President’s President’s Letter Letter This has been a year of “firsts” at Columbia Gorge Community College. In January, we launched our new and improved home page, part of a two-year project to redesign the college’s website. We hope you like the changes that we’ve made and are finding the new site easier to navigate. We sponsored our first community athletic teams in 2013 – a men’s and women’s soccer team. The ‘Nooks participated in local leagues during the winter and summer. The goal of the soccer program was to promote school spirit and unity within the college and the community and it was great to see the excitement that was generated from these players. For the first time in the history of the college, students have the opportunity to attend college for free, for up to two years. This program, called “Gorge Scholars”, is a tuition waiver available to local high school graduates or registered homeschool students who graduate with a 3.5 GPA or better and meet other eligibility requirements. One of our big initiatives this year is called the Columbia Gorge Regional Center of Innovation (RCI). The RCI is a collaboration to create a seamless educational system in the Columbia River Gorge region, which includes access to baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate degree options. To that end, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Oregon Institute of Technology (or Oregon Tech, for short) to create a seamless transition for our students to transfer into several of their baccalaureate degree programs. This is the first agreement of its kind that CGCC has had with Oregon Tech. As part of our RCI activities, we also expanded our relationships with Oregon State University (OSU) and Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). We partnered with OSU on their Open Campus Initiative, which provides local access to the university’s resources and makes learning from Oregon State possible from almost anywhere. This partnership includes the Hood River and Wasco County Open Campus Coordinator being housed at CGCC. Ultimately, the goal of the RCI is to ensure that our local business partners are receiving the type of employees they need to sustain operations in the region. In this regard, we’ve been blessed with our connections to the local Chambers
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of Commerce, Gorge Technology Alliance that includes members like Google and Institu, our many healthcare partners and the general business community. Perhaps the most exciting accomplishment of last year was achieving independent accreditation from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities in July. This major milestone marked the first time in 36 years that we were able to operate independently of Portland Community College (PCC). And while PCC has been an invaluable resource and partner, we are excited about the opportunities that come along with our independence. This fall, for the first time ever, we awarded degrees and certificates to students who will receive diplomas bearing the Columbia Gorge Community College official seal and name, instead of those from Portland Community College. Also for the first time, we were able to serve our student veterans, giving them personalized attention and support to help them be successful. And when the government shutdown happened this fall, we committed to our student veterans that they could charge books and register for classes, even if their benefits were delayed. In September, we were among the 20% of privileged schools in the nation to earn the “Military Friendly School” designation by Victory Media. These are just some of the “firsts” we’ve celebrated this year. There are many others and we hope that you enjoy reading about them and all of the wonderful things happening at CGCC in this 2013 annual report to the community. Sincerely,
Dr. Frank Toda, President