THE RAPS SHEET APRIL 2012 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.pdx.edu/raps Office hours: By appointment Officers Joan Shireman President Dave Krug President-elect / Program Chair Clarence Hein Past President Robert Lockerby Secretary Robert Vogelsang Treasurer / Regional Retirement Association Ad Hoc Committee Chair Dawn White Editor Board Members-at-Large Anne Bender Priscilla Blumel Susan Jackson Committees TBA Alumni Association Steve Brannan History Preservation Committee Chair Mary Brannan Pictorial History Book Committee Chair Beryl and Vic Dahl Social/Friendship Committee Co-Chairs Larry Sawyer Awards Committee Chair Marge Terdal Membership Chair Office Manager 503/725-3447 / raps@pdx.edu Afternoon tea and dessert President’s Annual Gathering April 12 resident Wim Wiewel makes his yearly appearance before RAPS members at the event he also hosts, the President’s Annual Gathering for Retired Faculty and Staff. The tea and dessert reception will be held Thursday, April 12 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm in the Columbia Falls Ballroom at University Place, 310 SW Lincoln. On the agenda, along with comments from the President, is the awards program, at which RAPS recognizes outstanding retired staff and faculty for their professional and/or career achievements, service to the University, service to the community, and service to RAPS. PSU parking permits are valid at University Place. If you do not have one, complimentary permits are available at the University Place parking kiosk, west end of the parking lot. Please inform the parking lot President Wim Wiewel attendant that you are attending the RAPS Gathering. The President’s Office requests RSVPs by Thursday, April 5. Please call 503725-4411. Iori, Kominz explain forms of Japanese theater APSters were treated to a demonstration of Kabuki and Takarazuka, two forms of Japanese theater, by Japanese actress Naoka Iori and Larry Kominz, Professor of Japanese, at the March 15 potluck and meeting. Kabuki has been performed in Japan since the 17th century. These days Kabuki performances are equivalent to large Broadway productions with lavish stage sets and expensive costuming. The allwomen musical theater of Takarazuka was founded in 1914 in Takarazuka, Japan. Two years of very rigorous training, beginning around age 15, are Actress Naoka Iori required before a young girl is ready to go on stage. Final event of spring program: Ice Cream Social ere’s the scoop: RAPS ends its 2011-12 program year Thursday, May 17 with its annual Ice Cream Social. This year’s event features a local disc jockey playing swing music from the 1940s and giving dance lessons. Festivities begin at 1:30 pm in 338 Smith Memorial Student Union. P R H
2 President’s Message s some of you know, the graduate assistant who keeps our RAPS office going left us suddenly on March 2 when she was offered a “real” job that would pay a salary and keep her employed after graduation. The most important response was to congratulate Maya on finding employment in this difficult job market. The secondary response was an appalled realization of all the tasks that our graduate assistant does and that none of us have any idea how to accomplish. Fortunately, MiMi Bernal-Graves, who worked with us for the two years prior to Maya’s appointment, has agreed to come in on Saturdays and give us enough help to keep us going until we have a new graduate assistant. Otherwise, I think that rather than writing this month’s President’s message I would still be sitting at the desk in the RAPS office pondering the forms and instructions for – well, for whatever needed to be done. And surrounding me at that desk would be a large group of RAPS members, all pitching in to help. That may really be the most important response to suddenly being without an office manager. The willingness of RAPS members to take over projects – to do what they usually do and also what the graduate assistant does – has been really amazing. We had a wonderful March program. Ballots got into the mail for elections (don’t forget to return yours). The invitation and mailing lists for the April President’s Event got to the President’s office, and many of you have been involved in planning the agenda for the event. The work of updating our membership lists and getting a new RAPS directory produced has continued. And our President-elect has taken over the process of selecting our new graduate assistant. So, once again, I want to offer thanks to the many members who have helped us during a crisis. I have joined the “I never expected this workload” club. Until recently, this club had just one member, former President Bob Tufts, who had to find new office space for RAPS. And I have been rewarded by getting to know many of you better as we worked to solve knotty problems. The “fellowship” part of the RAPS mission has really been illustrated during the month