THE RAPS SHEET NOVEMBER 2013 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: Mondays 8am to 4pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays 8am to 2pm Officers Susan Poulsen President Priscilla Blumel President-elect / Program Chair David Krug Past President / Elections Chair Robert Lockerby Secretary Susan Jackson Treasurer / Website Editor Mary Ricks RAPS Sheet Editor Board Members-at-Large Nancy Chapman Chik Erzurumlu Brian Lewis Committees Steve Brannan History Preservation Committee Chair Mary Brannan Pictorial History Book Committee Chair Beryl and Vic Dahl Social/Friendship Committee Co-Chairs Brian Lewis Awards Committee Chair Brian Lewis Membership Chair Priscilla Blumel and Nancy Chapman Scholarship Co-Chairs Office Manager Alle Powers 503/725-3447/ raps@pdx.edu Health Equity For a Sustainable Portland ileen Brennan, Professor Emerita of the School of Social Work, will speak at the November 21 RAPS meeting. She will discuss recent work to promote health equity and social sustainability in Portland. Social inequities in the Portland metropolitan area are evident in human health and wellbeing. In order to understand the sources of these inequities, their persistence, and how organizations can address problems at the intersection of human health and the natural and built environments, PSU students, faculty, and community partners formed the Community Partnership for Health and Equity. She will focus on recent partnership work to promote health equity through community health workers, popular education, and community gardening projects. Since her retirement in 2011, Dr. Brennan has served as Research Professor of Social Work. She has studied issues of social sustainability for the past 15 years, and served as co-principal investigator of the Social Sustainability Network project at Portland State University. The author of monographs, book chapters, and articles related to social sustainability, Dr. Brennan has presented the results of her research teams’ studies at numerous regional, national, and international conferences. She designed and taught one of the first graduate social work courses in the United States to focus on environmental issues and sustainability. Her most recent book is Social Sustainability: A Multilevel Approach to Social Inclusion which she coedited with Veronica Dujon and Jesse Dillard. A light lunch will be available at noon. Dr. Brennan will speak at 1:00 pm in room 296, SMSU. E
President’s Message all is a time of action and activity, especially during these warm, sunny days on campus. Among students, faculty and staff, in RAPS – life is a buzz. We are gearing up for our November speaker event and hearing about plans for a Shakespeare Festival RAPS trip. The November Board meeting will feature a presentation by Chas Lopez, Executive Director of Diversity & Inclusion who will tell us more about the Minority Mentor Program. In addition, as we update our contact information and reach out to connect with newly retired and former RAPS members, we need your help. Is our contact information for you as current and up-to-date as it should be? Are we missing folks who you think, or know, would want to receive the newsletter or know about our many activities? In a recent email, we learned from a current member that a former RAPS member’s name and contact information had slipped through the cracks and he never knew why he didn’t hear from us. It’s unfortunate when this happens. We and the former member are grateful for the actions of the current member who alerted us to this situation. So please, give this some thought in this time of renewal and reconnection. Please use the coupon on page 5 to update your information for the directory. My best wishes to you and yours for a special Thanksgiving. Don’t forget our annual holiday brunch scheduled for December 15. --Susan Poulsen, President Kate Jensen receives RAPS Scholarship APS awarded its annual scholarship for the 2013-14 academic year to Katherine (Kate) Jensen. Kate is a full-time senior who is majoring in Health Studies with a minor in Economics. She was nominated and accepted into the University Honors Program at Portland State. She is in the top 7% of her class in her major within the School of Community Health. Her curriculum includes coursework on the health and social aspects of aging, chronic disease, health promotion, as well as administrative and financial training. After attaining her bachelor’s degree, she intends to complete training to become a certified nursing assistant to further prepare her to respond to urgent situations in addition to the treatment and care of residents from a nursing perspective. Kate is quite an involved student. In addition to her academic work, Kate’s current extra-curricular activities include orientation leader, student health advisory board member, intramural soccer player, serving as managing editor of the Anthos Academic Publication, and serving as a student assistant in CLAS dean’s office. Kate’s career goal is to advocate for improved quality for individuals in long-term care. She stated that her coursework and voluntary experiences will prepare her “for a career in program planning and evaluation from an administrative role in an assisted living facility, residential care facility, or nursing home . . . In the long run, I would love the opportunity to work to improve the social and psychological quality of life for those in a long-term care facility. Everyone should be able to access the resources to improve their quality of life regardless of their age and ability, and my personal goals in education and career place me in an optimal position to positively impact the aging population.” --Mary Brannan 2 F R
