PSU Magazine Summer 1988

Rhea Paul J ohanna Brenner Faculty awards its own Rhea Paul and J ohanna Brenner received PSU's prestigious faculty excellence awards - the Branford Price Millar Award and the Hoff– mann Award - at Spring Com– mencement, June 10. The pair were nominated and selected by their col– leagues for the awards, which carry cash prizes. Rhea Paul , an assistant professor in Speech Communication, was chosen for the Millar Award, named after the University's second president and intended to honor a faculty member who has demonstrated ex– cellence in instruction, scholarship, university service and public service. The award committee recognized Paul as, "an internationally respected researcher and lecturer on autism, language acquisition and language di sorders, who also is an outstanding teacher." The award also cites her work in curriculum development and her devotion to students. Paul, who came to Portland State in 1986 from the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Conn., has a Ph.D. in com– munication disorders from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Johanna Brenner, coordinator of Women's Studies, is the recipient of the Hoffmann Award, named for long-time Portland State faculty member and emeritus Dean of Social Science George Hoffmann . The com– mittee found Brenner, "a person of intelligence, insight, enthusiasm and generous spirit, she is the very em– bodiment of excellence in teaching." The committee pointed out that I CAMPUS NOTES I Brenner maintains high expectations for her students and herself while her teaching style reflects personal warmth and intellectual rigor. "An ethical and caring human being, Johanna Bren– ner clearly is dedicated both to her teaching and to her students," the committee said. Brenner, who receiv– ed a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, has been on PSU's faculty since 1981. Loan pay-off for teachers Top ranking students willing to teach in Oregon may have their loans paid off thanks to a new program designed by the Oregon State Scholarship Commission (OSSC). The plan, called the Oregon Teacher Corps Program, was approved by the 1987 Oregon Legislature and encourages minority students to stay in Oregon at least three years teaching sorely needed subjects, such as advanced math or physics, in inner city and rural settings. Eleven PSU students were accepted into the pro– gram last academic year, and the University is allowed 40 applicants in the 1988-89 school year, according to Carol Burden, an associate professor of education at Portland State. OSSC will approve loans and later waive them for Oregon residents who are: • currently ranked in the top 20 per– cent of their college classes or have a 3.3 GPA; • enrolled at least half-time; • pursuing basic certification for elementary or secondary school teaching; • not in default on any state of Oregon or federal loans; and • going to complete at least three years of full-time teaching in Oregon within five years. Priority is given to racial minority students; those who will be teaching in highly needed fields - advanced math, chemistry, physics and han– dicap endorsement; and students will– ing to teach in remote or difficult to service areas in Oregon. m 18 National honors for student scholars Three outstanding PSU students received national awards this spring: honors History student Phillip Lucas was awarded a $6,000 fellowship for graduate study by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; graduate candidate Robert K. Henderson will receive a 1988-89 Fulbright Grant to teach in France; and Alfonso H. Pioquinto, Jr., a doctoral student in Educational Leadership, won the prestigious Gerald H. Read Laureate Scholarship of Kappa Delta Pi. The Phi Kappa Phi fellowship awarded to Phillip Lucas is the fourth such honor given to a PSU student in the eight years the society has been on campus. Phi Kappa Phi is a national scholastic honor society recognizing academic excellence in all disciplines. Lucas, 35, plans to study Religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was also awarded a four-year doctoral fellowship. Robert K. Henderson will teach conversational English to secondary– level school students in France with his Fulbright grant. Prior to enrolling in PSU's Master of Arts in Teaching degree program, Henderson, 26, taught French and history in a small high school of 90 students on remote Lopez Island, Wash., in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As a member of Kappa Delta Pi, Alfonso H . Pioquinto, Jr., is the se– cond Endowed Laureate Doctoral Scholarship recipient in the six years the education honor society has been on campus. Pioquinto, 35, is on leave from Mabini College in Manila, Republic of Philippines, where he taught education and philosophy. The $1,500 scholarship will help Pioquinto finish his studies in the post-secondary education doctoral program at PSU.