PSU Magazine Fall 1990

Bringing Oregon's engineering schools together A proposal for an Oregon Joint Graduate Schools of Engineering will have significant impact for PSU. I t's a familiar story: nearly everyone involved agrees on the need, yet there is a basic disagreement on how best to meet that need. And in thi s story , the outcome carries high stakes for the future of Portl and State University and higher education in the metropolitan area. When an engineering task force, appoint– ed thi s summer by Chancellor Thomas Bartlett to des ign a joint graduate-level engineering school , called for establi shment of the Oregon Joint Graduate Schools of Engineering (OJGSE) invo lving PSU , Oregon State Uni versity, Oregon Graduate In stitute and Uni versity of Oregon, there was nearl y unanimous agreement. However, there was less agreement surrounding concurrent fundin g proposals, made by Chancell or Bartlett, for initial funding of OJGS E and development of an engineering research and education fac ility to support principally the needs of the hi gh tech industry in Washington County. The issues were aired publicly Aug. 23 during a special hearing called by the Governor's Commi ss ion on Higher Education in the Metropolitan Area to rece ive comment on the OJGSE proposal. It was the first public di scuss ion of the engineering task force report which set forth a specific set of policy recommendations. • Creation of the Oregon Joint Graduate School s of Engineering (OJGSE) to provide state-wide coordination of graduate-level education and research programs in engineering. • Appointment of an OJGSE executi ve director and staff. • Creation of an Engineering Council , compri sed of the presidents (or representa– ti ves) of the participating institutions, representatives of industry, and a chair, appointed by the State Bm•rd of Hi gher PSU18 Education Pres ident. The council' s duties would include: assess current graduate engineering programs and identify areas of need; review and approval of all proposals for creation of new programs or changes in ex isting programs; encouragement of joint programs; establish policy for appointment of OJGSE fac ulty; and recommend leg islati ve funding proposals. The task force recommended that funding be identified for OJGSE "start up" costs and for "seed money" to attract additional funding, and that additional graduate- level research and class room fac ilities are needed, "especially in support of the electronics and computer industries based in Washington County ." Chancellor Bartlett , in a Jul y budget proposal to the State Board , recommended fundin g in the foll owing areas: • Construction of a $27 million fac ility in Washington County for engineering education and research in support of high tech firms and to house OJGS E. • Allocation of $5 million for "seed money and start up costs" for admini stration and academic research in : Advanced Computing and Software Engineering; Semiconductors; Metals; Environmental Engineering and Advanced Manu fac turing. • A llocation of $3. 15 million for enhancement of ex isting engineering and computer sc ience programs at PSU, OSU and OCATE. PSU will receive $ 1.2 million over the 199 1-93 biennium for faculty positions, support staff and supplies. The overall goal of the proposal " is to move Oregon's graduate engineering education and research programs into the top 15 percent of such programs within the United States within the next 15 years." Representati ves of the Chancellor' s task force outlined the OJGSE proposal at the Aug. 23 Commi ssion hearing. Of the more than one dozen indi viduals testi fy ing, all agreed that increased fund ing and greater cooperation among in stitutions are essential to mak ing Oregon competiti ve in engineering educati on. However, nearly every speaker, fo ll owing the task force's initi al presentation, parted ways with the proposa l either over the perce ived "narrowness" of its foc us on the high tech industry or over the recommendation in the chancell or' s budget for a new fac ility to be located in Washington County. Portland Mayor J.E. Bud Clark hit both points when he told the Commiss ion that to propose these policy changes, " for a single di scipline (hi gh tech engineering), out of context of the broader spectrum of educational need, begs the question of what else is important to the future health and vitality of the Portl and metropolitan region." He added, "The city views thi s proposal to move graduate engineering programs to a campus in Washington County as a threat to the continued vitality of the Central City and hence as a threat to the health of the region.... This program belongs at the hub of the reg ion - in the Central City of Portl and , and, I might add, under the aegis of the region 's only comprehensive public university, Portl and State." Advisory councils suppor t site at PSU Representatives of three PSU Engineer– ing Advisory Council s presented a strongly stated "Engineering Pos ition Paper" to the Commi ssion. Testi fy ing were: Thomas MacKenzie, chairman of the board of Mackenzie Engineering, Inc. and Mackenzie-Saito, Inc, and chairman of the PSU Engineering Advisory Counsel; Tom Long, vice pres ident-technology group, Tektronix, Inc., and member of the PSU Engineering Management Advisory