopa in Phoenix, San Diego. They are doing a lot of exciting things, but when I come back I marvel even more because I would put Lane’s innovation up against any of these colleges. The difference is they have lots of money to throw at innovation, while we are not able to do that. The fact that Lane is such a vibrant place is testimony to the work that all of you do. It is important that we take a few minutes to celebrate the outstanding work that has gone on. We need to remind ourselves that the budget isn’t everything and take a minute to recognize our accomplishments.

Kudos

First let’s honor our Classified Employees of the Month and Year
Lane Community College is recognized for it excellence nationally, and that excellence comes from the proactive, innovative contributions of our staff. Today I would like to recognize individuals who have demonstrated the level of excellence that has made Lane stand out as an institution of distinction in community college education.
In 1991 we decided to recognize employees of distinction on a monthly basis. Those individuals are identified by colleague nominations which are then screened by a inter-institutional committee for achievements in:
Each month nominations are accepted for Classified Employee of the Month and those individuals are given recognition at the annual Employee Recognition Gala in April. Today I would like to acknowledge these individuals one more time. As I read your name, please stand so that we can recognize you. The individuals recognized with monthly awards this year are:

November 2005
Anne Metzger, Medical Technologist, Lane Health Clinic
Known as a creative person, Anne unleashed her creativity to design the nurses’ current office in the Health Clinic, as well as playing an instrumental role in the design of the new clinic as a whole, while also identifying savings to the College by streamlining and reducing lab costs.

December 2005
Kirsa Whedon, Administrative Coordinator, Division of Business
Orchestrating seamless service to faculty, staff, and students during an extensive remodel, including the opening of the fall term in the midst of the remodel; Demonstrated respect, originality, organization, and exceptional customer service skills in the midst of controlled chaos.

January 2006
Gene Knight, Laundry Worker, Laundry Services
In the midst of changes at Lane, Gene served as a point of continuity, organization, efficiency, and was always ready to defuse any tension with a song, a story, or an ear to listen.

March 2006
Toni Timmers, Instruction Specialist, Social Science
Toni was recognized for her initiative and creative problem solving to streamline and strengthen the proctor approval process and proctoring services. In her efforts to shore up areas that had proven challenging, she maintained instructors’ pedagogical freedom, met students unique needs, and worked across departments, collaborating with Distance Learning to provide ease of access to information for students using the proctoring service.

April 2006
Karen Edmonds, High School Relations and Outreach
Karen has been with Lane since 2001, as High School and Community Relationship Coordinator with Enrollment Services at Lane. In this role, Karen has the unique opportunity to bring Lane to the community and build that first impression many have of Lane.

June 2006
Michell Ronning,
Child Care Center Coordinator, Family and Health Careers/ Early Childhood Education Program
When faced with “the monumental task of cutting $100,000 from the operating budget for the Early Childhood Education Program, Michel kept a cool head and began number crunching.” Michel’s creative and collaborative efforts helped to identify new sources of revenue to maintain essential services, and efficiencies that have helped to meet the budget realities for the Early Childhood Education Program.

July 2006
Carol Waterhouse, Administrative Support Specialist, Academic Learning Services
Carol was recognized by colleagues for her ability to anticipate needs and the mentoring she provides to new faculty to help build their confidence and competence in understanding the Lane way. Carol’s proactive approach to meeting students’ needs was recognized as an essential element in the success of the Division of Academic Learning Services at Lane.

August 2006
Amy Bennett, Administrative Specialist, Conference and Culinary Services
Amy was recognized for bringing e-commerce to Lane, using an automated approach for people to register and pay for an event on-line. In this time of a reduced workforce, Amy instituted this process, working collaboratively with an external vendor, as well as departments within Lane to assure their specific needs are incorporated into the system. The success of this approach to streamline work was evidenced in the Glaser Workshop where more than 400 people registered using this new registration system.

Please join me in giving a round of applause for the monthly recipients.

Now, as notable as those achievements are for our monthly recipients, we go a step further each year to identify that one individual from the monthly recipients whose contributions have demonstrated the greatest depth of impact and uniqueness. Another inter-institutional committee reviews the monthly winners, based on the same criteria and selects one individual who has had the greatest impact on the Lane Community Culture for that year, and from those monthly winners, the Classified Employee of the Year is selected. It is my pleasure to work with this outstanding individual and to announce to you the

LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR FOR 2005 - 2006

Karen Edmonds, High School and Community Relations Coordinator, Enrollment Services

Karen, would you please join me at the podium to receive the well deserved award and recognition. (Karen should come forward.)

Karen was recognized for her integrity in modeling the Lane Core Values consistently and with commitment when representing Lane and providing new and on-going opportunities for learning about how Lane can help students. Let me give you a few examples…
Diversity Core Value
Karen was recognized for her integrity in modeling the Lane Core Values consistently and with commitment when representing Lane. She is a champion for diversity, and serves on the Lane Diversity Governance Council, and served for five years on the Lane Diversity Team and the Diversity Plan Committee.
Innovation Core Value
She has been successful in securing federal funding from the Gear Up Program, opening opportunities for low-income middle and high school students to acquire skills to help them succeed as college students. She has applied for a grant to create a college bilingual outreach program for Hispanic students and parents in Lane County.
Collaboration and Partnerships Core Value
In 2006 she coordinated the new Lane Preview, which attracted 1,000 people to campus to learn about Lane. This was an inter-departmental effort involving many Lane staff, departments, and student volunteers and resulting in tremendous positive exposure for Lane in the community.
Accessibility Core Value
Karen worked with the Multicultural Center, Diversity Coordinator, student unions, and the faculty to offer the Lane to Your Future visitation program this year.

