Portland State Magazine Winter 2008

Afghanistan language offered THE EYES of the world are on Afghanistan and Pakistan, yet few U.S. universities teach the languages of chose countries-an important element in developing deep understanding of their cultures. This fall, PSU began offering Pashto, which is widely spoken by Pash tuns in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan. The class is part of the Heritage Language program, which carers to scudents who are familiar with a language usually because it is spoken by their parents or grandparents. The Pashto class is also attracting armed services members and people interested in chat part of the world. Amin Wahab, a city of Portland envi– ronmental program manager, is teaching the class. He immigrated to tl1e United States from Afghanistan soon after the Soviet Union invasion of 1979. Only native speakers may teach in PSU's Heritage Language program, which started four years ago. The most popular language in the program is Tagalog, a language of the Philippines. Spanish is the second most popular heritage language. T The University is now offering Pashto, a language of Afghanistan, seen here, and northwest Pakistan. Viewpoint While average housing prices in the U.S. have fallen for the first time in 70 years, Portland/Vancouver prices are appreciating, says Gerard Mildner, director of the PSU Center for Real Estate. He shares some of the reasons behind the Northwest's good fortune Q : Why are our area housing prices holding up better than the U.S. average? A: The Pacific Northwest has been relatively untouched chiefly due to the strength of our local economy, including access to trade in Asia. Other factors are continued in-migration, our low rate of subprime lending, low loan-to-value ratios for borrowers, and growth management constraints that have limited over– building, which is so evident in the Sunbelt markers. Q : How has trade in Asia made a difference? A : The opening of foreign trade in China and India has dramatically changed global trading patterns. Most low-skilled manufacturing jobs and some low– skilled service sector jobs have moved to Asia, creating opportunities for more high-skilled employment in the U.S. Thar's what's happening with the leading firms in our region-Ince!, Nike, Boeing, and Precision Casrparrs-and it's char higher-skilled, higher-paid workforce that strengthens our economy and therefore our housing marker. Q: In 2008, what Portland neighborhood could see the highest increases? A: IfI knew the answer, I would be investing accordingly. Since 1990, we've seen large increases in rhe close-in neighborhoods on the easrside and North Portland. This gentrification may have played out, and we could see greater appreciation on the westside. My wife and I sold our house in Southeast Portland in October and moved to the wesrside, so maybe I'm nor an unbiased observer. New fund bridges 'valley of death' A 6 0 PERCENT income tax credit is now available to Oregon taxpayers who conrribure to a new program designed to fast-track commercialization of research discoveries at Oregon's eight public universities. "This tax credit is one of a kind," said Oregon State Treasurer Randall Edwards at the unveiling of the University Venture Development Fund on the PSU cam– pus in October. "No ocher state has a program where donors can receive such a large tax credit in return for helping move research from lab to marker." "The fund will support rhe difficult early stages of a new venture, often referred to as the 'valley of death,' because so many promising innovations don't make it through to commercialization," says David Chen, chair of the Oregon Innovation Council. Oregon universities' growing research in nanorech, infectious disease solutions, renewable energy, and green building technologies are good candidates for the new funding, says Chen. The Oregon Legislature has authorized the universities to receive a total of $14 million in tax credit-eligible gifts, with each institution's allocation based on its annual income from research grants and contracts. ■ WINTER 2008 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 5