Co-President’s Message Opening my eyes to a changing PSU campus 2 RAPS STARTED THE NEW ACADEMIC YEAR on September 20 with a tour of the newly renovated, expanded, and much-better-than-before Peter W. Stott Center. About a week before the tour, however, I was on campus and couldn’t resist walking up the Park Blocks to get a sneak peek. I was stunned. The dull, oppressive brick wall that faced the Park Blocks for decades was gone, replaced by a sleek glass structure that invited the passerby to see inside to the bright, shiny Viking Pavilion, a 3,000water features, sculptures, and street car and bus stops. In fact, the plaza is one of the busiest public transportation hubs in Portland. It was time for my meeting at the Simon Benson House, itself a wonderful addition to campus. Along the way I took a quick detour to Lincoln Hall, which was renovated in 2011 and had a striking glass tower added on the Broadway side in 2014. I hadn’t been in Lincoln in years, and I discovered that the renovation had opened the building, bringing in light and adding depth. My short walking tour was only a superficial look at how the campus has changed in the past dozen years. If it’s been a few years since you’ve been on campus, drop by to look around. You’ll be surprised—and impressed! —Doug Swanson seat basketball and multi-use arena. What a transformation! Which prompted me to keep walking. How else had the campus changed in the 12 years since I last closed the door to my office in Cramer Hall? Yes, I’m on campus about once or twice a month, but my routine is bleak: park my car, walk quickly to my meeting, walk quickly back to my car, drive away. No sightseeing allowed. This time I strolled instead of marched, and I looked around me, rather than at the sidewalk. Across the Park Blocks was Neuberger, which, like the Stott Center, dates from the 1960s. It was tired and dreary 12 years ago, but it won’t be much longer. A $70-million renovation, due for completion in August, will see to that. Right now Neuberger is down to the four exterior walls and not much else. This is a serious renovation. Good. I turned toward Broadway, then went north and walked past the Karl Miller Center, another striking addition of wood, glass, and steel. I remembered the site from my first months at PSU. A new building was going up then, more utilitarian than attractive, which was named the Professional Schools Building; it became home to the School of Education. A few years later an addition was built and named—surprise!—Professional Schools Building II. Despite the (slightly) different names, it was really one building. Now it’s completely redesigned and renovated as part of the Miller Center. A block east is the Academic and Student Recreation Center, which opened in 2010. It’s built on the site of the unlamented Portland Center for Advanced Technology, a building so ugly that, given an opportunity, I would have happily grabbed a sledge hammer and taken a few swings at it myself. The Recreation Center faces the PSU Urban Plaza, with its Lindsey Webster (left), director of external relations for PSU Athletics, led RAPS members on a tour of the Stott Center on September 20. Please consider email for RAPS Sheet delivery I HOPE YOU ENJOY the RAPS Sheet, but I also hope that you’ll consider receiving it electronically rather than through the U.S. mail. Sending the RAPS Sheet via email doesn’t cost a penny, but sending it via the U.S. Postal Service costs a pretty penny—and it’s a drain on the RAPS budget. Plus, the emailed version is in glorious full color. To switch to email-only delivery, please send an email to our office manager, Ilana Tarasyuk, at rapsmail@pdx.edu. Thanks! —D. S.
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