PSU Magazine Spring 1989

(') :I: :> "' r ;;; " 5 "O "O m z "' c ~ PSU 6 University of Portland were up and run– ning_ when the report was written, it was still two world wars and 35 years away from the establishment of PSU. Now with the second highest enroll – ment in the state, Portland State and its role in the community has been scrutinized on paper by independent panels, business groups, and the university itself as it has grown in stature. The fact that the State Board is proposing yet another study leaves some at the uni versity scratching their heads. What promises to make this one dif– ferent from the others is its connection with state government. According to PSU Planning Director Wise, previous studies have been done by institutions or groups associated either with the university or Portland. A blue ribbon panel organized on a state level will be more broadly based , less biased. It also will be more of a hard planning document. It will be an action plan, and because it will look at all facilities in the Portland area it will give the State Board of Higher Education and the Governor a map for the future. " I would hate to see us put one more study on the stack," said Dodson of the State Board . "What we need is a group of people who could make an expert assess– ment of the area and implement it. I don't think anybody involved in this looks at it as just another study." The end product, he said , will have specific recommendations for PSU 's role in the next five years as well as the long term future . Said Bragdon, "There are some useful studies that have been done in the past, but there are none I'm aware of that con– siders the range of subjects that might be considered and engages all of the interests bearing on the problems (as this would)." T he project is likely to take into account ''A Future of Growth ," the report issued in December by a subcommittee of the Portland State Univer– sity Advisory Board . It states that Portland's system of higher education is sorely underdeveloped in the science and engineering fields, especially in Ph .D. programs, when compared with other major metropolitan areas in the United States. In fact , of 33 cities the