Portland State Magazine Fall 2007

Kieshawn Lewis '03, Michael Dorsey, Tygne Howland, and Chantea Watson met atop the Urban Center Building for a May 31 reception celebrating current and graduated Student Ambassadors. Pei Ling and her daughter, Pao Huang '07, from Taiwan were among more than 100 international graduates enjoying a send-off luncheon aboard the Spirit of Portland June 14. Young alumni numbers soar PORTLAND STAT E IS Oregon's largesruniversiry.Tharhasbeentrueforyears now, and the evidence is in the numbers: nearly 25,000 students and more degrees awarded (4,800 in 2007) than at any ocher university in Oregon. Further evidence is the fact chat 27 percent of all alumni graduated from PSU from 2000 to 2007. In that group of 21 st century grads, more than 72 percent are 35 or under, 78 percent live in Oregon, 88 percent live on the West Coast, and nearly 57 percent are female. Over the past few years, the most popular undergraduate degrees are in the fields of business, psychology, and social and physical sciences. The number of international students and graduates also continues to increase at the same race as the overall student population with the most popular countries of origin being Japan, India, Korea, and China. The Alumni Association has targeted younger alumni for events, services, and activities during the past few years with good results. Recent grads and younger alumni tend to stay in or near Oregon, have a strong desire to network with their peers, and use their connections to get jobs; career, educational or financial advice; or to socialize. The Association's new membership program has a "new graduate" annual member– ship race of $10 for alumni signing up within 12 months of graduation. According to Membership Coordinator Adam Smith '04, young alumni are taking advantage of the offer. "We're trying to reach new grads with some services chat they can really use, such as first-time home ownership seminars and sessions on how to get into grad school," says Smith. "Lase year's young alumni event at Cassidy's brought some people together who hadn't seen each ocher for awhile, and has resulted in at lease one marriage and a job offer or two." This past year, recent grads also attended a farewell cruise for graduating inter– national students, a reunion of student ambassadors, and another "young alumni" event at Doug Fir, a popular lounge on East Burnside. To find out more about activities for recent grads and to rake a brief survey and make suggestions, go ro the PSUMWeb site at www.alumni.pdx.edu and look for "young alumni." Check out the sire's photo gallery. ■ 7 6 2 Frank Steiner MS '07, connected with other recent graduates and enjoyed the buffet at Doug Fir Lounge on East Burnside July 12. Alumni at your fingertips CONNECTING WITH classmates, professional networking, or simply finding alumni in your neighbor– hood have just gotten easier. Mem– bers of the Portland State Alumni Association now have access to the online alumni directory. "Ihis latest addit ion to our online offerings wi ll allow members to view profiles of alumni, make contact, and customize their own profi le for other members to view. Updati ng your information is fast, easy and most importantly, secure. Individuals have the option to choose which informa– tion fields in their profile they would like viewable by other community memhers and which should remain private. "I he on line directo ry is pass– word protected and only accessible to active membcrs of the PSUAA. "li-y it today. Go to www.11l11111ni. pdx.edu and, if you aren't a member already, join. "ll,cn, log into the directory, fill our your profile and start reconnecting! 0 Months since launch Cargo boxes of charter of the new PSUAA life member blankets Membership Program emptied to date Number of member-only events this fall Reasons not to join your fellow PSU alumni STAY CONNECTED JOIN THE PSUAA TODAY www.alumni.pdx.edu FALL 2007 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 21