FRIDAY, MAY 8, is the deadline for RAPS members to vote in the Board election. An email containing a link to the ballot was sent to RAPS members on April 19. Previous elections have employed paper ballots that were filled out and mailed back to campus. Not so this year. The 2020 election is being conducted solely by email, a move dictated by the coronavirus pandemic and the shuttering of the Portland State campus. With the RAPS office closed, Emily Caparelli, the office manager, cannot collect “snail” mail. Eileen Brennan, professor emeritus of social work, created the online ballot by using survey software, hosted on a Squire, Sluys running for Board in RAPS’ first ‘email’ election Pat Squire 5 The RAPS Sheet May 2020 secure PSU web page. The email itself contains statements by the candidates and directions for voting. A link at the bottom of the email takes voters to the ballot. The two candidates for the board are Pat Squire and Pati Sluys. Squire, who is running for co-president, is the former executive director of the PSU Alumni Association. Her career at Portland State spanned 25 years. Sluys retired as the finance officer for the Graduate School of Education in 2015 after serving the University for more than 36 years. She is running for member-at-large. THE RAPS SHEET is going on hiatus for a few weeks. In the next issue, which is scheduled to be emailed in late July, we hope to announce fall programs, activities, and get-togethers. Of course, the fate of those events, as so much else, hangs on the success of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. So do your part and play it safe. And keep your fingers crossed. In other news, the pandemic is affecting how we deliver the RAPS Sheet. Some RAPS members receive the newsletter by U.S. Mail rather than email. Unfortunately, those members did not receive the April issue and will not receive the May issue, because those issues were not printed and mailed. They were sent only via email. Here’s why: the Portland State campus is closed— except for some services deemed essential—which means the RAPS office is closed, and our office manager, like the rest of us, is stuck at home and cannot mail the RAPS Sheet to those who requested that service. So if you’re longing for your ink-on-paper RAPS Sheet, or know someone who is, we apologize. We hope to resume the mail service once the Portland State campus re-opens. In the meantime, stay healthy and have a great summer! —Doug Swanson A note from your fearless editor Pati Sluys IF SHELTERING IN PLACE has got you down and you’re tired of doing yoga and experimenting with new recipes, here’s some good news: three more Scott Burns talks are scheduled to be available via Zoom in the coming weeks. Although the Zoom logins are not yet available, you can email Burns at burnss@pdx.edu about a week before the talk for the login information. “Dynamic National Parks of the Pacific Northwest” Stanford Alumni of Portland Friday, May 15, 4 p.m. On Zoom “The Dynamic Geology, Glaciers, and Environmental Problems of Antarctica” Oregon Association of Environmental Professionals Thursday, May 21, Noon On Zoom “The Dynamic Geology of Iceland” Geological Society of the Oregon Country Friday, June 12, 7 p.m. This lecture will likely be on Zoom “Earthquakes in Oregon: Are We Ready for the Big One?” Clackamas Rotary Thursday, June 25, Noon On Zoom More Scott Burns talks on the docket in coming weeks
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