PSU Magazine Spring 2006

Wiking Lhrough Portland SLaLe UniversiLy's 49-acre campus Loday, iL's easy Lo Lake Oregon's only urban col– lege for gramed. lt's big, it's inLerna– Lional, and il neslles in Lhe middle of Ponland as if il's always been there. Few realize that every degree and every depanmem was won piece by piece, carved by UniversiLy advocates ouL of an imransigem higher education system. MargareL Dobson, 74, was one of those carvers. IL was hard. For Lhe first several decades of Portland SLaLe's existence, officials from the Oregon Stale Board of Higher EducaLion would nol allow the school Lo offer any degree offered by Lhe two downsLate universiLies. For Dobson, who joined the faculty in 1955 as an insLrucLor and retired in 1990 as execuLive vice president of Lhe UniversiLy, il was a siLUalion Lhat required finesse as well as firmness. "Every sLep of Lhe way we fought a major baule," Dobson says. "For every degree we goL, I had Lo wine and dine my colleagues al University of Oregon and Oregon Stale to gel their suppon before Lhe SLaLe Board of Higher Ed." "Our firsL Ph.D. \.Vas in urban sLucl– ies because, obviously, there was no con0icL," Dobson says. "People won'L believe how hard we've worked LO gel where we\•e come. ln Lhe lasl few years we've gained more students and have a larger student body than any 20 P'iU MAGAZINE SPRING 2006 Margaret Dobson (center) , who played on the 1951 men's baseball team, has experienced the University as a s tudent, professor, and top adminis trator. other universit} in the state." Dobson's accomplishments as an athlete often seem to eclipse her academic achievements. In the late 19'1-0s, Dobson started playing third base on a semiprofes– sional softball team, the Erv Lind Florist team of Portland. She was 16 years old. At age 19 she enrolled at the Vanport Extension Center, only to find Lhe school had no softball team. lt didn't matter; Dobson was so good al the sport she was inviLed Lo play on Lhe men's 1951 baseball team, where she earned a varsity lcuer and notice in Time magazine. Dobson continued Lo play women's softball and was voted Most Outstand– ing Player in the 1952 NaLional Soft– ball Playoffs. She set a record baning average, .515, at the 1954 Women's World Softball Tournamem. Dobson made enough money from softball Lo pul herself Lhrough school. Like many others from the early days, she auendcd Vanport but could not get a full baccalaureaLe degree Lhere. lnsLead, Dobson earned degrees in physical educaLion and educaLional administraLion from University of Oregon and University of Wisconsin. The deeper she delved into sports and education, the more committed Dobson became to making both avail– able for all children. In Lhe early 1960s, she and a small group of like-minded people began lobbying in0uemial people Lo provide sports opportunities for mentally challenged children. One of the people she meL al the time was Eunice Kennedy Shriver. As a result, in 1962 Sh river sLaned a summer camp for Lhe disabled at her esLaLe in Maryland. Al the same Lime, Dobson toured universiLies across the United SLaLes instructing future educa– tors on how to Leach disabled kids. By 1968, the camp project had grown. Today it's considered a global move– ment and known as the Special Olympics. uring Dobson's tenure as an adminisLrator al Portland Stale, the University added five new certificate programs, five baccalaureaLe degrees, four new master's degrees, and four new doctoral programs. During Lhe same period Dobson was listed by Sports Illustrated as one of Oregon's 50 greatest sports figures of the 20th century, and named Lo the National Softball Hall of Fame. This spring Dobson received the President's Award for UniversiLy Advancement (sec page 28). Which is her most enduring legacy 7 "So often throughout my life I've been talked about as an athlete," she says. "But I'm much prouder of what I did as an educator."