Lane Community College has named a new president. The year-long selection process concluded Wednesday night with a unanimous vote by the Board of Education.
Dr. Stephanie Bulger will be LCC’s eighth President. She’ll take the helm from Dr. Margaret Hamilton who’s retiring after leading the college since 2017.
Bulger comes to the college with nearly two decades of experience in higher education. Most recently she was Vice Chancellor for Instructional Services at the San Diego Community College District.
LCC Board Chair Lisa Fragala said Bulger brings strong commitment to strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion.
“That’s a complex issue to approach but she comes at it from a very unique perspective in terms of her own lived experience,” she said. “One aspect was that ultimately LCC would like to become a Hispanic serving institution. And Dr. Bulger Has experience in that area.”
Fragala added that Bulger has a background in cyber security and economic development. And she’s paid close attention to lowering textbook costs through open educational resources.
“More than any other candidate she had a diverse approach to thinking about enrollment strategies that really reflect the unique times that we find ourselves in as we emerge from this pandemic,” she said.
Bulger will take the lead position as LCC president in July.
Fragala said while the Board is very excited to have Dr. Bulger join them, Marge Hamilton and her championing of LCC will be greatly missed.
In addition to the new role, Bulger will also assume challenges. Among them: LCC's nearly $8.5 million budget gap, brought on by declining enrollment. Administrators are reviewing some measures to offset that deficit, including banded tuition and a new strategic enrollment plan.
Lane Community College holds the license for KLCC.
