2 President’s Message If you haven’t taken the time to check out the University’s web page recently, I recommend a couple specific items of interest. The first is the product of our own History Preservation/Celebration Committee led by Chair Steve Brannan. At the far right on the PSU home page (www.pdx.edu), you’ll see "About PSU." Among the items under that heading is "Our History." There you’ll find a good history of PSU’s early years in brief easy to read sections, some taken from the RAPS history book project. It is an excellent beginning for a complete University history, presented as a service of our organization, raising the RAPS profile for anyone who visits the site. This is just one aspect of the History Committee’s activities which will receive a more complete discussion in future RAPS Sheet editions. The History Committee is one of several RAPS groups working on projects of interest to our members. Elsewhere in this newsletter, for example, you can get information about the RAPS Scholarship, the work of another committee. The second new item on the PSU Home Page is the report of the OHSU/PSU Strategic Partnership Task Force. This group was appointed by the presidents of OHSU and PSU to make recommendations on how the two universities could best collaborate. This report should generate a good deal of public discussion regarding the relationship between OHSU and PSU. First among the Task Force’s recommendations is that the two institutions develop a "strategic alliance" rather than a complete "merger." Among the goals for such an alliance would be formation of a new, collaborative School of Public Health and the creation of a joint non-profit research consortium with a potential research portfolio exceeding $450 million annually. The group also calls for expanded academic collaboration and programs and additional "operational flexibility" for PSU, making it possible for the two universities to form partnerships. I hope you’ll take the time to check out these two items – one dealing with the University’s past and other with its future -- on the PSU home page. --Clarence Hein Oct. recap, Nov. preview of RAPS programs n Portland on Oct. 20, President Obama urged Oregonians to mail in their ballots. At the RAPS meeting on Oct. 21, we got ready to do so, when Corinne Paulson from the League of Women Voters reviewed those often puzzling measures that appear on the ballot. Distinguishing between proposed constitutional amendments and proposed legislation, and between initiative petitions and measures referred to the ballot by the legislature, Corinne helped members understand the measures so that voting decisions could be well informed. She was careful in answering RAPS members’ questions, and some lively discussion was generated by the presentation and the questions. We are indebted to Marge Terdal who arranged for the speaker. Marge also presented information about the mentoring project that RAPS has agreed to participate in. The project involves introducing foreign students to social aspects of life in the United States: movies, family gatherings, hikes, and restaurant dinners were among the activities suggested. Members who wanted more information left their names and email addresses with Marge. The November RAPS meeting will be a tour of the “green” buildings of Portland State—of which there are many, both new and old. It will be a walking tour; the need to keep distances as short as possible and to avoid stairs has been considered in the planning. Members should meet in the lobby of the new Academic and Student Recreation Center, 1800 SW 6th Ave. on Nov. 18 (our usual third Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. for the tour. The ASRC fronts on the plaza—just across the bricks from the bookstore and the Urban Studies buildings. We hope for nice weather and a good turnout. --Joan Shireman I
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