Since 1970, the University’s Child Care and Development Centers has helped to make education more accessible for student parents like Amanda Stout.
Stout, a junior biology major in the Honors College, is one of the “second-generation” student parents who attended the CCDC program as a child.
“I remember being a child of student parents, being on the bus or riding on the back of a bike through campus,” Stout said.
Stout’s four-year-old daughter, Antonia, followed in her mother’s footsteps and participated in the Westmoreland Toddler Program for two years. Stout and her husband, who is just finishing his education in the business college, had their second daughter, Samantha, on Oct. 11.
Students, parents and faculty involved in CCDC celebrated the center’s 30th anniversary Oct. 13. The celebration included performances from CCDC alumni, including blues guitarist David Jacobs Strain, juggler David Kelly and singer Xavier Kylablue.
CCDC, a program specifically designed for children of University students and faculty, now includes seven nationally accredited child care sites in Eugene to serve the needs of University families. The programs are located in the University campus area and offer services to children between the ages of 12 months and six years.
Child Care Coordinator Dennis Reynolds has been managing the group of 25 regular staff members and the team of 100 student aides and assistant teachers since 1987.
“There is a continual process of change that reflects social change and parent needs,” Reynolds said. “We try to make sure that what we are doing reflects knowledge in the best practice in early education.”
Reynolds said CCDC originated from the demands of student protests and activism 30 years ago, when parents met with University president Robert Clark and a committee was appointed that allocated “temporary” space for a child care center.
Since then, Reynolds has seen the program grow, though it still offers services to improve educational access for student parents, enhance the early education of young children and serve as a learning site for University students.
Reynolds said the development of a new building is on the top of the list of priorities for student building fees. The CCDC program still uses the house that was allocated for child care 30 years ago, but a more permanent space would allow the program to serve an expanded range of age groups and improve the quality of services provided, he said.
Roughly one-third of the CCDC budget comes from student incidental fees, while parent income generates the rest. This year, $299,348 of the CCDC’s $769, 251 budget comes from incidental fees.
Megan Wheeler, lead teacher in the EMU Toddler Program, said when she began working for the program in 1982, the staffing and funding for curriculum supplies were not nearly what they are now.
Wheeler said she hopes more respect is given to teachers and educators in general in the future.
“We live in a society that does not respect early childhood education because it is a field that is predominantly women,” Wheeler said.
Associate Vice President of Institutional Affairs Janette Oliver, who attended the University in the 1970s and began working for the University in the 1980s, has seen the changes in child care through the years. She said the University is friendlier to families than it has been in the past, when there were fewer options available.
“We take certain things for granted today. We take the politics and the visibility of child care for granted,” Oliver said. “We assume that parents are going to have child care.”
She also said that culture has shifted in regard to gender expectations in child care.
“There was a time that the assumption was, especially if you were female, that you would stay home, not as an option, but as a requirement,” Oliver said.