Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC welcomes Breckenridge to board

Photos and Story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – Maureen Breckenridge has been selected as the new board member for Zone 6 (Washington County) for the Portland Community College Board of Directors. She was sworn in recently by PCC Board Chair Doreen Margolin. She replaced Mike Hereford, who resigned his position in late 2002. Breckenridge is quite familiar with PCC. She took counseling classes at the college’s Cascade Campus in 1998-99 and her children attended PCC. She is trained in board management and a wide variety of education styles, but her life lessons serve as one of her most useful tools."Since my childhood in a federal housing project, I have been taught that education is the key to personal happiness and community success,"Breckenridge said. "I welcome the privilege of serving on the PCC Board of Directors."The Beaverton resident brings a wealth of experience to the board. She is currently the executive director of the nonprofit Oregon Family Support Network Inc., in Salem, a chapter of the National Federation of Families. She has plenty of experience working in higher education. In 2000-01, she served as the director of continuing legal education programs for the Oregon State Bar and for the Northwestern School of Law from 1990 to 1995.Breckenridge has a law degree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College. She received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Emerson College in Boston, Mass.In terms of community service, Breckenridge is very active. She currently serves on the Martin Luther King Day committee for the City of Beaverton and has served on the state’s Mental Health Advisory committee. She is also a member of the Multnomah County Lifespan committee and the Cornelius Honor Society of the Northwestern School of Law. The PCC Board is composed of seven members, each elected by different geographical areas of the college district. The college district covers all or portions of five counties, and is 1,500 square miles. The board is responsible for setting the overall policy for operation of the college, including hiring the college president, adopting the budget and approving contracts with employee groups. The board generally meets two times a month in the evenings.