Past Tense PSU FOOTBALL PLAYERS MAKE THE PROS t is football season in the National Football League (NFL) and at Portland State. Little known to many sports fans, Portland State has produced excellent football players who continued playing football as professionals. Since 1967, 38 Portland State football players have gone on to play in the NFL, two other Vikings were drafted but did not play, and 27 played professional football in other leagues (e.g., Canadian Football League, World League, arena football). Dave Stief (wide receiver, 1978-1983), Neil Lomax (quarterback, 1981-1988), Clint Didier (tight end, 1982-1989), Tracey Eaton (free safety, 1988-1953), Ted Popson (tight end, 1994-1998), and Darick Holmes (running back, 1995-1999) played five or more years in the NFL. Former PSU wide receiver James Hundon has the distinction of being the first former Viking pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated (Feb. 12, 2001). The first Viking to play in the NFL was Tom Oberg (pictured left) who played defensive back at Portland State for two years in 1966 and 1967. He intercepted 12 passes which still ranks seventh in PSU history. He was a team leader as a captain and was named the team’s Most Inspirational Player as a senior. Oberg played safety for the Denver Broncos in 1968 and 1969. Following his NFL career, he played in the Canadian Football League and for the Portland Storm and Thunder of the Word Football League. He was inducted into the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. Tom continues to support PSU football as a VIP season ticket holder. Four PSU Vikings play in the NFL today: Julius Thomas, tight end for the Denver Broncos; Jordon Senn, linebacker for the Carolina Panthers; Adam Hayward, linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and DeShawn Snead, defensive back for the Seattle Seahawks. Julius Thomas (pictured right) has received lots of press lately, receiving passes from Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning. His performance is amazing because Thomas played only one football season at Portland State and was named on the first-team All-Big Sky Conference in 2010. His professional football accomplishments are better understood knowing that Thomas was a multisport athlete. Before transitioning to Viking football, Thomas was a four-year basketball player, setting PSU records for career games played, career wins, and career field goals percentage (.671). He also helped the Viking basketball team win the 2008 Big Sky regular season championship as well as the 2008 and 2009 Big Sky tournament basketball championships and played in two NCAA tournaments. -- Mary Brannan 3 I
RAPS Club Reports The next RAPS Book Club meeting will be held at 1:30 on Tuesday, November 19, hosted by Brian Lewis at 12828 SW Walnut St. in Tigard. Contact him at brianlewispdx@gmail.com or 503-590-5890 to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones who lives in Portland. It is described on the back cover as follows: In her satisfying, sensual third novel, Nicole Mones takes readers inside the hidden world of elite cuisine in modern China through the story of an American food writer in Beijing. When recently widowed Maggie McElroy is called to China to settle a claim against her late husband’s estate, she is blindsided by the discovery that he may have led a double life. Since work is all that will keep her sane, her magazine editor assigns her to profile Sam, a half-Chinese American who is the last in a line of gifted chefs tracing back to the imperial palace. As she watches Sam gear up for China’s Olympic culinary competition by planning the banquet of a lifetime, she begins to see past the cuisine’s artistry to glimpse its coherent expression of Chinese civilization. It is here, amid lessons of tradition, obligation, and human connection that she finds the secret ingredient that may yet heal her heart. Looking ahead, in December we will discuss The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. --Mary Brannan The RAPS Bridge Club will meet on Tuesday, November 12 at 1:00pm. Since Friendly House will be using the room we usually play in, we will meet at the home of Maxine Thomas, 6535 SW Canyon Court in Portland. Call Maxine Thomas at 503-291-1279 or email her at thomasm@pdx.edu by Friday, November 8 if you wish to play. --Steve Brennan and Maxine Thomas The RAPS Hiking Group will visit the Oregon Holocaust Memorial on the November 8 hike. To read a description of the memorial, go to: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/finder/i ndex.cfm?acion=/ViewPark&Property ID=1330 To see a map to the parking lot go to: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/pparks/finder /index.cfm?action=ViewFile&PolPdfaID=1736& /HolocaustMemorialDirections-Parking.pdf We will connect with the Hike #4 in Laura Fosters Portland Hill Walks at Stop #2. The hike will be about five miles long if we leave the cars in the parking lot and exit Washington Park at the old Burnside entrance to find a restaurant along NW 23rd Avenue. This is assuming we skip the one mile Rutland Terrace Loop with its 180-foot elevation gain via stairs. Confirm your participation by November 7 for the Friday, November 8 hike by calling Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or by email at larry_sawyer@comcast.net (There is an underscore between “larry” and “sawyer” in that email address). The photo above, taken by Diane Sawyer, is of the October hike at McIver Park on the Clackamas River. Front row: Mary-Lane Stevens (Hard), Sherry Salomon, and May Chen. Back row: Tom Hard, Larry Sawyer, Steven Salomon, and Pah Chen. --Larry Sawyer 4
