Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751 Portland, OR 97207-0751 Koinonia House, second floor SW Montgomery at Broadway Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.raps.pdx.edu Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Officers Marjorie Terdal President Larry Sawyer President-elect / Program Chair Robert Tufts Past President / Membership Chair Robert Vogelsang Treasurer / Regional Retirement Association Ad Hoc Committee Chair Joan Shiremanr Secretary Doug Swanson Editor Robert Pearson Webmaster Board Members-at-Large Jan DeCarrico Charlene Levesque DawnWhite Committees Alumni Association Pat Squire Awards Committee Chair Bruce Stern History Preservation Committee Chair Steve Brannan Pictorial History Book Committee Chair Mary Brannan Social/Friendship Committee Co-Chairs Beryl and Vic Dahl Office Manager MiMi Bernal-Graves 503-725-3447 / raps@pdx.edu THE RAPSSHEET FEBRUARY 2009 continued on page 2 Estonia in words and pictures Tom Palm (far left) took time to talk with audience members, including Bob Ricks (left), after his Jan. 15 presentation on Estonia. Story on page 3. Panel, dedication mark PSU history event RAPS and the PSU Alumni Association are co-sponsoring an event on Thursday, Feb. 19, that recalls Portland State’s beginnings at Vanport College and features the dedication of a new wall display honoring the University’s heritage. The program, Remembering PSU’s History, is scheduled for 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the Vanport Room, Smith Memorial Student Union (Room 338). “Bringing an historian, former administrator, faculty, and students together to share their perspectives on our institution’s beginnings is a rare opportunity to understand and appreciate our early history,” said Steve Brannan, professor emeritus and chair of the RAPS History Preservation Committee. “It promises to be a special event.” A panel discussion will include former chancellor W. T. “Bill” Lemman speaking on the growth of Portland State and the leadership of its founder, Stephen Epler; Professor Emeritus Richard Halley describing faculty life at Vanport; Bill Walker ’73, MPA ’80 and Cathy Williams ’56 relating their memories of Vanport and the early days in the Park Blocks; and Brannan speaking on “Sustaining PSU’s History.” President Wim Wiewel will close the program with a dedication of the Vanport historic wall display. RAPS’ involvement in promoting the preservation and celebration of PSU’s history is a story in itself, according to Brannan. He pointed out that one of RAPS’ founding aims was to “assist in the development and preservation of the history of the University.” Brannan recalled that the pursuit of that aim shifted into high gear in 2004 when RAPS spearheaded a project, Creating a Culture of Tradition, whose goal was to assist the University in developing and implementing a systematic process to guide all Portland State units to preserve and celebrate their history. To support its aim, RAPS sought and gained administrative support and leadership from President Dan Bernstine and Interim Provost Michael Reardon. “The project is still thriving five years later, thanks to the help of numer-
—2— President’s Message RAPS helps drive history preservation . . . continued from page 1 Our Feb. 19 program on Portland State’s history has reminded me of the friendships with faculty and students that all of us developed over the years—and which continue through RAPS. I sometimes joined faculty from other departments eating lunch in the second floor SMU dining area. Prue Douglas, a RAPS member, told me about the regular lunches she enjoyed when she was studying Arabic at Portland State in the early 1960s. Every day 10 students sat around a long table in the Middle East Center on the third floor, Neuberger Hall (where the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department is now located). Professors Nouri Al-Khaledy and Fred Cox often joined the students as they spoke in Arabic, talked about the Middle East, sang songs, and planned parties. She credits this with inspiring her longtime interest in the Middle East and her becoming an English as a Second Language instructor at Portland State. Vic Dahl, co-chair of the RAPS Social/Friendship Committee, shared information about the Ferdinand Society. It was founded in 1956 by a group of male faculty members who felt a need for informal interaction and group discussions. An original membership limit of 16 was gradually increased to 95. In 1980 the first women to join were Maxine Thomas and Mary Constans, both active in RAPS today. The Ferdinand Society met for monthly luncheons with guest speakers from outside the University and enjoyed two large parties each year, often in cooperation with RAPS. According to Vic, “These meetings created a bond among faculty in different disciplines and an awareness of our bonds with the community which would not have been possible without such an organization.” One of the benefits of RAPS membership is the opportunity to socialize at our monthly programs. When I was ready to open our January program, I was delighted to face 37 people, all engaged in conversation. The same thing happens each month when the RAPS board meets—I have to rap the gavel to get board members to break up their extended conversations with one another! I encourage you to participate in the RAPS Bridge, Book, or Hiking groups, where you will find many opportunities to connect with old friends and develop new friendships. And do come to the Holiday dinner on Feb. 12—a reservation form is on page 6. —Marge Terdal ous retired and current faculty and staff,” Brannan said. Brannan cited several accomplishments. During 2004-2005 RAPS collaborated with Helen Spalding, University librarian, who recruited Geoff Wexler, archival