In 2003, she opened doors more fully for middle and high school students to visit Lane as a co-creator of the Lane to Your Future program. Karen has built connections in the community through her presence at the:

Lane County Fair
Asian Celebration
Cesar Chavez Leadership Conference
Migrant Education Parent Conference and more

Karen has demonstrated the power of living the Lane values in Transforming Lives Through Learning and the benefits to Lane, our students, potential students, and the organization, as a whole, have been remarkable.
Please join me in honoring the 2006 Classified Employee of the Year, Karen Edmonds.
Let me just close this by saying… Lane Community College is great because of the human resources . . . you! :)

We’ve recognized those classified staff members who have received Employee Recognition awards this year, and many more are yet to be recognized. Your stories comprise what makes this institution great. The Classified Employee of the Month Award was created to help us get those stories out. Join us this year in nominating individuals who are demonstrating excellence, innovation, diversity and partnerships that stand above the rest.
I would also like to recognize the outstanding faculty of 2005-06. David Leung on behalf of Faculty Council organizes the surprise visit to each classroom. This year’s honorees were:

Jean Cassidy – Mathematics
Frances Gray - Language, Literature & Communications
Dorothy Wearne – Torch
Joe Russin - Science
Andreas Salzman – Arts
Gary Mort – Science
Katie Morrison-Graham – Science
Stephen Selph – Mathematics
Barbara Sullivan - Language, Literature & Communications

Thank you for all your work.

Sustainability

Lane's sustainability efforts were highlighted on the Worldwatch Institute's web page. Mayor Piercy in her State of the City speech recognized our sustainability efforts and we received the first annual City of Eugene community sustainability award. We received the National Recycling Coalition Award for Outstanding Recycling Program for a College or University. We increased the recycling rate to 60.7 percent, resulting in a total positive impact of $60,374 in savings and revenue for the college. We had a 16 percent reduction in energy use on the Main Campus in FY06 – just as well given the increases in energy rates!
We purchased wind power from EWEB making Lane its largest wind power customer (until the City followed suit). The Board passed the Talloires Declaration making us the first community college in Oregon to adopt this statement of intent. The college co-sponsored the Oregon Bioneers Conference held in the CML. We installed the first photovoltaic array on Building 17 (joint project of Energy Management program and FMP).

I hope you have noticed the wonderful work the grounds crew has done this past year (especially note the new landscaping between Performing Arts and PE buildings). As I walk in every morning the new garden where the fountain used to be never ceases to inspire me. As the plants have matured it just looks spectacular.

Our work in cost savings in health care costs is a story to tell. Faced with 42 percent premium increases three years ago, together we attacked that problem. We changed our benefit plan, you agreed to pay a bit more out of pocket; we began a Wellness Program, and expanded our Health Clinic. This resulted in declining increases in premiums—24 percent, then 12 percent then 4 percent and then this year we will be paying less. This is a critical factor in our budget. The college pays $7.5 million each year in insurance premiums and you pay $900,000. Neither of us can afford to let these costs continue to rise. Our success here comes down to you stepping up and taking responsibility for your health, participating in the wellness program and using the Health Clinic which limits our experience usage. I especially want to note that the Health Clinic received the League for Innovation Award and saw over 6000 patients, including 1000 staff visits.

Exceeded FTE target:
Student enrollment increased by 5.5 percent in 2005-2006 for a total FTE of 10,738, which exceeded our FTE target.

A major part of that work was due to the fact that Continuing Education (CE), working in collaboration with other departments realized an FTE growth of 394.
In partnership with the Foundation, CE developed a scholarship program for students enrolled in non-credit courses for health and alternative health occupations. Thanks to a strong employee giving campaign, scholarships will continue in the current year.

In partnership with the criminal justice system, CE provided instruction and career guidance to participants in the new local drug court. Instruction includes an intensive, year-long regimen of abstinence and personal accountability, with an introduction into job training and educational opportunities at Lane.

Renewed certification as the Official Registered Provider for Command Spanish® language and cross-cultural training programs, CE now offers job-specific Spanish language and cross-cultural training in health care, hospitality, law enforcement, retail sales, and manufacturing.

Through a partnership with Cooperative Education, CE created Co-Op opportunities for some non-credit students in areas such as Phlebotomy for the purpose of providing real life work experience and boosting career prospects.

In partnership with Oregon Emergency Management and local law enforcement, CE provided training for municipal employees in preparedness for threats of weapons of mass destruction.

Student Services and their work with Early Orientation and Registration (EOAR) and Fall Kick Off contributed to retaining students.

We have made tremendous progress in assessment overall. In particular Social Science, Math, and Writing contributed to assessment of general education core abilities. Cooperative Education completed a comprehensive review of employer feedback against the core abilities.

Grants and External Resources:
Last year we received over $3 million in grant funding in ISS areas, many of them over multiple years. We are waiting to hear from additional funding agencies about our applications.
Examples:

GIS—Jane Benjamin, PI, Sarah Ulerick, Lynne Songer
Programming for gaming—Laurie Swanson and Jim Bailey
CCWD Incentive grants—Andrea Newton and Laurie Swanson
Gear Up—Barb Delansky and Karen Edmonds, Greg Evans
TRIO—Mary Parthemer

K-12 Board Initiative continues:
High School Connections: The College Now office has expanded to add three more programs involving high school students. RTEC (Regional Technical Education Consortium) is a Lane County partnership which is creating more technical courses at Lane and in the schools. Expanded Options is the result of a new law (Senate Bill 300) which allows some high school students to attend community colleges, and the Pathways program which is a new statewide focus to clarify fulfilling career paths for students. High School Connections will provide the umbrella for these efforts and be a campus contact point. We are doing this without adding general fund dollars, bringing in grants and repurposing funds.

