Lane Community College (Eugene, Or.) President's Office

Dale Parnell was educated at Willamette University (B.A., 1951) and at the University of Oregon (M.Ed., 1956, D.Ed., 1964) and served as principal of Springfield High School and superintendent of Lane Intermediate Education District.

He was instrumental in founding Lane Community College and served as its first president from 1965-1968. He was appointed Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1968 by Governor Tom McCall.

In 1974 he became chancellor of San Diego Community College and in 1976 he became president of San Joaquin Delta Community College. He was president of the American Association of Community Colleges from 1981-1991, followed by a year as Oregon's community college commissioner.

He helped establish the Western Center for Community College Development at Oregon State University in 1992 where he taught before retiring in 1997. After retiring, he was a visiting professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His many publications include the book The Neglected Majority, published in 1985.

Bert Dotson, born in Eugene in 1923, was assistant to the president, 1964-1982. Prior to 1964 he had graduated from Eugene High School, received a B.S. in Architecture and Allied Arts from University of Oregon in 1951, and in 1961 completed a Masters in General Studies and a Masters in Education also from University of Oregon. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, with active service in Europe, during which he progressed from private to first sergeant.

Dotson worked as an instructor at Springfield High School from 1951 to 1957 and then as dean of boys until 1959 when he was appointed curriculum supervisor for the Springfield Schoool District. From 1963 to 1964 he was the district director of research and publications for the Springfield School District.

In February of 1964 Dotson was appointed executive secretary of a community college study committee and charged with paving the way for a ballot measure that could create Lane Community College. He took charge of a public relations campaign intended to convince local citizens of the importance and usefulness of, and need for, a community college. In the fall elections of 1964 voters approved the idea of LCC.

The first LCC Board of Education appointed Dotson the college's first administrative assistant. He worked to create the first budget, find classroom space, hire staff and faculty, and select the college's first president, Dale Parnell. Dotson was also instrumental in the passage of a $10 million bond levy and serial levy and the acquisition of matching state funds for the construction of the LCC campus on East 30th Ave. Dotson continued in his position as LCC administrative assistant / assistant to the president until 1982, working under four presidents.

Dale Parnell was educated at Willamette University (B.A., 1951) and at the University of Oregon (M.Ed., 1956, D.Ed., 1964) and served as principal of Springfield High School and superintendent of Lane Intermediate Education District. He was instrumental in founding Lane Community College and served as its first president from 1965-1968. He was appointed Oregon superintendent of public instruction in 1968 by Governor Tom McCall.

In 1974 he became chancellor of San Diego Community College and in 1976 he became president of San Joaquin Delta Community College. He was president of the American Association of Community College from 1981-1991, followed by a year as Oregon's community college commissioner.

He helped establish the Western Center for Community College Development at Oregon State University in 1992 where he taught before retiring in 1997. Since then he has been a visiting professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His many publications include the book, The Neglected Majority, published in 1985.

John E. (Jack) Carter was born in 1931 and was raised on a cattle and fruit farm in Riddle, Oregon. He attended Southern Oregon State College where he received a bachelor of science degree in elementary education in 1954. The University of Oregon awarded him a master’s degree in education in 1963. He taught in the elementary and junior high schools in Oakridge, 1954-1963, and served as vice-principal and principal at the Oakridge junior-senior high school, 1963-1967. He began working at LCC in 1967, first as a counselor and then as director of student activities, 1967-1970. He was dean of student services, 1970-1988, and served as interim president of LCC from 1988 until his retirement in 1990.

Jerry Moskus was president of Lane Community College from March 1990 until June 2001.

Moskus, born in 1942, earned a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Illinois State University in 1983. He wrote his dissertation on community college student withdrawal.

He began his professional career as an administrative assistant to the president of Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois, where in 1984 he advanced to the position of vice president for academic services. The next year he was hired by Des Moines Community College, where he supervised four campuses as executive vice president of educational services. Leaving the Midwest for Oregon, Moskus became the fifth president of Lane Community College on March 1, 1990.

