LY #121 Presidential Candidate Visit #3

Patrick Lanning on left*

As a feminist I hate to say it but I liked the dude the best of the three.  Dr. Patrick Lanning is from Prineville and I have a feeling that COCC would not be a springboard for him to better places.  He said that this was the only place he was applying -- that he wasn't on a job search.

I like the idea of a college president who stays for ten years or more.  Would he?  In his autobiographical statement he mentioned that his mentors in the trade of academic administration (both women) had advised him to move from Lane to Chemeketa for more and wider experience.  So I could be wrong about reading him as wanting to make a longer term commitment to COCC.  Yet at the end of his presentation he spoke about wanting to return to Central Oregon to be with family here.  Some of what he talked about seemed a bit too personal and yet not atypical for this part of the country.

What I liked about Patrick Lanning was his quiet focus on others combined with some self-awareness of both his strengths and weaknesses and a good dose of humor.  He had a speaking habit of closing his eyes when beginning to answer a question, as though blocking out extra stimulation so that he could think clearly about what he was being asked.  (He also had the old Eddie Foy spit problem when he was excited and at one point apologized to the folks in the front row.)   He was more aware of some of COCC's challenges than the other two candidates seemed to be.  He showed some concern about our faculty being too part-time and adjunct heavy.  His talk about planning six years into the future and finding out more about where people are at now rather than barging in with lots of vision was nice for my financially conservative little heart to hear.

I especially appreciated the answer he gave me when I asked him a question about his dissertation, The Implementation of a Year of Shared Governance at a Vanguard Community College.  I'd looked at the abstract and some of his findings a couple of weeks ago but I hadn't noticed that Jim Middleton had been a member of his doctoral  committee.  In the dissertation, Lanning analyzes the effectiveness of governance councils and other aspects of shared governance. He has great concerns about the involvement of stakeholders in institutional decisions that impact their lives.   I wanted to ask him about how he differed from his former committee member.  So after identifying myself as a soon-to-be retiree, I asked about what if any philosophical differences he saw between himself and Dr. Middleton.

He smiled and hesitated and laughed (there was general laughter in the room).  Then he said, "I'm not sure what to say" and went on to say that he'd really only gotten to know Jim over the past two years  after working with him on various statewide community college issues.  He said that he didn't know if Jim had this motivation but that "I am passionate about the community college's job of lifting people out of poverty."  He then went on to note, "I enjoy working closely as a team and I trust the people I work with."  It wasn't clear if he thought this was also a "difference" between the two of them.  He also said that Jim had helped him to get better at interjecting his own opinion rather than always standing back as he used to and spend too much time listening.  He finished his answer by pausing and then saying, "However all that fits with how you see Dr. Middleton."

I thought this answer a combination of directly stated values and slyly critical observation.  But I could be wrong.

 The only thing that seemed a bit flashy about the quiet Patrick Lanning was the honking hefty emerald in that college ring flashing green sparks throughout the Q n A.


* In photo from Oregon Community College Association website:
Patrick Lanning - President, Yamhill Valley Campus, Chemeketa Community College
Ed Dodson - Board Member, Chemeketa Community College
Judith Ervin - OCCA President and Board Member, Clackamas Community College