THE RAPS SHEET January 2015 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751--RAPS 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: Wednesday noon to 4pm, Thursday and Friday 9am-5pm. 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 Nancy Chapman Scholarship Chair Chik Erzurumlu Awards Chair Tom Potiowsky Examines the Oregon Economy At the RAPS January Meeting t the Thursday January 15, 2015 RAPS meeting, Dr. Tom Potiowsky will discuss the current state of the Oregon economy and prospects for the future. Professor Potiowsky is Chair of the PSU Economics Department and Director of the Northwest Economics Research Center. He served as State Economist from 1999 through 2006, and was reappointed and served from 2008 through 2011. He received his B.A. from The Ohio State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado. Professor Potiowsky has served as a PSU faculty member since 1982. Bringing both his academic and government service experience to the presentation, Dr. Potiowsky will reflect on the trends and potential of the Oregon economy. The meeting will be in Room 333, Smith Memorial Student Union. A light lunch will be available at noon. Tom Potiowsky will speak at 1:00pm. A
President’s Message There is good news for RAPS this year. A new PSU policy allowing the title of “Distinguished Staff Retiree” to be awarded to retired staff, academic professionals, and administrative employees with long-term and distinguished service at the University has finally been adopted (see page 4.) Our thanks go to Provost Sona Andrews, Associate Vice President for Human Resources and University Policy and Procedure Shana Sechrist, and Past President of RAPS, Dave Krug. This has been a project of several years for Dave. He, along with Sona Andrews and Shana Sechrist, stayed on the job and got it done. RAPS donors to the Scholarship Fund have been very generous. We achieved our goal of raising enough in donations to meet our scholarship commitment in full by December 31, 2014. This means that gifts in 2015 will go into a fund lodged within the PSU Foundation to develop an endowed scholarship, which has been another goal of RAPS. The Scholarship Committee and Chair Nancy Chapman have reached out to the membership, and are largely responsible for our success. Many thanks to the committee volunteers and our wonderful donors for supporting the RAPS Scholarship. The 2014-15 RAPS Board This RAPS Board photo was taken at the December 2014 Board meeting. Back row, left to right: Larry Sawyer, Carissa Ponting, Chik Erzurumlu, Robert Lockerby, Simon Benson (in spirit only), Nancy Benson, Brian Lewis. Front row, left to right, Mary Ricks, Nancy Chapman, Priscilla Blumel, Susan Poulsen, and Eileen Brennan. Not pictured: Steve Brannan, Mary Gordon Brannan, Beryl Dahl, Vic Dahl.
RAPS Group Reports The RAPS Book Group will meet January 20 at the Terdals’ new home in Terwilliger Plaza (2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd. #812) and discuss The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence. In 1999 Anthony agreed to accept a herd of “troubled” elephants in a wild animal preserve that he owned. The Publisher’s Weekly review describes the book as follows: “Winning their trust, becoming deeply attached, and even learning how they communicate, Anthony took enormous risks in the form of enraged elephants, distrustful neighbors, and poachers. An inspiring, multifaceted account, Anthony's book offers fascinating insights into the lives of wild elephants in the broader context of Zulu culture in post-Apartheid South Africa.” Contact Marge at 503-808-7438 or dbmt@pdx.edu to RSVP and for directions. Free valet parking is available at the front of the building. In February the book group will discuss A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. This is the account of a teenager caught in the rebellion in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, of his experiences as a child fleeing violence, as a soldier, and then in a UNICEF rehabilitation center. Chosen by Amazon as one of their best books of 2014, the website notes, “This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.” We will decide the location of the February meeting in January. --Joan Shireman The RAPS Bridge Group will meet (or already has met) on Tuesday, January 6, 2015. 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: February 3, 2015 and March 3, 2015. 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 26th and Thurman.) Playing begins at 1 pm and continues to about 4:30 pm. We are friendly and are always looking for new players. We are hoping that Scott Burns will get less busy after his retirement. He indicates interest in playing bridge with us soon. 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 Hiking Group’s next hike is January 9. Meet at 9:30am at the Chart House Restaurant on SW Terwilliger. It is OK to park there for two hours. Marge Terdal will be the coordinator for this hike. We will walk from there uphill about one mile to SW Fairmount. Part of the hike will be a trail through the woods, and part on residential streets. When we reach Fairmount, we will walk east about 1.3 miles to a new hiking trail called (I think) Flicker. This goes downhill about one mile, joins with the Marquam Trail, and ends up on SW Terwilliger. We will then walk along Terwilliger, back to the Chart House, about ½ mile. The whole hike is about three miles, so we will get back to the Chart House about 11:00am, when it opens for lunch. I recommend that you wear hiking shoes, because it probably will be muddy if we get rain this week. Call me (503-808-7438) or email me (dbmt@pdx.edu) if you plan to come. Also tell me if you would like to have lunch at the Chart House (the cost will be about $10.00), and I will make a reservation. Hope for no rain on Friday. --Marge Terdal 3
Distinguished Staff Retiree Policy n Wednesday, November 26, Associate Vice President for Human Resources Shana Sechrist and Provost Sona Andrews brought a proposal before the University Policy Committee to recognize and honor “classified, academic professional, and administrative employees of PSU who retired from the University after long-term and distinguished service.” The Committee unanimously and enthusiastically approved the proposal. Their approval capped a two-year effort by the Provost and RAPS to develop and steer the proposal through the University approval process, which began during the summer of 2012 when Provost Andrews met with representatives from RAPS. At that meeting, Provost Andrews mentioned that she had recently served at an institution that recognized and honored long-term outstanding staff with Emeritus status. Oregon Administrative Rules stipulate that awarding Emeritus status is a promotion and is restricted to the professorial ranks. The proposal was revised as a new PSU policy that would allow administrative units to recommend long-term distinguished non-professorial personnel to be acknowledged and honored for their service to PSU. The new policy should begin to take effect during the 2015 academic year. It will contain a “grandfather” clause to include past retirees. Those retirees receiving this award will have privileges supported by ID Services, Campus Recreation, the Library, University Communications and Human Resources. At this time parking privileges are not included; however the RAPS Board intends to conduct research with HR to determine potential impact on the University of adding parking privileges, and will continue its efforts to add this privilege. RAPS is very appreciative of the time and effort that Sona Andrews, Provost, and Shana Sechrist, Associate Vice President for Human Resources devoted to pursuing this policy and we thank them for helping to bring this important new policy to PSU. --Dave Krug Past President, RAPS Save These Dates! e sure to save two important dates for RAPS activities this spring. The President’s Luncheon for retired faculty and staff will be April 16, at University Place. You will receive an invitation later in the spring. On Sunday, May 3, from 2 to 5pm, RAPS will hold a Wine Tasting to benefit the RAPS Scholarship fund, at Storyteller Wines in the Johns Landing area. More information will be available closer to the date. Scholarship Donations Those listed below made contributions to the RAPS Scholarship Fund between November 15 and December 15. Barbara Alberty Mary Karr Priscilla Blumel Katherine Purtzer Scott Burns Larry Sawyer Terril Doherty Gail Walker Susan Jackson Dawn White and the Robert W. Vogelsang Memorial Wine Raffle 4 O B
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