PSU Magazine Spring 1987

) / "- Proposed Millar Library Addition legislative Update PSU has short but critical agenda Portland State University is approaching the current legislative session with a limited but critica l age nda. Th~ simple message hi ghli ghts • a_ few areas m which PSU needs legis la– tive help to move ahead with confidence. • President atale Sicuro, no stranger to legislative relations on both the national and local levels, is working do ely with his assistant for governmental and commun ity rela– tions , Phil Bogue, to present the Portland State story to members of both legislative houses. They have begun meeting regularl y with the metropolitan area legislators at a series of breakfast meetings and are responding to invitations to testify before legislative committees. The PSU agenda includes three ba ic areas: facu lty salaries, funding for PSU's "Centers of Excellence," and an addition to the Branford Millar Library. Facu lty salary improvement is a statewide issue, with the State System ?f Higher Education seeking to improve the comparative rating of fac ulty salaries at Oregon universities, now in the bottom ten percent of the country. The Centers of Excellence concept at Portland State involves four area : International Business, the lnterna- I tional Trade Institute, Engineering, a nd the propo ed Center for Urban Research in Education (CU RE), a cooperative program with the Portland Public Schools. The Millar Library addition is more than ten years overdue. The $ 11 million project is umber Two on the state board's capital priority list but was not fund ed in the governor's proposed budget. Th~ ad~ itio ~1 would help alleviate a snuauon m which the current facility, built to hold 420,000 volumes, must accommodate a collec– tion which now exceeds 750,000. Seating and study pace is available for only 1,000 students, less than half the minimum recommended, and ten percent of the library's collection is in stor~ge, aw~y from the main building. Pres1den~ S1cu1~0 has termed funding of the Millar Library addition "critical" to future adva ncement of PSU. University Relations reorganized The Office of University Relations at PSU, the main connection to the University for many alumni, has been reorganized into the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of Development. All fund-raising functions, including the Foundation, the annual fund ath.letic developn:e nt and corpor~te g1vmg are admm1stered in the new Offi~e of Dev~lopm.ent, headed by Vice President J ud1th 1chols. The develop– ment staff, now located on the third floor of Cramer Hall, may be reached at 229-4478. ews and In formatio n Services (which publishes PS Magazine), the PSU MAGAZINE PAGE 21 Publications department a nd University Events are part of the new Office of Public Affairs, directed by Cha rles "Chuck" Stephens. Stephens serves as t~1 e Un ivers ity's principal public rela– tions ~fficer as well as the principal staff aide to President Sicuro. Finall y, Alumni Relations will be administered through the President's Office, but can still be found on the second floor of DCE at 229-4948. All of Public Affairs and Alumni Relations will be moving to the third floor of Cramer this ummer. We'll let yo u know how to find us! Radiation expert wins big awards Alice M. Stewart, M.D. a world aut~1o~ity on health effects of ion izing rad1auon and an adj unct visiting professor at PS , has won two p1-e tigious awards. Stewart, 80, Senior Rese~rch Fellow at the Uni versity of Birmmgham, Englan.d, and the leadi ng member of the onl y mde pendent research team that has studied the mortality records of the Ha nford Nuclear Reservation work force has received a grant of $ 1.4 million ' to continue statistical research on health effects of low-level radiation among U.S. nuclear workers. The awa1-d comes from the Three Mile Island Public Health Fund, established by a legal settlement related to the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident. Stewart has also been awarded one of the "Alternative Nobel Prizes" from the Right Livelihood Foundation of England, presented Dec. 8 before the Swedish Parliament. She received recognition for her childhood cancer tudies, cited a contributing to " . . . exemplary olu tions to the most urgent problems of today." Director on "Cloud 9" PS U' production of the Caryl Churchill play "Cloud 9" was the "Directors' Choice" for best production at the recent regional American College Theater Festival competition held at Mt. Hood Community College. The production , directed byJ ack Featherin– gill , competed against shows from ~hree other schools in a region that mcludes Oregon, Washington and Alaska.