Ashland Trip Meeting Did Shakespeare Drink Wine? Save November 21 at 2:00pm for the opportunity to answer this question. Join other colleagues for a cup of tea or a glass of wine as we contemplate the answer. Other topics to be discussed or questions to be asked and answered could include: How many plays will we see? The October 20-26, 2014 time slot has the plays I want to see. Are dates for the trip set in stone? I can only go in August. May I go if I use a “walker?” If I fly to Medford, could I be picked up at the airport? I can take two additional people in my car. When do I need to make a partial or full payment? The location of the November 21 meeting is to be determined. Please let Maxine Thomas know by November 14 if you plan to attend the meeting so that appropriate space can be determined. Maxine may be reached by phone at 503-291-1279, or by email at thomasm@pdx.edu --Maxine Thomas RAPS Directory We are in the process of compiling a RAPS membership directory. Current members’ names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, as well as departmental affiliation will appear in the directory. Distribution will be to the members of the organization. If your information has changed recently please fill out the form below with your new information and mail it to the RAPS Office, P.O. Box 751, Portland 97207. If you wish part or all of this information withheld from the Directory, please check the box(es) in front of the item(s) you wish withheld. Name _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone _____________________________________ E-mail address __________________________________________________________ PSU Departmental Affiliation____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5
In Memoriam: David Alexandar Jannsen, 1928-2013 native Oregonian, Emeritus Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, David A. Jannsen, born January 1, 1928 in Oregon City, died from natural causes on September 19, 2013, at his Clackamas residence. He attended Clackamas and Oregon City public schools and Portland’s Multnomah College (1945 to 1948), where he completed an associate degree before entering Oregon State University where he earned a bachelors degree (1950) in Industrial Engineering. Upon graduation from OSU he worked for two years in a family-owned well-drilling firm. During the Korean War era he served as a United States naval officer (1952-1955) holding shipbuilding supervisorial responsibilities at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn. After completing naval service in 1955 he joined the Engineering and Applied Science faculty at the recently renamed Portland State College. In 1955 most of the college’s curricular offerings concentrated on general studies courses. Professor Jannsen came to this institution at a crucial time that utilized his professional contributions to expand engineering instruction that would lead to the development of the present-day Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. At the outset, he deployed his efforts almost equally between teaching basic engineering courses to large classes and providing essential lower division student program advising. For many years he served as the initial contact advisor for most students who pursued instruction in the Department of Engineering and Applied Science. He actively engaged with university-wide committees assigned to improve instructional effectiveness, and he promoted outreach to business and government agencies that would employ graduates of PSU’s various engineering programs. He regularly engaged in conferences offered by scientific and professional societies. For his ongoing achievements, he was promoted to assistant professor in 1959, to associate professor in 1982, and in 1988 he retired as emeritus associate professor. During naval service in New York, in 1953 he met and married Ellie White and they had four children: Steve (Shannon); Lois (Bill); Brian (Val); Connie (Ken). He is also survived by twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Dave and Ellie were longtime RAPS members and our organization extends its heartfelt sympathy to her and her children. David nurtured a wide variety of intellectual interests. A lifelong violinist, he performed with the East County Community Orchestra and other music groups. He actively participated in many church activities, including preaching and facilities maintenance. Devotion to the outdoors prompted him to harvest timber on a personally owned three-acre timber tract in Estacada, located near Eagle Fern Camp, an interdenominational retreat center with special youth outreach. Remembrances honoring him may be directed to Eagle Fern Camp, 37700 SE Camp Road, Estacada OR 97023. At a Celebration of Life memorial held September 28, 2013, at East Gate Bible Church, a colleague thoughtfully stated: “We will always remember Dave…who showed… the way to…think the best of others, and to help our students to the fullest.” For his long years of dedicated service at laborious, demanding tasks in fulfillment of our educational mission, the PSU community owes Professor Jannsen a lasting debt of gratitude. --Victor C. Dahl, Emeritus Professor of History 6 A
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