Arts Division:
Bonnie Simoa, Dance Instructor, was featured in a widely published dance magazine, recognizing her for the work she is doing integrating Continuum Movement into the Dance curriculum. This put Lane and Bonnie on the map for cutting edge integration of Somatics and dance. Also, the Martha Graham Dance Company taught a master class while they were in Eugene for our students.
A national ceramics conference was held in Portland later this week. Lane faculty organized a pre-conference workshop here at Lane earlier this week. Several renowned ceramicists were at the college sharing their knowledge with artists and our students. We were aiming for an enrollment of 100, and 125 people registered. Thanks particularly to Thomas Rohr and Andy Salzman who put a lot of effort into making this event a success. We received funding for the integrated arts curriculum ($150,000) for Arts faculty to integrate Arts in high school curriculum. The Arts on Campus committee made great progress. During the summer, Rick Williams, Lee imonen, Andy Salzman. Board member Susie Johnston and I traveled to Ophir Oregon to visit a sculptor. One of the people who has purchased a number of his works is donating them to higher education institutions. We will be receiving three sculptures pictured here.

Instructional Technology:
Thanks to the faculty webmasters, Joe, Meredith and Jeffrey, we adopted one Learning Management System, Moodle, and developed more Hybrid classes.

We expanded the UO Dual Enrollment Partnership and signed a partnership with OSU.

Diesel students placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the state VICA Skills USA competition.

CIT redesigned curriculum, another good example of redesign. They received a
$49,000 county commission grant to support new Game Programming curriculum thanks to Laurie Swanson Gribskow and Jim Bailey

Women's Basketball NWAACC Champions (38 other CC’s in Oregon & Washington have Women’s Basketball). Congratulations to Greg Sheley, who was named coach of the year. Grady O’Connor, track coach was also named coach of the year.

Language, Literature and Communication:
English converted all its writing classes to 4 credits; Speech completed the transition of their remaining classes to 4 credits this year;

The LLC established a first year curriculum in the Chinuk Wawa language through the Endowed Chair position held by Dr. Janne Underriner and with the assistance of tribal members from the Grand Ronde nation.

Joe Russin offered a biology course in Costa Rica, and eight new courses were offered in Science.

Human Services targeted HS agency personnel and partnered with CE to deliver courses to them through the Summer Academy for either credit or CEUs.
Criminal Justice partnered with local law enforcement agencies to provide the Regional Reserve Officer Training Academy with trainers provided by the agencies.

In terms of marketing, Aspire Magazine was developed. Our research shows that 70 percent of our students access the web for registration and often prior to the publication of the schedule. We wanted to develop a publication that would also provide information about the college to community members. We realize that we need to continue to tweak the publication.

An advertising campaign for selected TV (free PSAs), radio, web (MySpace), print, and transit media was launched.

Lane reinvented high school recruitment night— The first annual Lane Preview Night for high school students was held. This is the first time Lane has done this event on campus. We were hoping that we would have at least 300 people; planned pizza for 500, and had over 1,000 students and their families show up. It was wonderful to see so many faculty and classified staff staffing booths and interacting with prospective students. There are many people to thank, but I specifically want to mention Tracy Simms for being the initiator of doing the event in a different way, Karen Edmonds and the team for organizing the event, and all of the students who participated and shared their experiences at Lane. I talked to a mother from John Day whose daughter plans to attend our Music program.”

The college issued approximately 150 news releases—everything from Lane’s recycling award to the longhouse groundbreaking

Marketing and Public Relations developed numerous success stories for various internal and external publications.

Lane applied and became a member of the statewide Oregon Pathways Alliance which included a $25,000 grant.

College Now increased high school student involvement 20.3 percent (from 378 to 455 FTE).

The new RTEC program served 186 high school students for 24.5 FTE for the year.

Chuck Fike became President Elect of the Northwest Career Educators and Employers Association. Steve Candee is president of the National Social Science Association this year. Bev Farfan was selected as Oregon Educator of the Year by the Oregon Department of Education Office of Student Learning and Partnerships.

In the Library, Lane’s membership in, and the popularity of, the Orbis Cascade Alliance provided enhanced services to faculty and students.

We signed on to the Oregon Consortium of Nursing Education along with eleven other community colleges and OHSU. In fall 2007 we will implement the new curriculum.

We dedicated the Simulation Lab in honor of faculty member Glenna Clemmons.

In collaboration with Ron Rourke and Alen Bahret from IT, Enrollment Services is most proud of the fact that we implemented the on-line admissions application, which significantly reduced staff workload and facilitated faster enrollment for credit students. This is how students now apply for credit admissions and they receive automatic e-mails welcoming them to Lane with their "L" numbers and this too, is expediting enrollment and saving staff time.

Center for Learning Advancement developed a new website with links to component departments: English as a Second Language, Adult Basic Education, Academic Learning Skills and Tutoring Services, defining the division mission and aligning it with department missions.

English as a Second Language completed its second full year on 30th Ave campus, while also continuing meeting working students’ needs by keeping a night program at Downtown Center.
ESL redesigned and re-organized the curriculum and the schedule based on input from advisory committee, students, staff, teachers, advising and counseling. Changes will go into effect Fall term. ESL started a two-night per week class in Creswell, in partnership with Head Start, the Creswell Library and Creslane Elementary to meet the growing community need of English language learners.

Academic Learning Skills revived Transition to the University class and offered it as a joint project with UO by increasing marketing and outreach.
ALS worked with other departments to find funding and strategies to begin offering supplemental instruction (for classes with higher than average student failure rates.) The ALS website was revised and updated. They expanded the use of technology in the classroom, by using I-books, Moodle, and the ALS lab.

