Portland State Magazine Spring 2014

6 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2014 PA R K B L O C K S Four and no more PORTLAND STATE has taken the lead among Oregon’s public universities and created a Four-Year Degree Guarantee to help students graduate on time and save money on tuition. Here’s how it works: Starting in this fall, students entering PSU as full-time freshmen may sign an agreement to follow a four-year degree path. If they stay on track, the University guarantees they will have the courses and advising they need to graduate on time, or they won’t pay tuition for any remaining required courses. It’s guaranteed. A window to the arts LOOKING UP at the right moment, drivers on Southwest Broadway may catch a dancer’s leap in the new three-story glass tower addition to Lincoln Hall. The glass entrance is the final piece of a $37 million renovation of the historic building. Lincoln Hall, built as a high school in 1911, is home to the University’s College of the Arts. The new tower adds 3,400 square feet of dance, drama and gallery space. Philanthropist Arlene Schnitzer made construction of the $3.7 million tower possible with a $2.3 million gift in memory of her late husband, Harold. Architects get down to business THE SCHOOL OF Business Administration is getting a $60 million makeover, and Northwest firm SRG Partnership was chosen to design it. The firm will work closely with German firm Behnisch Architekten, a world leader in sustainable design, on the project. They are tasked with tripling the size of the business school with a design that brings its nearly 5,000 students under one roof. Included in the remodel and expansion is a new 42,000-square-foot structure on the north side of the current building, seen here. An $8 million gift from alumnus Rick Miller MBA ’91 and his wife, Erika, brought the school closer to the $20 million in private funds it needs to raise. Expected to be complete by 2017, the project has received $40 million in state-backed bonds.