PSU Magazine Fall 1993

Youth advocate dies Gerald "Gerry" Blake, professor emeritus of urban studies and planning, died of a brain tumor on April 27. He was 46. Blake, a Boston native, joined the PSU faculty in 1974 as an assistant professor of sociol– ogy. He also was research director of a grant from the Law Enforcement Administration Agency to develop a Ph.D. program in criminal justice. He joined the Urban Studies and Planning faculty in 1976. Blake's work focused on involving at-risk youth as participants and desig– ners of programs that provided them with employment while addressing social problems. "He was convinced that youths ga in skill and self-esteem by working in role that contribute to the commun– ity," ays Nancy Chapman, chair of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Among his projects wa an intergen– erational ervice program that trained and employed youths between the ages of 13 and 19 to provide shopping and escort se rvices for frail elderly re idents of northwest Portland. His more recent work focused on recycling program for multi-family housing projects. Both graduate and undergraduate students were central participants in these programs. . Blake's community research , which he continued during his three-year fight against cancer, was recognized with an award under the Portland Agenda program in 1992. His life and work were featured in PSU Magazine (fall 1992) and in the Northwest section of TheOregonian (March 10, 1991) . In 1986, his work ga ined nation– al and international attention when he received a special recognition award from the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 4 P u Magaz ine Development as part of the Internation– al Yea r of Shelter for the Homeless. The Gerald Blake Scholarship Fund wa established at the time of his retire– ment in December 1992. The fund is endowed with the PSU Foundation, and will be awarded to PSU graduate and undergraduate tudents planning a ca reer in public service. New services for students PSU students are getting to know both the Univer ity and each other better, through a new academic adv ising center and a new multicultural center. The two ervices are located inside the Broadway entrance to Smith Memori al Center. The IA C (Information and Academic upport Center) supports fac ulty adv i ing of students and provide programs and service that help students achieve academi c success, according to Director Dan Fortmiller. IASC is responsible for new student orientation each term, including infor– mation on genera l education require– ments, student servi ces, and peer orientation. Students may attend workshops and video presentations on general education, but they are referred to departments for adv ising in their major. The Multicultu ral Center, located in a former food area in Smith Center, is a place where "everyone assoc iated with the University can meet and benefit from the diversity of people who make up PSU," ays Gwen Jager– nauth , the center's part-time coord inator and adv iser of Student O rganizations and Leadership Develop– ment. "I see the center as a place for educa– tional and soc ial collaborat ion. It's a place where students, staff, faculty and the community can come together to work on projects dealing with cultural differences," Jagernauth says. Two students staff the center's office from 10 a. m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Neither the IASC or Multicu ltural Center has added new employee to the University. Both have drawn on tudent help and other department employees. First Russian MBAs Portland State gradu ated its first Russian MBA class last spring in Khabarovsk, Portland' sister city in the Russian fa r ea t. The tudents, mo t of whom are executive in large, tare-owned enterprises now undergoing privatiza– tion, were enrolled in the Russian American chool f Busine Admin– istration (RASBA) Executive MBA Program. The program wa begun three years ago by the School of Business Admini tration and wa the fir t American-style MBA program in Russ ia, accord ing to its director Earl Molander, busines profe or. RASBA has five chool in opera– tion with three more sched uled to beg in in September. Each schoo l is organized in cooperation with a loca l Russ ian university and local political authoritie . The students take a stand– ard MBA program of 24 courses, eight each year, plus they spend two three– week summer sess ions in the United State . Courses are taught by American busine facu lty in an intensive one-week period. Between vis its from American professors, students work on special projects and study business English. PSU's other RASBA schools operat– ing in Russ ia offer a two-year Executive MBA program. The first two-year Executive MBA class graduated in Novgorod in September. The RASBA schools received initial funding from the Rockefeller Family & Associates and the Meyer Memorial Trust. All subsequent funds have come from student tuition. National education study PSU is part of a nationwide educat ion– al study that will examine the University's mission, access ibility, quality, and ab ility to contain costs. The University i among 30 cam– puses nationwide-and the only higher education institution in the Pacific Northwest-to participate in the Pew Round table, a national body sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust to discuss issues critica l to higher education. The trust is a major sponsor of the Institute fo r Resea rch on Higher Education,_