Tutoring Services wrote successful grants for increased tutor funding, gaining back much of what had to be cut in budget process. The program worked and is working with CIT to begin planning for alternative tutoring services delivery (online, phone and small group).

Student Financial Services, Enrollment Services, and Computer Services:
Implemented document imaging to help us work smarter.

Student Life and Leadership Development:
Our students continue to have great vision and support for long term projects. Last spring, ASLCC placed a building fee for the Longhouse on the ballot which was ultimately approved by the students and by the board. This $3 fee will sunset in three years but will provide the necessary funds to move the construction of this building forward. Without the widespread commitment on the part of students, staff and community, this project would not have been possible. As a result, we will soon have another facility that will provide unique instruction, meeting and student space available for use by all students and community as well as provide a home for our Native American students.

Disability Services and others:
Several departments have reorganized to increase efficiencies and improved services to students, and in some cases have also reduced college expenditures. Some of those that have been reorganized include: Enrollment Services, Disability Services, International Student Programs, Lane’s student collection processes, and the International Co-op program with OUS--all to more effectively serve students, staff, and the community.

Women’s Program:
Further development of Transitions as a first year experience for women: Writing 115 was linked in a learning community to the Life Transitions class; the Transitions students (many of whom thought they could not write!) produced a journal of their writings, "Writing through Transition", at the end of each term. The Women's Program and ELL faculty also received curriculum development funds from the Learning Community Leadership Team to facilitate the development of a second term to the Transitions learning community (Transitions 2 linked with WR 121). It will be offered in Spring 2007. Transiciones, the bridge program for Spanish speaking women was developed. The Women's Program added a part time advisor for the program and offered Women Starting College workshops in Spanish throughout the year. The program began offering non credit classes spring term.

ABSE:
Dawn was asked to serve as the Interim ABSE State Director in Salem.
Developed and piloted a successful non-credit college preparation class, “Everything You wanted to Know about College,” for three terms.

A non-credit applied mathematics curriculum for under-prepared students interested in enrolling in manufacturing programs through the Pathways Grant was developed.

Counseling Department (Counseling, Advising, CES, TRiO, Testing, Human Development, Center for Family Counseling):
Nearly 600 high school students took the college placement test at thirteen Lane County high schools for the second year in a row.
Between July 2005 and April 2006, 347 students brought in $643,637.00 in private (not Lane Foundation) scholarship money to Lane Community College. This is an increase of $105,736 over 2004-05.

I know there are many more things I should have mentioned, but this gives you a flavor of the creativity, commitment and plain old hard work that goes on here on a daily basis. So we have a lot to be proud of. In spite of the budget, you continued to do outstanding work. I applaud you for your commitment and dedication to our students and the college.

Global Context

So let’s take a look our environment for a few minutes and consider what might impact us in the coming year. This year we still face many challenges. When you consider the national context there are some harsh realities out there but theer are also some hopeful possibilities.

Harsh reality: Diminishing resources from public sector

Hopeful Possibility--Genetic research department cartoon

We are focusing on revenue enhancement, increased partnerships, and fundraising. It is still very difficult to keep up

Harsh Reality: growing demand for post secondary education

Variety of delivery modes
Instructional and learning modes
Entry and exit points
Measurement variety
New diverse and changing learning needs
Changing diversity of students
Growing competition

Hopeful Possibility: Fundamental redesign – more on that later

Harsh Reality Education: Public or private good?

When did we have the meeting to decide that education was a private good? Who was there? Who was invited?

We have shifted to this notion that having a degree means you are going to make a lot more money, so you can pay for it.

Merrow states that teaching and learning are declining in importance relative to getting a degree, because higher education is generally seen as a commodity to be purchased.

As a nation, we are reneging on our commitment to access for all. So that today, when it comes to higher education, an individual’s economic status is the best predictor of his or her educational destiny. This is just plain wrong.

Hopeful Possibility: Social Contract
Shared responsibility for opportunity grant

We need a new social contract so that anyone with talent and determination can go to college, and colleges need to pay more attention to teaching and learning. We don’t have much time, because while American higher education is declining much of the industrialized world is moving up, fast. We need national leadership that recognizes the societal value of education but it doesn’t look good. So we can’t wait for that. We must speak out loudly and coherently that we need a new social contract and that those who have a little should help those who don’t. That it is in everyone’s best interests if everyone has an opportunity to access higher education. The League Board is working on this.

Harsh Reality: Call for accountability – proof of performance

We must make our case regarding our need for additional resources, but here is what is going on. There is an expectation that we prove that we are performing first. (stats) Whether we like it or not, there are people who think we are not doing the job. They are asking us to reform ourselves. In the meantime, we are saying: fund us properly--until we have money, we can’t change. We are at a stand off; we are in a tug of war. The recipe for a guaranteed stalemate seems to describe the relationship that exists between higher education and government. Higher education argues for more money so that we can get better, while government says, in effect: no more money until you get better.

What comes first, more support or proof of performance? Back in the 19th century, an Ohio town along busy rail lines was concerned about train safety, so according to legend, the town council passed an ordinance: when two trains approach each other, both must come to a complete stop and neither may start up until the other has left. We must move beyond this impasse, but who makes the first move? I think it is imperative that we are doing the thinking about proving our performance – assessment- if we don’t do it, it will be done to us.

Hopeful Possibility – Assessment work; fundamental redesign

Harsh Reality: Spellings Commission

The Secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education aka the Spellings Commission recently released a draft report. The good news is that the role of community colleges is recognized; the bad news is…..the role of community colleges is recognized. Here are some of the comments from the report:

What we have learned over the last year makes clear that American higher education has become what, in the business world, would be called a mature enterprise: increasingly risk-averse, at times self-satisfied, and unduly expensive. It is an enterprise that has yet to address the fundamental issues of how academic programs and institutions must be transformed to serve the changing educational needs of a knowledge economy. It has yet to successfully confront the impact of globalization, rapidly evolving technologies, an increasingly diverse and aging population, and an evolving marketplace characterized by new needs and new paradigms.

