BOARD REPORT - JULY 2013
First, I'd like to thank Sharon Stiles for being such a great chair this past year and present her with a small token of appreciation.
The legislative session concluded Monday. Brett will provide a brief update, including the good news on our capital construction project.
[Brett Rowlett reported that the Community College Support Fund received $450 million. All sixteen community college capital construction projects were approved. $15 million was added to the Oregon Opportunity Grant; each student receives about $1,800.]
The Oregon Education Investment Board selected Nancy Golden as the state's interim Chief Education Officer. Golden replaces Rudy Crew, who resigned the position last month to become president of Medgar Evers College in New York City.
Lane and KLCC are official sponsors of this summer's Eugene Celebration, which will be held August 23-25 in downtown Eugene. The event brings thousands of people downtown and will include multiple music stages, including one outside of the Downtown Campus, an excellent opportunity to open our doors to the public. If you'd like to be a part of the event, contact Brett Rowlett.
It was very quiet here right before the 4th of July and the long weekend, nonetheless, we hosted a visit of a Chinese delegation on July 3. They toured main campus and attended a presentation with International Program Director Jennifer Falzerano and Director of Governmental Relations Brett Rowlett, and also presentations on evaluation standards. Thanks to Dennis Carr for his work on this visit, including coordinating arrangements.
I interviewed with the Salem Statesman Journal last week about a study issued by Education Sector, a think-tank on education policy that used certain federal data and concluded that financial aid default rates exceed graduation rates at some institutions, mostly for-profit colleges, but also some community colleges. I explained what the graduation rate means for us and some of the steps we are taking with financial aid and financial literacy.
We are participating in meetings called by the City of Springfield to reimagine Main Street and its connections into the greater community, primarily through the lens of transportation. I'd like to thank Dennis Carr, Russ Pierson and Brian MacMurray for representing the college's view in these discussions.
Hats off to our custodians, who have further extended their safety streak and have now worked more than 256 days without a time-loss accident. Kudos to the custodial team and to Heath Pierce and Dave Willis for their exemplary leadership in providing safety training.
I am sorry to note the passing of two of our long-time and popular instructors, Ann Marie Prengaman of Language, Literature, and Communication and Jerry Hall of Science. Ann Marie died in late June while visiting family in Atlanta. She was 72. She taught Shakespeare, literature classes, and writing at Lane for 37 years. Her service will be on Saturday, July 27, at St. Jude's Church in Eugene at 11 a.m.
Jerry passed away July 5 at age 71. Besides teaching biology at Lane for many years, he was an integral part of our Native American program including pivotal support for building our Longhouse and developing the curriculum for our American Indian Languages classes. We will let you know when service arrangements have been settled.
A Lane student, writing under the pseudonym of Sophie Pierce, has won third place in the League for Innovation's Annual Student Literary Competition in the nonfiction category for her essay, "Past the Yellow Tulips." The essay will be published in the League's 2012-2013 competition anthology due out in October. Kudos to her instructor, Jose Chaves, and thanks to instructor Will Fleming for coordinating our participation in the competition.
I am pleased to announce that we have filled two key management vacancies with outstanding candidates. Congratulations to Brian Kelly, our new Vice President for College Services. Brian has served the college as Dean of Culinary, Hospitality and Conference Services. He has also owned businesses and served as a faculty member. He brings a keen understanding of the enterprise and business side of the house, leadership in sustainability and clearly understands the relationship between college services and their support for our core mission of learning. He will begin his assignment on July 15 but will stay connected to his current assignment while we work out a transition plan.
I am also excited that Dr. Kerry Levett will be our new Executive Dean of Student Affairs. She comes to us from Finger Lakes Community College in New York where she served as Associate Vice President of Student Affairs. She has experience in a wide scope of student affairs including Student Life, Judicial Affairs and Student Success and Retention. She will begin her new assignment with Lane on August 15.
I am grateful to both search committees for all the work to get to this point, and I am looking forward to working with these two new members of our Executive Team.
Kudos to the Small Business Development Center for being our first department to achieve Green Office Certification. The SBDC received 20 out of 25 possible points thereby attaining the highest level of certification – the coveted Triple Green Star! To celebrate the SBDC's achievement, the Sustainability Committee hosted a lunch for all of the SBDC staff made from produce from Lane's Learning Garden.
As you know we will not have a board meeting in August, so I hope you all get some time for rest and relaxation and family.
I will end on a personal note. I am very much looking forward to my son's wedding which will be in my backyard in August. I've been planting flowers and hope they survive until the wedding!