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 FOR MANY YEARS the March RAPS member program has featured Christine Meadows, director of PSU’s Opera Program, and her students offering highlights of the upcoming spring opera production. Last year’s March program was the first one to be canceled as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly gathered steam. No surprise: the spring production of Merry Wives of Windsor was also canceled. So how does the Opera Program go on with the show? Virtually, of course. Beginning last fall the Opera Program began collaborating with Queer Opera Experience on two versions of Gian Carlo Menotti’s (1911-2007) one-act opera buffa, The Old Maid and the Thief. One version features an all-male cast, the other all-female. The plan called for each performer to be individually videotaped, with the tapes edited and put together in a final production airing sometime this spring. What does that mean for RAPS? The tradition continues. The March member meeting, beginning at noon on Thursday, March 18, will feature Meadows and Chuck Dillard, the Opera Program’s music director, describing the collaborative effort between the Opera Program and Queer Opera Experience and showing clips from the productions. Their presentation will be offered via the videoconferencing platform Zoom. Meadows has served as director of opera and vocal area coordinator in the PSU School of Music and Theater since 2006. She received her undergraduate training at PSU and earned a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Indiana University. She pursued a successful career as a concert and opera soloist before returning to PSU as a faculty member. In 2017 she was named the Vollum Professor of Voice. Dillard joined the PSU Music and Theater faculty in 2016 as assistant professor of collaborative piano. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Music degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2017 Dillard founded MARCH 18 GENERAL MEETING Opera in the time of Covid-19 The RAPS Sheet The newsletter of the Retirement Association of Portland State MARCH 2021 Christine Meadows Chuck Dillard Gian Carlo Menotti continued on page 3
2 The RAPS Sheet March 2021 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Your support is vital to RAPS check with Samantha McKinlay, our very capable office manager, at rapsmail@pdx.edu. If our records don’t show your expiration date and if you’re not sure when your membership expired, may we ask you to simply start your membership anew from this point? Here are our dues levels: l One year membership: $20 l Three years: $45 l Ten years: $120 l Lifetime: $200 Please clip the payment coupon below, fill it out, and enclose it with your payment. Make your check payable to the PSU Foundation and be sure to write “RAPS dues” on the memo line of your check. Samantha is working from home, but she goes to the office once a week to pick up and respond to mail. She will record your dues and forward your payment to the Foundation. We always appreciate your support, and we are hoping you will continue to enjoy the RAPS Sheet and participate in our outstanding Zoom programs. Let’s hope we will be able to meet in person this summer! Thank you! —Pat Squire Co-President Membership Chair WE ARE WELL INTO an unusual year. There are so many things to think about and some to be thankful for. We hope RAPS is one of the things you appreciate during these pandemic times. RAPS has continued to play an important role by providing interesting programs via Zoom for the benefit of our retired faculty and staff. Our history preservation group is initiating new projects and working on Portland State’s 75th anniversary this year, and our Book Group continues to meet via Zoom. As the new Membership chair, I delayed asking for dues. Last fall, with the pandemic spiking and stress and anxiety spiking along with it, I couldn’t bring myself to say to our membership, “Don’t forget to write a check to RAPS for your annual dues!” It just didn’t seem right. That being said, this week I paid my dues. Although this program year is almost over (March, April, and May meetings to come, and a possible August picnic), I am asking you to pay dues to RAPS. Dues support many things RAPS couldn’t afford to do otherwise, including our informative and fun meetings. Paying dues also demonstrates your support and continued commitment to Portland State, which is important now more than ever. If you’re not sure of your membership status, please Please check one: q $200 Lifetime Membership q $120 Ten years q $45 Three years q $20 One year Enclosed is my dues payment of $ ________ for membership in RAPS. Please make your check payable to: PSU Foundation and write “RAPS dues” on the memo line. Mail to: RAPS, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland OR 97207-0751. Name ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________________________ State____ Zip__________________________________ Telephone number ________________________________________ Email ____________________________________________________________ Thank you for supporting RAPS! RAPS Retirement Association of Portland State DUES PAYMENT COUPON March 2021/RAPS Sheet
3 The RAPS Sheet March 2021 APRIL Friday, April 23 The Annual President’s Luncheon for Staff and Faculty has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, President Steve Percy will still be on hand — via Zoom — to update RAPS members on the University’s achievements and continuing challenges. Note: date subject to change. Upcoming RAPS events RAPS Group Reports Book Group APPARENTLY EVEN a Zoom meeting can be canceled by the weather. The RAPS Book Group did not meet at its scheduled time in February. Snow and ice interrupted electricity and/or internet connections for many members, so we postponed the meeting for a week. Hoping that all connections would be restored, we rescheduled the meeting for Tuesday, February 23, at 1:30 p.m., to discuss Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Our March meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. on March 23 via Zoom, and we will discuss The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. Scientists identify five extinctions in the past. The cause of these extinctions has been debated—were they slow extinctions or triggered by catastrophe? These arguments are examined, though the focus of the book is the sixth extinction, which is occurring now— “now” in geologic terms being a fairly long time span; the mastodon is part of this extinction. The book is fascinating and we expect an interesting discussion. Queer Opera Experience, housed at PSU, and serves as its director. According to its website, Queer Opera is “dedicated to providing a safe stage for LGBTQIA+ singers and allies to tell queer stories through the traditional genre of opera.” RAPS will provide the link to join the March 18 meeting several days in advance of the event. The presentation by Meadows and Dillard will begin a few minutes after noon. Opera presentation . . . From page 1 The RAPS Book Group meets the third Tuesday of each month, traditionally in the homes of various members. Currently we are using Zoom for our meetings. 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. MAY Thursday, May 20 The annual ice cream social has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the scheduled meeting will occur via Zoom, with Maryhelen Kincaid, project leader, presenting “The Vanport Placemarking Project: Remembering and Honoring Vanport’s Significant Cultural History.”
