The RAPS Sheet The newsletter of the Retirement Association of Portland State DECEMBER 2020 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University—RAPS Post Office Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 Campus Public Safety Building Second Floor, Room 212 SW Montgomery at Broadway Office Manager Samantha McKinlay Telephone: 503-725-3447 Email: rapsmail@pdx.edu Office hours: Suspended Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Board Members Co-Presidents Steve Brennan Pat Squire Secretary Brian Lewis Treasurer Ansel Johnson Members-at-Large Steven Brenner Nancy Eriksson Pati Sluys RAPS Sheet Editor Doug Swanson Website Editor Larry Sawyer RAPS Representative to Regional & National Retirement Associations Larry Sawyer Committees Awards Steve Brennan, Chair History Preservation Eileen Brennan, Chair Membership/Program Dawn White, Chair Scholarships Joan Shireman, Chair Social Nancy Eriksson, Chair Zoom to the Holiday Gathering Dec. 10 THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST (and hopefully last) time ever, you can enjoy RAPS’s annual Holiday Gathering from the comfort of your own home. Scheduled for Thursday, December 10, the 2020 Holiday Gathering will be a virtual “open house” via Zoom, the videoconferencing platform. Various activities are scheduled, while the “Open Mingle” that starts the event will enable RAPSters to visit with one another. The Holiday Gathering is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can join the open house at any time and leave and return when you wish. Because the Holiday Gathering in past years has been a buffet brunch, please feel free to eat and enjoy a beverage while you visit. Here’s the schedule: 11:30 TO 11:50 A.M.—“Open Mingle,” followed by greetings from RAPS co-presidents Pat Squire and Steve Brennan. NOON TO 12:30 P.M.—PSU Trivia Challenge, Part 1. 12:30 TO 1:00—Nancy Eriksson will introduce Scott Burns, professor emeritus of geology and noted wine authority. Not only will Scott talk wine, but you can show him a label from your own collection and enjoy Scott’s take on it. You don’t have to be drinking the wine at that moment, but nobody’s stopping you, either. 1:00 TO 1:30—PSU Trivia Challenge, Part 2. 1:30 TO 2:00—Christine Meadows, director of the PSU Opera Program, uproariously portrays Julia Child baking a chocolate cake. Via YouTube. Happy holidays to all from the Holiday Gathering Planning Crew! —Samantha, Joan, Eileen, Scott, Christine, Pat, Steve, and Nancy Grab some eggnog and cozy up to your computer, because... You’re invited to the RAPS 2020 Holiday Gathering Thursday, December 10 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On your home computer via Zoom Look for an email from Samantha McKinlay, RAPS office manager, with the Zoom link. It will be sent the week of November 30.
2 The RAPS Sheet December 2020 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE COVID-19 mitigation during the holiday season holidays. Any visitors from outside the region will need 14 days of quarantine to safely interact with friends and relatives. Testing for COVID-19, receiving a negative test result, will not ensure your visitor is free from the coronavirus. If you think a negative test result means you don’t have COVID-19, you could be wrong. It can take days after exposure to the virus before a new infection shows up on a COVID-19 test. You can spread the virus before testing positive. Family and friends coming to visit. Having a meal composed of traditional holiday recipes. Family from out of the area. All these are important and we look forward to those as well as holiday parties. Given the COVID-19 situation, however, holding holiday celebrations this year with an infected but asymptomatic guest might mean some visitors will be having their ultimate holiday season. We need to delay gratification until the holiday season of (I hope) 2021. We will need to settle for virtual celebrations with loved ones this season. Stay connected with friends and loved ones using tools like Facetime and Zoom. These are not ideal but they are not going to spread COVID-19. Stay safe. —Steve Brennan HERE’S THE DEAL. We in Oregon and around the nation are facing widespread community spread of coronavirus. As I write this column, a week before Thanksgiving, counts of confirmed cases are on a sharp rise in Oregon and throughout the rest of the United States. We are experiencing a sharp increase in hospitalizations, following right along after the steep increase in confirmed cases. Here is the picture of COVID-19 in Oregon: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ map.html. Here is the Johns Hopkins dashboard: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ map.html. On November 18 the Portland metro area began a new round of restrictions aimed at flattening the curve. These restrictions aim to avoid overwhelming hospitals and medical staff with patients infected with COVID-19. We all know the drill; we have been down this road before fighting coronavirus. This time our holiday gatherings are limited to fewer than seven people, from at most two households. This restriction will be in place for at least four weeks. Health authorities recommend not traveling for the Two receive Women’s Association scholarships THREE YEARS AGO the Women’s Association, as part of the process of closing their books, transferred stewardship of their scholarship fund to RAPS. Two scholarships have been awarded for the 2020-21 academic year. One scholarship was awarded to Vivian Vuong, a transfer student from California who started at Portland State this fall as a junior. She is majoring in criminology and criminal justice, and hopes to work in the field as a criminal statistician/analyst. In a thank-you letter, she wrote, “It is meaningful to me as a recipient of the PSU Women’s Association Scholarship, especially as a first-generation female college student. It’s empowering to have such amazing support.” A second scholarship was awarded to Vicki Franklin, a senior majoring in indigenous nations studies. She is a domestic violence survivor and a single parent, and has struggled for many years to complete her education. She has been a foster parent and has raised several children with disabilities. Her goal is to advocate for the needs and rights of tribal foster children and families. Franklin’s spouse was diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition last spring, and the resulting medical costs again threatened to disrupt her education. The scholarship will enable her to stay in school. She writes, “Words cannot adequately express my gratitude. . . To know that someone I have never met supports and believes in me enough to award a scholarship to me strengthens my confidence, courage, and commitment to complete my education.”
