PSU Magazine Spring 1990

!ALUMNI NEWSI Alcena Boozer WT. Lemman Outstanding Alumni honored Two alumni from the field of education have been selected as this year's recipients of the Outstanding Alumni Awards. Alcena Boozer, assistant director of altern ati ve education and summer school for the Portl and Public Schools, and W.T. "Bill" Lemman, currently executi ve vice chancel– lor of the Oregon State System of Hi gher Education, will receive their awards at a May 4 luncheon. The awards, given for the third time at PSU, honor service to the uni versity or the community, success in a given field , and recognition brought to the uni versity through those effo rts. Nominations are solicited from faculty and alumni and , after careful review, the Recognition Committee of the PSU Alumni Board makes the selections . A lcena Boozer is a strong advocate for Portl and 's "at ri sk" students, those who are on the road from truancy to more serious offenses. Up against one of society's biggest challenges (Portl and 's drop-out rate is nearly 30 percent), she is a crusader for students who have left school. In 1985, when she was student di sc ipline programs coordinator for the school district, she initiated Project Return , a program PSU 18 designed to keep troubled students in school and to raise their academic se lf-esteem. Now Project Return is just one part of her multi-dimensional position with Portland Public Schools. "I see myself as a change agent ," Boozer said recently. "Education has to recognize the needs of these kids and give them their fa ir share in terms of resources." Boozer works with several area high schools and private institutions which operate some 30 programs for these young people. And she says more students are fa lling into the "at risk" category. Whenever she gets fru strated , something comes along to pull her up . "Inevitably I'll get a call from someone who has just succeeded in fi nding the right slot for the right kid, " says Boozer, "and I know it 's all worthwhile." Boozer's own family is partly responsible for her success with troubled children. Her oldest son was diagnosed as auti stic when he was 18 months old. Determined to overcome the obstacle of silence, Boozer worked with young Bentley until he first spoke at the age of seven. Since then, she has learned not to give up on a child . Today, her family remains a source of pride and inspiration. Her husband Jim is manager for employee benefits at Portland Community College and her second son Clarke, works in the Albina Youth Opportun– ity program. Bentley, now 27, works with an alternative employment service. In addition to counseling students in the sc hool system, Boozer also works with the community as an Episcopal priest. One of the few black women Epi scopal priests in the country, she serves as an urban mi ssionary at Grace Memori al Episcopal Church in Portland . According to black community leader Harold Williams, "She's a community acti vist with a soft touch . She's worked with the youth gang task force and for women's rights in society. Alcena is warm and approachable . She's always avail able as a confidante." Boozer, who earned her Masters in Education from PSU in 1974 , grew up in Portland and always wanted to be a teacher. She began teaching senior soc ial tudies, black history and literature at Grant High School in 1969 . She went into counseling in 1973 and seven years later became admini strati ve vice principal. After she was ordained as an Epi scopal priest in 1984, she spent a year as the dean of the Upper School at the Oregon Epi scopal School. In the fa ll of 1985 she returned to the Portl and Public Schools. She now works wi th the entire school district, where she puts her wealth of ex perience and education to work for her young clients. She is determined to make a di ffe rence, and apparently, she already has. "One of the best things ," says Boozer, " is to go to graduation at Portland Night High Schoo l at Grant . It 's an alternati ve gradua– tion ceremony where the kids give all the speeches. It 's just so wonderful to see those kids taking pride in their graduati on. They made it." T he selection of W.T. "Bill" Lemman as a rec ipient of the outstanding Alumni Award is timely. Lemman, currentl y exec uti ve vice chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education, recentl y announced that he would retire on September 30, 1990, just after he turns 65. The second-ranking administrator in the system, he will be completing a distin– guished 4 1-year career in Oregon higher education.