consultant, from the Oregon Historical Society, to “assess campus needs for historical documentation and to recommend a systematic process and administrative policy on preserving and publicizing PSU’s history.” Wexler’s study concluded that “historical documentation is fragmentary and lacking in coordination campus-wide, and that expansion of archival resources and practices is needed to establish a culture of tradition that will assist Portland State University in honoring its heritage and shaping its future.” During 2006-2008 Provost Roy Koch became integrally involved with the project, urging all academic units to initiate history preservation efforts in their departments and programs; Koch’s request was subsequently supported by RAPS members making presentations and serving as a resource to deans, faculty, and staff. Project efforts also focused on PSU’s heritage, producing a poster titled “Flood of Change: Vanport College Thrives to Become PSU.” The poster depicted the University’s origin and its success following the 1948 flood of Vanport City. With leadership and support from Reardon, who by then was serving as interim president, copies of the framed poster were provided to deans and other key administrators to display in their buildings to honor Portland State’s heritage. Last fall, with support from Spalding, RAPS, and Koch, a major recommendation from Wexler’s study was finally realized at PSU: an expansion of the University archives through the hiring of its first full-time archivist, Cristine N. Paschild. This spring RAPS will also unveil its hard-earned three-year accomplishment: Portland State: A History in Pictures. This is the University’s first pictorial book and second published work focusing on its history. It is authored by Richard Sanders ‘57 (words) and Brent Schauer, former PSU photographer (photos). Additional information on this pictorial book will be available at Remembering PSU’s History on Feb. 19.
—3— Mark your calendar Feb. 12, 6:00 p.m. RAPS Dinner (originally scheduled for Dec. 17) Multnomah Athletic Club, 1849 SW Salmon Feb. 19, 1:00 p.m. Remembering PSU’s History 338 Smith Memorial Student Union RAPS to the rescue: Volunteer lecturers sought for Tuesday series A Portland assisted living facility, Rose Schnitzer Manor, is seeking speakers for a Tuesday evening lecture program. According to Katherine Hansen, activity coordinator, lectures can be on almost any topic, including art, travel, history, politics, religion, accounting and finance, and health and fitness. The lectures are scheduled on Tuesdays from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. Rose Schnitzer Manor, part of the Cedar Sinai Park nonprofit organization, is located near BeavertonHillsdale Highway and Scholls Ferry Road. The lecture venue, Zidell Hall, has a high-quality sound system, two handheld microphones, two headset microphones, a projector that can be linked to a laptop, and DVD/VCR/CD player. Contact Hansen by phone, 503-535-4041, or by e-mail, Katherine.hansen@cedarsinaipark.org. Other volunteer opportunities for RAPSters: Develop a plan for a new RAPS scholarship Contact: Bob Vogelsang, 503-292-5955 drvogie@yahoo.com Mentor writing skills for Japanese grad students Contact: Pat Wetzel, 503-725-5277 wetzelp@pdx.edu Send cards and/or visit RAPS members who are ill or grieving Contact: Vic Dahl, 503-636-5784 vbdahl@hevanet.com Estonia under the Soviets: ‘She had been lied to all her life’ Estonia, the country whose name is usually said in the same breath with its fellow Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania, was given its own platform by Tom Palm at RAPS’ Jan. 15 program in Smith Memorial Student Union. Nearly 40 RAPS members listened as Palm, a professor emeritus of economics and a native of Estonia, explained with words and pictures Estonia’s starcrossed history and its emergence in the early 1990s as a free, independent state. A country that had spent most of its long history under the domination of German, Danish, Swedish, and Russian invaders, Estonia, by the late 1980s, was marking more than four decades under Soviet occupation. As Mikhail Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union, Estonians began their revolution, not with guns and bullets, but with song. As many as 300,000 Estonians gathered to defiantly sing songs that had been forbidden by the Soviets. These song festivals, which continued until independence, became known as “The Singing Revolution.” In 1989, while the Soviets still occupied the country, Palm received an invitation from the department of political economy—“which consisted of propagandists whose job it was to justify whatever the Communist Party had come up with,” he explained—to lecture on the Western perspective of the economics of Karl Marx. “I had the board covered with equations,” Palm recalled. “A wise-guy kid in the front row pointed out that equation so-and-so and equation so-and-so are inconsistent. “‘You can have one, but you can’t have both,’ he said. ‘They’re in direct contradiction.’ “So I asked, ‘Whose argument is it? It’s not mine— it’s Karl Marx’s.’ “In the back row, there’s a young woman with her head in her arms, her shoulders bouncing. I figured I made her cry—she had been lied to all her life.” In spring 1991, with the Soviet grip on Estonia slipping, Palm attended a conference that included the Estonian prime minister and economics minister. Over dinner, Palm made a lighthearted remark to the prime minister, suggesting that he should gather all his advisers together “butt naked” in a sauna and “nobody gets out until you figure out what you’re going to do.” In August, fully clothed, Palm and Estonia’s leaders met to institute a market economy. That same month, the Soviet Union fell apart, and Estonia declared its independence.