of March. --Joan Shireman Membership committee spreads the word about RAPS newly formed RAPS Membership Committee – Marge Terdal, Dave Krug, and Mary Brannan – is working on the following ways to promote membership in RAPS: • Informing future retirees about RAPS by sending the RAPS Sheet via email to all PSU staff and faculty age 60 and over. • Improving the method for obtaining names of all new retirees. (This is done through Human Resources, but due to frequent staff changes, efforts to obtain accurate lists on a regular basis have yielded inconsistent results.) • Continuing to offer an introductory one-year free membership to all new retirees. • Changing the membership fee structure as follows: 1-year membership $20 3-year membership 45 10-year membership 120 Lifetime membership 200 (The goal is to encourage members to renew for longer periods. At present about one-third of the members have lifetime memberships.) • Continuing to offer free membership to any member at age 85. (Please inform the RAPS office if you are eligible for this free membership.) RAPS continues to offer the following benefits to all members: • Informative and entertaining programs and social events • Special interest groups, including the Book Club, Bridge Club, RAPS Hikers, and Writers’ Group • The RAPS Sheet, our monthly newsletter • PSU Currently • RAPS Membership Directory • Internet privileges for staff members, including university email account ($25 annual fee) • Discount membership to the Academic Student Recreation Center • Free admission to a PSU football game Most of all, RAPS provides an opportunity to stay connected with colleagues at PSU and to make new friends by becoming an active RAPS member. --Marge Terdal, Membership Chair A A
3 RAPS Club Reports RAPS Hikers to visit Japanese Garden Eight RAPS hikers enjoyed a good 3+ mile hike around Round Lake in Lacamas Park in March. It was too early for the camas blooms. The camas weren't even up, much less blooming, but we did walk through the field. A good mile of the hike was near Lacamas Creek. The Japanese Garden, nestled in the scenic west hills of Portland, beckons the RAPS Hikers in April. On Friday, April 13 we will hike from the Forestry Center to the Japanese Garden and back, joining a garden tour at 10:45 am. Meet at 9:00 am at the Washington Park bus stop near the MAX elevators. The short trail down to the Japanese Garden is just before the two-mile post on the Wildwood Trail. The garden opens at 10:00 am. We will have time to pay our senior admission of $7.75 and browse the area and gift shop before the start of the tour, which is free with garden admission. The tour takes from 45 minutes to an hour. The exhibit in the pavilion is “Meditative Moments,” featuring tea ceramics and waterfall paintings. More information is available at http://japanesegarden.com/ events/meditative-moments.com. Afterwards, we will walk the two miles back up to the Zoo area. We can decide to eat at the zoo cafeteria or go up to the Sylvan area to eat. Please confirm your participation in the hike by Thursday afternoon, April 12 to Larry Sawyer 503-7711616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. --Larry Sawyer Book Club reads beastly nonfiction The RAPS Book Club meeting will be held at 1:00 on Tuesday, April 17 at the home of Linda Smeltzer located in the Mira Bella at 3550 SW Bond Ave, Apt. #2201. (Note the time change.) Contact her at smeltzerla@gmail.com or 503-688-6885 to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. This nonfiction book is described on the back cover as follows: The saga of an American father and daughter who in July 1933 suddenly found themselves, and the rest of their family, transported to the heart of Hitler's Berlin. The father was William E. Dodd, a mild-mannered history professor from Chicago who, much to his surprise and everyone else's, was chosen by Roosevelt to be America's first ambassador to Nazi Germany; Dodd's daughter, Martha, was 24 years old and came along for the adventure, and to escape a dead marriage. At first this new world seemed full of energy and goodwill, nothing like what newspapers back home had portrayed. But slowly a pall of intrigue and terror fell over the family-- until the cataclysmic weekend that changed them all forever. Looking ahead, the discussion of Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour has been postponed until May. As an added bonus, Marge Terdal and Maxine Thomas enhance the meeting by talking about their trip to Palestine and Israel. --Mary Brannan Bridge Group shuffles and deals April 10 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, April 10 at Friendly House, 1737 NW 26th Ave. For further information, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call no later than noon Friday, April 6. --Colin Dunkeld Welcome, new RAPSters! etiring faculty and staff receive a free first year membership in