To improve affordability, we propose a focused program of cost-cutting and productivity improvements in U.S. postsecondary institutions. Higher education institutions should improve institutional cost management through the development of new performance benchmarks, while also lowering per-student educational costs by reducing barriers for transfer students.

In our view, correcting shortcomings in educational quality and promoting innovation will require a series of related steps, beginning with some of the accountability mechanisms that are summarized below and discussed at greater length later in this report. In addition, we urge postsecondary institutions to make commitment to embrace new pedagogies, curricula, and technologies to improve student learning.

We believe that improved accountability is vital to ensuring the success of all the other reforms we propose. Colleges and universities must become more transparent about cost, price, and student success outcomes, and must willingly share this information to improve communications with students and families.

We recommend that America’s colleges and universities embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement. We urge these institutions to develop new pedagogies, curricula and technologies to improve learning

Policymakers and higher education leaders should develop, at the institutional level, new and innovative means to control costs, improve productivity, and increase the supply of higher education.

Postsecondary education institutions should measure and report meaningful student learning outcomes.

With too few exceptions, higher education has yet to address the fundamental issues of how academic programs and institutions must be transformed to serve the changing needs of a knowledge economy. We recommend that America’s colleges and universities embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement by developing new pedagogies, curricula, and technologies to improve learning, particularly in the area of science and mathematical literacy.

Hopeful Possibility  AAARGH!

Harsh Reality – State funding still $34 million short of where we were in 2001; Tabor

Hopeful Possibility: Education Enterprise; State Board request; local option; Foundation

There are some hopeful signs. Governor Kulongoski has pledged to include at least a ten per cent increase for community colleges. This will help, but it will not solve the problem. The State Board of Education has recommended to the governor that community colleges need a 23 percent increase to start to recover form the cuts we have received over the last five years. I like that number better. The governor plans to include capital construction in his budget and we are #5 on the list for our Health and Wellness building. I am quite confident that we will receive the funding. However, there are worrying signs. The economy seems to be slowing a bit after a vibrant recovery. The TABOR ballot measure would limit state spending at the low levels we have experienced over the last few years. Not a good thing. There are other measures that may affect the state general fund, and these could have a very negative impact on our own recovery.

We have been working very hard to strengthen our image in the community. We have received a lot of positive media attention and as I go about the community I hear from people about their support for the college. The community will have a chance to show their support in November regarding our local option. Again, this will greatly help us if the ballot passes.

Locally, our Foundation is launching a capital campaign. We have been positioning ourselves for this for the last four years, putting in lace a vibrant Foundation Board and “friend raising.” The campaign consists of four components: Health and Wellness building; Endowed Chairs; scholarships; and the President’s Fund for Innovation. We are meeting with potential donors right now, and assuming positive responses we will begin the quiet phase of the campaign at the beginning of the year.

Harsh Reality: expenses exceed revenue

This is a problem for us. I have heard many people say that the error in our early projections last year CAUSED our budget problems last year. Folks, you know better! What is causing our problem is that we are spending more than we are taking in. Eighty-two percent of our budget is labor costs. We have taken the position that we do not want to take the state’s budget problems out of the hide of our employees. Everyone got cost of living adjustments and steps, if eligible. I am proud of that. I have also been severely criticized for negotiating contracts that have given raises when most public agencies around us have been holding the line. The fact is that we need to do something about these lines. They need to be in sync.

Hopeful Possibility: redesign, work processes, leveraging technology, generating revenue

The question is: we have 70 million - what should we do with it to serve students and the community and make the college sustainable?

Harsh Reality: Fear and anxiety

War, economy, polarization, more entrenched positions. It’s going on all around. No wonder it has an impact.

Local level – the closer we get to home, the more optimistic I am.
Hopeful Possibility: Think Globally; act locally.

Harsh Reality: Anxious system
Budget cutting takes its toll. When the system is anxious, it does not take much to make the system even more anxious – rumors and misunderstandings abound

Hopeful Possibility: People who work at Lane
We need people who are more caring, not less
More open, not closed
More wondering, less judgmental

These are just some of the harsh realities and hopeful possibilities that I see

Focus for the Year

Given all of this, so what? I don’t want to engender a giant shrug of the shoulders. What does this mean for us? Given this context, what will we focus on this year? Well, we have a strategic plan, a strong mission and compelling values. This is still the framework. That has not changed. Within that framework, we have established the following priorities. We must have a laser focus on a few key items.

1. Enrollment Management

K-12
Recruitment and Retention
Workforce Development
International Education
Increase Credit Enrollment Level
Partnerships with 4-year Colleges and Universities

2. Mandates

Assessment

3. Efficiencies

4. Responding to unit plans/council plans

Innovation
Curriculum Development
Enhancing Classrooms

5. Instructional Redesign

Work Processes
Leveraging Technology
External Revenue Generation

Grants
State Funding
Local Funding

We must also focus on value-added work. What is the least value added work we do? Last week, I did a survey of 50 people across all employee groups. Answers: Process and meetings. It came as no surprise but it didn’t make me feel very good since almost all of my work occurs in meetings!!

