2008 OCEA Conference Keynote Speakers
Laurance J. Warford, Ph.D.
Senior Workforce Consultant, League for Innovation in the Community College
Change and the "Learning Swirl"
Laurance J. Warford is a Senior Workforce Consultant and Project Director for the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) and the Community College Workforce Partnership Network (CCWPN) for the League for Innovation in the Community College. Prior to joining the League, he was a community college administrator at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, and Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa. At both Lane and Iowa Central he supervised large instructional programs including Adult and Continuing Education and Career Tech education.
He was an advocate for lifelong learning and thinking “out of the box” to find ways to serve
people of all ages. He has also worked for the American Association of Community Colleges
and was a community college liaison for the U.S. Department of Labor. His recently published
book, “Pathways to Student Success,” summarizes the work of CCTI at fifteen sites across the
country. Dr. Warford has a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and his B.A. and M.A. from the
University of Northern Iowa.
Mickey Lansing
Executive Director,Oregon Commission on Children and Families
Possibilities and Opportunities, Every School a Community School
.... Together We Can!
As Executive Director of the Oregon Commission on Children and Families for the past three years, Mickey Lansing reports to the Governor on the status of Oregon’s children and youth and works with other state agencies to assure coordination of services and legislative support for Oregon’s children. A tireless advocate for the value of partnerships, Ms. Lansing champions the state’s efforts to improve outcomes for children and families.
Ms. Lansing comes to this work with experience in both the private sector and the faith community. She served as Oregon Director of Lutheran Office on Public Policy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a position that gave her the opportunity to work in the State Legislature lobbying on behalf of social and economic justice. During the 1993 legislative session she began to address system’s issues related to children and worked with legislators to develop the legislation that initiated Oregon’s well known system of commissions on children and families throughout the state. She has received numerous honors for her advocacy work in areas such as affordable housing, family wage jobs, and issues of cultural competency.
In the 2007 session of the Legislature, she secured funding for the Community School
Initiative – a drive to reinvigorate the use of the community school model to improve outcomes
for children and communities.A native Oregonian, Ms. Lansing grew up in West Linn, Oregon, and attended Oregon schools,
including Portland State University, where she was a business major.