PSU Magazine Winter 1992

About the magazine Thi is ue of PSU Magazine includes something new: paid advertising. We hope that advertising income will help with the costs of producing three issues each year, as well as the rising co ts of mailing the magazine to our 50,000 readers. You can help our efforts to cut costs. In the spring issue of PSU Magazine we will include a readership survey.Tel l us what you think of the magazine-our content, design, and advertising. W 'll be looking forward to your responses. In this issue you will also find Portland State University 1990-91 , A Year of Achievement. This report recog– nizes the 6,000 PSU Foundation donors. whose contributions are critical to Portland State's future. By including the report in the magazine, we are sav ing the cost of a separate mailing. We hope to continue improving PSU Magazine with your help. Thanks for your readership. -Kathryn Kirkland , editor Library to network region Formal dedication on Nov. 3 of the five-story, $1 1 million addition to the Branford P. Millar Library (pictured on this issue's cover), offered a glimpse into the electronically linked libraries of the future. The dedication celebrated more than the completion of the Iona– awaited expansion. It coincided with a commitment by state government, the State Sy rem of Higher Education, and a con ortium of academic libraries throughout the Portland metropolitan area to form a Portland Area Library Network. The Millar Library will become the hub of this regional network, providing members immediate access to regional, national, and international informa– tion networks. The State Legislature appropriated $1 million to create the Portland Area Library Network and an additiona l $500,000 to help the state's regional colleges acquire the technol– ogy necessary to access the network. 2 PSU The network, which will include the latest computer and telecommunica– tions technology, will be coordinated from an office in the Millar Library. The addition to the Library has in– creased usable space by 72,000 square feet, nearly doubling the size of the origina l building which opened in 1968. Designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the building's curved glas wall faces a century-old copper beech tree. Design for independence Economic Professor Thomas Palm was in Estonia during August and Septem– ber, as the Soviet Union fo rmally restored the tiny Baltic republic's independence. Palm, a native Estonian, was an invited consu ltant to Estonian Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar. He par– ticipated in the design of the government's 3 x 3 economic policy document, which is intended to make the independence process irreversible and bring Estonia out of its economic chaos in the next three years. "My timing was right," said Palm. "I entered an occupied country and by the time I left its independence had been restored." Palm, who also serves a economics adv iser to the Congress of Estonia, returned to Estonia on Oct. 18 to receive an honorary doctorate from Tal– linn Technical Univer ity. The award recognizes his work during the past two years promoting economic and educa– tional reforms for the country. During his many visits to Estonia, Palm has lectured at the po tgraduate Estonian Management Institute (EMI), the Estonian Business School, the Es– tonian League of Engineers, and con– su lted with the Ministri s of Education and Economics. He has initiated mini– sterial-level discussion on the future development of Estonian oil sha le and phosphorate depo it . Palm and PSU Economics Professor Abdul Qayum recently wrote a four– volume text on managerial economics with EMI. Video program a winner The PSU Statewide MBA Program was declared the most outstanding credit program in the Northwest region by the National University Continuing Education Association (NUCEA). Katherine Novy, director of the PSU program, accepted the award Oct. 11 at NUCEA's annual conference held at UC-Berkeley. The Statewide MBA Program, which began in fall 1988, is the first off– campus, advanced degree program of– fered on videotape in Oregon. It has 12 participating sites statewide and one in southwestern Washington. Enrollment is 60. Twice a week the MBA course at PSU i videotaped, and tape and cour e material are delivered weekly to participating sites. "Better than 50 percent of the fir t class graduated this summer, and with a 3.4 grade point average," said Novy. "More than 20 percent of the students were elected to Beta Gamma Sigma (the highest National Honor Society for students in business and manage– ment), and 10 percent of ou r students are Busine Scholars, with a cumu la– tive GPA of 3.8." Faculty receive awards During fa ll term four faculty members were presented with Burlington North– ern Faculty Achievement Awards for exce ll ence in teaching. Honored were Larry Bowlden, as– sociate professor of philosophy and a member of the facu lty since 1968; David Johnson, professor of history, 1979; Earl Molander, professor of busi– ness administration and director of the Sov iet and East European Business Ad– ministration (SEEBA) Center, 1975; and Marjorie T erdal, associate professor of linguistics, 1977. The Burlington Northern Awards recognize quality classroom teaching, high scholarly tandards, and sig– nificant student impact. They carry a $1,500 cash tipend. Nomination were made by fellow faculty, profes ional in the field, students, and former student .