PSU Magazine Winter 2000

Who are our students? The campus is bulging at its seams this fall with enrollment of 16,049 students, the most since 1980. And if you count the huge number of continuing educa– tion students, the total soars to 18,3 17- more than any of our down– state si ter universities. This is a 5.9 percent increase over last fall's numbers, and the biggest growth for any of the state's seven campuses. The state system as a whole increased by 3.6 percent. Much of the cred it for growth goes to Oregon's good economy and a two-year state tu ition freeze. Here is a brief profile of Portland State's new undergraduates: • Women outnumber men at 55 to 45 percent • Average age is 25 .8 • Average SAT scores are 505 verbal and 510 math • Sixty-eight countries, all 50 states, and Guam are represented • Fifty percent of our new students are from the Portland tri-county area • More than one in five students come from an ethnically or culturally diverse background • This year's most popular maj or is psychology, followed by business administration , accounting, and art. Accounting grads: tops Recent graduates of the School of Bu iness Administration once aga in passed the national CPA exam at a rate significantly higher than the national average. Results just released by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy show that PSU gradu– ate ranked fifth in the nation fo r their passing rate on the national CPA exam given in November 1998. On average, over the past 15 years, PSU students have passed the CPA exam at a rate twice the national average. PSU purchases building This fall the University purchased a building it already use in the heart of campus. PSU bought the University Center Building at 1881 SW Fifth Avenue. The Graduate School of Social Work and Department of Athletics are housed in the building, which also rents to the PSU Bookstore and McDonalds. The bu ilding's 380-space parking garage is also included in the purchase. The Oregon Legislative Emergency Board approved the expenditure of bonds to purchase the building for $5. l million. E-Board approval was necessary because the University is only buying the building, not the underlying land. The University is leasing the property from a trust run by the Fourier and Larson families; ownership of the building would revert back to the trust in the year 2043 unless a new agreement is reached by that time. With classroom, office, and parking space at a premium on campus, buying the building made sense, says Jay Kenton, associate vice president fo r Finance and Planning. Leasing space in the building for the next 43 years would have exceeded the bond debt by $9.4 million, according to Kenton, and this figure does not include inflation. The four-story building cons ists of approximately 84,500 square feet. The University currently occupies 28,000 square feet. A number of businesses have long-term leases in the building, including McDonalds. The PSU Bookstore is planning to move into the Urban Center this winter, which would allow the University to lease that space or use it as classrooms. Another high-tech laboratory on campus has won an award for innovative interior design. The Integrated Circuits Laboratory in the School of Engineering received Best of Show from the Portland chapter of the International Interior Design Association. The futuristic-looking lab features glowing fiberglass and polycarbonate walls built around the Credence circuit testing machine, itself an ultramodern design. The machine is used for semi– conductor research. A window in one wall opens to the radio frequency rack· and-stack area of the lab. Award recipient is Emmons Company Architecture and Planning of Portland. Last year, the Media Arts Center won two awards for its interior design. WINTER 2000 PSU MAGAZINE 3