EUGENE, OR - Lane Community College President Mary Spilde and City of Eugene Manager Jon Ruiz received the 2012 Intergovernmental Team Award from the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) at its annual Appreciation Dinner February 28. The duo was credited for working together to develop and fund Lane's new Downtown Campus. The campus is widely heralded as the catalyst of downtown redevelopment.
The two set an outstanding example of leaders reaching across boundaries to join forces for the greater public good. As a result of some outside-the-box thinking in 2009, they presented to the LCC board, the City Council and the community, a vision for a new Lane Community College downtown campus to replace one of the city's most wearisome eyesores, the pit where an old Sears store once stood. Now a $53 million campus has emerged, including a first-ever student apartment building for the college, and an innovative new academic, business and community building.
Both buildings model sustainability goals and values held by the city, the college and throughout the region. The housing building meets LEED Gold energy efficiency standards, and the academic building will earn the rating system's highest level—LEED Platinum.
The Downtown Campus will serve more than 8,000 students annually, helping Lane better serve the rest of its 37,000 students per year throughout its district.
The project is bringing new residents downtown, including students from across the country and the world, as well as new businesses, new shoppers, and new visitors. All are contributing to the diversity of the community, the growth of the local economy, and improvement in Eugene's downtown.
LCOG awarded its Outstanding Public Employee award to Spilde in 2006.
Lane is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. Visit online at www.lanecc.edu or www.twitter.com/lanenews or www.facebook.com/lanecommunitycollege
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Media contact: Joan Aschim, PIO, aschimj@lanecc.edu or (541) 463-5591