RAPS. RAPS welcomes the following individuals who retired in late 2011: Kenneth Ames, Department Chair, Anthropology Kathleen Fishler, Revenue Agent 2, Business Affairs JoEllen Lucke, Scholarship Coordinator, Administration William Messer, Associate Professor, Urban Studies and Planning Kristine Nelson, Dean, School of Social Work Catherine Oelheim, Office Specialist 2, Administration Linda Reilly, Senior Instructor, School of Social Work Michael Soto, Director, Campus Public Safety Office Dennis Stovall, Assistant Professor, English Ronald Talarico, Assistant to Director, Regional Research Institute Sandra Wiscarson, Director of Development, Education The list above does not show everyone who retired from PSU in 2011 or the previous year. RAPS recently obtained a longer list of staff and faculty retirees from mid-2010 to mid-2011. With help from MiMi BernalGraves, former RAPS office manager, the data list is being updated and those retirees will soon receive their free membership, with names listed in a future RAPS Sheet. --Marge Terdal, Membership Chair R
4 PAST TENSE The Beginning: History at Portland State n the spring of 1946 Stephen Epler got permission from the State Board of Higher Education to start a college in the Portland metropolitan area, primarily for returning veterans. Amazingly, by summer he had secured a site in Vanport, assembled a small but competent staff, and signed up over 500 students. The offerings were few in number and classes were over-full. That summer’s first Vanport student body may be the only one in which the number of veterans was greater than the number of males. The reason, of course, was the small number of females enrolled, some of whom were veterans. Although one of the original professors Epler hired was historian George C. Hoffmann, Vanport offered no history courses in the first four quarters of its existence. Hoffmann was listed as an instructor in political science. Finally, in Vanport’s fifth quarter (summer 1947), a history course appeared: HST 106, History of Western Europe (third term), taught by Hoffmann. Between fall 1947 and fall 1952, when I joined the faculty, three year-long surveys in history were offered – History of Western Europe, United States History, and English History. Hoffmann, then listed as assistant professor of political science, taught American and European history, and H.O.N. Bull taught English history. Hoffmann and Bull were both very popular teachers; their courses were always packed. The normal full-time teaching load at Vanport then was five sections (3 credits each) per term. My job interview was unorthodox, to say the least. It took place in early September 1952 on the beach in Santa Monica, where Hoffmann was polishing a brass ship’s lantern he had just acquired. At the end of the interview, he said I was hired if his superiors in Portland concurred. They did, and I started my 55-year career at Portland State that same month. My load the first year was normal for the time. Fall: 15 contact hours per week in five classes, three preparations, 266 students. Winter: 15 hours per week in five classes, four preparations, 236 students. Spring: 15 hours in five classes, four preparations, 216 students. My own maximum load was in the fall of 1955 with six classes, four preparations, and 371 students. After a five-year-long intense campaign by Epler and the staff, the State Board of Higher Education yielded to popular opinion, and on Feb. 14, 1955 Portland State Extension Center became Portland State College. But the Board restricted PSC to general degrees in social science, science, and humanities. Students seeking degrees in history had to transfer to U of O or OSU. The Board thought John Cramer, our first president, would honor the restriction, but he soon became one of the agitators for departmental degrees. Enrollments in history courses burgeoned and history professors were rapidly added. From just two in 1952-53 there were five in 1955-56, and 14 in 1961-1962. Long before it was authorized, the group was called the “History Department.” In 1958-59 the “head” of history, Frederick Cox, officially became the “executive officer for history.” The Board finally recognized reality, and the History Department was authorized for the 1960-61 year. The accomplishments of the History Department in preuniversity days were many. In addition to graduating many Portland area leaders of today, the department offered the college’s first TV course, Western Civilization, in 1960-61 (see photo). In the same year Fred Cox succeeded, after two years of hard work, in establishing the Middle East Studies Center, the first undergraduate regional studies center in the United States. --Charlie White 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. I Charles LeGuin, Basil Dmytryshyn and Charlie White on the air in 1960, broadcasting a lesson in western civilization from the KOIN-TV studios.
