OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Established in 2004, the Charles E. Carpenter Lecture and Conference Endowment supports advances in professional development for community college leaders. Held each spring, the Carpenter Lecture features a nationally known speaker on a topic of importance to community colleges. In addition to current students in the Adult and Higher Education doctoral program, attendees include northwest community college leaders and members of the OSU community. The Carpenter Lecture has become a premier professional development event for community college leaders and has significantly advanced Oregon State University’s work in community college leadership.
"Community Colleges: Engines for Economic and Social Prosperity"
In this forum, Dr. Rodriguez observes that America’s community colleges— which are the most egalitarian institutions of American public higher education, serving more than 12 million students each year—play a leading role in advancing social mobility, as well as strengthening our nation’s economic health, future prosperity and democracy. He will address how community colleges currently face an array of formidable challenges, including demands to increase access and equity; raise completion and graduation rates; and improve postgraduate outcomes. Indeed, these challenges must be addressed in a climate of decreasing public confidence in higher education, staggering enrollments, and segregated educational attainment and outcomes.
Now leading the largest community college district in the nation, Dr. Rodriguez will draw from his varied experiences as a public higher education loyalist to describe how community colleges provide the best return on investment to move the needle on access, equity and completion.
OSU Portland Center
555 SW Morrison St Suite 2100
6:00 - 7:00 pm Refreshments and Doctoral Student Presentations
7:00 - 8:00 pm Address by Dr. Francisco Rodriguez
Dr. Francisco Rodriguez is the chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, the largest community college district in the nation with nine, accredited colleges, over 250,000 students enrolled, and an annual budget of $5.8 billion.
A noted scholar and education activist, Dr. Rodriguez has 30 years of experience as an educator, faculty member, and administrator within California public higher education. Dr. Rodriguez has dedicated his career to high quality public education and championing diversity, equity and inclusion, and outreach to underserved communities. In particular, Dr. Rodriguez has focused his career on educational policies that expand access to higher education and financial aid, tireless advocacy for undocumented students and student-veterans, and the leadership development of young Latino and African American males.
2019 Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois
2018 Dr. Joanne Truesdell, President of Clackamas Community College and CCL alumna
2017 Daniel Solorzano, Professor of Social Science and Comparative Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles
2016 Betty Duvall, Professor Emerita, Oregon State University
2015 Jamie Callahan, a Professor of Human Resource Development in the School of Education at Drexel University
2014 Edward J. Ray, President, Oregon State University
2013 Richard Wagoner, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, University of California, Los Angeles
2012 Camille Preus, Commissioner of the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Developmment of Oregon
2011 Preston Pulliams, President, Portland Community College
2010 Mary Spilde, President, Lane Community College
2009 John “Ski” Sygielski, President, Mount Hood Community College
2008 Linda Barry, Vice President, Merritt College; Susan Kostick, Vice President, Edmonds Community College; Jim Sorensen, President, Treasure Valley Community College
2007 Ron Baker, Executive Vice President, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
2006 Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet, President, Institute of American Indian Arts
2005 George Boggs, President, American Association of Community Colleges
