THE RAPS SHEET October 2014 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 Koinonia House, second floor SW Montgomery at Broadway Office Manager Carissa Ponting (503)725-3447, raps@pdx.edu Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Fall Term Office hours: All day Wednesday and Thursday, half day Friday Officers Priscilla Blumel President Eileen Brennan President-elect / Program Chair Susan Poulsen Past President / Elections Chair Robert Lockerby Secretary Nancy Benson Treasurer Mary Ricks RAPS Sheet Editor Larry Sawyer RAPS Representative to Regional & National Retirement Associations, Website Editor Board Members-at-Large Nancy Chapman Chik Erzurumlu Brian Lewis Committees Steve Brannan and Mary Gordon Brannan History Preservation and Pictorial History Book Co-Chairs Beryl and Vic Dahl Social/Friendship Committee Co-Chairs Brian Lewis Membership Chair Priscilla Blumel and Nancy Chapman Scholarship Co-Chairs Dr. Christina Nicolaidis Discusses the Social Determinants of Health at October 16 Meeting ne of the most important international initiatives for the improvement of health and wellness has been the development of research and programming on the social determinants of health. Dr. Christina Nicolaidis leads the PSU Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Initiative that focuses on interdisciplinary, community engaged research, education, and action. A joint effort of PSU, OHSU, community organizations, governmental agencies, and local health systems, the SDH initiative aims at improving community health by identifying, understanding, and addressing the social factors that affect health and well-being throughout life, and by promoting health equity. Dr. Nicolaidis received her MD from Columbia University, and her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Washington. She is Professor of Social Work and Senior Scholar in the Social Determinants of Health at PSU, and is Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at OHSU, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. Her research has explored ways to improve the health and healthcare of marginalized populations, including racially and ethnically diverse communities, violence survivors, and adults on the autism spectrum or people with other developmental disabilities; depression, PTSD, and chronic pain; primary healthcare services, mental health services, and chronic illness management. The meeting will be in Room 333, SMSU. A light lunch will be available at noon. Dr. Nicolaidis will speak at 1:00pm. For more information regarding the Social Determinants of Health Initiative, please see http://www.pdx.edu/social-determinantshealth/. O
President’s Message s we move into Fall, the Book Club, the Hiking Group and the Bridge Group are all getting together. Steve Brannan and Cris Paschild, the University Archivist, are continuing to work on RAPS history. They are launching a new website to hold many unique records of PSU, including the “Past Tense” articles that have appeared in the RAPS Sheet. Steve and Cris are also moving ahead on recording oral interviews of PSU faculty and staff. Brian Lewis is chair of the Membership Committee and will be encouraging retired faculty and staff to stay involved with PSU. RAPS helps us keep our contacts and friendships intact as time passes. I think it is a privilege to grow older, but it does have its drawbacks and we all have friends and colleagues who face health issues. The importance of an organization like RAPS is so clear to me. Many thanks to Brian and his committee for enabling us to stay connected with our friends at PSU. I am looking forward to the October meeting with Christina Nicolaidis and hope to see you all there. --Priscilla Blumel Barbara Alberty Chosen As a 2014 Woman of Distinction arbara Alberty was honored September 17 at the 2014 Marie Lanfrom Women of Distinction Luncheon for her commitment to the community and her work with the Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington. She joins a group of outstanding women who have made significant contributions to our community. Barbara is an Emeritus faculty member from the School of Business Administration and a member and Past President of RAPS. She currently serves on the Scholarship Committee. Scholarship Contributions hose named below contributed to the RAPS Scholarship Fund between June 15 and September 15, 2014. We thank them for their generosity and for providing assistance to deserving PSU students. Nancy Chapman Robert Lockerby Georgia Crampton Sylvia Moseley Beryl Dahl Ingrid Palm Marianne Inger Mary Williams and the Robert W. Vogelsang Memorial Wine Raffle 2 A B T
RAPS GROUP REPORTS The RAPS Bridge Group will meet (or has already met, depending on the arrival time of this RAPS Sheet) on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. We meet regularly on the first Tuesday of each month. Given the timing of the monthly RAPS Sheet, let me inform you of a couple of upcoming bridge sessions, November 4, 2014 and December 2, 2014. We gather in the conference room of Friendly House’s Anderson building. (This building is on the north side of NW Savier Street, around the corner from the main entrance to Friendly House at NW 26th and Thurman.) Play begins at 1pm and continues to about 4:30pm. We are pretty friendly and are always looking for new players. If you wish to join us, please contact Steve Brennan, 503-646-6297. My email address is the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. --Steve Brennan The RAPS Book Group met at Joan Shireman’s home on September 16 