Vanporters share memories with classmates, profs Retired members of the orIglna' Vanport facutty, Donald Parker Ind George Hoff· mann, clowned with • singing letegr8m messenger during V.nport Reunion end Indoor Teltg.te Party held la.t November. YOU CAN NOMINATE A STUDENT for the PSU ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM • $1,000 scholarships based on merit to entering freshmen. • Financial need is not a consideration. • Renewable each year if minimum academic requirements are met. • Deadline for completed application materials is March 11, 1983 (so make your nomination now!) • Recipients are selected by a volunteer committee of PSU alumni. Alan Kotz '65 chair Glen Beckley '68 Alcena Boozer '74 Margaret Gottlieb, Vanport John Kinman '68 Diane Mikkelson '79 Linnea Swanson '78 THE PSU ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IS FUNDED BY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PSU ALUMNI. For more information, call the PSU Foundation, (503) 229-4911. Alumni of the Vanport Extension Center shared reminiscences about the "U by the Slough" at a reunion and indoor tailgate party held last November at PSU. Vanport loyals also honored retiring members of the original Vanport faculty Donald Parker and George Hoffmann in a light·hearted evening of banjo music and fried chicken. The occasion marked the advent of a special Vanport alumni club, which has plans for monthly and annual get togethers and a 3S-year commemoration of the 1948 Van port flood this coming Memorial Day. At the party, classmates renewed old acquaintanceships and recalled their days at the school that was intended to be a temporary institution. The first studenl body president Bob Taylor remembered his decision to enroll: "I had applied at U of 0 , but they were lacking housing for married couples." Like most of the original enrollees, Taylor was a World War II veteran seeking college education under the GI Bill. "I read about (Vanport Extension Center) in the newspapers during the summer of 1946, and immediately applied." Donald Parker, who retired from his position as dean of the School of Business Administration in December, and George Hoffman, who retired as dean of the School of Social Sciences last September, noted the unusual character and circumstances of the post-war school. "We were there because we wanted to be there at the time," said Hoffmann. Both Parker and Hoffmann joined the faculty of the temporary extension center. which was set up to handle the overflow from state universities and colleges, shortly after it opened in the summer of 1946. The school was housed at the site of a wartime housing complex for shipyard workers in what is now West Delta Park. About 1,300 students enrolled the first year. The area contained rows of two-story apartments, schools, grocery stores and fire stations, recalled Bill Lemman, Vanport alumnus and vice chancellor for administration of the Oregon State System of High Education, who served as master of ceremonies . Most of the students were veterans with families, said Taylor, and were not much younger than their teachers. Shared experiences fostered student-faculty camaraderie, "There were lots of shortages to deal with," he said. Taylor and others started a combined grocery/book store to cope with such problems as how 10 get baby food. One of Vanport's first employees, Margaret Holland Gottlieb, did double duty, as did many faculty members. Hired as assistant to the director, she also taught two English classes. The campus 110ated away just two years after its founding in the Vanport flood of May 30, 1948. Dikes surrounding campus burst from the pressure of the rising Columbia River. All of it, lock, stock and barrel, floated right down the river. according to Hoffmann. But the college didn'l die. It started over in a vacant shipyard complex in S1. Johns. In 1952, Vanport bought the old Lincoln High School building lrom the Portland School District and moved into its new headquarters, now known as Uncoln Hall. There, the extension center matured and became Portland State College in 1955 when the state legislature responded to urgings of Portland residents and students for a four-year degree·granting institution. But for one evening last November, Portland State University's new profile of 25 buildings on 26 downtown blocks faded and the "college that wouldn't die" lived again. From a Y.-,guard article by Cat1a Kautto Kelly Black alumni club forming Black alumni of PSU may soon have a club through which they can stay involVed with the University. PSU Affirmative Action Officer Major Morris and alumnus Ed Washington ('74) are assembling a core of interested people to get a club off the ground. "We want to see black alums become more involved with the growth and development of the UniverSity," said Morris. "There's not enough of a feeling that the University has any sense of community with them." A survey is going out to black alums projX)sing the idea of an Afro-American Alumni Club and assessing the level of interest in active involvement. One possible activity of an Afro-American club, according to Morris, would be to give support to new black students through a system of host families. The club would also provide social activities for alums. The problem now is to identify PSU's black alums. Only recently have records included racial information about students, explained Morris. Black alums who are interested in the formation of a club are encouraged to call Major Morris at (503) 229·4417. 13
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