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 Shireman 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 MAY2009 continued on page 2 Brannan, history committee honored Some 140 people gathered at University Place on April 16 for the annual President’s Luncheon. President Wim Wiewel presented an overview of the University’s budget challenges and plans (see story page 4), and RAPS honored Mary Gordon Brannan and the History Preservation Committee with awards. RAPS bestowed its annual awards April 16 during the President’s Luncheon at University Place. Mary Gordon Brannan, professor emerita of speech and hearing sciences, received the 2009 RAPS Outstanding Retired Faculty Award, and the RAPS History Preservation Committee received a special award for encouraging the University to establish a “culture of tradition.” “I caught the Portland State disease—that is, I seem to keep coming back here because I really enjoy the people,” Brannan said in accepting the Retired Faculty award, which recognizes accomplishments after retirement, including service to the community, University, profession, and RAPS. Joan McMahon, a Speech and Hearing Sciences Department colleague, lauded Brannan for her “extraordinary achievements that have contributed to the respect and admiration of our University in the community.” McMahon noted that Brannan continues to teach classes, advise graduate students, participate in graduate selection, and offer advice and consultation to current faculty. She’s also writing a history of the department. “She continues to grow in professional stature through active research, editing, and publishing,” McMahon said, citing Brannan’s work as lead Next up: Ice Cream Social Wednesday, May 20, 1 p.m. ALPENROSE DAIRY 6149 SW SHATTUCK ROAD, PORTLAND Photo by Larry Sawyer
—2— President’s Message It was great to see so many retired faculty and staff at the President’s luncheon on April 16. I particularly appreciated the continued optimism in President Wim Wiewel’s talk despite the mandated budget cuts. The audience cheered as Mary Gordon Brannan, professor emerita, Speech and Hearing Sciences, received the Award for Outstanding Retired Faculty, honoring her service to the University and community as well as to RAPS. I have been especially impressed with her work on the PSU pictorial history book. Members of the History Preservation Committee—Steve Brannan, Roger Moseley, and Gordon Solie—have certainly earned the awards they each received recognizing their years of work, culminating in the February program, Remembering PSU’s History. At the luncheon Bob Vogelsang announced the inauguration of the RAPS scholarship fund. The scholarship will be for juniors, seniors, and graduate students who are planning careers in gerontology and health-related specialties. The candidates will be nominated by the department chair, and the fund will not be endowed at first to allow RAPS to award a scholarship to assist students in these difficult economic times. The committee developing this includes Bob Vogelsang, Larry Sawyer, Dave Krug, and Mike Fiasca. Donations of any amount will be gratefully received at the RAPS office. The RAPS board has had several requests to add links to our Web site from other organizations or individual faculty members. The following policy statement has been approved: “The purpose of the links posted on the RAPS Web site is to provide a service to the RAPS membership. The content of these links should be non-controversial in nature. Links involving political or religious activity will be excluded from the Web site. A disclaimer stating that placement of the links does not indicate endorsement by RAPS will be placed on the Web site immediately above the non-PSU links. Decisions regarding which links are posted on the Web site are subject to RAPS Board approval after being reviewed by the Webmaster and two additional board members.” I hope to see you at RAPS’ final program for this year, Wednesday, May 20, at the Alpenrose Dairy—the perfect place for our annual ice cream social! Vic Dahl will present his Hudson’s Bay artifacts slide show. —Marge Terdal RAPS awards . . . continued from page 1 author of the third edition of Clinical Management of Articulatory and Phonologic Disorders and as a consulting editor of Communication Disorders Quarterly. The special award to the RAPS History Preservation Committee—composed of Steve Brannan, professor emeritus of education; Roger Moseley, professor emeritus of business administration; and Gordon Solie, professor emeritus of music—honored the committee for its work in helping the University community recognize the importance of preserving its own history. The committee collaborated with Helen Spalding, University librarian, to recruit Geoff Wexler, an archival consultant from the Oregon Historical Society, whose study found that historical documentation was wanting; the result was the hiring of Portland State’s first archivist. The committee was also instrumental in producing a poster and display depicting the Vanport years; producing the recently publishedPortland State: A History in Pictures; and providing academic units with strategies to aid historical preservation. Mary Brannan Deadline for RAPS Directory May 13 If you haven’t already updated your listing for the RAPS Directory, the deadline is fast approaching. An update form was sent with the April issue of the RAPS Sheet. You need not fill out the form if your listing in the 2008-2009 RAPS Directory is correct. But if you wish to make changes, you’ll need to fill out the form, sign it, and mail it in time for it to be received in the RAPS Office by Wednesday, May 13. If you need an update form, request one from MiMi Bernal-Graves, RAPS Office manager, at 503-725-3447 or raps@pdx.edu. A sheet with the updated listings will be included with the June mailing of the RAPS Sheet. Photo by Larry Sawyer Pictorial history book arrives Portland State: A History in Pictures was unveiled at a book launch celebration at Millar Library on April 24. The 180-page book documents PSU’s history through text and more than 300 black-and-white and color photographs. The book is available through the RAPS Office and the PSU Bookstore, 1715 SW Fifth Avenue, or online at www.portlandstatebookstore.com.
