RAPS KICKS OFF the 2022-23 programming year Thursday, September 15, with a guided tour of Portland State’s newest structure, the Vanport Building, located at 1810 SW 5th Avenue. The structure is a seven-story partnership between PSU, the city of Portland, Portland Community College, and Oregon Health & Science University. The building is home to Portland State’s College of Education and the PSU/OHSU School of Public Health as well as the city of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and PCC’s Dental Services Program. The Vanport Building was designed collaboratively between the four owners to better connect workforce development, educational and economic opportunity, as well as providing public services. In addition to its academic, research, and civic facilities, it also features a dental clinic and mental health services for the general public. The guided tour will be led by Kevin Johnson, on-site property manager and 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 Eben Yemoh Telephone: 503-725-3447 Email: rapsmail@pdx.edu In office: TBA Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Board Members Co-Presidents Janine Allen Bruce Stern Secretary Brian Lewis Treasurer Ansel Johnson Members-at-Large Kris Kern Cheryl Livneh Michael Taylor 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 Pati Sluys, Chair Program Pat Squire & Dawn White, Co-Chairs Scholarship Joan Shireman, Chair Social Nancy Eriksson, Chair The RAPS Sheet The newsletter of the Retirement Association of Portland State SEPTEMBER 2022 senior real estate manager at CBRE, a commercial real estate and space leasing business. Originally from Seattle, Johnson has worked in the real estate industry for almost 40 years, 23 of those with CBRE. His family lived in Vanport in the 1940s and was there when the Vanport flood occurred. The tour of the Vanport Building begins at 2 p.m. and will focus on the parts of the building used by Portland State. Kevin Johnson, whose family survived the Vanport Flood of 1948, is the site property manager of the Vanport Building and will lead the RAPS tour on September 15. RAPS opens year with tour of Vanport Building, newest addition to PSU campus SAVE THE DATE: President’s Reception set for Friday, October 7 PRESIDENT STEVE PERCY is hosting a reception for RAPS at the Simon Benson House on Friday, October 7. The exact time for the event is not confirmed. Details to come in the October RAPS Sheet.
2 RAPS SHEET n SEPTEMBER 2022 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Thoughts about fall, new board members, and a thank you FALL IS DEFINITELY my favorite season. School is beginning and kids and adults are back to learning, the weather is pleasant but not too warm, and the leaves are turning beautiful colors. Here are a few facts about fall that you might not know. n In the U.S. we typically refer to the season as fall. In the U.K. it is typically referred to as autumn. n The origin of the term autumn is derived from the ancient Etruscan root “autu,” which means changing of the seasons. n People born in fall have a higher likelihood of living to 100 than those born in other seasons. n NASA refers to fall as “aurora season” because geomagnetic storms are twice as frequent as in any other season of the year. n In the fall both men’s and women’s testosterone levels are at their peak. n Heart attacks and auto accidents plummet after daylight savings ends. It was good to see so many of you at our summer picnic. Our first program of the new school year will take place on September 15, when we will have a private guided tour of the Vanport Building by Kevin Johnson, who is the on-site property manager. In the fall we also welcome our new board members. Kris Kern joins the board as an at-large member and Janine Allen joins us as co-president. I would like to end my column with a huge thank you to Pat Squire, who served as our co-president for two years. Pat was an absolute joy to work with. We were in constant communication and worked well as a team. Pat was the “lead” co-president, teaching me the current ropes about RAPS and PSU. Not to worry, though. Pat will be remaining active in RAPS, joining Dawn White on developing our programming for this coming year. I hope you all had a nice summer. I look forward to seeing you in person or on Zoom for our programs this year. —Bruce Stern Larry Sawyer (top photo) received the RAPS Special Recognition Award and Laureen Nussbaum the Outstanding Retiree Award on August 18 at the RAPS Summer Picnic. LONGTIME RAPS MEMBERS Laureen Nussbaum and Larry Sawyer were honored with awards at the RAPS Summer Picnic on August 18. Nussbaum, professor emerita of German, received the Outstanding Retiree Award, and Sawyer, for years a fixture in the University’s Information Technology Office, was recognized with RAPS’s Special Recognition Award. Also receiving Outstanding Retiree Awards were Claudine Fisher, professor emerita of French, and Julie Rosenzweig, professor emerita of social work. Neither was able to attend the picnic, and their awards will be presented at a later date. Nussbaum, Fisher, and Rosenzweig’s citations recognized their service to Portland State, education, and their professional accomplishments and service to the community. Sawyer’s citation recognized his many years of service to RAPS and to PSU, as well as to the wider community. RAPS recognizes four members
3 RAPS SHEET n SEPTEMBER 2022 RAPS Group Reports Book Group THE BOOK GROUP met on August 16 and discussed The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams. The format of the book is a conversation between the two authors, and we thought that worked well as a means of emphasizing important points. We were intrigued by the four sources of hope that were identified: the amazing human intellect, the resilience of nature, the power of young people, and the amazing human spirit. Each reason was, of course, illustrated with fascinating examples. In September we plan to read The Last Bookshop in London, by Madeline Martin. Set in 1939 in London, it is a novel that celebrates the power of books to hold a community together. Full of discussions of literature, it should be interesting to discuss. The book we selected for October is The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. Described as “a blockbuster adventure narrative,” it sounds as though it will be fun to read. The Book Group meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. Traditionally we have met in the homes of various members; currently we are using Zoom for our discussions and plan to continue in this way for a time. All RAPS members are welcome to join the group. —Joan Shireman Bridge Group THE GROUP HAS BEEN meeting on the first Tuesday of the month. We are searching for new players. Please see if any of your recently retired co-workers are bridge players. Our group would welcome them. If you have questions please contact Steve Brennan, 503889-0146. My email address is: the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. —Steve Brennan Hiking Group ON AUGUST 23 four people hiked the Warrior Point trail on Sauvie Island. There were lots of blackberries ripe for picking (and eating), some mosquitos to swat, and a cool little bay at the point for a quick dip. The September 27 hike is scheduled to be in Canby along the logging trail and through the dahlia farm, but it will be confirmed in a notice to the email list participants. If you wish to get onto the email list, please contact me at tgdieterich@earthlink.net. —Tom Dieterich Cilla Murray photograph Two members of the RAPS Hiking Group, Mary Lane Stevens and Tom Dieterich, take a cool summer dip during the Warrior Point hike on Sauvie Island on August 23. The group’s next hike is scheduled for September 27.
4 RAPS SHEET n SEPTEMBER 2022 Upcoming RAPS events. OCTOBER Thursday, October 20 “The Inside Story on Who First Planted Pinot Noir in Oregon. It Might Not Be Who You Think,” a presentation by Michael Alberty, wine writer for The Oregonian. To be held in Smith Memorial Student Union. NOVEMBER Thursday, November 17 A presentation by Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and general manager of Kristof Family Farms in Yamhill, Oregon, on the challenges facing Oregon and his vision for addressing them. In-person or Zoom to be determined. DECEMBER Thursday, December 8 Annual Holiday Party, