4 The RAPS Sheet March 2022 RAPS: From campus retired faculty club to nationally relevant retirement organization In the early 1960s, senior faculty at Portland State began to meet informally as the Professors Club. Over time, as many retired, a formal organization was founded and adopted the name Emeritus and Retired Faculty of Portland State (ERFOPS). In 1985 the association’s name shifted to Retired & Emeritus Professors of Portland State (REPPS). When retired Portland State staff members were invited to join the organization in 2001, the name was subsequently changed to the Retirement Association of Portland State (RAPS). In formal agreements between RAPS and the PSU Office of Academic Affairs, which provides financial and organizational support, the stated common goal was to have RAPS members continue their involvement with Portland State. In recent decades, RAPS has provided opportunities for hundreds of retired PSU faculty and staff to engage in educational and social activities tailored to their interests and needs, receive timely communications from the University, and maintain professional contacts. In order to track recent developments and better serve members, in 2010 RAPS joined the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE), a national organization that supports the development and enhancement of campus-based retirement organizations. Over the years RAPS members have attended national and regional conferences of AROHE to learn about promising new initiatives to serve retirees. After the 2020 pandemic posed new challenges to retirees, AROHE invited RAPS to present the innovative practices that have helped Portland State RAPS members thrive despite changing and challenging circumstances. Together with presenters from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Retirement Association (UWRA), RAPS members Larry Sawyer, Dawn White, and Eileen Brennan participated in a national AROHE Member Spotlight Webinar on January 27, 2021, that featured their presentation on RAPS programming and the ways the organization pivoted to better serve retirees. The audience included representatives of 55 university retirement associations, who participated in lively breakout sessions that discussed the innovative approaches presented and exchanged the solutions that they had tried as well. PAST TENSE: Looking back at PSU’s early history C. WILLIAM SAVERY, who served Portland State for more than 20 years as a professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, died January 14 at the age of 87. Professor Savery was born on January 3, 1935, in White Plains, New York, to Clyde W. Savery and Jean Fisher. His father died in 1939, and he moved with his mother and younger brother, John, to Hinsdale, a western suburb of Chicago. In 1942 his mother married Ralph McClelland, who brought his son, Bob, into the family. Professor Savery attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps student, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1957. While still in the Navy, Professor Savery met his future wife, Meredith, at a San Diego beach party. They were married in July 1958. After discharge from the Navy later that year, he entered the University of Washington to pursue a master’s in nuclear engineering, and after graduation joined General Atomics in La Jolla, California. By 1966 Professor Savery had decided on a career in In memoriam: C. William Savery, 1935-2022 higher education and moved his family to Madison, Wisconsin, to pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He joined Drexel University in Philadelphia after completing his doctorate in 1969. His research interest was the use of solar power for residential heating, and energy conservation and environmental issues remained interests for the rest of his life. In 1980 he joined Portland State as professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He retired in 2001 as professor emeritus. Professor Savery is survived by his wife, Meredith; his daughter, Caitlin Szieff (Bill), of Los Angeles; his son, Ben, of Portland; three grandsons, Julian and John Szieff and Clyde Savery; and his stepbrother, Bob McClelland, of Flagstaff, Arizona. Professor Savery’s death was preceded by that of his parents and younger brother, John. Remembrances may be sent to an environmental organization of the donor’s choice or to the Savery Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering, Portland State University Foundation, PO Box 243, Portland, OR 97207-0243. An online guestbook is at www.oregonlive.com/obits.
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