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EOU Dean Dixie Lund named Interim President
Contact: APRIL 3, PORTLAND - The Oregon State Board of Higher Education today appointed Dr. Dixie L. Lund interim president of Eastern Oregon University. Lund has been dean in EOU's Division of Distance Education since 1994, and has held several other positions at EOU since 1973. Lund succeeds Dr. Philip Creighton, who announced his resignation last month to accept the presidency at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, beginning on August 1. Lund will begin making the transition to interim president the first of June. Her appointment is expected to last at least through the end of the year, according to Jim Lussier, president of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education. The board will begin a national search for a new president during the next few weeks. "Eastern Oregon University is a strong, dynamic institution that is widely recognized for its student-centered approach to learning," said Richard Jarvis, Chancellor of the Oregon University System. "The entire campus community is vested in sustaining the momentum in enrollment growth, new programs, and facilities that serve both its campus community and the broader communities in eastern Oregon. Dr. Lund can provide the leadership needed to do this, and ensure a stable, fully working campus until a permanent president can be named." Jarvis noted that Lund had overwhelming support from the EOU campus community. The Chancellor spent a full day in mid-March speaking with students, staff, faculty, administrators and community leaders at the university to provide information and receive input on the selection of an interim president, and the naming of a committee to immediately begin the search for a new president of EOU. "During our meetings at EOU, we heard again and again the desire of the campus community to move quickly in the recruitment of a new, permanent president in the Fall of this year, and have the president start no later than January of 2004," Jarvis said. "EOU has worked very hard under the leadership of President Creighton to grow enrollment, expand the freshman cornerstone program, and complete their state-of-the-art science building. There's an excitement about EOU's advancements on campus that everyone wants to sustain," noted Jarvis. "The rest of this year will certainly bring new milestones for EOU, as well as new challenges," Lund said. "As we proudly open our new science building and offer greater opportunities to students and the community, we also face a period in Oregon with fewer resources and increasing need. As a 30-year member of the EOU community, I care very deeply about this university, its wonderful students, faculty and staff, the citizens of La Grande, and the larger eastern Oregon community," Lund added. "I will uphold our institutional goals and work with all members of the campus to continue to move us forward as the higher education leader in this part of the state." As Dean of the Division of Distance Education, Lund was instrumental in expanding EOU's on-line and remote education programs across the entire state. Currently, EOU has statewide offices in 14 cities and towns, including seven in eastern Oregon, three in central Oregon, and four in western Oregon. Under Lund's leadership, Oregonians living in remote areas of the state gained access to higher education degree programs, which in the past had only been available by attending a "traditional" campus. Lund came to EOU as an instructor
in the Division of Social Science and Business in 1973, having also
obtained her B.S. in Secondary Business Education there that same
year. Lund went on to obtain an Ed.M. in Adult Education from Oregon
State University in 1984, and her Ed.D. in Post-Secondary Educational
Leadership from Portland State University in 1989. During her tenure
at EOU, Lund has held various teaching and coordinator positions business,
humanities, general studies, and distance learning. In 1994 she was
named dean of EOU's Division of Distance Education, and has grown
on-line education for the university to the point where it is a model
in Oregon and in other states that contend with remote, rural access
to higher education. Note to Editors: A downloadable photo
of Dixie Lund is available on this page or at: http://www.eou.edu/ua/graphics/dixie_lund_hi-res.jpg
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