Portland State Magazine Spring 2015

SPRING 2015 / VOL. 29 NO. 2 EDITOR Kathryn Kirkland WRITERS Harry Esteve, Bess Pallares, Suzanne Pardington PHOTOGRAPHERS Kelly James, Edis Jurcys, Peter Simon COPY EDITOR Martha Wagner DESIGN Brett Forman, Sean Martinez LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 810 Market Center Building PO Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 503-725-4451, fax 503-725-4465 psumag@pdx.edu ADDRESS CHANGES Please email psuupdates@pdx.edu or call 503-725-4948 ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE Tom Bull, Executive Director Simon Benson House 1803 SW Park Ave. PO Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 503-725-4948 psualum@pdx.edu PSU BOARD OF TRUSTEES Pete Nickerson, Chair Swati Adarkar Erica Bestpitch MS ’12 Gale Castillo MA ’74 Sho Dozono MS ’69 Maria Carolina Gonzalez-Prats Maude Hines Thomas Imeson Margaret Kirkpatrick Irving Levin Fariborz Maseeh ’80, MS ’84 Rick Miller MBA ’91 Peter Stott HD ’11 Christine Vernier Wim Wiewel Portland State Magazine is published three times a year, during fall, winter and spring terms. Contents may be reprinted only by permission of the editor. The magazine is printed on recycled paper. Portland State University is an affirmative action / equal opportunity institution. 2 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2015 PORTLAND STATE plays a unique role in Oregon higher education. We are the state’s urban research university, and we serve an incredibly diverse population of students. We educate and help establish careers for the most low-income, the most minority, the most non-traditional students in the state. This is something in which I take a great deal of pride, and it’s part of what makes PSU a special place. Our ability to maintain accessibility has been tested in recent years, however, as cuts in state funding required us to raise tuition and cut services. As you know, we are in the middle of a legislative session and have joined the other public universities in ask- ing lawmakers and our new governor, Kate Brown, to put Oregon higher education back on roughly the same financial footing as before the Great Recession. The past several years have been tough on almost everyone, including PSU. Now, things are getting better. As many other states have come to realize, investing in higher education is key to broadening the prosperity that comes with a growing economy. We hope our state elected offi- cials feel the same and will act accordingly. Additional dollars will help ensure that PSU remains a place where students from across the spectrum enjoy the opportunity to get the education, advice and support they need to graduate. We are not putting all our eggs in the state-funding basket. With the disbanding of the Oregon University System, PSU has gained greater autonomy. We are now governed by our own Board of Trustees, and although I work closely with the six other public university presidents, I’m also looking at ways that PSU can leverage its strengths to become more financially stable. Among them: • Equitable funding. Our research shows that PSU receives much less funding per student than our counterparts, even though we serve the most low-income students. Making the state funding formula more equitable and responsive to academic outcomes would help PSU. The Higher Education Coordinating Commission is working on this, and we will continue to push them hard. • A culture of philanthropy. We have made great strides in recent years to increase the level of donations to PSU, thanks to our generous alumni and community part- ners. Response to our Creating Futures campaign is allowing us to offer many more scholarships to deserving students. Read about its success on page 20. • Research. Our efforts to expand our research and our strategic partnerships are paying off. The most recent example is the $24 million grant from National Institutes of Health, our biggest ever. • Local funding. I am exploring the possibility of reaching out to the region PSU serves to help stabilize our budget. Stay tuned for more information. These, and other ideas, give me a great sense of optimism that the rise of PSU will continue well into the future. Thank you for being a part of it. Wim Wiewel PRESIDENT, PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY Leveraging our strengths F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T