— 3 — RAPS club reports Book Club: ‘Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ As a departure fromour regular meeting protocol, the RAPS Book Club will meet for dinner on Tuesday, May 19, at 4:30 p.m. at Old Wives’ Tales, 1300 E. Burnside, Portland. Contact Mary Brannan at 503-239-1077 or brannanmg@ comcast.net to RSVP so that she can make reservations for you. We will discuss a Pulitzer Prize winner, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, written by Junot Díaz. On the back cover, it is described as: Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States and back again. If you want to read ahead, the book selected for June is The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. —Mary Brannan Bridge Group: Cuts the deck May 12 The next meeting will be at Willamette View, Tuesday, May12, at 1:00 p.m. The Bridge Group is open to all members of RAPS. If you have questions about the group, please call me at 503-292-0838. If you would like to play, please call or e-mail as soon as you can and no later than Friday, May 8. —Colin Dunkeld Hikers: Coast trek on May 29 The Friday, May 29, hike will be on the Oregon Coast. The Terdals will host us at their cabin near Manzanita. We will hike on the beach and have lunch at their cabin. Bring a dish to share. A refrigerator, a microwave, and a range are available. Meet to carpool at 8:30 a.m. at the West end of the Cedar Hills Shopping Center. This is the smaller center near Highways 217 and 26, and not the larger Cedar Hills Crossing Shopping center. Confirm your participation and the dish PAST TENSE School of Social Work established in 1960 The story of the beginning of the School of Social Work is, at its heart, the story of the incredible persistence of three women: Katharine Clark, director of Family Counseling Services; Elizabeth Goddard, director of Training, Public Welfare Bureau; and Helen Catlin, of the Boys and Girls Aid Society, who, along with the American Association of Social Workers (later the National Association of Social Workers), campaigned tirelessly from 1932 until the school was finally established in 1960. Their years of work began to get response from the state in 1958, when the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE) appointed the Sherbourne Committee to look into the need for a school of social work. In 1959 the Oregon Legislature directed OSSHE to create a graduate school of social work. In June 1960, OSSHE asked Portland State College to prepare a proposal for a graduate school of social work; this the Hoffmann Committee accomplished by September 1960. In January 1961, legislation was passed authorizing funding for the school, and by October 1961 Gordon Hearn had been appointed as its first dean. When the first class of 20 students was admitted in 1962 there were five faculty members: Rose Thomas, Ruth Stevens, Gordon Hearn, Norris Class, and Frank Miles. Patricia Byrd served as librarian and Virginia Lubkisher was the secretary. Rose Thomas was possibly the first African American woman faculty member tenured at Portland State. The next year Jim Breedlove joined the faculty. Art Emlen began the research thrust of the school with the founding of the Regional Research Institute for Human Services in 1972. By the third year, students from throughout the country were attracted to the program because PSU did not charge out-of-state tuition. By the time Bernard “Ricky” Ross arrived as the second dean in 1977, the School of Social Work was well established. 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. you will bring with Marge Terdal by Wednesday, May 27. Contact her at 503-244-5714 or dbmt@pdx.edu. Six hikers hiked the Silver Falls canyon trail from South Falls to North Falls on Friday, April 24. The weather was clear and cool, but not cold. —Larry Sawyer Seated: Barbara Nichols, volunteer worker; Rose Thomas, faculty; Ruth Stevens, faculty; Patricia Byrd, librarian; Virginia Lebksher, secretary. Back row: Gordon Hearn, faculty; Norris Class, faculty; Frank Miles, faculty.
