Board Report – October 2012
It's a pleasure to be at our Florence campus. I'd like to thank Dean Mary Jeanne Kuhar and her staff for hosting us, and I appreciate the presence of some of our Florence Advisory Committee members. You may have noticed all the good work Facilities has been doing here at Florence, especially in the last couple of weeks.
Back on main campus, our Health & Wellness Building officially was awarded LEED Gold status. This is a significant accomplishment considering that LEED certifications are now based upon the actual operational performance.
Before our meeting this evening, Mary Jeanne, Sharon and I visited the KCST radio station to visit with news director Bob Sneddon and tape interviews for his "Our Town" program which will air on November 7. We covered a variety of topics.
The Florence Center and Main Campus will participate in the Great Oregon Shakeout earthquake drill this Thursday. In Florence that of course means tsunami preparedness, and I'd like to commend Mary Jeanne for all she does to make the center a safe and welcoming place for our students and community.
We closed our Qualified Energy Conservation Bond financing early this month, using our allocation from the City of Eugene. This is the first energy financing from this program in Oregon and will provide a 70 percent subsidy of the interest cost from the Treasury. Thanks to Greg Morgan for his work on this.
Most of you know that one of our Cessna 152 airplanes made a safe landing in a field south of Eugene Airport last month after experiencing loss of power. We are very proud of the instructor and student who followed their training and protocols and walked away from the event. We are working with the FAA on an investigation. Lane's aviation program has an outstanding safety record of 300,000 hours with no injuries. Kudos to director Steve Boulton and Dean Pat O'Connor for his outstanding leadership. We are in good hands.
The Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB) is holding community forums around the state, including one this Wednesday in Eugene from 6-8 p.m. in the Giustina Ballroom at the Ford Alumni Center at the UO. There also will be a webinar. The forums will allow stakeholders a chance to provide input and feedback on recommendations to the Oregon Education Investment Board and the Governor from the Education Funding Team appointed by the Governor.
For the second time in three years, the Oregon Student Access Commission, which oversees the Oregon Opportunity Grant program and numerous scholarship programs, is in search of a new executive director. Josette Green resigned unexpectedly late last month. The commission has approved Bob Brew as interim executive director and Vic Nunenkamp as interim chief operating officer, and plans to begin the process of selecting a new director after the 2013 legislative session.
Congratulations to ASLCC President Merriam Weatherhead on her election as chair of the Oregon Student Association Board of Directors. Mary is the first community college woman to hold the position. OSA represents over 100,000 students at Oregon's universities and community colleges. This is the second time in the organization's history that a community college student has been chair; both times it has been Lane students.
Tomorrow is the registration deadline for first-time voters in Oregon, so this is your reminder if you still need to register. If you've been on the main campus at all this term, you've likely seen the student-led voter registration drive out in full force. ASLCC won't have their final tally until later this week, but they've already registered more than 6,000 people in 2012. This not only sets a new campus record, it also makes Lane's voter registration drive one of the largest and most successful in the country. Great job to everyone involved.
Marketing has been working closely with the International Program to develop a variety of promotional and recruitment materials. They are particularly proud of their new viewbook, which is at your places. You also have a copy of the current issue of Open for Business, the Eugene Chamber's bi-monthly publication. This issue features our Downtown Campus and how it has helped revitalize downtown Eugene. There's also a great story about the positive impact our Cooperative Education program has on local businesses, and yet another story about how our downtown buildings are a model of sustainability. We could not have hoped for so much excellent earned media!
AACC has asked me to be one of 20 presidents to join a Dialogue on Veterans in Washington on October 30 to talk about what community colleges are doing.
And speaking of veterans, we will dedicate the Maxwell Student Veteran Center on main campus in a ceremony on November 5. We will have a very special guest, the center's namesake, Army Technician 5th Grade Robert Dale Maxwell. Bob is a World War II veteran who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. He helped establish Lane's automotive technology program in the 1960s. He lives in Bend and is coming over with family and friends for the dedication. The center gives student veterans a quiet space to study and regroup, go online, or connect with our veterans' services staff.
I'd like to give special congratulations to Sonya Christian, who was appointed president of Bakersfield College. She has been an amazing executive vice president whose vision, execution, passion, and intelligence have made huge contributions at Lane. She has developed leadership at all levels through the many initiatives she has led. The leadership teams consist of classified, faculty, and managers at all levels, and I'm confident they will move forward and be part of Sonya's lasting legacy. We wish her the best of luck in her new endeavors.
I am working on a leadership plan, and have set up a series of meetings this week and next. I will shift my focus to internal work at the college until we have a new team in place. We have been fortunate to have had stable leadership for the past few years, and I am confident that we can select the right people to form our new team.