PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION 1984-85 Annual Gifts Report PSU at 40: a mature university supported by a consortium of friends Portland State has spent the last forty years getting better. Every decade since Vanport Extension Center was established in 1946 has been marked by substantial growth, despite etbacks that might have closed the doors of a less spirited institution. While surviving a flood, a recession, and a "johnny-come-Iately" image, PSU was also making improvements in the quality and scope of its programs and its position in the community. And now, as a mature university, PSU continues to get better. As PSU enters its fortieth year, it is more aware than ever of how important its friends have been in this evolution from a two-year extension center to a comprehensive univer ity complete with respected doctoral programs and nationally-recognized research activities. Friends in the state legislature, in city government and in industry have been there to assist at crucial times in PSU's development. And on a day-to-day basis, the financial support offered by individuals, corporations and foundations has been a tremendous boon to Portland State. In 1984-85, the University's friends outdid themselves in generosity. Total gifts to PSU were $2,782,924, over a million dollars more than last year's private giving total. About half of this amount was given by a handful of loyal supporters, the rest by thousandS of individuals who clearly care about the future of the University. Continuing its significant support of PSU's School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Tektronix Foundation made a four-year pledge of $687,000 to electrical engineering programs. The sum is earmarked for new faculty positions, a systems programmer and ongoing support of the VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated) Design Center, established with a grant from the Murdock Charitable Trust three years ago. The Tektronix Foundation is al 0 supporting a new pre-college program launched by the School of Engineering to prepare under-represented minorities for the rigors of college science coursework. The foundation has given $36,000 for two years to the Portland MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievement) Program, a program jointly administered by PSU and Portland Public Schools. Pacific Northwest Bell has also given support to MESA. The Oregon High Technology Consortium awarded the School of Engineering $50,000 to support research in laser/optical systems. A large grant last year from the Consortium had established a laser/optical communications laboratory at PSU. Equipment gifts valued at $260,000 were made to the School of Engineering by Tektronix, Inc. and Intel, primarily for microcomputer labs and computer-aided design labs. This fall, Portland State met a "challenge" issued by the Murdock Charitable Trust in 1984 and the result will be a permanent home for the Portland Center for Advanced Technology. The Murdock Trust's challenge grant of $825,000 had to be matched by Dec. 31, 1985, to be used in the purchase of the former city water services building on S.W. Sixth, which has housed PSU's electrical and computer engineering programs since 1983. The Univer ity successfully came up with the balance on the $2.1 million building with a combination of state building fund monies and state bonds, and the PSU Foundation will receive the Murdock check by the end of 1985. Chik Erzurumlu, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, noted that state support in the coming biennium will increase, particularly in the areas of computer-aided design labs and school-wide program improvement. But, he added, "the attainment of excellence is only possible with generous contributions from industry that augment the state's support." Such Industry-university cooperation "bears many frUits," aid Erzurumlu, among them the creation of "an environment conducive to critical thought and the birth of new ideas." In the School of Business Administration, the Earle A. Chiles Microcomputing Center was able to acquire more PCs, printers and software with a $50,000 grant from the Earle A. Chiles Foundation. The Chiles Foundation was also generous in its support of athletics at Portland State, with $62,500 given to the Viking Athletic Association for football and baseball scholar hips and baseball program operations. Broad base of support More individuals than ever responded to calls from PSU volunteers and staff by making pledges to the 1984-85 Annual Fund, the PSU Foundation's yearly fund-raising drive. "What's really exciting is the incredible number of alumni givers and the success of the phonathon this year," said Phil Bogue, executive director of the Foundation. "P5U alums do care," he added. The Annual Fund brought in a record $120,764 in gifts from over 3,000 alumni and friends of the University. More than 16,000 contacts were made by student telephoners coordinated by Janice Squiers ('84). Under the chairmanship of Chuck Clemans ('56), the 1984-85 Annual Fund realized a 38% increase in gifts and a 97% increase in donors over the second most successful campaign in 1982-83. Portland State's coming-of-age can happen only in part with taxpayer support, said PSU President Joseph C. Blumel. "The real difference between adequate and superior educational programs lies in the amount of private support a university receives," he said. "Now with the legislature directing us to move toward the status of a 'comprehensive research university,' we must place even greater emphasis on research and advanced graduate programs. This is possible only with the continued generosity of our alumni and friends." That's how PSU, at 40, keeps getting better and better. Kirk Taylor ('71) takes over Annual Fund chair from Chuck Clemans ('56)
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