5 In memoriam: Raymond Max Grimm, 1924 - 2012 aymond (Ray) Max Grimm, Professor Emeritus of Art, was born June 29, 1924 in St. Louis, MO and died Jan. 22, 2012 in the company of his loving family. Survivors include Jere, his wife of 58 years; six children: Erik (Akiko), Christa, Luke (Sheryl), Joan (Rita), Sarah (Brian), and Carl (Benedicte); eight grandchildren, and his brother, Richard Grimm. Our organization extends its heartfelt sympathy to the family. Two images of Ray Grimm One of six children born to a German immigrant family that struggled through the Great Depression, Ray adapted to life’s challenges by being especially creative and resourceful. In spite of vision limitations, he enlisted in the Navy at age 17. His parents considered reading glasses to be an unnecessary luxury, even for a student, but the service fitted Ray with spectacles, perhaps a pivotal event in an artist’s life. Ray -- a water-phobic nonswimmer -- survived a kamikaze attack that sank an aircraft carrier during the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf. After discharge from the service, Ray took advantage of GI Bill entitlement to prepare for a career in the arts. In 1947-1948 he attended night school in New York City, working various jobs while appreciating the city’s art offerings. He returned to St. Louis and enrolled in the Washington University School of Fine Arts, earning a BFA degree in 1953. There he met and married Jere Meisel, a sculptor, and through the ensuing decades they produced a vast body of artistic work exploring concepts and techniques of mutual interest that became their signature. From 1952-1954 Professor Grimm held an appointment as a pottery and sculpture instructor for adult education at the People’s Art Center in St. Louis. In 1955-56 he completed a master’s degree program as a graduate fellow mentored by the internationally acclaimed artist F. Carlton Ball at Southern Illinois University. That experience laid the foundation for his technical skill in working with ceramics. Ray also studied glassblowing at the Toledo Art Museum with Harvey Littleton, father of the modern glass art movement. Professor Grimm launched his academic career at Portland State in 1956, joining the recently established Humanities Division as an art instructor. He advanced through academic ranks while actively contributing to the institution’s development to university status. In the early years, Ray and his colleagues taught large classes in cramped quarters, often with minimal or improvised facilities and equipment. He founded the ceramics program and the Glass Shack workshop, and taught pottery, jewelry-making, and art education until retiring in 1988, although he continued to be productive until his death. Notable examples of Professor Grimm’s work are exhibited in the permanent collection of Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft. The Grimms were design group members for the Pioneer Courthouse Square “Weather Machine” sculpture set out in 1988. In 1992 Ray and Jere were commissioned by Skamania Lodge to create a series of works depicting the Columbia River Gorge. Altogether, Professor Raymond Max Grimm’s noteworthy life’s work and artistic contributions have enabled this institution to perform a significant and memorable role in enhancing the cultural and intellectual development of the community that it serves. We all owe him a deep debt of gratitude. --Emeritus Professor of History Victor C. Dahl Have you voted? Ballots for the RAPS 2012-13 elections are due at the RAPS Office by 5:00 pm Thursday, April 5. RAPS members are electing a President-elect, Treasurer, and Member-at-Large. Results will be announced April 12 at the President’s Annual Gathering for Retired Faculty and Staff. R
6 In memoriam: Lisa Catherine Vuksich, 1954 - 2011 isa Vuksich, former Executive Assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work, died Dec. 30, 2011 of renal failure after a valiant year-long struggle with giant cell myocarditis. She retired in 2009 after a 30-plus year career at Portland State. Born April 23, 1954 in Vancouver, WN, Lisa lived her entire life in the Portland metropolitan area. At PSU she majored in English and French and completed double master’s degrees in those disciplines in 1976. At that point she launched a long career at PSU, during which she held administrative appointments in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (now World Literatures) and English as a Second Language before moving to the Graduate School of Social Work in the early 1990s, where she remained until her retirement. Colleagues highly appreciated her extraordinarily competent service that made a significant contribution to the growth and development of this institution’s first graduate school. Over the years Lisa became well known across the campus as her administrative duties brought her into continuous contact with other instructional and administrative units. In 1976 Lisa married John Miletich, also a foreign language student, and they traveled extensively in France and in the former Yugoslavia. They both spoke fluent Serbo-Croatian, which with Lisa’s mastery of French enhanced their excursion experiences. During her lifetime, whenever circumstances permitted, Lisa traveled globally, but the Mediterranean region always especially attracted her. Their child, Rudy Miletich, and his grandparents, Rudolf and Berislava Miletich, survive her along with her mother, Jean Vuksich; brothers Duncan (Tracey) and Malcom (Debbie), and sisters Tara Vuksich (Ray Kelsey), Keri Weave, and Ginny Lisa Vuksich Mowery. After Lisa and John divorced, she married Chris Hertel and from that union stepchildren Andy and Sarah Hertel also survive her. Lisa avidly maintained a familiarity with literature ranging from William Shakespeare to Edgar Allen Poe, both of whose works she could recite at length from memory. As a gifted vocalist, music also figured prominently in her life. Her son, Rudy, reminds us, "She was the best at everything she did, and gladly gave everything she had." For her dedicated service to this institution during its formative years, we owe her a heavy debt of gratitude. We shall miss her as a PSU community member, and we extend our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to her family. Remembrances may be made to the Providence Heart Transplant Program, 1111 NE 99th, Suite 201, Portland OR 97220. --Emeritus Professor of History Victor C. Dahl L
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