4 The RAPS Sheet March 2021 MOST ACADEMIC UNITS at Portland State are pretty stable. Programs may transition, names may change, schools may become colleges, centers may develop, units may close and be subsumed under other units, but most continue to exist in some form. With some exceptions, at PSU much of what was previously offered under the banners of DCE/SES has been absorbed into departmental credit offerings. We don’t want all of the students DCE/SES served, the programs it offered, and the innovations it supported to be forgotten, so let’s see what you remember: 1. What and when were the origins of PSU’s DCE? a. 1932, when the state began offering remedial education b. 1965, when it started offering a summer Head Start program c. 1969, when PSU transitioned to offering its own Summer Session d. 1971, when PSU began offering evening classes e. 1973, when Bob Nicholas was named Dean of DCE 2. What services did the State Technical Assistance and Training Office/Early Childhood Training Center provide? a. Offering summer Head Start sessions b. Evaluation of Head Start programs c. Training on serving students with different abilities d. Consulting with and training Head Start program staff e. All of the above. 3. Who was the first dean of DCE/SES? a. Sherwin Davidson b. Robert Nicholas c. Michael Burton d. Mike Stockstill e. Dona Beattie 4. Which programs were, at some point, part of DCE/SES? a. Correspondence Study b. Degree completion/Extended Campus c. Northwest Equals d. Math Learning Center e. All of the above 5. In partnership with DCE/SES, The School of Business and The School of Social Work were the first PSU Schools to offer: a. Audio-only classes distributed to sites state-wide b. Master’s programs at multiple sites statewide with a mix of on-site, in-person and technology-supported instruction c. A YouTube channel featuring non-credit instruction d. Saturday only classes e. Evening only classes 6. The Professional Development Center/Center for Executive and Professional Education offered which of the following programs: a. Human Resource Management b. Business of Craft Brewing c. Project Management d. Change Management e. All of the above 7. Was DCE/SES always a self-support program? a. Yes b. No 8. A significant and popular feature of Continuing Education in the School of Education was: a. Its work with schools to deliver what teachers said they needed b. Widely varying formats and times to accommodate teachers’ schedules c. Credits that assisted with continuing education and licensure requirements d. School of Education faculty offering time-intensive workshops in their areas of expertise e. All of the above 9. In which year did the PSU Faculty Senate officially designate DCE as a division within the Faculty Senate? a. 1972 b. 1978 c. 1982 d. 1989 e. None of the above 10.The Haystack Program: a. Originated as agricultural continuing education at OSU b. Was offered year-round for credit on-campus c. Was a summer program in the arts offered at Cannon Beach d. Featured only summer writing workshops e. Showcased only PSU tenured and tenure-track faculty For answers to these questions and much more in-depth information about DCE/SES, go to https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/rememberpsu_essays/5/ PORTLAND STATE CELEBRATES ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBERING THE . . . Division of Continuing Education (DCE) / School of Extended Studies (SES)
5 The RAPS Sheet March 2021 This year, your RAPS Scholarship gift means more! RAPS Scholarship Donation Form N a m e __________________________________________________________________________ A d d r e s s ______________________________________________________________________ C i t y __________________________________________________________________________ State ________ Zip __________________________________ P h o n e __________________________________________________________________________ Email __________________________________________ Donation amount: q $500 q $250 q $100 q $50 Other: ____ Donation made in memory of: ______________________________________ Donation made in honor of: ______________________________________ Make checks payable to: PSU Foundation and noted for RAPS Scholarship Please mail to: RAPS, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751 To use a credit card, go to the PSU Foundation website: https://www.psuf.org Since 2011-12 RAPS has awarded a scholarship every year to a student whose interest is focused on some aspect of gerontology. This year’s recipient is Ingrid Hannan; you met her in the December RAPS Sheet. As the chair of the Scholarship Committee, I introduced myself via email, and in her reply she wrote, “Thanks for reaching out to me! It makes a world of difference to know there are real humans out there when sometimes academia can feel impersonal.” And it must indeed feel impersonal this year, with most classes taught remotely, campus activities non-existent. The RAPS Scholarship is more than financial help. It is a vote of confidence in the ability of the recipient to succeed. In a year when personal relationships are difficult to establish, this aspect of the scholarship may be particularly important. This year is also different for the funding of the RAPS Scholarship. Many of the ways in which we raised money in past year are no longer possible. No in-person activities means no door prizes, no holiday bake sale. And no travel means no income from Collette Tours. More than ever we need your help to continue to offer this scholarship. Please consider a sustaining gift to help us “stay in business.” —Joan Shireman
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz