Reflecting on the '70s & '80s 4 years of • memorzes Carisa Bohus Student, graduating at the end of fall term with a BA in computer science and a certificate in women's studies I had to support myself so I could only handle about one class a term for the first five years. During those times it was like a real island experience coming into Portland Stale just for a class. You kind of bubbled in and bubbled back out. When I started full-time, I still felt like an island and I saw this sign that said "Notetakers wanted: regular wage. It It was for handicapped student services. So I figured, well, if I take noles for somebody, I'd at least meellhat one person... and I gOI exposed 10 all these different classes that I would never go take on my own. I started doing a lot more things. D One thing about PSU's personality that I have always loved is all the bulletin boards. All the stuff going on. I write it down all the lime. Sometimes I end up getting .. jewel of a lecture of performance. D The computer science course is quite rigorous. You really have to know how to bang yourself up against the wall and go "Hm, I learned from that" and then do it again... What's really disappointing to me is there's no master's program here for computer science. D My cooperative education job with the U.S. Forest Service has been a wonderful experience. I've done real-life things, real production stuff. I've dealt with real issues on the job. Even though J've been working all my life, this is like what I would be doing with my degree... I thought I was going to be a programmer, and in the process I set my sights a lot higher . D I think there are so many possibilities going on (at PSU) and you just have to seek them oul like I did... Because of the diverse population here, the people in your class could be the owner of some business. I feel I've been taken as an individual . I was in the right place at the right time at Panland State in the '70s... I took my first night class in 'S7 and started in day school probably in '71, pursuing my college degree. During that period a lot of things had happened. I had settled down in a job (with Continental Airlines) where I was on a straight shift. My family was older, I was more mature. I had a much better idea of what I wanted to do and Portland State was the university there to help me do il. D The whole scope of education had changed by the '70s, I {elt that the curriculum at the University made a dramatic shift to meet the needs of the student more than the students having to meet the needs o{ the University. It was a time when you could do some innovative things. You could say to a professor. . . I really don't want to sit in a class, I want to do some independent research. D So much of what I am today can be directly attributed to my experience with the University, off and on during those fifteen or sixteen years. It was a sanduary. It was a place out of the storm. It was a place where you could go and intellectually stimulate your mind. D By the time Blumel came to Portland State (became president), people were saying, "Man, this college is radical! We've got to change this place. These students need to know why they're here. They're here to get an education, they're not here to protest in the Park Blocks, they're 110t here to smear up windows and smoke dope and all that." 1 think Blumel was the calming force. D We still carried a great deal of that '" want to The past fifteen years have been against a backdrop of financial problems and belt-tightening. There'd been such growth there in the middle '60s. Then in the 70s, high inflation, a slumping construction industry and problems in the Oregon lumber industry really had an impact on Portland State. For the first time there was talk of lay-offs or cutbacks. It came at a time when we were just getting our first doctoral programs and putting a great deal of emphasis on graduate education, which is always very expensive. It really was a juggling act. D One of the things that I remember about the '70s and '80s most of all was this dance that went on between Portland State and the State Board and the legislature over duplication of programs. If we stayed where we were in 1967, you're really saying to half the people in the Slate, "You've got to drive a hundred miles to get to the type of education you want." I think we now have won that particular battle. D It's pretty clear now that raising funds from the private sector for public institutions (beyond) tax support is critical. President Skuro is clearly pushing for development at a very active and energetic pace. It's the wave of the last ha lf of the '80s and into the '90s. D What happened in Ihe 1970s is that students staned saying, " I don't want just an education. I want 10 know what I'm going to do when I get out. I want a job... "Students became more concerned about getting their money's worth. A lot of people saId the students of the '70s were just placid and inclined to regurgitate information. I think they were just more serious in approaching the class and didn't want other students or the instructor to digress. Ed Washington ('74) Market Administrator Pacific Northwest Bell help the world" that was abounding in the '60s. We were fairly warm·blooded creatures. Bul then reality set in and I knew I couldn't send two sons to college on a teacher's salary. So as I matured and developed through the '70s, (PSU) just helped me to get my feet on the ground. o If you look at some of the public leaders in the Portland area now, you find a lot of women and a lot of blacks who are Portland State graduates. They were born from the Park Blocks. What it gave us was an opportunity to sharpen our skills, to gel ready to go out and seize the opJ:K)rtunities. Jim Heath History professor; former Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Most schools founded since World War II, usually in areas where the population is centered, have to struggle through a 25-year period in which they build a solid foundation. And I think that's what we have. Whether we call it 40 years or 25 years, it was a building block time. Portland State has come through it without being either damaged badly or pigeon-holed into a narrow confine... Given improving economic health for the state, Portland State should be able to capitalize on its position and its foundation. PSU PerspKlive, Fall /986 1".ge J
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