Economic forecast dreary, but Wiewel remains upbeat about PSU Last November President Wim Wiewel explained Portland State’s five guiding themes to about 50 members at a regular RAPS meeting in Smith Memorial Student Union. Five months later, at the annual RAPS President’s Luncheon on April 16, he reprised those same themes during a 30-minute talk before about 140 people, saying they will lead the University to achieve its goal of becoming a highquality urban research university that is perceived as both a major civic partner and a civic leader. While both Wiewel and the talk were upbeat, the president acknowledged that an economic forecast of gloomy with a chance of pestilence makes for a few challenges. For starters, the University has been asked to submit a budget scenario describing PSU’s finances if a 30 percent cut in state funding were to occur. “The silver lining—if you can call it that—is that the more likely scenario is a ‘mere’ 20 or 22 percent cut in our state funding,” Wiewel said. “To survive that cut and continue to operate, we will have to raise tuition between 10 and 15 percent and still make some very significant cuts.” Federal stimulus money will cushion some of the blow. In addition, Wiewel said, the University is looking for alternatives to state funding. PSU is in the early stages of its next capital campaign—the first, concluded in 2006, raised about $110 million— although the economy will compel the development staff “to modulate the timing of that to be realistic.” The University will also seek to increase funded research—the stimulus money and the $25 million challenge grant from the Miller Foundation will help those efforts. And there are opportunities to save by streamlining and modernizing PSU’s business processes. The next state budget forecast will be out in May, Wiewel said, “and we expect the news to be bad.” Then there’s House Bill 3024, sponsored by state Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland). It calls for Portland State to be removed from the Oregon University System; governed, along with Oregon Health & Science University, by a new body, the Portland Metropolitan Universities Board of Directors; and eventually merged with OHSU. It’s a variation on a bill Greenlick, an OHSU professor emeritus, has introduced before. Wiewel’s enthusiasm for Greenlick’s bill is understandably muted. “We will argue that focusing on the substantive areas of collaboration is really the way to take advantage of this opportunity rather than force an organizational merger with all the complications,” Wiewel said. “Right now, health care finance is just what I need to fill my spare time,” he said, drawing laughter. Portland State and OHSU already collaborate on many fronts, Wiewel pointed out, including joint appointments in chemistry and a joint master’s program in public health. Wiewel was scheduled to testify in late April before the House Ways and Means Committee about a new life sciences building that the two institutions hope to build in the South Waterfront area. Other points of Wiewel’s talk: Enrollment management—“It’s good and well to be an access institution, but if that means you’re admitting students who have a statistically very low likelihood of success, you have to wonder whether you’re being fair and honest with them. So I’m simply saying, let’s actually enforce our admissions standards.” New undergraduate learning goals—“(They) include an emphasis on diversity, sustainability, globalization, as well as the hard skills of communication ability, teamwork, and so on. This is all part of making sure we are teaching people what we think we are teaching them, and that will allow them to have the tools to get out and be successful.” Sustainability—With the Miller Foundation grant in hand “we’re on a search for a new director of our sustainability institute, we’re hiring six new faculty in different disciplines related to sustainability, (and) we conducted an internal RFP process and got 95 proposals from faculty who wanted to do more things in the area of sustainability.” Campus improvements—“Part of excellence is to have a physical environment that is attractive. We have the money now, partly in state stimulus money, to renovate the campus steam and heat system, Lincoln Hall, Science Building 2, and do more work on Neuberger.” New student housing—“We’re in final negotiations with a developer who will build our next housing project. This is an important part of attracting a diverse student body . . . but also creating that 24/7 lively campus climate that will capture the students who will be active in student organizations—and we know that all those forms of extracurricular engagement make people more motivated to stay in school and do well in school.”
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