We are fewer this year to do the work. That will only get worse unless some things turn around – more on that later. But it means that we must focus on value added activity. If it’s not value added, it’s waste so we must go after the activities that should be eliminated simplified, reduced or integrated. Do you think students care about how we do things internally? Before you answer that, think about yourself. When you are trying to get a something done, let’s say pay a bill or get a new cell phone, do you care about the fact that the company has a fancy payroll system. The answer is no. You care about your stuff. Now there is someone in here who does care about that – they care that every person they interact with has excellent working conditions, good salary and benefits a democratic workplace and so on, okay, on some level that’s right, but let’s get real, while we are sitting on the other end of the phone waiting for someone to clean up the mistake on our bill we’re not thinking about that. We’re thinking about our stuff. Students are the same. For their sake, we need to focus on the value added things we do and minimize the rest. If it’s not adding value, we shouldn’t be doing it. We must get the waste out of the system.

But we must do more.

Mission Possible
We must have a clear organizational focus for this year. Our salvation can’t be dependent on others. That is not good enough for me. If we do that, we are giving away our power and control. The best we can do is influence and persuade. That’s okay, but it’s not enough.

We need to keep our eye on that process, but we need to be looking at ourselves, the way we do business and look at what WE need to do to help this situation change. Our focus needs to be sustaining a learning college, including the fiscal lens that supports the work we do.

We must make some changes. We can’t do everything the way we have always done it. Everything around us is changing, and we must too. To that end, this year we will have a laser focus on:

Streamlining work processes
Putting technology to use
Fundamental redesign of instruction
Balancing the budget
Organizational Structure

Now, I have heard that I have set up three separate groups to accomplish this – news to me! Let me tell you from my perspective where I think we are.
Let me say a few words about this. In January, I talked about what some of the literature was saying about the challenges for higher education and what some of the proposed solutions might be. I suggested that we focus on three things: streamlining work processes; leveraging technology and fundamental redesign of instruction. It’s true that groups are continuing to work and intensify efforts on specific projects that were already underway e.g. registering non credit students or improving work processes. While I was putting these ideas out there, I certainly did not want to get in the way of that work proceeding while we created another structure to get the work done. It’s sort of like staying out of the way of those really doing the work. Since April, faculty leaders have worked with Sonya to discuss the idea of redesign more thoroughly and develop a position paper to frame the work. We want to sustain Lane as a learning college. There are many great examples of things we do at Lane. This is in no way intended to say that there is something wrong with instruction. In fact, there are many redesigns that have already occurred. But we must get it to scale. And, we must add the lens of fiscal sustainability to improvements that we make. Last Monday, a group of faculty and manages representing every instructional area and student services met and gave feedback on the paper and also identified examples of redesign that have already occurred and where there is the potential for more. I can’t speak for the other tables, but what I heard was very exciting. Faculty are doing what they can do to change the curriculum and methods to better serve students.

I purposely did not define “fundamental redesign” or suggest what it should look like or what practices we should implement. Certainly there are a plethora of ideas that I could share. But I don’t think that’s my job. Even if I thought that, I know better. As soon as I lay out a plan either conceptually or regarding practice you can bet that there would be an outcry! Top down. Who does she think she is! Rather, there must be faculty leadership to develop the framework and the practice. Yes, there are models and ideas in the literature, but even if something works some place else, we need to review and decide if it will work for us. You can’t just transplant; it must be worked through by us.

I am well aware that there will be resistance. Change always sparks resistance. It’s natural. I think it is very important to listen carefully to the critics and skeptics. There is usually, at the very minimum, a kernel of truth that we need to attend to. We need to sort out if the criticism is simply resistance to change or whether it can constructively contribute to a better outcome.

Conflict, which is a natural outcome of diversity, should be seen as an opportunity for enriching the understanding of an issue. We need to promote the understanding that the cross-fertilization of opinion is the catalyst for generating novel ideas and approaches – the wellspring of creativity.

Change evokes anxiety in people. Being able to hold this anxiety and still function effectively is the mark of both mature people and mature organizations. Need to help people to hold and use this anxiety by putting it in its proper perspective as the energizing spark for creative action.

I think it comes back to intent. As people engage with this, I am assuming that their intent is to do what needs to be done to serve students effectively. Similarly, I would like it to be understood that I too want what is best for students but within the fiscal constraints that we face.

I ask the faculty to engage with this discussion in a fair and open way. We can do nothing. That is always a choice. But I think there are consequences of that that none of us want to live with.

Finally, on this topic - I know that these three big ideas need to be connected Already, I have been criticized for three things: not moving fast enough over the summer to make substantive progress; not creating a connected structure for these things and I have been criticized for creating a structure!
Clearly, they are connected. John Muir, my favorite Scots biologist, said “everything is hitched together.”

However, I do not want to create a huge bureaucracy to do that. I think at Lane we often create a complicated structure that collapses under its own weight even before we know what we want to accomplish and what the best structure will be to support the work. We spend a lot of time discussing process and often lose sight of the work that needs to be accomplished. We get bogged down and then wonder why no progress is made. So… we will identify mechanisms to assure that there is connectivity among these initiatives but I want it to be a little less linear so that what we create will actually support the work and not become the work.

What is at stake? sustainability of the college. We all love this place; I take it we all want to work here; if not I suppose you are taking steps to remedy that. We need the college to be here in the short run and the long run.

The history of transformation suggests that transformation happens less by arguing cogently for something new than by generating active, ongoing practices that shift a culture’s experience of the basis for reality. Ben Zander

I believe that what I am suggesting: redesign, work process streamlining and leveraging technology is already happening. It happens when a faculty member decides to develop new curriculum; it happens when an administrative coordinator decides that there must be a better way to do this and develops a method that she shares with her colleagues; it happens when degree evaluators develop a way to cut out manual work and use technology. The point is this work is already going on. But we need to bring it to scale at the institutional level.