3 The RAPS Sheet December 2020 RAPSter Scott Burns named Sigma Xi fellow RAPS MEMBER AND LONGTIME Portland State professor Scott Burns was named last August to the inaugural cohort of Sigma Xi Fellows. The cohort of 20 fellows was recognized during the society’s annual meeting in November. “I was humbled by this,” Burns said in an email. “Two other (Sigma Xi) members nominated me without me knowing it!” Sigma Xi was founded in 1886 at Cornell University to honor excellence in scientific investigation and encourage “a sense of companionship and cooperation among researchers in all fields of science and engineering.” The society has nearly 25,000 members in more than 500 chapters throughout the world. More than 200 Sigma Xi members have been recipients of the Nobel Prize. Sigma Xi cited Burns “for distinguished contributions to geology, soil science, terroir and wines, Sigma Xi, community organizations, teaching, mentoring, lifelong learning, and colleagues worldwide.” Burns said he has been on the board of the local Sigma Xi chapter for 30 years. “We have a very dynamic chapter,” he said. “It started out being just PSU, but it has expanded to the whole Portland area and has representatives on the board from OHSU and the University of Portland.” Called the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi, it encourages students to apply for grants-in-aid for research, offers science fairs for undergraduate and graduate students, and sponsors an outstanding researcher award program to give positive feedback to faculty at both PSU and other schools.“We are a real team and I love being a part of it!” Burns said. An emeritus professor of geology, Burns has taught at Portland State for the past 30 years of his 50-year career. He was recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Portland State Alumni Association in 2001 and the George Hoffmann Award in 2007. He is the author of more than 100 publications and has had over 25 research grants. Among his books is Cataclysms on the Columbia: The Great Missoula Floods (2009). Burns is the recipient of the Distinguished Practice Award in engineering geology from the Geological Society of America in 2012 and was recognized as the Outstanding Scientist for Oregon in 2014. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. JANUARY Thursday, January 21 Political science professor Christopher Shortell discusses the outcome of the 2020 national presidential election. FEBRUARY Thursday, February 18 Tom Potiowsky, retired economics professor and former economist for the state of Oregon, brings RAPSters up to date on the state’s economy. MARCH Thursday, March 18 Christine Meadows, PSU Opera Program director, and Chuck Dillard, assistant professor of music and theater, give a virtual presentation showing the results of a project begun in fall 2020: two productions of Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act opera, The Old Maid and the Thief. One production features an all-male cast, the other all-female. APRIL Friday, April 23 The President’s Annual Luncheon for Retired Staff and Faculty, hosted by PSU president Steve Percy, is scheduled to be held in the PSU Ballroom. This meeting will be converted to a Zoom event if the pandemic prevents an in-person gathering. MAY Thursday, May 20 Maryhelen Kincaid, project leader, gives a presentation on “The Vanport Placemarking Project: Remembering and Honoring Vanport’s Significant Cultural History.” The May meeting traditionally ends with an ice cream social, but this may be deferred in 2021. Upcoming RAPS events
4 The RAPS Sheet December 2020 RAPS Group Reports Book Group THE RAPS BOOK GROUP met on November 17 to discuss The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, a book we all liked very much. The characters in the book are beautifully developed and draw the reader into their lives—lives of material poverty and spiritual richness. The boundary between the living and the dead seemed permeable; animals spoke. We noted that the book, set in the 1950s, reflected a much more simple time, with which we were comfortable. In December we are meeting on the 15th and will discuss Leadership In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Examining the lives of four presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, the author examines the development of their leadership abilities as they confronted the issues of their day. We are looking forward to a good discussion. Book Group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month, traditionally in the homes of various members. Currently we are using Zoom for our meetings and becoming more comfortable with that format. Any RAPS member is welcome to join the group. —Joan Shireman Bridge and Hiking Groups BRIDGE GROUP AND HIKING GROUP activities have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. RAPS Scholarship recipient plans career in medical field INGRID HANNAN, a student in the School of Social Work who will graduate next spring, is the recipient of the RAPS Scholarship for the 2020-2021 academic year. Her first year fieldwork was working with isolated older adults; this year she is has a placement at OHSU working with stroke patients. She plans to work in the medical field after graduation. In a lovely thank-you letter to RAPS, Ingrid expressed her appreciation for the help provided by the scholarship. Writing of her work with isolated elders, she observed, “It was such a powerful opportunity to connect with members of our community who are often rendered invisible, and a reminder of the deep need for the work to take care of our elders. I learned a lot from them.” She concluded her letter: “Again, I am deeply appreciative to be the recipient of this scholarship. It is an honor, and this support is profoundly encouraging as I work toward my goal of a master’s degree, with the ultimate aim of serving our community. My heartfelt thanks!” —Joan Shireman HOLIDAY GATHERING 2017—Nordia House in southwest Portland was the site of the RAPS Holiday Gathering in 2017, back when you could stand within six feet of somebody, sans mask, and have a pleasant conversation. This year’s edition will be December 10 via Zoom, and you won’t have to leave your home to attend. Story on page 1. Leona Campbell Photography Larry Sawyer photo
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