Portland State Magazine Fall 2011

Longtime director retires THE SIMON BENSON HOUSE, the stately Queen Anne on the corner of Southwest Park and Montgomery, looks like it has always been there while Portland State spread out around it. But in 2000, the century-old house was picked up and moved to campus from a few blocks away, then painstak– ingly restored into a home for the Alumni Association. None of chat would have happened without the efforcs of recently retired alumni director Pat Squire, who took care of the details once community activist Gretchen Miller Kafoury MPA '00 got the house rolling, so to speak. Those details included recovery of the house's 12 stained-glass windows that were stolen close to the move date. Squire received a tip on the whereabouts of some of the windows, which she passed on to the police. The tip led to a stash of windows found behind newly installed wallboard in an antique shop basement. All were eventually recovered. Since Squire first came to can1pus as alumni director in 1989, she has seen the number of PSU alumni increase from 45,000 to 130,000. She joined the ranks herself when profes– sor Craig Shinn "made me excited about the Public Adminis– tration program," says Squire, who earned an MPA in 1995. Keeping Portland State and Vanport alumni connected to the University has been her goal for the past two decades. Squire started PSU Weekend, which returns Oct. 21-23 with free lectures and reunions. She also started a successful travel program for alumni and a spring awards program that recog– nizes graduates who have made a difference in the community and at PSU. Many of the award winners have been active in PSU Advocates, a program that Squire helped launch to con– nect alumni to their legislators. In the mid-1990s, advocates exerted pressure for funding of the PSU Urban Center Build- 20 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2011 Through the efforts of now retired alumni director Pat Squire MPA '95, the Simon Benson House was moved to campus in 2000 and lovingly restored. ing and Plaza and successfully campaigned to keep engineering programs at the University. Now that she is retired, Squire has "long-awaited" plans to travel with her husband, Fred, but she will likely return co campus this winter. "I truly am a believer in life-long learning," says Squire, "and my first activities with PSU will be to cake advantage of the Senior Adult Learning Center and enroll for free in some interesting classes." Board of Directors transitions Dave Keys '81, MBA '92, executive vice president at Norris & Stevens in Portland, is the newly elected president of the PSU Alumni Board of Directors, taking office on July 1, 2011. Joining him are vice president Christopher Cooper MBA '06, project manager with The Standard; treasurer Aubre Dickson '98, acquisitions manager with National Equity Fund, Inc; and board secretary Kendal McDonald MA '02, archeologist with Applied Archaeological Research, Inc. Newly elected board members are Leila Aman '99, develop– ment project manager with Metro, and Kelly Hossaini '90, MURP '93, an attorney with Miller Nash. The Association extends thanks to retiring board officers Behzad Hosseini '96, MBA '97, president; Gina Leon '95, treasurer; and Rick Watson MBA '00, investment chair. Other board members retiring are Gary Barth '86, Steve Brannan '57, Eric Graham '87, Linda Hamilton '90, and Karen McCarty '06.