and talked about Amy Tan’s Valley of Amazement. We agreed that the author is a master storyteller and that the examination of complex relationships was compelling. Phyllis Leonard will host us on October 21, at 1:30pm. She lives in the Vista St Clair Apartments, 1000 SW Vista Avenue, Portland, Apartment 420. We will discuss Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings. This is a novel set in nineteenth century Charleston, and is described on the book jacket as a novel in which “Kidd goes beyond the historical record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all her characters … This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at one of the most devastating wounds in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment and expression will leave no reader unmoved. “ Contact Phyllis at leonard.pj@gmail.com or 503-930-5672 to RSVP and for directions. On November 18, we will meet at Eileen Brennan’s (5945 SW 152nd Avenue in Beaverton) to discuss Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Contact Eileen at 503646-6297 or brennane@pdx.edu for further information, or to RSVP and receive directions. --Joan Shireman On Friday, October 10, The RAPS Hiking Group will travel to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge near the Columbia River in Washington. This will be a short 2.7-mile loop to two lakes with very little elevation change. This is Hike 15 in the Sullivan 100 Hikes book. A shorter hike is listed in the book as only open until September 30, but we might still be able to hike it. The two loops total 4.2 miles. Bring your bird book and binoculars. The bird life should be impressive. Lewis and Clark camped near here and the noise kept them awake. Ken Ames from Anthropology has done archeological excavation of a Chinook Cathlapotle plank house at the refuge several years ago. His work should be published soon, if it is not already available. That long house was active when Lewis and Clark visited but is just ruins now that are not accessible. However, there is a replica on the refuge, which may or may not be open when we visit. We will carpool from the Safeway parking lot at the Oregon side of the I-5 Bridge. Take the last exit before crossing the bridge. Extra cars should park on the street. We will meet at 9am. Bring a sack lunch, but we may decide to dine in Ridgefield a short distance away. Insect repellent is highly recommended. For more information and to confirm your participation, contact larry_sawyer@comcast.net or call 503-771-1616 to leave voice mail. (Note: there is an underscore between “larry” and “sawyer” in that email address.) --Larry Sawyer 3
RAPS Represented in Minneapolis and Seattle The biennial conference of the Association of Retirement Organizations of Higher Education (AROHE) was held on the campus of the University of Minnesota from August 10-12, 2014, and the more informal regional annual get-together was hosted by the University of Washington on campus in Seattle on September 7th & 8th. I was the only RAPS representative at both meetings. This is a short overview of the two trips. More details will be included in the formal reports to the Board. The travel budget from the Provost Office and RAPS is limited and didn’t cover many of the expenses. I am Bob Vogelsang’s replacement on the RAPS Board as the contact person for other retirement associations of higher education. I served on the AROHE Board for 4 years followed by Brian Lewis for 2 years, and W. T. (Bill) Lemman was elected to the AROHE Board in Minneapolis for 2 years. This will make eight consecutive years a RAPS member has served on a national association with only 15 board members. I attended both conferences as a delegate, but also participated at the AROHE conference as a volunteer making audio recordings and documenting activities with photographs. The RAPS Board has already received these recordings and photographs. The AROHE conference included keynote presentations and concurrent sessions on different subjects. The major keynote was by David Durenberger, former US Republican Senator from Minnesota. Considering the atmosphere in Washington, I was pleased that he promoted a position of across-the- aisle cooperation. Presentations included special interest groups, health care, how to start a new organization, membership retention and methods of recruitment. Membership recruitment and retention seems to be a problem for all. I also sat at a breakfast table along with two others to answer questions on technology. Many of the organizations had display tables that were attended between sessions. I shared a table with OSU and displayed flyers, pictures, our Powerpoint presentation from the April President’s Luncheon, and copies of our two publications. I gave a complimentary copy of both publications to Janette Brown, the Executive Director of AROHE located on the USC campus. The Seattle conference was a more informal session. We were supposed to host this conference last year but cancelled it due to Vogie’s (the Chairman’s) death shortly before the date. The University of Washington originated this conference and they host it in alternate years. The keynote presentation was by ENCORE, also mentioned by Dr. Bloom in our own general meeting on September 18. ENCORE assists in connecting volunteers with non-profit organizations. Interns graduate and move on. Retirees are more likely to stay. This conference was just one day with a social get-together the evening before. It was shorter due to the limited number of organizations attending this year. Representatives