PSU Magazine Spring 1989

group researched , only Portland and Indianapo lis are without a complete set of bas ic science a nd engineering graduate programs within a major uni versity. While it was understandable fo r the state system to concentrate sc ience pro– grams in Eugene and Corvallis when agriculture and timber ruled the state's economy, that policy " is not compatible with the present and future high– technology and service economy and can– not meet the needs of the growing Portland metropolitan area," it states. High tech businesses, in order to thri ve, need a uni versity with doctoral pro– grams in science and engineering within commuting range. Although the report keys in on PSU to be the main prov ider in that role, it also recommends cooperation with Oregon Health Sciences Uni versity, Oregon Center fo r Advanced Technology Education (OCATE), Oregon Graduate Center, U of 0 , OSU, the University of Portland and Washington State University. It stresses the Oregon Graduate Center because of its location in Washington County, the headquarters of Tektronix and other high tech firms. "There is an efficiency of hav ing a single coordinator or prov ider," said Thomas Macke nzie, pres ident of Macken– zie Engineering and chairman of the sub– committee that wrote the report . "We have OCATE and the Oregon Graduate Center receivi ng public funds, as well as Portland State, and they' re overl apping. That cer– tainly can't be efficient with the taxpayer's dollars." Mackenzie describes a kind of sym– biotic relationship between research uni versities and high tech industry: employees get advanced degrees to move up in the ir careers, company engineers perfom1 research and teach classes at the university, and businesses use that research to grow. Two of Mackenzie's own engineers teach graduate courses at PSU. Salaries alone are a good indicator of what advanced degrees can do. Average starting pay fo r an electrical engineer with a bachelor degree is $2,477 per month , compared to $3,011 for a masters and $4,071 fo r a Ph .D. Places such as Boston, the Triangle Research ?ark in North Carolina, and Silicon Valley have science- based businesses intertwined with major uni versities. By not addressing the need fo r more sc ience and engineering programs, Mackenzie said , " I think in the long run there are two things that could occur: either Washington State will move into the High tech businesses, in order to thrive, need a university with doctoral programs in science and engineering within commuting range. gap, or the metropolitan area is not going to draw the kinds of industry we want in Oregon. "I think (Charles Irwin) Wilson said 'what's good fo r General Motors is good for the country.' Well , what's good fo r the metropolitan area is good for the state.'' Mackenzie said the demand fo r engineering classes at PSU is so high that students are being turned away fo r lack of space, and a lack of money is hampering the university's effort to make more room. Conspicuously absent from the report is an estimate of cost, and it is a subject that ne ither Mackenzie no r the PSU ad– ministration will touch. The specifics on how much money will be needed are not likely to be spelled out until after the next study. Dodson said PSU and the State Board will need time to make a cred ible case to the governor and the legislature, and that "realistically, anything requiring a great deal of money will have to wait until 1991." F or Dodson and PSU administrators, the question of money goes beyond Portland. " The real question is whether the state, overall , spends enough money on higher education," said Wise, who noted that Oregon ranked 40th among the 50 states in spending increases for higher education over the past 10 years. Dodson said Governo r Goldschmidt "twisted a lot of arms" in the Legislature during the 1987 session to get more money for higher education. He was successful in obtain ing what Dodson said was an " unex– pected" $150 million, although he said too much of the money went into "bricks and mortar." Dodson said the spending recommenda– tion the State Board sent to the governor this session addressed the problem, saying that the state needs to spend more money on faculty salaries to attract the best and the brightest to Oregon, o r risk losing them to other universities. " Some of our best (professors) are tur– ning down very lucrative offers because they don't want to dig up their roots and leave. But you can only count on that fo r so long," he said . (Continued on page 17) PSU 7