Weekly Wrap-Up

LBCC was awarded $1.5 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help fund renovation and construction of the Advanced Transportation Technology Center in Lebanon. LBCC’s project was one of four projects chosen for funding, part of a $7.2 million investment to support business development and job training in Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah. The ATTC will be the only major training facility for alternative fuel vehicles between Seattle and San Francisco, and will serve as a first step toward creating a base for alternative fuel technology in the Willamette Valley. The grant will be used to renovate an existing 35,000-square-foot building on the Lebanon site to house the automotive technician program, and to construct a new 10,000-square-foot innovation center beginning winter 2014. LBCC is continuing to raise funds to support moving the heavy equipment and diesel program to the center, with plans for an additional 20,000-square-foot building to be built on the site. Future plans include the construction of compressed natural gas and propane fueling stations, and electrical charging stations. The college has raised approximately $6.2 million for the project. In addition to the EDA grant, major funding for the center includes: more than $2 million in private donations; $1.4 million from the City of Lebanon Urban Renewal District; $800,000 from Oregon lottery funds; $100,000 from the Lebanon Industrial Development Corporation; $350,000 from the Meyer Memorial Trust; and $50,000 from Drive Oregon. Industry partners include Snap On, Pacific Power, John and Phil’s Toyota, and CoEnergy Propane of Corvallis.

Former art faculty member Gary Westford recently donated several art pieces from his personal collection to the college. Working with the Art and Aesthetics Committee and the college Foundation, the pieces include original works by Gustavo Martinez, silkscreen prints by Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Joseph Albers and Keith Haring, along with ceramics, wooden bowls, a Chinese scroll, and replicas of Egyptian sculpture and paintings. The art will be on view throughout the college in the Learning Center, Library, Madrone Hall, North Santiam Hall and the Periwinkle Child Development Center. Gary also made several monetary donations to college scholarship and grant funds in memory of his parents, including: $2,500 to the Department of Fine Art Foundation in memory of his father; six - $250 artistic merit grants to the Department of Music Foundation in memory of his mother; and $1,000 to the Department of English in support of the Valley Writers Series in memory of his step-mother.

The community phone survey will continue through next week to assess the level of taxpayer support for possible future LBCC construction projects. The survey was developed after a series of focus groups and interviews with community leaders designed to assess what the community believes it needs from LBCC, and it also considers needs the college has identified. It’s likely we’ll hear from people who have been contacted to take the survey. Please let them know this is part of the process to determine the needs of our community and to learn at what level the public will support developing the facilities to meet those needs.

Former art faculty member Gary Westford stands next to
an oil painting titled "Bounty" by artist Gustavo Martinez,
which is hanging in the college Learning Center.

Donated oil painting "Watermelon in the Moonlight" by
Gustavo Martinez, hanging in the Learning Center.

Changes to New Student Registration

Changes to new student registration are taking place this summer, with a clearer focus on advising and registration.

The sessions, called New Student Registration sessions, start Monday, July 15. Students will begin the session at a Resource Fair in Takena Hall, which highlights clubs and college services, followed by a brief welcome in the theater. They then move to small group registration and advising sessions, which are divided by degree/major and are led by faculty members in the college computer labs.

The new format addresses some SENSE survey items that indicate students want and need more engagement with advising and resources early in the process. New Student Registration sessions are one experience of several that can improve student SENSE ratings.

Data tells us that students who are welcomed, whose names we learn on first contact, and who are properly advised are more likely to succeed in college. The college community can help by welcoming these students and doing their best to get to know them.

Three, 3.5-hour sessions will be held over five days; July 15 and 29, August 12 and 28, and September 19; and on one day at the Benton Center; July 24.

Students looking to start at LBCC will begin with the online Admissions Application, then take placements tests, do Roadrunner Entry, and sign up to attend one of the New Student Registration sessions described above. If you happen on a lost student looking for registration sessions, direct them to Takena Hall and welcome them aboard!

Weekly Wrap-up

As part of college redesign efforts, the five newly named divisions became official July 1. Organizational charts will be posted online as soon as key positions are filled. The new division names, and the deans, are as follows:

• Healthcare, ELearning & Media Division, (and Virtual College Division), Ann Malosh, dean
• Science, Engineering & Math Division (SEM), dean TBA
• Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities Division (ASSH), Katie Winder, dean
• Business, Applied Technology, & Industry Division (BATI), Dan Lara, dean
• Academic Foundations Division (AF), Sally Moore, dean

Carol McKiel has been named as the new director for High School Partnerships. Carol comes to us from Lane Community College, where she served as the TRIO STEM director. Carol will continue to sustain, expand and develop a comprehensive range of high school-to-college programs for area high schools. She begins her new position July 22.

For the past 10 months, Tammi Drury, LBCC degree evaluator, has been working on a statewide project called the “Oregon Win-Win Initiative,” which seeks to find students who earned community college credits, but were not awarded a degree or certificate. Sponsored by a grant from the Lumina Foundation, the project is a collaboration between Oregon’s 17 community college’s, Oregon Workforce Development, and the Oregon University System to identify former students who qualify for an AAOT and award it retroactively, or to identify students who are academically short 9-12 credits of earning their AAOT and hopefully have them finish. Starting with a list of 510 former students from the past 10 years who earned 90 or more credits at LBCC, the college was able to award 43 of the students with degrees. Tammi plans to travel to Washington DC July 29-31 with Oregon’s Win-Win team representatives to take part in a conference on the project. Read more about Project Win-Win at http://www.ihep.org/projectwin-win.cfm

The summer High School Career Academies, for high school students in grades nine through 12, wrapped-up last week with workshops held in Drafting/Engineering Graphics, Machine Tool, Mechatronics, Welding and Performing Arts. Students received hands-on, interactive experiences in each academy, and all but one was held for free. The number of students participating in each academy was:

• Drafting/Engineering Graphics – 19 students
• Machine Tool – 7 students
• Mechatronics – 9 students
• Performing Arts – 40 students
• Welding – 11 students

The LBCC Road Runners American Cancer Society Relay for Life team raised a record $5,632.54, surpassing the team’s goal of $5,000 and putting them at the Gold fundraising level. Go Road Runners! (team members list at: http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=50436&pg=teamlist, click on the team name)