of University of Washington, OSU, PSU, Central Washington, Simon Fraser, Washington State University and the University of British Columbia attended the meeting. I came away with some ideas to present to the Board. I also photo- and audio-documented the conference and shared them with the other delegates while stipulating that the recordings were informal. All of the delegates will begin receiving digital copies of the RAPS Sheet if they are not already on our sister organization electronic list. The final session was a discussion on the future of these meetings, since only seven organizations were represented. The consensus was that the meetings were valuable and should continue. The UW will host the AROHE conference in August of 2016. UW formally asked for co-hosts. The OSU and PSU Boards have already volunteered to do whatever we can to make the first AROHE conference in the Pacific Northwest a success. We also toured the University House retirement home where Laureen Nussbaum of PSU now lives, and I had a delightful two-hour talk with her before returning to Portland. I learned that although the University of Washington was founded in the 19th century, and its retirement association is the largest in the Pacific Northwest, they will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary either next year or the year after. PSU was founded in 1946 and celebrated the ERFOPS/REPPS/RAPS 50th Anniversary last year. --Larry Sawyer 4
Robyn Lynn is RAPS Scholarship Recipient for 2014-15 eet Robyn Lynn, the 2014-15 RAPS scholarship recipient. She is an upper division undergraduate, majoring in Health Studies with a concentration in Aging Services. She recently added a minor in Sexuality, Gender and Queer Studies this year, and will complete her degree in two years. Robyn is an enthusiastic student and has been able to maintain a 4.00 GPA while working part time and caring for her teenage daughter (who will begin at PCC this year). She currently works in the PSU office of Events and Conferences. She is very grateful that the RAPS scholarship will make things a little easier this year, and is eager to meet our members at some of our social events. Robyn’s long-term goals include helping build community among the diverse populations in the metro area. Her volunteer activities reflect that interest, and include her active involvement with SAGE, a national program affiliated with Friendly House that provides services and advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender elders. Currently, she is assisting with their “Gay and Grey Expo” as well as contacting senior housing administrators to update the “Guide to LGBT Friendly Housing in Oregon.” She has also led groups for parents of LGBT children, helping parents accept and support their children. --Nancy Chapman Holiday Party Date Set lease save Sunday, December 14 for the RAPS annual Holiday Party. The holiday brunch will be at the Multnomah Athletic Club. RAPS member Claudine Fisher and MAC Executive Chef Phillipe Bulot have planned a special menu. More details will be forthcoming in the November newsletter. -- Eileen Brennan Shakespeare Tour Departs soon he Shakespeare Groupies head to Ashland for their October 20-26 program! We look forward to hearing about their trip when they return. 5 M P T
In Memoriam: Dan Passell, 1928-2014 rofessor Dan Passell, born October 8, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, died July 5, 2014 in Portland. His extensive obituary, which appeared in the July 9, 2014 Oregonian, is on file in the RAPS office. His family resided in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he attended public schools. Dan majored in philosophy at the University of Chicago, earning Ph.B. (1949) and M.A. (1954) degrees. He subsequently pursued doctoral studies at Stanford. After a two-year interruption for Korean War military service teaching radio theory, followed by an appointment (1961-1963) as an instructor of philosophy at Fresno State University, he completed his doctoral degree at Stanford and joined PSU’s Department of Philosophy as an assistant professor in 1964. Dan arrived at Portland State during a tumultuous issue-laden epoch as the institution moved to university status. His professional and personal interest in ethics prompted him to support student activism that turbulently endorsed the civil rights movement and vigorously opposed United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, he always sought to take clearheaded, dispassionate, rational, and non-violent stances dealing with all issues and controversies. Although teaching duties for large classes imposed heavy demands on his time, whenever possible he allocated his energies to benefit his family. As the devoted father of four children, at day’s end he was always available for restful songs and reading bedtime stories. Home maintenance problems did not discourage him and he developed the necessary skills and talents for those tasks. He generously contributed toward the education of his children and grandchildren. Poetry and sports constituted his major avocations, and he took his children to Trailblazer and PSU Vikings basketball games, hit pop flies for his sons’ little league fielding practice sessions, and permitted them to watch Muhammed Ali perform in the ring. For over thirty years he ran at noontime, and in a locker room confession acknowledged that exercise was the only religion he had practiced for a long time. He often sat in on his colleagues’ literature classes. He occasionally wrote his own verses, and memorized lines