Monthly Highlights
July-August 2008
LANE RECEIVED A $14,673 GRANT FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY for the Sustainability Infusion Project (SIP). SIP will provide about 220 college faculty members with the skills and tools necessary to infuse concepts of sustainability into existing teaching curricula. The college will hold two "train-the-trainer" workshops to train a total of 20 faculty members. They will each train 10 additional faculty to further infuse sustainability into all aspects of student learning. The grant was one of several for environmental education programs in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. For more information contact Jennifer Hayward or see The Register-Guard at http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=117454&sid=4&fid=1
SUSIE JOHNSTON AND PAT ALBRIGHT were named chair and vice chair, respectively, of the 2008/09 Board of Education. Also serving on the board are Robert Ackerman, Roger Hall, Paul Holman, Tony McCown, and Pat Riggs-Henson.
PRESIDENT MARY SPILDE received her seventh straight outstanding performance evaluation from the Board of Education. "Mary Spilde is Lane Community College's greatest asset," said past chair Pat Riggs-Henson. The evaluation was approved by a unanimous 7-0 vote.
AN EDUCATION AND TRAINING FAIR for Hynix employees and others attracted dozens of employers and about four hundred employees. For more information contact Patsy Raney at 463-5877 or see The Register-Guard at http://www.registerguard.com/rg/Business/story.csp?cid=127119&sid=2&fid=1
THE JAMES F. AND MARION L. MILLER FOUNDATION issued a scholarship challenge grant to Oregon's 17 community colleges worth $1.5 million ranging from $50,000 up to $320,000 in grants. Lane would receive $150,000 and possibly more if other colleges do not meet their target and funds are redistributed. To get the donation, each college's foundation has to raise an equal amount in new money. The grant could create hundreds of additional scholarships for some of the most financially strapped students in Oregon. For more information, contact Lane's Foundation at 463-5226.
LANE STUDENT MELANIE HYERS won first place for her one-act play titled "Something Different for a Change" and student CHERI BROWNE won second place for a short story titled "Nadia's Fire," in the League for Innovation Student Literary Competition. Lane writing instructor, Merry Caston, encouraged both students. For information about this and other League activities, contact Tamara Pinkas at 463-5011.
STUDENT STEVE FARSET received Lane's first Outstanding Geographic Information Science Student award. Farset, 27, is one of the GIS program's first graduates. Lane won a $782,144 three-year grant in 2006 from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Fund (grant number 0603492) to develop the Mapping, Analyzing and Problem Solving (MAPS) GIS program.
STUDENT MATT KEATING represented the 4th Congressional District as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from August 25-28 in Denver and student CHASE CONNOR will serve as a page at the Republican National Convention from September 1-4 in Minneapolis. Keating, 32, is a theater arts major. He organized the Lane Community College chapter of Oregon Students for Obama. Connor, 20, co-founded the Lane County Young Republicans and is a hospitality major. Each student will report on his convention experience through Life@Lane, the blog available from the college homepage. The students credit Lane faculty and the Cooperative Education program for helping them achieve their dreams and pursue their causes. For more information contact Steve Candee at 463-5188 or see The Register-Guard at http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=127944&sid=4&fid=1
JULIA MUNKVOLD was nominated for a national Nursing Excellence Award. The August 2008 issue of NurseWeek says, "Munkvold has worked tirelessly on strategies for increasing the number of nursing graduates in Oregon. Her statewide activities involve streamlining programs to allow ADN graduates to obtain their BSN degrees in only one additional year. Munkvold, who retired June 10, brought a simulation lab to Lane and did fundraising for a new health and wellness building." Nurse of the Year winners in different categories, such as teaching, will be announced later in 2008.
Excerpted from Lane Weekly and news sources by Joan Aschim, Marketing and Public Relations, July-August 2008.