By JOE GIDDENS
In 2019, the chancellor took 39 trips totaling $50,392.48. So far, in 2020, he has spent $10,214.94.
Pima Community College has suspended international travel except to Canada and Mexico until further notice according to an all employee email on March 3.
International travel by Pima employees is a fairly common occurrence for example between May and the end of 2019, Pima Chancellor Lee Lambert spent $29,882.22 on domestic and international travel.
This brought his total expenditure on travel for 2019 to $50,392.48 for a total of 39 trips.
The Pima Board of Governors also voted in February to make Lambert’s automobile allowance $2000 a month.
Since Jan. 1, Lambert has been on seven business trips at the cost of $10,214.25. Most of that amount comes from attending the Community College for International Development Conference in Florida on Feb. 7, which was followed immediately by attending the Association of Community College Trustees summit in Washington, D.C., with Pima’s Governing Board and student representatives from Feb. 8 to 13 at a cost of $5,238.88 for the two trips.
Lambert’s duties administering the college take him well beyond the local community. That includes meeting with state government officials in Phoenix over the Aviation Center expansion, which is receiving $15 million in funding from the state of Arizona; meeting with legislators in Washington, D.C., such as Rep. Raúl Grijalva; and taking international business trips to support Pima’s apprenticeship programs.
In June, Lambert traveled to Switzerland on an invitation from the Department of Education at the cost of $6,000 to learn about the Swiss model of apprenticeship for youth, which is more of a work-based program. By the eighth grade, Swiss students are given the voluntary option to go down an apprenticeship or university track. This leads to a Swiss youth unemployment rate of about 2%, whereas Pima County’s is at 10%, according to Lambert.
Lambert cites San Miguel High School in Tucson as an example of where lessons learned from Switzerland can be applied.
“We take some of those students here at Pima,” Lambert said. “And we do work-based learning experiences for them right away, and then they’re placed in a lot of other jobs in the community as well. So how do we do that for more students in this community?”
Last June, Lambert also spent $3,855 to visit the Wuhan Institute of Shipbuilding Technology in China in support of the Pima’s study abroad program.
In 2019, 14 students and two professors from China visited Pima College to participate in the Summer Intensive Language and Culture Program, according to Daisy Rodriguez Pitel, associate director of Pima’s International Department.
However, the college will not be accepting students from the Wuhan Province this summer because of concerns of the coronavirus outbreak, Rodriguez Pitel said.
In September, Lambert and several other representatives of Pima visited Apple Inc computers in California, where they discussed Pima’s plan for the Centers of Excellence expansion.
“There’s a very strong relationship that we can create with Apple,” said Jim Craig, dean of business and information technology, at the September Board of Governors meeting. “Especially along the lines of raising the amount of digital competency that our students have.”
Lambert wants to bring Apple’s philosophy that “everybody can code to Pima,” citing the job market for coders.
Lambert also traveled to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland to experience HoloLens technology. Case Western Reserve has partnered with Microsoft to build wearable computers that augment traditional courses such as anatomy and physiology, allowing students to interact with 3-D models of the human body. Students are retaining over 50% of what they learned with HoloLens, Lambert said.
“I’m actually looking to see how we can bring those ideas back to this community and do a more enhanced job of supporting youth development in our community,” Lambert said.
Feb. 19-20 – Arizona Community Day at Capitol and Presentation at Arizona Chamber Board of Directors Meeting – Phoenix ($491.60)
Feb. 18 – Meeting with State Senator D. Gowan – Phoenix ($107.69)
Feb. 8 – 13 – The Association of Community College Trustees Legislative Summit – Washington, D.C.
Feb. 7 – Community Colleges for International Development – St. Pete Beach, Florida ($5,238.88 this was the combined total for Lambert’s Legislative Summit trip)
Feb. 1 – 4 – Bellwether Futures Assembly – San Antonio, Texas ($1,385.40)
Jan. 22 – 25 – American Association of Community Colleges Workforce Development Institute – Amelia Island, Florida ($1,883.23)
Jan. 13 – Legislation Session Opening – Phoenix ($107.69)
Jan. 9 – 11 – National Association of Workforce Boards board meeting – Panama City Beach, Florida ($1,000.45)
Dec. 18 – Meeting with Legislators – Phoenix ($0, covered by Lambert’s car allowance)
Nov. 20-22 – EAB Executive Forum National Meeting – Chicago ($1,274.46)
Nov. 19 – National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Conference – Keynote Speaker – Phoenix ($103.24)
Nov. 17-19 – IBM Meeting – Atlanta ($1,330.18)
Nov. 11-12 – Lumina Foundation Meeting – Indianapolis ($895.09)
Oct. 17-18 – Minority Serving Institution Convening – Keynote Speaker – Dallas ($941.23)
Oct. 14-17 – Community College Workforce Consortium / ACCT Leadership Congress – San Francisco ($3,009.52)
Oct. 6-9 – Meeting with Secretary of Education, and industry partners – Benchmarking – Queretaro, Mexico ($1,036.62)
Sept. 30 – EAB Welcoming Remarks – Phoenix ($186.69)
Sept. 23-27 – Joint Tucson Chamber of Commerce, SALC and SADA – visits with Arizona Congressional Delegation, senior leadership within the administration and leadership of the armed forces – Washington, D.C. ($3,775.97)
Sept. 8-10 – Apple Park Executive Briefing – Benchmarking – San Jose California ($1,406.15)
Sept. 6-7 – AACCT Retreat – Prescott, Arizona ($440.26)
Aug. 22 – Cherry Creek Tour – Benchmarking – Denver ($503.09)
Aug. 18-19 – Case Western Reserve University (HoloLens) – Benchmarking – Cleveland ($1,034.84)
July 23-28 – The National Coalition of Certification Centers Leadership Institute (7-23-26); National Asian Pacific Islander Council President’s Forum (7-26-28) Kenosha, Wisconsin/ Fullerton, California ($1,246.08)
July 16-19 – National Association of Workforce Boards Summer Retreat – Wichita, Kansas ($1,324.87)
July 12 – Phoenix Architects’ presentation on Downtown Campus CoE and Transportation Facilities – Phoenix ($0 – covered by Lamert’s monthly car allowance)
June 23-27 – Invitation from Department of Education to follow-up on the US-Swiss MOU on Apprenticeship – Zurich ($5,810.42)
June 15-22 – Visit Wuhan Institute of Shipbuilding Technology – Wuhan, China ($3,855.66)
June 1-6 – Attend the US Army War College National Security Seminar – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ($1,324.31)
May 27-28 – Visit the Institute for the Future – Benchmarking – Palo Alto, California ($383.54)
May 1,7 and 14 – Meeting with Legislators – Phoenix ($0 – covered by Lambert’s monthly car allowance)