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, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Officers Larry Sawyer President Clarence Hein President-elect / Program Chair Marge Terdal Past President / Membership Chair Robert Vogelsang Treasurer / Regional Retirement Association Ad Hoc Committee Chair Joan Shireman Secretary Doug Swanson Editor Board Members-at-Large Priscilla Blumel Susan Jackson DawnWhite Committees Alumni Association Pat Squire Awards Committee Robert Tufts, Chair History Preservation Committee Steve Brannan, Chair Pictorial History Book Committee Mary Brannan, Chair Social/Friendship Committee Beryl and Vic Dahl, Co-Chairs Office Manager MiMi Bernal-Graves 503-725-3447 / raps@pdx.edu THE RAPSSHEET APRIL 2010 continued on page 4 Newspapers do it, travel agencies do it, even universities do it. So why not, of all things, a museum on the Internet? Truth be told, web museums—without brick-and-mortar counterparts—have been around for some time. But there’s nothing out there quite like what Chet Orloff envisions: an online museum of the city that would examine what Orloff calls “this 12,000-year-old artifact of civilization.” An adjunct professor at Portland State for 30 years and the former director of the Oregon Historical Society, Orloff spoke to RAPS on March 18 as part of its 2009-2010 Program/Speaker Series. When the museum of the city idea dawned on Orloff, he called friends at the American Association of Museums, in Washington, D.C., to see if there was such an animal already out there—online or not. “Their immediate response was, ‘Yeah, there are a lot of them. There’s the Museum of the City of New York, there’s . . .’” But that wasn’t Orloff’s question. He wanted to know if there was a museum that presented all the aspects of cities—history, architecture, planning, geography—through the medium of a museum. After a little more digging, the museum people came back with an answer: no. “So I thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity for Portland and for Portland State,’” Orloff recalled. He incorporated and formed a board of directors, all of whom—including Nohad Toulan and Don Stastny—are associated with Portland State. Then, about three years ago, Orloff received an invitation to speak about his idea to the Committee for the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities (CAMOC). Shortly after that, UNESCO and the International Council of Museums, CAMOC’s parent organization, sent out a request for proposals for a project that would connect museums internationally. Orloff went back to his board and suggested that they make his museum of the city concept into an international collaborative project. The board agreed and Orloff got the award. With an $8,000 grant in hand, he then turned to the Portland State Office of Information Technologies to enlist its aid to build the site. Students from the School of Extended Studies multimedia program are designing it. NEXTUP President Wim Wiewel will discuss current Portland State planning and programs. Thursday, April 22, noon University Place 310 SW Lincoln Street See preview story on page 2. A museum without a cafe! What’s next? Chet Orloff
—2— President’s Message LARRY SAWYER On March 24 the School of Fine and Performing Arts (FPA) offered RAPS members a hard-hat tour of the Lincoln Hall remodel. This was a wonderful experience for me, because I was around for the first remodel and took PE classes in the Old Main gym. Thank you, Clarence Hein and MiMi Bernal-Graves, for setting it up with the School of Fine and Performing Arts. The tour was led by Dean Barbara Sestak, of FPA. I learned the number of majors in the FPA programs is rapidly expanding beyond expectations. I knew about the architecture program in the remodeled Shattuck Hall but didn’t know they are also teaching film production. You will find areas in the remodel that look similar to the old building, but many improvements have been made. There are also changes that reflect the building’s original design, such as the use of natural light and retaining the old stairways for historical purposes. I was also surprised to learn that the building is expected to receive an LEED rating of gold and is just short of the platinum rating. To seismically upgrade a 100-year-old building to these green standards within budget is quite an accomplishment by FPA, the architects, and contractors. Also, most of the demolition materials were recycled. Almost everything on the wish list was accomplished except for the three-story glass tower planned for the Broadway side—and the University hopes to raise the money to build the tower soon. It would provide a striking architectural element for Portlanders traveling up Broadway. It would include a first-class green room for the internationally known performers PSU invites to perform and teach here as well as a dance classroom, enabling FPA to bring back the dance program. FPA has a seat campaign for the four main performance areas. Depending on the area, you can name a seat for either $500 or $250 through the “Take a Seat” campaign. FPA is also offering rooms for naming. Contact Judith Minton, FPA’s director of development, for more details. You can reach her at 503-725-3396 or by e-mail at jminton@pdx.edu. FPA expects to be in the building by fall term. Look for grand opening announcements. MiMi has posted some pictures taken on the tour on our Web site, www.pdx.edu/raps. President Wim Wiewel is the speaker at the April edition of RAPS Program/Speaker Series. The annual President’s Luncheon kicks off at noon on Thursday, April 22, at University Place, 310 SW Lincoln St. RAPS awards will be announced and results of the recent RAPS election revealed. This meeting is an opportunity for every RAPS member and a guest to catch up on the latest news about the University and to meet old friends and colleagues. Members will receive an invitation by U.S. mail in early April. Wiewel is expected to discuss current University programs and planning. He became president of Portland State in August 2008 after serving as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at the University of Baltimore. Wiewel spent the bulk of his career—from 1979 to 2004—at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds degrees in sociology and urban planning from the University of Amsterdam and a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University. Photo by Larry Sawyer WimWiewel RAPS awards announced, Wiewel featured at April 22 luncheon AVAILABLE AT: PSU Bookstore University Market in Smith Union Annie Bloom’s Books Oregon Historical Society Powell’s City of Books PORTLAND STATE: A History in Pictures It’s taken three years, but the wait was worth it. Portland State: A History in Pictures, is a handsome, large-format book that documents PSU’s history in more than 300 photos and text spread over 180 pages.