I think we can do this while heeding the words of A.R. Ammons

We must keep the tradition and modify it so we stay resilient to change
Too tradition is loss of change
Too changing is loss of memory and meaning

Annie Dillard wrote:
Recently, my daughter and I hiked down a hillside covered with slippery tree roots, winding down to a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As we examined the lava rock by the ocean’s edge, we discovered tiny pools swarming with something that looked like tadpoles. At first, we reasoned they must be some kind of fish, since we couldn’t imagine how tadpoles could survive so close to salt water. Then, we realized they really must be tadpoles, washed downstream by heavy rains the month before. These tiny creatures had made an unexpected leap. By the cliff-side pools of Hawaii, Heather and I saw one of life’s greatest miracles—the ability of a creature to be washed by the waters of life and learn to adapt to a completely foreign environment.

Like these tadpoles, we often feel as if we have no choice as we are catapulted past rocky ledges, drenched in fresh water, only to find ourselves swimming in unfamiliar pools. We adapt and survive through our incredible ability to make our way through treacherous waters, to take a giant leap into the unknown. A community like ours requires leaping across the great divide—reaching beyond what we know into uncharted territories.

I don’t pretend to know how to do all of this. We are creating it as we speak, but I will do my part.

There has been much discussion about reform in K-12. Now attention is turning to us. Let’s get ahead of it. See if Gates or Kellogg or Pew will fund us to engage in thoughtful discussion and action in reconceiving how we need to be. It can be exciting, scary, miserable, energizing. We will make it what it is. I choose exciting and energizing. I hope you do too.

What can you do?
Often people ask me, “what can I do to help?” Here are some ideas:

Part of Enrollment Management is Marketing. Speaking of community colleges nationally, Forrest Sawyer stated that we would be a good candidate for the Witness Protection Program because nobody knows what we are doing. Now you might say that our Marketing and Public Relations Office needs to do more to tell our story and that is probably correct but the truth is it takes every one of us telling our story. You are the ambassadors. What story are you telling about Lane? Is it one of opportunity, hope, learning, innovation? Or is it one of “ain’t it awful?” I am obviously out in the community a lot and am frequently asked the question “How are things going?” Of course I take the opportunity to give my public investment spiel but I always move quickly into the fabulous things that all of you are doing on a daily basis for our students and community. People may want to hear about our budget woes but if that’s all they hear about it won’t help. They want to know about the value and benefit that Lane is providing in the community. I take every opportunity I can to position Lane as a hopeful learning environment where students can come to fulfill their dreams. But I can’t do it alone. It takes every one of us.

Everyone is an ambassador. I know this might be interpreted as censoring so want to be careful here but you need to know the power and impact you have. One concrete example, I had been working with a donor on including Lane in her trust. She happened to be out at a restaurant and couldn’t help overhearing a couple of people who were Lane employees talking about some of their colleagues in a very derogatory way. She felt it was very mean spirited. She called me and asked if that was really how people treated each other at Lane. It had not been her impression from our values statement and all the things I had been telling her but this overheard conversation was making her think again. The jury is still out on whether she will include us in her trust. That’s neither here nor there, the point is that everyone is an ambassador. You are our best marketers whether you like that role or not.

1. Be aware, understand that you are an ambassador. If you think this place sucks, or a person sucks and you are letting everyone know that why should taxpayers have any interest in investing their money in us if our own people think the place sucks. Every public speech I give talking about all the wonderful things you accomplish here and what we do for students can be undermined in 20 seconds. Clearly, there is a place for honest dissent. I am simply asking that you are aware of your power to shape what people think and whether they want to invest in us or not.

2. Write or talk to at least ten people about the importance of Lane in this community. Your neighbors, people at church, your exercise class, your community groups. Tell them about the benefits that Lane provides. Think about it. If each one of us, 700 contracted employees and about 300 part time, talks to 10 people that’s 7,000 people hearing Lane’s story. Add to that the 35,000 students that we serve every year. The last time Lane went to voters was in 1995. Just think if we could energize 42,000 people in support of Lane? You can make this happen.

3. I can’t advocate for the local option, but I can talk about the impact it would have – it will really help! Please answer the call you will receive to help the campaign committee.

4. Regarding the legislature: answer the call. You don’t need to go to Salem as I have to do. All our legislators have meetings in Lane County. Talk to them. Be respectful. I have found that if I start the blame game with legislators, they simply turn off. Try to tell them the essential nature of what Lane does to help the community, again the value we add, and explain that we need investment to continue. Specifically ask them to be a champion. Not just a yes vote when our budget comes up but a champion. Someone who in their caucus puts up their hand and says what about community colleges?

5. Engage in the budget process

You can engage on a couple of different levels:

In your department/division, you will have an opportunity to help develop proposals. I want to be clear that non engagement does not hold you harmless. Give us your best thinking on the front end of the process, not on the back end. If you want to be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand, okay you can do that, but that is abdicating responsibility in my opinion and it doesn’t mean we can’t see the rest of your body sticking out!!

You can also engage institutionally.

We’ll have a couple of sessions to walk everyone through budget assumptions, projections etc. Before you engage please educate yourself. There will opportunities to provide ideas at the institutional level.

6. Spend time doing the important work; eschew work that doesn’t add value.

7. Take personal responsibility for this place. Turn off the lights when you see a room unoccupied, turn of your computer. Remember the numbers of energy savings. We can do even better if each of us does our part.

8. Don’t be a CAVE person – citizens against virtually everything. Stay open, consider, engage.

9. And even if you can’t do any of the above. Simply do your job. Have a laser focus on doing the very best you can. We are counting on you. “Live by your best lights” as Parker Palmer says.

“A man can only do what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.” Schweitzer

I implore you to think about how we can work together.