— 4 — In memoriam: Kenneth W. Butler, 1922-2009 Professor Emeritus Kenneth W. Butler died in Portland of natural causes on Jan. 22, 2009. Born Oct. 12, 1922, in Leeds, United Kingdom, Prof. Butler completed high school in 1940 and entered local public library service. After five years’ service in the Royal Army Pay Corps, Staff Sergeant Butler began a librarianship career. At Leeds School of Librarianship he earned certification as a library associate, and from 1948 to 1951 held various public library appointments. In 1950 Prof. Butler met Elsie Marie (Rusty) White, an experienced and inquisitive Oregon librarian who had taken temporary employment in Leeds to familiarize herself with British library procedures. In due course, she accepted the handsome young Briton’s marriage proposal, even though she had not always understood his Yorkshire dialect. After Prof. Butler obtained an employment offer from the Multnomah County Library in 1951, they traveled to Portland, where they married on Sept. 5, 1952. Soon thereafter, Prof. Butler took an appointment as Audio-Visual Services librarian at PSU’s forerunner institution, Portland Extension Center. Prof. Butler and three colleagues gathered the meager resources available to form a library collection, thereby laying the bibliographical foundation for Portland State University. Throughout his institutional service Prof. Butler pursued intellectual interests that augmented his capacity to support Portland State’s educational mission, including earning. B.A. (1952) and M.A. (1958) degrees at the University of Portland. From 1952 to 1976 Prof. Butler served as the Library’s director of Audio-Visual Services, an office that expanded dramatically, paralleling the institution’s growth. In 1976 he became assistant director of Millar Library, and at various times assumed the role of interim director. He retired in 1988. Under his guidance, the Library gathered a useful collection of films, slide transparencies, and recordings to support faculty instructional activities. Prof. Butler consistently pursued innovation opportunities, such as on-campus televised instruction, as supplements for traditional university education. Prof. Butler contributed significantly to academic governance through Faculty Senate service and participation in several important constitutional committees. He actively engaged in regional and national library associations, as well as with Oregon educational media councils. Prof. Butler’s personal interests ranged over astonishingly wide subject areas. He published a book dealing with the war, and faculty colleagues prevailed upon him to deliver guest lectures on wartime history and poetry. For several years he successfully coached a University soccer team, and organized winning cricket competitions with Reed College. While engaged in graduate study at the University of Portland, he held an appointment as visiting associate professor of Latin. His Yorkshire accent enhanced his performances of several major Shakespearean roles offered by the Theater Arts Department. Prof. Butler was a longtime member of the Ferdinand Society and a founder of RAPS. In January 1959, as a freshly minted Ph.D. recipient—a beginning instructor facing a 15-hour teaching load—I correctly sensed that Audio-Visual Services could provide vital assistance. I introduced myself to Ken Butler, who leaped into the breach with useful suggestions for utilizing available AVS materials. Until I retired in 1990, I relied upon AVS support for classroom and public affairs presentations. Throughout his career, Prof. Butler was an able faculty member who performed a significant role in this institution’s development as an instructional and research-based University. The library is every university’s vital center, and PSU owes him a profound debt of gratitude for tireless, willing services that contributed enormously to its growth, development, and enhanced reputation. Upon retiring Kenneth and Elsie Butler endowed the Portland State University Library Faculty Service Award, which annually recognizes a Library faculty member’s outstanding performance. The 2008 Butler Award went to Assistant Professor Linda Absher, humanities reference librarian. The University community will be forever indebted for this generous support for our educational mission. Prof. Butler’s spouse, Elsie, worked in the Multnomah County’s Children’s Library Section until her retirement in 1987. She died Sept. 9, 2008. To the Butlers’ surviving daughters, Margaret, Gillian, and Catherine, and their families, our organization extends its heartfelt condolences. —Victor C. Dahl, Professor Emeritus
— 5 — RAPS club reports Book Club: ‘The Glass Castle’ on Feb. 17 We met on an historic day, Inauguration Day, to talk about two books written by President Obama, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. We intertwined the discussion about Obama’s life story and the development of his beliefs, intelligence, and hopes with the events earlier in the day when he was sworn in as president of the United States, which we had all watched. Maxine Thomas will host us on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 1:30 p.m. in her home at 6535 SW Canyon Court, Portland. Contact her at 503-291-1279 or ondangwa@yahoo.comto RSVP and for directions. We will discuss a New York Times bestseller, The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. It is described on the back cover: The Glass Castleis a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Wells children learned to take care of themselves . . . The Glass Castleis truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family. The book selected for March is People of the