PSU Magazine Fall 2000

• • Cuomo to speak at Simon Benson Awards dinner Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo will keynote an evening hon– oring three Oregonians who are giving back to the community. Mary Clark '81 MSW and her hus– band, Maurie Clark, and Don Frisbee will received this year's Simon Benson Award at a dinner on November 14. The award, which was named after early philanthropist Simon Benson, honors individuals who have demon– strated the same commitment to Oregon as Benson did in the early 20th century. Mary and Maurie Clark are long– time supporters of education around the state. They have provided support to University of Portland, Oregon State University, Marylhust Univer– sity, Oregon Graduate Institute, Port– land State, and St. Mary's Academy. More than 30 years ago, they estab– lished the Clark Foundation, which has helped the Oregon Historical Society, the Albertina Kerr Center for Children, and the Providence Child Center. Don Frisbee's commitment is reflected by his contributions to dozens of organizations, including the Nature Conservancy, Oregon Business Counc il, Oregon Graduate Institute, Portland Opera, Reed College, Port– land State, and United Way. In the mid-1980s, Frisbee chaired a task force on the future of PSU that laid the groundwork for Portland State as an urban university. He is the former chairman of PacifiCorp and a past recipient of the PSU Alumni Award. Cuomo, three-term governor of New York from 1983 to 1995, is widely regarded as one of America's greatest orators. Cuomo consistently receives standing ovations from audiences across the county as he shares his per– spective on the role and responsibili– ties of government in American life. Last year's inaugural event featured retired Gen. Colin Powell. For more information about the Simon Benson Awards dinner, contact • the PSU Development Office at 503-725-8212. PHOTO BY STEVE BLOCH Scott Dawson, longtime faculty member, is new dean of the School of Business Administra· tion. For the past year he served as interim dean, replacing the late Roger Ahlbrandt. Dawson has consulted for companies such as Costco, May Company, Tek· tronix, and Steinfeld's Products. Political science prof honored by Morocco Professor John Damis was in illustrious company as King Mohammed VI of Morocco decorated him with a medal of honor and made him a commander of the Alawite Order this past June. Damis, chair of the Division of Political Science in the Mark 0. Hat– fie ld School of Government, was one of 11 people decorated by the King for exemplary service to Morocco in a cer– emony held in Washington, D.C. Honors were also bestowed on Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of Georgetown University; and Sidikki Belyamani, vice president of Boeing. King Mohammed is the cur– rent head of the Alawite dynasty, which has been the ruling dynasty in Morocco since 1666. Damis was recognized for his research and extensive writings on Morocco, as well as his expert testi– mony before Congress as it contem– plated whether to support the United Nations' mission in Western Sahara. Campus thermostats on the Internet The saying "If only the walls could talk" has new meaning on campus. Every 15 minutes, software installed in three Portland State buildings gathers data and transmits it over the Internet to a central Web site, where it can be retrieved by managers at both Portland General Electric (PGE) and PSU. The data is a detailed energy profile of each build– ing, showing energy consumption per zone in kilowatt hours with even slight variations in room temperature and air pressure. This continual energy-use profile is enabling PSU to pinpoint exactly how much energy is being used, leading to energy conservation and cost cutting in each building. At the same time it allows PGE to test a future means of communication between a utility and its commercial customers. The energy project, a first-of-its-kind for PGE, is in anticipation of full deregulation of commercial electric customers by 2001. The software has been installed in Smith Memorial Center, Science Building 1, and Science Building 2. PSU serves as the exclusive test site for the new technology application in Oregon. In addition to the PSU Facili– ties staff, the PGE/PSU project is sup– ported by Bill Savery, professor of mechanical engineering, and graduate student Ann Warren. Engineering students are expected to benefit from classroom demonstrations of the state– of-the-art system. An exciting outcome of this work, says Savery, could be instantaneous communication between PSU and PGE when the region's demand for power suddenly exceeds supply. "To avoid having to buy expensive power from another source to meet demand," says Savery, "PGE could contact PSU and potentially other large customers and offer incentives to them if they would temporarily limit their power use." FALL 2000 PSU MAGAZINE 3