Monthly Highlights
April 2008
LANE PLACED FOURTH BEST IN THE NATION in the RecycleMania waste minimization competition for colleges and universities sponsored by the National Recycling Coalition and the EPA. Of 95 competitors in its category, Lane generated 26.6 pounds of cumulative waste per person over the 10-week competition. First-place North Lake College of Irving, Texas, generated 12.53 pounds and last-place Allegheny College of Meadville, Pennsylvania, generated 526.31 pounds. Lane is an emerging national leader in sustainability and has won five awards in the past two years including the Campus Sustainability Leadership Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and the Outstanding College Recycling Program Award from the National Recycling Coalition.
THE NEW YORK TIMES cited Lane's Energy Management and Renewable Energy Programs as leading training programs in a story titled, "Majoring in Renewable Energy."
THE FIRST NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE for community colleges was held at Lane. The conference was geared to faculty, administrators and students and offered strategies for infusing sustainability into curriculum, operations, student life, and other activities. Speakers were Denis Hayes, environmental activist and coordinator of the first national Earth Day; President Rusty Stephens of Wilson Community College in North Carolina, a recognized leader in the sustainability movement; and Lane President Mary Spilde, who has positioned Lane as a leader of sustainability practices and education.
PHI THETA KAPPA honor students and leaders brought home top awards from the society's annual convention. President Mary Spilde was awarded a Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction. Vice President for Instruction and Student Services Sonya Christian was awarded a Distinguished Administrator Award. Chapter Advisor Velda Arnaud won a Paragon Award for New Advisors for the third year in a row. Dee Lauzon, student president of Lane's chapter, was elected as international vice president of Division IV. Lane’s chapter received the Scholarship Hallmark Award was named a one of the top 25 chapters in the society.
PRESIDENT MARY SPILDE was named chair-elect of the American Association of Community Colleges at its annual convention. She has served on the board since 2006 and currently chairs its Committee on Program Initiatives. Spilde also received the American Association for Women in Community Colleges 2008 Carolyn DesJardins President of the Year Award. She has provided leadership to AAWCC for more than 20 years at local, state and national levels.
LINDA SCHANTOL WAS NAMED CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH for March. She began as an administrative support specialist in Language, Literature and Communication in 1998 and became administrative coordinator in 2006.
NEXTSTEP RECYCLING of Eugene was named 2008 Cooperative Education Employer of the Year. Students from accounting, information technology, multimedia and other programs have interned at NextStep since the company began and two former interns now work there. Founder Lorraine Kerwood is a former Lane student. She took adult education classes, then took college credit classes and Transitions to Success programs. Today, she's a client at the Business Development Center and serves on the college's Computer Information Technology Advisory Committee.
AUTHOR LOUISE STEINMAN visited Lane as part of the Reading Together project. She wrote the memoir, "The Souvenir: a Daughter Discovers Her Father's War." Steinman held readings and discussions with students, staff and the public around this year's project theme, "War: Survival, Loss and Reconciliation."
Excerpted from Lane Weekly and news sources by Joan Aschim, Marketing and Public Relations, April 2008.