Monthly Highlights
June 2009
A GROUNDBREAKING FOR THE HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER was held June 2. Guests included keynote speaker and Lane founding President Dale Parnell. Presentations were followed by a dirt-turning ceremony featuring one of the same shovels used in 1967 for the main campus groundbreaking. The new 41,700-square-foot building will provide essential classroom and lab space for nursing and other health care training programs including emergency medical technology, respiratory care, and physical therapist assistant. The building is Lane's first to be funded mostly through private donations. The $15 million budget includes $6.75 million in matching state funds. The building is scheduled for completion by fall 2010. It will meet the LEED Silver rating for energy efficiency and sustainability.
SPRING TERM FACULTY RECOGNITION AWARDS were presented to sculpture instructor Lee Imonen and Transitions to Success instructor Cara DiMarco. Student comments included: "I truly wish that all the teachers at Lane were just half as awesome as Lee Imonen" and "Cara has been the most inspiring teacher I have ever had."
PRESIDENT MARY SPILDE received her eighth straight outstanding annual performance evaluation from the college's Board of Education. "Mary is a well-respected and passionate leader within the college and community, state and nation," said chair Susie Johnston at the board’s June 10 board meeting. Also at the meeting, it was announced that Spilde would visit Amman, Jordan, the week of June 15 as a guest of the U.S. Department of Education, to present at a symposium to advance community college education in the Middle East and North Africa.
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING COURSE GRADUATES FIRST CLASS; REGISTRATION OPEN
The nine-month Sustainable Building Advisor Certificate course graduated its first class this month and orientations are now being held for the next session that begins in October. The class of six women and nine men learned how to create energy efficient, cost effective buildings that provide healthy working and living conditions. They studied climate responsive energy design, day-lighting, green materials, indoor environmental quality, and water conservation. See the story and photo at http://www.lanecc.edu/mpr/news/rel01147.htm. Submitted by the editor.
THE COLLEGE BUDGET for 2009/10 was adopted at the June 10 Board of Education meeting. The $77.7 million general fund budget preserves programs, services and jobs but raises tuition and fees, based on an expected $423 million in state funding to the state’s 17 two-year colleges, a 15 percent reduction from $500 million in the last biennium.
GRADUATION WAS HELD JUNE 13 at the Lane Events Center at the county fairgrounds. Welcoming students and guests on behalf of the college were President Mary Spilde and Board Chair Susie Johnston. Keynote speakers were student Teresa Johnson, student body president Josh Canaday, and culinary instructor Clive Wanstall.
THE ARCHIVES COMPLETED A "GUIDE TO THE KLCC-FM RECORDS" COLLECTION, contributing an important addition to the holdings of the Lane Archives as well as an important addition to the historical record of public radio in the U.S. Records in the collection date from 1968 and document the administrative, news and music broadcasting, marketing, public relations, and fundraising activities of the radio station. The collection contains 40 cubic feet of material including paper records and 153 audio cassettes, 151 reel-to-reel recordings, as well as video cassettes and audio and video CDs.
KLCC 89.7 FM NEWS WON 10 awards from the Oregon Associated Press Broadcast Association, seven awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc., and five awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, for work produced in 2008. The news department includes director Tripp Sommer, six part-time host/reporters, and a handful of volunteer reporters.
DOWNTOWN CENTER RENEWAL plans received an $8 million boost from the legislature near the end of the session, as part of the state’s plan to issue $1.5 billion in bonds for variety of construction and other capital projects.
STATE FUNDING IMPROVED for the state's community colleges by the end of the legislative session. The state budget includes $450.5 million for Oregon's 17 two-year colleges, up from the $423 million originally proposed by the Joint Ways and Means Committee co-chairs, but still a 10 percent reduction from the $500 million allocated for the current biennium. The increase translates to about $2.8 million more for Lane over the next two years. The funds will be used to add classes to meet demand and provide some margin in the event state allocations drop unexpectedly next year as the recession continues.
Excerpted from Lane Weekly and news sources by Joan Aschim, Marketing and Public Relations, June 2009.