The new president for Lane Community College started her job today.
Stephanie Bulger starts the same month a $328 million budget takes effect for the 2022-23 Fiscal Year at Lane, which is 8% less than last year’s budget.
Like other community college administrators across Oregon and the U.S., Bulger faces declining enrollment and tighter spending options.
Bulger told KLCC that the campus community is ready for those challenges.
“We will face those with the kind of resilience that Lane Community College is known far. And we will work together as a team. Lane Community College is known for that as well. And for having a culture that I would consider is self-corrective, so is always concerned and interested in continuously improving.”
Bulger said she wants Lane to reach out more into the community, and build on its inclusion.
Note: Lane Community College is the license holder for KLCC.
Below is the transcript of a July 5, 2022 interview between KLCC’s Brian Bull and LLC President Dr. Stephanie Bulger.
Bull: You enter this position as many community colleges – including Lane – are dealing with challenges, including decreased enrollment and tight budgets, including the adopted $328 million one for FY 2022-23 that just started, which is roughly 8% lower than the previous budget cycle. How do you plan to meet these challenges in your work with LCC?
Bulger: Lane Community College, is an exceptional community College, it's got a national reputation it’s recognized for innovation and sustainability. And that really is the foundation for Lane Community College’s success and thriving into the future. And so as we face any of the challenges that we had - and certainly we had challenges even before the pandemic, we will face those with the
kind of resilience that Lane Community College is known far. And we will work together as a team. Lane Community College is known for that as well. And for having a culture that I would consider is self-corrective, so is always concerned and interested in continuously improving the organization. And so we will use all of the talent that we've got at Lane Community College to meet the challenges, to resolve issues and to reach out to the community. I'm really very, very interested in having Lane Community College reach out more into the community and be more of an inclusive community college.
Bull: Community colleges are usually seen as an important resource during times of economic uncertainty, which includes the pandemic economy. What assets do you see LCC offering in these unusual times?
Bulger: One of the assets -and there are many assets at Lane Community College – certainly one of them is the programs that are offered at Lane and those programs are programs that will help individuals get the kind of positions, the kind of jobs that are relevant in today's workforce, and they can do that certainly coming to a community college that has low tuition, small class sizes, leave the community college with no debt, and they can enter the workforce and transform their lives through education. That means that they can also lift up their families because what I believe is that when you lift up your community, then you are lifting up everyone that is in the region that we serve.
Bull: You’re described as someone who’s committed to strengthening equity, diversity, and inclusion in community colleges. What do you consider key to achieving those three ideals?
Bulger: Equity, diversity, and inclusion are critically important. Particularly now we are so attuned to the to addressing and redressing in areas of equity, diversity inclusion, it's on all of our minds. And the way that I think about equity, diversity, inclusion is that it's about fairness, and it's about including more people and the ways that we will be able to do that is again, by working together. Where it's possible, we will engage with one another and respect in a respectful manner because we are a community college and that is what we do. We engage with one another.
We engage with ideas, but we do that in a respectful manner, and with a civility. And we will be able to look at equity, diversity, inclusion, not just in some parts of our institution, but in the entire institution. And what that will do at the end of the day, is it will help everyone, not only our students, but our faculty, our classified staff, our managers and other employees and our community members who interface with us -feel that they belong at the community college and they are included in the community college.
You may know that Lane Community College serves the entire of the entirety of Lane County. And so we are not only in the city of Eugene, but we serve the students and community in Springfield and Cottage Grove, at the Aviation Academy near the airport, and also in Florence. And so we want to make sure that everyone feels like they belong at Lane Community College. So that's the way that we would address equity, diversity, and inclusion. I think that for Lane Community College, we have more work to do. But we are up to the task.
Bull: Now your earlier degrees focused on 19th and 20th Century British and American Literature, and English. And you also enjoy presidential biographies. Any influential works, novels, or bios that you’ve particularly appreciated?
Bulger: I have many that I've appreciated, and I really like the presidential biographies that I've read of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but I read many of them and because I like to get a balanced view of history. And when you read those biographies, you get a sense of the history of the time, that the president at the time, who's the leader of this country, and how they made decisions, and that's one reason why I read presidential biographies. And I also actually go to the archives, where it's possible, the archives and museums of presidents. So I've been to Arkansas, for example, to Texas, and to course in California, been to some of those areas as well. It's just part of a habit of mine.
In terms of literature, I really did enjoy focusing on 19th and 20th century British and American literature. And I like all of the writers that I read and it's almost not something that I want to just identify in terms of a particular writer because I liked them all. They were really, really, impactful to me. So whether it's Dickens or Hawthorne or Emerson or other writers like that, and then of course, the 20th century writers. Well, I was reading you know, literature, African American literature. And so I was really very, very excited to be able to focus on that.
Bull: You’ve also mentioned hiking and travel as interests. Any areas of Oregon you’ve seen already, or are on the list of places to visit?
Bulger: I have only been in Oregon for just a short while. And in the time that I have been here because I've been so busy getting myself prepared for for entering into this new role. I have been able to see for example, it’s a lot of fun to be able to walk along the Willamette River Trail. I’ve been to the Farmer’s Market. I've been down to Hayward Field. Much of what I've been doing is visiting restaurants. I've been eating my way through Eugene, because Eugene has some really exceptional food. So that's pretty much what I've been doing here in Eugene.
Bull: Thank you for your time, President Bulger, and for visiting KLCC. Anything else you’d like to share before we wrap up our conversation?
Bulger: Well, we certainly want everyone to know that Lane Community College has - the doors are open and we are registering now for the fall semester. And in fact, if individual individuals want to take additional courses this summer, there are courses available. And we offer not only programs that lead to transfer to a university, but we offer short-term programs, some of which are non-credit that lead directly to the workforce. So we have so many options. And I would also add community enrichment courses and so we have so many options for the community. We would just love to be able to serve the community in more ways and we want to let everyone know that our doors are open.
Bull: Well, Stephanie, thank you very much for your time and again for stopping by KLCC.
Bulger: Thank you.
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