PSU Magazine Spring 1988

---·AROUND THE PARK BLOCKS·--- Oregon to benefit from new PSU plan An ambitious guide for develop– ment of Portland State University through the next decade, the Portland State University Plan for the '90s, goes to the State Board of Higher Educa– tion in April for approval. The PSU Advisory Board, in a unanimous resolution, urged the State Board to support the plan, "as the cen– tral long-range means for the positive development of Portland State Univer– sity, the Portland area, and the State of Oregon." The Plan for the '90s is a product of months of intensive work by faculty, students and administrative groups, and contains directions and proposals which would lead to development, according to the planners, of "a pre– mier institution on the West coast." Among major objectives in the plan for the next ten years are the following: • Expansion of graduate study and scholarship, making the University a Category I Research Institution. • Achieving premier status in a var– iety of international academic dis– ciplines focusing on the Pacific Rim, including international trade, international studies, and applied linguistics and cultural studies. • Development of an all-out pro– gram of support for advanced tech– nology and entrepreneurial econ– omies in Oregon. • Development of programs and facilities to promote the fine and performing ans. • Expanding programs that assist minority, older and low income students in gaining access to higher education and assisting the Port– land metropolitan area to solve important educational, social and criminal justice problems. The 150-plus page document includes specific goals and objectives developed by each of the l'niversity's academic departments, the profes- sional schools and the College of Lib– eral Ans and Sciences, as well as major administrative and support units. The plan also includes a review of the physical development of the University and how it fits in with the City of Port– land's Central City Development Plan. Also included is a section detailing public and private financial needs for meeting the plan's goals. It estimates the University will need $250 million in private and federal funds over the next ten years. Work on the Portland State Plan for the '90s began in the fall of 1986 fol– lowing the arrival of President Natale Sicuro. Among those who developed the plan were the University Planning Council, chaired by dance department PSU MAGAZINE PAGE2 head Nancy Matscheck, and a commit– tee of the University Advisory Board, chaired by Oregonian publisher Fred Stickel. The University's Faculty Senate endorsed the plan's vision and leaders in PSU's student body also commented favorab ly on the plan. Ideas into reality On a sunny Friday, PSU's engineer– ing and computer science students opened the doors (and balconies) of their campus laboratories and invited the public to see how well they turn new ideas into reality. During the open house Binh Dang (upper left), from Lincoln High School, participated in the egg drop contest. The egg survived without a crack in Dang's self designed container. Con– tests like this, along with student dem– onstrations and guided tours were given all afternoon.