PSU Magazine Spring 1995

have a local impact beyond that of just providing degrees. Those characteris– tics are identical to the urban grant institutions that (PSU President Judith) Ramaley talks about." T ho now WSU compu• will focus on the needs of a grow– ing urban environment, just as PSU does in Portland. It will emphasize programs in business to help student meld into Clark County's expanding economy. It already offers a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in engineering manage– ment and will likely offer an under– graduate degree in engineering. And because an expanding population requires more teachers, it will also concentrate on degrees in education. A new degree proposal is being formulated for early childhood education to help fill a demand for daycare centers and preschools. A third broad area will be in health and human services. WSU will offer a bachelor's degree in nursing for those who already have their a ociates and registered nursing degree . Plan also are in the works for a family nurse practitioner program, and the university is receiving many reque ts for clinical and counseling psychology programs. The issues of criminal justice and urban planning are also part of a growing economy. WSU has a proposal with the state for a ma ter's in public affairs program. It could be approved in time for the fall 1995 semester, and will include public admini tration, criminal justice and applied policy studies. Looking beyond the urban corridor, WSU will be the site of the Cascades Volcano Observatory, a U.S. Geologic Survey facility for monitoring Mount St. Helens and other Cascades volcanoe . But, for the most part, its role is as an urban university. Some overlap with PSU i inevitable. PSU, for example, offers education degrees, including one in early childhood education, and a full range of urban and public affairs programs. Portland State also offer engineering and engineering management degrees, as does the Oregon Graduate Institute. Becau e the e are 12 PSU Magazine high demand programs, both urban areas should have the students to support them. So the aim of WSU is to develop cooperatively with other universities to each other's mutual advantage. Step one in that regard is keeping each other informed. "We interact with PSU in a variety of formats," says Dengerink. WSU has an advisory council, on which sits PSU Provost Michael Reardon. "We had been asked from the beginning to be on that board," says Reardon. "Clearly, there will always be sticky issues, but my own sense i that WSU's presence can only be a benefit to the region." Reardon says that as PSU develops programs and WSU brings more in, the two universities will be able to coordi– nate their efforts to avoid unnecessary duplication. The econd step is to share resources. A pilot program that will be initiated thi summer will join WSU, PSU, and the Washington State Historical Society to teach Columbia River history. Courses will be taught on both sides of the river. Reardon brings up the point that colleges and universities everywhere in the country are cooperating with each other in developing libraries. As on-line access to libraries are fading the physical boundaries of traditional college campu es, acce s to information is seen more as a regional responsibility. "Certainly the demand in the metro area will grow. Whether any one state has the resources to completely meet it is questionable," he say . 0 (John Kirkland, a Portland freelance writer, is a regular contributor to PSU Magazine.) THE VANCOUVER CAMPUS What was once a field of flowers is now blooming with four new buildings that will become Washington rate University's southwestern Washington campu . They include a two-story library, a student service building, a physical plant, and a three- tory cla sroom and laboratory building. Also in the works is a bookstore, built under the au pices of the Students Book Corporation. Ground was officially broken at the 348-acre site in June , and construction has been progress ing rapidly on this, the first phase of the new campus, which is projected to co t $36.2 million. When it's completed, in time for the spring 1996 semester, it will be able to accommodate up to 1, 100 students and 125 fac ulty and staff. By the year 2010, a many as 7,000 tudents-adding up to 4,000 full -time equivalent -are expected to be enrolled there, according to Hal Dengerink, campus dean. Access to Salmon C reek, for drivers and bus commuter , is about as good as it gets for the region as a whole. But Dengerink say the recent defeat of a C lark County mea ure that would have prov ided light ra'il to the area will have a serious nega tive impact on the college. "It's a missed opportunity, not only in serving the campu by itself, but it would have been ideal in our effort to have P U , WSU, C lark College, and PCC all on the same route," he says. Although clearly a Washington institution, the project manager (Heery International) and the architect (Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca) are from Portland . And as if to fo retell a future linkage with Portland rate, the property used to be owned by famil y of Maureen Brown Neuberger. She and her late husband , Richard Neuberger, both former U.S. Senators from O regon, were leaders in e tablishing Portland State Unive rsity. A building on the P U campus is named for Richard Neuberger. 0