from authors as diverse as Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson. Dan developed a devoted undergraduate and graduate student following, and some became lifelong friends. Likewise, he was well liked and respected by departmental colleagues and friends across the campus. A former colleague evaluated him as “an interesting philosopher … very much concerned with his students … an engaging, non-aggressive personality … attractive to students … willing to talk with them about anything at any time … immediately and invariably available to students in distress or who needed urgent academic advice.” He read occasional papers to be critiqued at his department’s “Socratic Society” meetings. His scholarly work was published in professional journals. In 2010, he retired as an associate professor, and in 2011 he taught his last class after being designated an emeritus professor. His oldest child, Seth, predeceased him in 2007. In addition to his older brother, Lawrence A. Passell of Shoreham, NY, his daughters Sarah of Danbury, Connecticut, Leah of Portland, and son Josh of Watertown, Massachusetts survive him. Our organization expresses its heartfelt condolences to his family. No public service is planned. --Victor C. Dahl, Emeritus Professor of History 6 P
In Memoriam: Thomas M. Poulsen – 1931 – 2014 meritus Professor Thomas Poulsen, born June 16, 1931, died June 20, 2014 in Lenexa, Kansas. Interment at Riverview Abbey in Portland followed a private memorial service. An obituary and guest book appeared in the Oregonian June 23-25. Tom came from a Danish immigrant family that homesteaded in Oregon in the 19th century, which very likely contributed to his lifelong dedication to environmental studies and outdoor recreation. Several generations of sports anglers have relied upon a successful family enterprise – Poulsen Fly Tied Fishhooks – for tackle items. After graduating from Jefferson High School, Tom enrolled at Oregon State University to earn a B.S. degree (1953) majoring in Natural Resources with Russian language and Journalism minors. He edited the campus newspaper, the Daily Barometer. From 1953 to 1957, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, completing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. In 1957-58, he held a Ford Foundation Russian Area Studies postdoctoral fellowship. At Jefferson High Tom met Gladys Yarnell. They married in 1951 and reared four children: Steven (deceased); Robert (Karen); Diana (Ted Gruber) and Sarah (John Haddad). The family accompanied Tom and Gladys as he pursued scholarly research and fieldwork in the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. In 1963, he joined Portland State’s department of Geography, where he developed the Slavic language and area studies component of the recently established Central European Studies Center. He was also involved in planning for an extension Institute at the University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia. Through his coordination efforts, until 1974 the CESC received federal grant support for the Zagreb Institute’s instructional program, and for appointing visiting language and area studies professors from Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union to teach courses on the PSU campus. While expanding PSU campus programs, Professor Poulsen actively pursued research activities abroad, including a Fulbright research fellowship (1966-67) to study administrative regionalization in the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union He was Chairman of the Geography Department from 1984 to 1993. In 1987, the department hosted the national meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Under Tom’s guidance, his colleagues prepared keynote conference papers dealing with the Portland region, and produced a publication entitled “Portland’s Changing Landscape.” This book – distributed to 2500 members in attendance – became a model for host institutions of subsequent AAG national meetings. Professor Poulsen engaged in a wide variety of University support and scholarly activities. He served on various constitutional committees and as an adviser to the Student Publications Board. His popular classes attracted large enrollments of enthusiastic students, and in 1989, he received the George C. Hoffmann Faculty Excellence Award. He participated in PSU’s outreach to the metropolitan community through public lectures, such as the World Affairs Council’s “Great Decisions” series. A longtime experienced, enthusiastic philatelist, he amassed a prominent collection of historic Eastern European postage stamps that achieved international recognition. (continued on page 8) 7 E
Upon his retirement in 1993, Professor Poulsen became a lifetime RAPS member. Although he continued to conduct research and carry out scholarly activities, he found time to serve as editor of the RAPS Sheet for several years. We who knew and worked with Thomas Poulsen appreciated his enormous, energetic, and personally generous contributions to this institution. The high quality academic programs associated with PSU’s Department of Geography and Slavic Studies Programs serve as a lasting legacy to his tireless efforts. The University owes him a deep debt of gratitude for his achievements. After retiring, Tom and Gladys settled in Lenexa, KS to live near their son Robert and his family. Our organization extends its heartfelt condolence to Gladys, and to her children and grandchildren. --Victor C. Dahl, Emeritus Professor of History 8
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