PSU Magazine Winter 1993

sn't it interesting how seem– ingly isolated movements or events sometimes intersect in unexpected ways to create new ideas or new directions? One of the enjoyable aspects of my job is that I can encourage these intersec– tions, combining various elements to invent new programs and new approaches to problems. An example of this is an effort we call Project Match. Like all great universities, Portland State brings groups of talented faculty and students together in the productive interactions that lead to learning. But PSU and other urban universities are adding a new dimension to the tradi– tional faculty-student interaction: Wherever possible, we are turning the focus of our academic and research work toward community-generated issues and priorities rather than tradi– tional classroom exercises or textbook examples. Our University mission statement highlights PSU's role in enhancing the quality of urban life and our focus on issues important to the metropolitan region. Close cooperation with the community also is a key element of the PSU urban mission. Those elements of the mission state– ment helped guide development of The Portland Agenda, funded by the 1991 Legislature, which includes the inter– institutional library network, the Portland Educational Network, the Institute of Metropolitan Studies, the Ph.D. in Social Work, and a series of incentive grants to faculty for collabora– tive programs. Those same urban university values are driving the development of Project Match. Use of the community as a "living laboratory" for research, class projects, or student internships is not a new idea. For many years, individual University departments have had such programs, producing valuable results for the community and for students. Over the past few years, for example, PSU students have: assisted small businesses with marketing and operational plans; helped non-profit groups with accounting and tax ques– tions; designed and conducted surveys for civic and neighborhood organiza– tions; researched and prepared traffic and land use studies; tutored students; and participated in literally dozens of other community-centered learning activities, internships and practica. These efforts usually spring from a specific faculty member's area of inter– est or from a departmental course requirement and there is little coordina– tion on campus or in the community. It is possible that more than one depart– ment or class is engaged in similar projects simultaneously. At the same time, the community is turning increasingly to the University requesting assistance with a variety of programs. However, there is no central contact point at the University for such requests, and no formal way to deter– mine which requests are suitable for which departments and which might be referred to other organizations or institutions. Enter Project Match: • To more accurately connect com– munity issues and priorities with faculty teaching and research interests. + To develop essential intake and referral tools for access to university resources, providing a central con– tact point for the community at the University. • To catalogue faculty teaching and research interests and to market those interests to the community. • To provide faculty and students with information regarding ongoing public and private sector research, research interests and data resources. Project Match brings together several elements of the University: the Office of Grants and Contracts, which tries to match funding sources with funding needs; the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, which works to link teaching and research activities with metropolitan issues; the Univer– sity faculty, who need a consistent supporting framework to help them manage information and research requests; and the community, which needs a "user friendly" point of access to University resources. Because the strengths of our Univer– sity are teaching and research, we want to ensure that the connections between our academic programs and the real world need and i ues faced by our community will be meaningful and will comprise quality learning experiences for our students. Community service projects that flow from the academic programs are a direct implementation of the urban mission. Through Project Match, the University will develop an easy to use process to encourage, manage and track the myriad interfaces between PSU and the community. In short, we will be giving life to the University's motto: Doctrina Urbi Serviat, "Let Knowledge Serve the City." Judith A. Ramaley President