Board Report – November 2012
With Election Day behind us, we now know the make-up of the Oregon Legislature and Congress for the upcoming sessions. In Salem, the Democrats picked up four seats in the House, giving them a 34-26 majority. Tina Kotek is expected to be the next Speaker. Locally, all incumbents were re-elected. I would like to congratulate them as well as John Lively, who was elected to fill Representative Terry Beyer's seat, as well as Caddy McKeown, who was elected to fill Arnie Roblan's coastal district. Arnie was elected to fill Senator Joanne Verger's seat, who is retiring after 30 years of public service. For the Republicans, after serving six years in leadership positions, Rep. Bruce Hanna has chosen not seek a leadership position for the next session. Powell Butte attorney Mike McLane has been chosen as the new minority leader. On the Senate side, the Democrats still maintain a 16-14 majority. Peter Courtney is expected to remain Senate President, but it is unclear whether Republicans will keep Ted Ferrioli as minority leader.
In Washington, things remain about the same. President Obama was elected to a second term. Ballots in some of the House races are still being counted, but Republicans were successful in keeping their majority. In the Senate, the Democrats picked up two seats, giving them a 53-45 majority. Two independent members of the Senate are also expected to caucus with the Democrats. In Oregon, all five members of the Oregon House delegation were reelected. Congress will be pretty busy over the next month. Unless a budget deal is reached by the end of the year, a substantial number of budget cuts and tax increases go into effect, known as "going over the fiscal cliff." Most economists agree this would have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy and result in another recession – not to mention all the cuts to federally-funded programs on campus and in the community – so we will be watching this closely and will have another update for you next month.
In Salem, Governor Kitzhaber has his first full Democratic majority in 10 years as governor. While the legislative session doesn't begin until after the first of the year, the budget process begins next month. The Governor's Budget, the starting point for the legislative process to create the 2013-2015 budget, will be released on December 1. A few weeks later, the next revenue forecast will be released. We will update you by email and at next month's meeting.
The OCCA annual conference was this past weekend at the Salem Conference Center. I would like to thank Sharon, Pat, Susie and Tony for attending. Speakers included Josh Wyner from the Aspin Institute, AACC President Walter Bumphus, Chabot College professor Katie Hern, and Dr. Kay McClenney. Congratulations to OCCA on their 50th anniversary and another great conference.
On November 2, I attended a community forum to examine how Lane County will meet the state's 40-40-20 goals. Greg Darnieder, Senior Advisor to Secretary Duncan on the College Access Initiative, visited a spoke about what other regions of the country are doing to increase high school graduation and college completion rates. The event was hosted by the Oregon Student Access Commission and Springfield School District. Thank you to Andrea Newton, Al King, Deron Fort, Dawn DeWolf, Sheryl Berman and Brett Rowlett for attending.
On October 24, we partnered with Lane County, Trillium Health Services, Savon Pharmacy, LTD, and KEZI to offer a free immunization clinic in the lobby of the Health and Wellness Building. Over 400 flu shots and TDAP vaccinations were given. The vaccines were free to the uninsured or underinsured. Thanks to Brett Rowlett, Nadine Wilkes, Mona Arbuckle, Sheryl Berman, Facilities, and everyone else who helped make the event such a success, especially the Student Nurses Association and all the nursing students who volunteered their time and skills.
Last week I shared information with staff about the administrative transition plans. Sonya and the executive deans prepared transition plans and recommendations that have been really helpful. In addition, I have talked to many stakeholders and reviewed the many initiatives and projects, current ones or those that are on the horizon. The overall conclusion is that we have a tremendous amount of work before us here at the college and in the state and we should move expeditiously in filling the vacancies so we can have the person power to do the work. We are sticking with the organizational structure approved by the board in 2008, which was extensively reviewed by a committee chaired by Sonya Christian. This structure was not fully implemented but it will serve to move us forward.
I am looking forward to being more fully and directly involved internally again, leading the transition and working with the many leaders at all levels across the college. The two searches for the executive deans are moving forward and we will open the vice president vacancy by the end of fall term. Having a chief academic officer is essential for the college. The vice president of operations will be open sometime next year, and I will be able to accomplish that without adding any money to the management budget. We have leadership at all levels of the college, classified, faculty and management, so we will be able to move forward and be sure that all the initiatives are progressing.
Fourth week enrollment reports show FTE down 9 percent overall. Compared to our 43 percent increase since 2008/09, we still have many people to serve. The change was expected and is a sign of economic recovery as more people go back to work and fewer enroll in college. In Oregon, the unemployment rate is 8.7percent.
I would like to congratulate two classified staff members: Georgia Soto was named Outstanding Classified Employee of the Month for October. She works in Child and Family Education and was instrumental in helping the center earn its recent five-year accreditation. She started at Lane in 1995 and also helped ASLCC establish its childcare co-op. Russ Pierson was named Outstanding Classified Employee of the Month for November. He was hired in June 2010 in Facilities Management and Planning. He has made significant contributions to the bus pass program, Zimride, BikeLane and other innovations.
We are featured in a national report titled "Greening the Bottom Line" published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. The report tells how Lane uses what's known as a green revolving fund, or GRF, to finance energy efficiency upgrades by reinvesting energy savings.
We enjoyed another wonderful Harvest Dinner last month and raised more than $262,000 for scholarships and programs.
Those of you who attended the Harvest Dinner got a look at "Taste of Lane," the first cookbook published by our Conference and Culinary Services Division, featuring farm-to-table recipes created by the division's renowned chefs, staff, students and alumni. You have one at your places. This is a collaboration of the Culinary Division and Marketing.
In other marketing news, we brought home some awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations District 7 annual conference in Salem last month: A Bronze Medallion award for a Publication Series for our Career-Technical posters and another Bronze Medallion Award for logo design for Food Services. Finally, we have increased our marketing outreach to the local Latino community by running monthly two-page ads and information in Exito Magazine which is locally published and distributed.
We dedicated the Maxwell Student Veteran Center in Building 19 on November 5, and were honored to welcome its namesake, Robert Maxwell of Bend. He is one of only 12 surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients in the US. He taught auto mechanics at Lane from 1966 to 1986. I'm sure you saw one of the many media reports, including the front-page story in The Register-Guard.
As you know Dr. Rudy Crew, Oregon's Chief Education Investment Officer, will be at the college this Friday, November 16 to meet with four of you and with faculty and staff. This is an opportunity to hear a bit about his work in creating a 0-20 education system in Oregon and to engage in dialogue with him regarding your perspectives.
I will conclude my report by wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving.