[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 15, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE

 Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate 
Portland Community College in Portland, OR on its 50 years of 
delivering high-quality education. Portland Community College has 
consistently demonstrated its devotion to an accessible education for 
everyone, serving more than 1.3 million college-age residents in a 
five-county area in Northwest Oregon.
  Simply put, the education offered at Portland Community College 
creates a pathway to the middle-class for so many Oregonians. Students 
of all ages and backgrounds rely upon this college to improve skills 
for either career or personal reasons, explore opportunities, complete 
a high school degree or GED, work towards a bachelor's degree, or 
complete a certificate or technical degree. Portland Community 
College's mission has always been to create a foundation of long term 
vitality by supporting a broad range of needs in northwest Oregon.
  Fifty years of commitment to accessible life long learning 
opportunities has produced more than 1.3 million educated members of 
the Oregon community and our Nation--members who, thanks to PCC, are 
prepared to attain the American dream. To Preston Pulliams, the 
district president of Portland Community College, and to the faculty 
and students of PCC, congratulations on a half century of academic 
excellence.

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