Oregon Rainmakers
A conversation with Dr. Stephanie Bulger, president, Lane Community College and Michael Dunne
Dr. Stephanie Bulger became president of Lane Community College in July of this year.
“LCC has a national reputation for quality that I’m not sure even people in the county are aware of.”Dr. Stephanie Bulger
It was seemingly inevitable that Dr. Stephanie Bulger, the president of Lane Community College, would seek a career in education, coming as she does from a long line of educators. Yet it was the message passed down from her great grandfather that truly underscored her devotion to education.
“My great grandfather was a sharecropper in the South and he instilled in all his children the value of education,” she said. “For him, education was a pathway out of poverty that existed after enslavement and his message resonated throughout my family.”
While her own impressive education background (she holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD), might have taken her to a leadership position at a four-year university, Bulger has always believed in the mission of the community college system.
“Community colleges believe that if you transform the individual, you transform the community, and that has always meant so much to me,” she said.
In service to that mission, Bulger has built an impressive career in community college leadership including roles as vice chancellor at the San Diego Community College District and Wayne County Community College District in Detroit.
But even from her vantage point in San Diego and Detroit, Bulger knew well the reputation of LCC within the community college universe.
” Bulger said. “When I would go to community college conferences around the country, I would always attend a panel led by LCC and take back the lessons l learned there.”
Now that she’s the one leading the college, Bulger is committed to expanding enrollment and broadly extolling the virtues of an LCC education far and wide throughout Lane County and beyond.
“I tell almost anyone I meet, that I’m willing to go anywhere and address any audience and talk about the great things happening at Lane.”
Bulger’s pitch these days includes highlighting the array of programs that can launch careers in such fields as first responder occupations, drone technology, and healthcare services. She also touts new facilities such as a health profession building, a trades profession building, and expanded plans to become a workforce hub in the county.
“Part of my vision is to take the best of what a traditional community college is and join it with new technologies and new ideas,” she says. “We continue to provide an outstanding in person experience for our students and faculty, but with fully remote and hybrid options, we are offering a whole new way of learning.”
