Institutional Advancement was first established as Information and Publications in 1968, three years after the college was founded. The department was primarily responsible for publishing the college catalog, class schedule, and program fliers; media relations; and promotion of local funding elections.

Acting president Bob Hamill named Larry Romine as the first director of Information and Publications. Romine had helped Bert Dotson, the first assistant to president, with information and publications for the first three years of the college before the department was established.

In the 1970s, the department made efforts to revive and strengthen the high school relations program and initiated a campus tour program for high school students. This program was later transferred to Student Services when it was well-established. In the mid-1970s, responsibility for the coordination of local funding elections was transferred to Information and Publications, and the department changed its name to College/Community Relations in 1975. In addition, the department was given duties of Printings and Graphics, Grants, and Development Fund in the 1980s and again changed its name to Public Relations/Foundation in 1984 and finally to Institutional Advancement in 1986.

The first director of the department, Larry Romine, retired in 1992. Diane Dann, publications coordinator in the late 1970s, then publications manager and associate director in 1984, became Larry Romine's successor.

Larry Romine received his B.A from Midland University in Nebraska and his M.A in journalism from the University of Oregon. During and after his study at the University of Oregon, he worked as a reporter for the Eugene Register-Guard.

As a reporter, he was a strong advocate for community colleges and frequently wrote about the efforts to create a community college in Lane County in the 1960s. He joined the staff of Lane Community College as a journalism instructor in 1966 and became the first director of Institutional Advancement in 1968. Until his retirement in 1992, he worked primarily in public relations, media relations, marketing, elections, and presidential communications. His efforts as director of Institutional Advancement helped strengthen community support for the college.

In the 1970s, he also served as a speechwriter for LCC president Eldon Schafer and Richard Turner III, and through his writing he helped bring the college national attention and recognition. Romine was instrumental in establishing the Productivity Center which today exists as Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning.

He served on the Lane Board of Education from 1997-2001 representing Zone 1 in the western part of the college district. He was later appointed to the Board from Zone 5 in 2002 and continues to serve as of 2006.

Romine is the author of Lane Community College: The Parnell Years.