PSU Magazine Winter 1994

Helping students succeed For the past two years, seven Portland State students, unknown to each other, have had a lot in common- ingle parenthood, job juggling, economic hard hip, good grade , and Libby Solomon. Solomon is the benefactor behind the Gu and Libby olomon Student Scholar hip, a fund that i helping these w0men complete their under· graduate degree . The students met Solomon during a campus reception in October. "When I received the cholarship in the fall of 1992, I wa a single parent of two, I worked three job , and I attended P U full time. With the addition of your cholarship, I was able to leave one of my jobs and concentrate more on my studies and my children," wrote one of the women in a scrapbook presented to Solomon. Students eligible for the $500 to $1,500 scholarships must be in their junior or senior year, in good academic standing, and show financial need. Solomon has a decade-long history of giving to the University. In 1985 an emergency need fund for English and vi ual art students was begun with donations she provided. Solomon continues to upport the fund today. She served three years on the PSU Foundation Board beginning in June 1987, soon after the death of her hu band, Gus J. Solomon. He wa a long-time U.S. District Court judge in Portland. The Courthou e was renamed in hi memory in 1989. Libby olomon received no advanced degrees herself, but attended Reed College, University of Oregon Medical School and Portland Art Museum School, where she tudied medical technology and art. She also continues to take classes at PSU, her son Richard's almamater. He graduated in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Today, he is a certified public accountant. Both Libby Solomon and her on are members of PSU President's Associates. 20 PSU Magazine President Judith Ramaley brought Libby Solomon together with students who have received the Gus and Libby Solomon Scholarship. Pictured left to right are: Mary Ann Barham MS '91, Marta Muth, Development Executive Director Regina Borum, Development staff Barbara Jennings, PresidentJudith Ramaley, Elizabeth Ann Rawls, Cynthia Phillips (front), PSU staff Rose Hill '90, Aisha Shani Shareiff, Libby Solomon, Development Officer Leslie Martin, Delores Riding-In, Pamela Cohen, and PSU staff Mary Jo Rutten. "I've always felt close to PSU and felt that we needed the school," says Solomon. "It is appropriate that the scholarship goes to the kind of students it does, becau e there is a very great need right now. The scholarship helps students over the rough spots; to lose the chance of a university education would be tragic." Tragedy in her own life has influenced Solomon in her gifts to the University. In the 1920s when Solomon was in high chool, her sister, who was just about to graduate from college, died after being hit by a car. Unfortunately Solomon' father, who has ill at the time, was obligated to pay 6 percent towards his late daughter's scholarship. Libby Solomon vowed to give toward others' education but only with outright gifts that required no payback. Having met the student' who benefit from her gift, Solomon continues to be interested in supporting higher education including the establishment of a scholar hip in her sister's memory through the Graduate School of Social Work. Telephoning for friends For nine months, a group of Portland State student gathered at night in a room on campus, picked up their telephone , and called more than 28,000 alumni, parents and friends of the Univer ity. The students, PSU T elefund callers, kept phone-to-ear from October 1992 through June 1993. Their calls served two functions: helping the University learn about its most important con tituency and raising more than $292,000 for Portland State. Jeffrey Taylor, a pre-med student, single-handedly raised over $30,000 in pledges for the University. One of the Telefund's most important achievement ha been to increase the number of individuals supporting the Univer ity, according to