WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Have ideas? E-mail Bob Welch at
bwelch@guardnet.com.
THEN: Dale Parnell was a former Springfield High principal
who, with a few others, spearheaded the founding of Lane Community College
in 1965, and was its popular first president.
NOW: Parnell, 79, who left Eugene three years later, has followed
the community college trail to all sorts of educational adventures,
including a stint as president of the American Association of Community
Colleges in Washington, D.C.
His first post-LCC stop was Salem, where then-Gov. Tom McCall
had appointed him state superintendent of public instruction. During
Parnell's tenure, a handful of other community colleges were launched -
at a time when such schools were beneath the superintendent's
jurisdiction.
"Community colleges have been my baby for a long, long time."
Six years later, it was off to San Diego, where he became
chancellor of San Diego's community colleges, then to Stockton, Calif.,
where he helped launch San Joaquin Delta Community College and served as
president for five years.
While heading up the association in Washington, D.C., for a
decade, Parnell helped start a tech-prep associate degree program that
Congress funded to the tune of $110 million.
After Washington, he served a one-year stint as commissioner of
community colleges in Oregon, then launched a community-college leadership
program at Oregon State of which current LCC president Mary Spilde was part.
And wrote a book, "The Neglected Majority," that addressed the needs of the
75 percent of students who won't graduate from four-year colleges.
He tried to retire, but the University of South Florida wooed him
to Tampa Bay. Seven years ago, he retired for good. He and wife Beverly now
live at Capital Manor, a retirement community in Salem, where his fires
still burn for community colleges.
"How fortunate we are in Oregon for all the good that's come out
of those who attended community colleges," he says.