Book, written by Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, which we discussed at an earlier gathering. —Mary Gordon Brannan Bridge Group: Deals Feb. 10 Our next meeting will be at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at Willamette View. If you would like to play, please let me know as soon as you can and no later than Friday, Feb. 6. If you have questions about the Bridge Group, please call me at 503292-0838. —Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE ESL program booms at Portland State PSC Offers ‘Zip’ English”—that was the headline over an article that appeared in The Oregonianon Dec. 6, 1964, describing the new 12-credit English 110 program for 36 Saudi students at Portland State College. Prof. Naguib Greis, who grew up in Egypt, initiated the Center for English as a Second Language at Portland State and directed it for the next 25 years. The center was one of the first university-based academic ESL programs in the western United States. When the center opened, all of the students were from Saudi Arabia. There were two sections, taught by Esther Richards, Helen Schley, Alfred Sugarman, and Francis Gibson from the Speech Department, and two graduate assistants. Prof. Greis soon realized the need to broaden the enrollment to students from other countries. At the same time the center was expanding, TESL Certificate and M.A. TESOL programs were developed to prepare teachers to meet the growing needs of the community. These programs were part of the English Department until 1988, when the Applied Linguistics Department was formed, with Jim Nattinger as chair. Four of the ESL instructors, Prue Douglas, Jan DeCarrico, Shirley Morrell, and I, taught for many years and played an active role in organizing the Oregon chapter of TESOL. When we started presenting papers at national conferences and fomenting change in the program, Prof. Greis dubbed us the “Gang of Four,” a title that we proudly carried as we each taught teachers in China in the 1980s. —Marge Terdal, Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics Past Tense features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. Hikers: OMSI to OMSI via Steel Bridge Twelve current and past hikers participated in a potluck and hike planning session at the Sawyers’ home in December, which featured turkey, cheesecake, and lots of wine. Hikes from February through June were planned. The February hike will be on Friday, Feb. 20. This is a third Friday rather than the regular fourth Friday, and the day after the RAPS general meeting and the Remembering PSU’s History event. We will meet at 9:30 a.m. on the river side of OMSI. The hike will traverse the east side of the river to the Steel Bridge, back south on the west side to the Hawthorne Bridge, and back to OMSI. Lunch will be at or near OMSI. Please confirm your participation by Thursday, Jan. 19, by calling 503-771-1616 or e-mailing larry_sawyer@comcast.net. —Larry Sawyer
Portland State: A History in Pictures THE RAPS FEB. 12 DINNER FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE 2008 HOLIDAY PARTY NAME(S) ________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ______________________________________________________________________________ CITY ________________________________________________ STATE ________ ZIP __________ PHONE __________________________________ E-MAIL ______________________________________ Meal choice: Chicken Pork Shepherds Pie / Total number of meals: ________ Cost: Number of people attending ________ x $50 per person = $______________ Method of payment: My check is enclosed made payable to PSU Foundation. Please charge my credit card: Visa MasterCard AmEx Discover Card number Exp. date Name as it appears on card ________________________________ Signature of cardholder________________________________________________________________ Mail this form by Tuesday, Feb. 3, to: RAPS / Koinonia House / Portland State University / PO Box 751 / Portland OR 97207-0751 RAPS’ dinner deadline comin’ upfast! Act now to reserve a place at the table for RAPS’ Feb. 12 dinner—the deadline for mailing the reservation form (right) is Tuesday, Feb. 3. The snowy, icy December weather forced the cancelation of RAPS’ Holiday Dinner. It was rescheduled to Feb. 12, and although the date is different, most of the particulars have remained the same. No-host bar begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7, and entertainment at 8. Be there or be square! NAME __________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ________________________________________________________________________________ CITY ________________________________________________ STATE ________ ZIP____________ PHONE __________________________________ E-MAIL ______________________________________ Method of payment: My check is enclosed in the amount of $34.95 payable to PSU Foundation. Please charge my credit card: Visa MasterCard AmEx Discover Card number Exp. date Name as it appears on card ________________________________ Signature of cardholder________________________________________________________________ Return this form to: Retired Association of Portland State—RAPS Koinonia House Portland State University PO Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 Three years in the making, this project of the Retired Association of Portland State contains more than 300 color and black-and-white photos that document PSU’s history, events, and people. At 180 pages and in a big, 8-1/2 x 11 format, Portland State: A History in Pictures is a great addition to your personal library and makes a terrific gift. Fill out the form below and mail it today!
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