—3— Book Club: ‘The Ghost Map’ The RAPS Book Club will meet on Tuesday, April 20, at 5:00 p.m., at Old Wives Tales, 1300 E. Burnside St., for an early dinner. Please RSVP to Mary Brannan by Monday, April 19, at 503-239-1077 or at brannanmg@comcast.net so that she can inform the restaurant about the number of people to expect. We will discuss The Ghost Map, authored by Steven Johnson, which is the Multnomah County Library “Everybody Reads” 2010 selection. On the cover, it is described as: It’s the summer of 1854, and London is seized by a violent outbreak of cholera that no one knows how to stop. As the epidemic spreads, a maverick physician and a local curate are spurred to action, working to solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time. In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of disease, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a thrilling account of the most intense cholera outbreak to strike Victorian London and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in. Come join us! —Mary Brannan Bridge Group: Second Tuesdays The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. The group is open to all members of RAPS. If you are interested in playing or need information about the group, please call me at 503-292-0838. —Colin Dunkeld Hikers: Trekking the Arboretum On Tuesday, April 27, we will hike in the Hoyt Arboretum. The actual trails will be determined by what is in bloom on the trails. Meet at the Hoyt Arboretum information center at 9:30 a.m. Lunch will be in the Oregon Zoo or Sylvan areas. This is the last local hike in our winter schedule. The May and June Past Tense DICK HALLEY: GI TO PSU Dick Halley’s heritage dates back to the town called Halfway in eastern Oregon that was established in 1875. Dick embodies the true pioneer spirit of Halfway, a spirit manifest in his remarkable and outstanding career. Dick started as a private in World War II, and before the war was over, he had achieved the rank of captain. He arrived in Europe the hard way—at Omaha Beach, fought in the Bulge, and received a Bronze Star for bravery and a Purple Heart for wounds received. After his return to the United States, he received a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford. The stage was set for the significant role that he came to play in Portland State’s history. Dick is a member of an elite group, including Steve Epler, Frank Roberts, and Bill Lemman, among others, who planted the seeds for PSU to grow from the wreckage left by the Vanport flood into the largest university in Oregon. PSU archival photos show Dick transferring files from the muddy waters of the Columbia. From this inauspicious start, Dick and his colleagues fought the turf battles in Salem that put Vanport College on the track to becoming a premier research university. Over time Dick took part in many committees and task forces, and he served in several administrative positions, including dean of students at Vanport, chair of the Economics Department, dean of the Graduate School, and acting vice president for Academic Affairs. In short, Dick Halley’s illustrious career should be remembered and recognized not only in “Past Tense” but the “present tense” as well. —Richard Brinkman Past Tense features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), e-mail the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. RAPS club reports hikes will be on the Oregon Coast, and we will carpool. The next local hike will be in November. Confirm your attendance with Larry Sawyer by the evening of Monday, April 26, by calling 503-7711616 or e-mailing larry_sawyer@comcast.net. In March we hiked to 4T trail from the Zoo to Council Crest and returned by public transportation back to the Zoo. The hikers that didn’t have other appointments had lunch together at the University Place luncheon buffet. —Larry Sawyer Dick Halley, USA Dick Halley, PSU
— 4 — RAPS tours LincolnHall RAPS members, including Steve Brannan (right foreground), Joy Spalding, and Dawn White, Diane Sawyer, Brent Schauer, and Diane Schauer, don hard hats for the March 24 tour of Lincoln Hall. The 100year-old building is receiving a makeover that addresses deferred maintenance projects, including bringing it up to current seismic and building code standards. The project got under way in fall 2008 and the academic departments of the School of Fine and Performing Arts plan to move back into Lincoln in August. The $29.1 million required for the project was approved by the Oregon Legislature in 2007. An additional $1.5 million from the Oregon Stimulus Initiative allowed Portland State to replace Lincoln Hall’s original windows with high-efficient (but historically correct) Oregon-made products. For more on the tour, see Larry Sawyer’s president’s message on page 2. Orloff’s vision is to bring together museums from Shanghai, Paris, Buenos Aires, New York and elsewhere—there are about 33 worldwide. “These are wonderfully rich collections, some of them gathered over hundreds of years,” he said. “But they tend to be somewhat staid and conservative, so the idea of how a city museum can collaborate with another city museum is somewhat strange for them.” Despite the diplomatic headaches, Orloff sees a great opportunity for Portland State to bring together large groups of people from several countries around the museum of the city concept. The online museum would not be unlike the limestone-and-marble variety. Orloff sees the site architecturally, with a lobby and various wings, and within each wing several galleries. The range of possible exhibits is immense—urban planning, architecture, art, war, history, government, homelessness, natural catastrophes, transportation. With half the world’s population living in cities, little has happened elsewhere that hasn’t happened in a city. And most cities share many traits. Exhibits could come from other city museums, of course, but anyone could submit an exhibit for consideration of the director or a curator. “You want things that are intellectually honest, interesting, and provocative,” Orloff said. In fact, in most of the courses he’s teaching, students are creating exhibits for the museum. Although the students have no background in museums or developing exhibits, they’re “figuring it out,” Orloff said, and some of the student-designed exhibits will probably make the cut. The site is a work in progress. You can find it at www.museumofthecity.org. Museum of the city . . . continued from page 1
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