Lane Community College President Mary Spilde was named Chief Executive Officer of the year earlier this month by the Association of Community College Trustees, beating over 1,200 other community college presidents across the country to earn the association’s most prestigious honor.
Spilde was presented with the Mary Y. Martin Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award on Oct. 14th in Dallas at the association’s annual congress and awards banquet. Nominees included executives from all American Association of Community Colleges member schools, including technical schools, community colleges and junior colleges from across the nation. Five semifinalist nominees were chosen from their respective regions with Spilde representing the Pacific region.
“I’m thrilled, grateful and humbled by receiving this award,” Spilde said. “Awards like this are never attributed to one person — it is a testimony to the great faculty and staff here at Lane.”
The ACCT is a nonprofit educational organization representing elected and appointed trustees at two-year institutions. Spilde was chosen for the award by demonstrating innovation in school programs, published works on post-secondary educational concepts and for special committees she has served on, all of which contribute to making her a national authority on community colleges, workforce development and sustainability.
“I think that the work I have done nationally is what got me noticed for the award,” Spilde said, “but this award should be taken as a reflection of the great work that is done here.”
Spilde is a former board member for the American Association of Colleges and Universities as well as former President of the AACC. In July, she was designated to serve on the AACC’s 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.@@http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Pages/21st-century_commission_members.aspx@@
Spilde has also been recently appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber@@http://governor.oregon.gov/@@ to the Oregon Education Investment Board, where she will serve as one of 12 board members. Her position on that board will be confirmed this November by the Oregon State Senate. This board is managing an effort to create a unified system for investing in and delivering public education from elementary to post-secondary so that Oregonians are prepared for careers in this economy.
“Before and since I have been on the board here at Lane, President Spilde has had amazing reviews,” Lane Board of Education member Susie Johnston said.@@http://www.lanecc.edu/ceschedule/articles/fall2011/boardofeducation.html@@ “It’s outstanding. She well deserves this award for her work and we’re super proud of her because she is a great leader.”
Spilde has served as president of Lane since 2001. She received her bachelor’s and law degrees from Edinburgh University in Scotland before coming to Oregon to obtain her master’s and doctorate from Oregon State University. She joined the faculty at Lane in 1995 as vice president for instructional services, then moved to vice president for instruction and student services. Spilde also worked for 15 years at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Ore., before moving to Eugene to work at Lane.@@http://lanecc.intelliresponse.com/?requestType=NormalRequest&id=1704&source=5&question=President%20Spilde%27s%20Bio@@
“I think that Lane is a great school, and it offers great opportunities for students to be able to grow in many ways,” University transfer student Marissa Glover said. “It makes sense that its administrators are winning awards like this one.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Marissa+Glover@@