When I feel stuck, I am encouraged by the Marge Piercy poem, "The Low Road,". Alone, there's not a lot I can do. But two people or three, or a dozen can make a difference. "It goes on one at a time," she reminds us, "it starts when you care to act when you say we and each day you mean one more."

What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up. They can
bust you. They can break
your fingers. They can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can't walk, can't remember.
They can take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can't stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight.
You can refuse. You can
take what revenge you can.
But they roll over you.

(Two voices)
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, and sex.

(Three voices)
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge.

(Four voices)
With four,
you play bridge and start
an organization.

(Six voices)
With six, you can
rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no seconds,
and hold a fund-raising party.
(Twelve voices)
A dozen make a demonstration.
(Audience)
A hundred can fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity
and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your
own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own
media;
ten million, your own country.
(One voice)
It goes on one at a time.
It starts when you care
to act. It starts when you do
it again after they said "No."
It starts when you say "We"
and know who you mean and
each
day you mean one more.

There are enough “enemies” out there to keep us busy. Let’s not create false enemies within the college. We are all here for the same reason. We believe in our vision and mission and want what is best for our students, our community and each other. We have much in common. Let’s focus on that and work together for the common good.

Creating Hopeful Learning and Working Environments

How do we create hopeful learning environments, especially in light of what is going on around us?

For us these budget woes have been ongoing; for our students this is likely there one chance at post secondary education. We must be careful that we do not mar this experience. They deserve the very best we can give them this time around.
Parker Palmer says that “A knowledge that springs from love will implicate us in the web of life; it will wrap the knower and the known in compassion, in a bond of awesome responsibility as well as transforming joy; it will call us to involvement, mutuality, accountability.” I invite you into this bond of awesome responsibility.

This summer I have been very drawn to the wonderful poetry of Mary Oliver ….and am always enchanted by her insight into the boundless lessons of nature. I share the Song of the Builders with you: On a summer morning/ I sat down / on a hillside / to think about God – / a worthy pastime. / Near me, I saw / a single cricket;/ it was moving the grains of the hillside / this way and that way. How great was its energy, / how humble its effort./ Let us hope / it will always be like this, / each of us going on / in our inexplicable ways/ building the universe.

As poet Mary Oliver watched creatures going about their work – whether it be a grasshopper, an ant, a snake, a flock of wild geese - she composed an elegy to the ecology of vocation, to the reality that each of us has a special place in the natural order and to the mystery that each of us, in our small way, is making a profound and indispensable difference to the whole.

Yet given the uncertainties of the budget, we are naturally fearful . Of this Bill Stafford says in For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid,
“…What you fear
will not go away; it will take you into
yourself and bless you and keep you.
That’s the world, and we all live there.”
So we can’t look for much relief there! But Bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero said this:
Prophets of a Future Not Our Own
This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

We do amazingly important work and while we might not see the results immediately we can rest assured that our work is meaningful. Charlie Parker, the great jazz saxophonist. If it’s not in your heart it’s not in your horn.
We all need to intertwine our hearts and our horns.

I did an analysis of how I spend my time. Most of the meetings I am in are to deal with problems, complaints, grievances – either internal or public. Now in every large organization that is going to happen, but this year I am committed to spending my time in strategic, value added activities. Legislature, fundraising, developing strategy, overseeing the implementation of plans and assuring goal achievement. I invite you to set your priorities and to see that you maintain a laser focus on them. We will be challenged, but we will get through it, and the more engaged you are the better we will come out of it.

You’ll recall Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities said:

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

This is often quoted but I think the rest is more interesting. He goes on:

It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.
It was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of incredulity.
It was the season of Light; it was the season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.

Each group sees itself as the party of light and each thinks the other is darkness.

For some at our college it is the worst of times…….But that’s only one take!

There are always at least two perspectives. Let’s focus on being wise and making this year the spring of hope, not the winter of despair. And remember the close of the tale: It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done.

The truth is that these are not the best times and not the worst. Our challenge is to make the best of them so we can do even better for our students, present and future. To this end, it makes sense to respect and understand those who may see differently, but who in the end share our goals. If we can do that, we will have done a far, far better thing than the mutual recriminations that characterize our current discourse.

Mary Oliver wrote these words in her poem, When Death Comes:

“When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

We can make a difference if we choose to do so.

Many of you are familiar with the concept of UBUNTU. In its simplest form, it is defined as the "art of being human.” With origins in South Africa, UBUNTU is an all encompassing view of world life and humanity. The word itself is Zulu and inspires us to learn from others as we learn from ourselves. UBUNTU is the humanistic experience of treating all people with respect and granting them their human dignity. Let’s see what Nelson Mandela said about UBUNTU.
I urge you to think about UBUNTU while you are going about your daily work. Let’s treat each other with care and respect. Times will be tough but there is no need to forget our humanity. We can create the kind of place we want to inhabit but it takes all of us and our good intentions.

Finally, let’s bring it back to why we are all here by listening to a couple of our students. This was in lour 40th anniversary DVD so you may have seen this before, but I think they are very powerful voices about what we do here.

These learning, hopeful environments are about healing. They are about wholeness. They are about empowerment, liberation, transcendence. They are about reclaiming the vitality of life. (Palmer) Let’s do all we can this year to give that kind of experience to our students and to ourselves. Oliver’s words inspire us to “make the leap”—to move beyond what we already know. When I feel paralyzed, when I feel that my small effort is hopeless in the face of so much need, I am reminded of the words of Dorothy Day "no one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless; there is too much work to do." She says simply: "We must take one step at a time."

So let’s step out together and create a better reality than the harsh realities that surround us and bring some of these hopeful possibilities to a reality.

I wish you a peaceful and productive year.