EUGENE, Ore.—After a 36-year career in higher education including accolades locally and nationally for leadership in community college education, workforce training, sustainability and cultural competency, President Mary Spilde announced at the Feb. 3 Lane Community College board of education meeting that she will retire effective June 2017.
Spilde will have served 16 years as president by then, making her the longest-serving president in Lane’s history. She accepted the presidency in 2001 after six years with the college in two vice presidential roles. Before Lane, she worked at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany for 15 years in a variety of leadership positions.
Spilde said she wanted to give the board enough lead time to conduct a thorough search for a successor and prepare for an orderly transition. She has considered retirement for a long time and has stayed on at the board’s request. Now personal interests are growing in importance including the anticipation of her first grandchild at the end of this month. Until then, she has a 17-month plan of ambitious goals to achieve, including stabilizing enrollment and funding.
Board Chair Tony McCown echoed the need to focus on preparing for a transition, but noted a few of Spilde’s remarkable achievements over the years. He pointed out that the board has awarded Spilde an outstanding performance evaluation for each of her 15 years as president. He also lauded her focus on students “through her advocacy for Lane, her unending fight for public funding, her unabashed appeals for private donations and scholarships, her leadership in sustainability, and her courage in advancing cultural awareness and competency.” He said that whenever he looks at the Downtown Campus or the Center Building remodel or meets a graduate in the workplace or sees a Ph.D. on the business card of a former student, he sees Mary’s dedication.
Spilde is a nationally known community college leader and spokesperson. She has served on a number of committees, boards and commissions, including chairing the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Board of Directors, serving on the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, and presently, the Education Leadership Committee for America’s Promise. She has won most awards for presidents of two-year colleges, including the Association of Community College Trustees CEO of the Year Award and the Eugene Chamber First Citizen Award. She has personally met with two American presidents, Obama and Clinton.
Spilde has a bachelor's degree in business and social systems and a law degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a master's in adult education and a doctorate in post-secondary education from Oregon State University.
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