As president of LCC, Moskus won voter approval for a $42.8 million construction bond in May 1995 to fund construction on main campus, a new center in Cottage Grove, renovations in Florence, and learning centers at eight district high schools.

With the implementation of a customized workforce training program, he helped attract to the community major high-tech employers including Symantec Corporation in 1993, Sony Disc Manufacturing in 1994, and Hyundai Electronics America in 1996.

Moskus advanced diversity and affirmative action at the college by hiring the first affirmative action director in seventeen years, updating the affirmative action plan, and implementing a diversity plan. He received awards from the African American Community Coalition and the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment for his efforts.

Moskus restructured the college to place emphasis on learning and students.

After retiring from LCC in June 2001, Moskus moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to become president of Metropolitan Community College.

With his wife, Dr. Virginia Loftus, Moskus has had five children.

Marie Matsen started her career at Lane Community College as a computer lab assistant in 1982. She held positions in several departments over the years, including Computer Services; Institutional Research, Planning, and Evaluation; and the President’s Office, where she worked as assistant to the president from 1991 to 1994. She acted as vice president for college operations from 1994 until her retirement in 2006, including a stint as interim president of the college from July to August 2001 between the Moskus and Mary Spilde administrations.

Tracy Simms began working in the President’s Office during the 1993 school year as secretary to the president. She became assistant to President Moskus in 1997 and continues to work as executive assistant to President Mary Spilde as of 2007.

Robert Pickering served as president of Lane Community College from 1969 to 1970.

Pickering was born in 1930 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was educated at the University of Minnesota (B.S., 1953; Ed.M, 1954) and at Columbia University (Ed.D, 1960). Before coming to Lane, he was in private psychology practice and was president of the Arizona College Foundation.

Eldon Guy Schafer (1922-1985) was president of Lane Community College for fifteen years, 1970-1985.

Schafer was born in Molalla, Oregon, to Lillian M. and Guy F. Schafer on February 27, 1922. He attended rural elementary and secondary schools in the Canby and Molalla area, graduated from high school in 1939, and attended Oregon State University in 1941. In 1942 he joined the U.S. Army and entered an engineering program at Pomona College in California. He was sent to Europe in 1943 and served with the 124th Armored Engineers and 13th Armored Division in France, Germany, and Austria.

After the war he returned to Pomona College, where he was active in sports, and graduated with a B.A. in 1948. He continued his education in California, receiving an M.A. (1960) and a Ph.D. (1965) in Education Administration from Claremont Graduate School.

He married Lucy Jane Brokaw in Los Angeles in 1947; their son, Kenneth, was born in 1961.

He began his teaching career at Capistrano High School in California where he taught and coached sports between 1950-1952 and served as dean of students, principal, and district superintendent, 1957-1966. He was associate dean of instruction at Riverside City College, 1966-1967.

Schafer moved to Oregon in 1967 to become the founding president of Linn-Benton Community College, 1967-1970. From there he moved to the presidency of Lane Community College, 1970-1985.

Schafer was active in many regional and national educational organizations and served as officers for the Oregon Community College Association, the Northwest Association of Community and Junior Colleges, the League for Innovation in the Community College, the Commission on Colleges of Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Oregon Community College Presidents’ Council.

He traveled to China twice, in 1982 and 1984, as a member of the International Visiting Team of the World Bank Educational Advisory Group. The group assisted China in restructuring its vocational education.

Dr. Schafer resigned as president of the college on April 30, 1985. He died on August 6, 1985 following a long battle with leukemia and multiple myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow).

Robert E. Hamill served as interim president of Lane Community College from 1968 to 1969.

Robert Hamill was born in 1926 in Merced, California. He was educated at the University of Redlands in California (B.A., 1948) and at the University of Oregon (M.S., 1956; D.Ed., Educational Administration, 1967). He taught in the Eugene public schools and served an administrative internship at Lane Community College before being named interim president in 1968.

He served as vice-president of Highline Community College, Midway, Washington, 1969-1972, and as president of Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, Washington, 1972-1977. He was associate superintendent for community colleges in the Oregon Department of Education, 1977-1986. He died in 1989 following a long illness.