—2— President’s Message In trying to decide what to write about for my monthly “President’s Message,” I skimmed through earlier issues of theRAPS Sheet. Three years ago in this column, Mary Gordon-Brannan wrote about the goals of RAPS. At that time, goals included increasing membership and participation at RAPS activities, and developing a more complete database of RAPS members and other retired faculty and staff. Membership remains about the same, just over 300, and participation at activities continues to range from 20 to close to 100. Last year I noted that attendance increases significantly when food is part of the activity and when there is opportunity for members to socialize—the summer picnic, the potlucks, and the ice cream social. Nearly 100 members and guests attended the President’s Luncheon in April and the Holiday dinner in December. We plan activities that reflect a variety of interests in hope that each of you will find three or four each year that particularly appeal to you. In September members received our first RAPS membership directory. If your name was not included, contact MiMi Bernal-Graves, RAPS office manager, and fill out the form giving permission for your information to be included in a future update. Also phone or email MiMi if there was an error in your contact information. Another goal from 2005 was to assist PSU in preservation of its history. Work by the RAPS History Preservation Committee, chaired by Steve Brannan, has led to the PSU Vanport poster now on display in Smith Union. Portland State: A History in Pictures, developed under leadership from Mary Gordon-Brannan, will be published this winter. You will learn more about efforts to preserve PSU history at the RAPS program in February. Check the RAPS Web site, maintained by Webmaster Bob Pearson, to see how it has improved. The Web site, as well as theRAPS Sheet, help us fulfill our goals to provide pertinent information and to encourage communication among members. Another goal is to support the aims and objectives of the University. At the October board meeting, Bob Vogelsang and Larry Sawyer agreed to serve on a new committee to develop a plan for a RAPS scholarship. If you have ideas about the scholarship plan and would like to serve on this committee, please contact Bob or Larry. One of my personal goals since retirement has been to travel internationally twice a year. So as you read this, my husband and I will be enjoying an Elderhostel in Greece and Turkey. —Marge Terdal The Japanese program is looking for mentors to assist graduate students with their writing. Since its establishment in 2003, the Japanese M.A. has graduated four students, three of whom have gone on to fully funded Ph.D. programs at the University of Hawaii and Ohio State, according to Pat Wetzel, professor of Japanese. “All of the students reported back to us that they are grateful for the intensive work in writing that they had to do as part of their graduate work at PSU,” said Wetzel. There are currently 12 M.A. candidates, 10 of whom are native speakers of Japanese. Wetzel said that “we would like to prepare these students as well or better than the four who have already gone on. If any RAPS members have the time to assist one of our students through even one term paper, we would be very grateful.” Probably the most challenging aspect of graduate school for any non-native English speaker is writing, said Wetzel, but it is particularly challenging for those students who come from Asian languages. If you would like to make a difference in the academic experience of one of our students, please contact Wetzel at wetzelp@pdx.edu or 503-725-5277. Tutors needed to help Japanese grad students with writing Markyour calendar Nov. 20, 1:00p.m. President Wim Wiewel 236 Smith Memorial Student Union Dec. 17 Holiday Party Multnomah Athletic Club Jan. 15, 1:00p.m. Tom Palm on Estonia 236 Smith Memorial Student Union Feb. 19, 1:00 p.m. Charlie White chairs panel on RAPS history programs 236 Smith Memorial Student Union
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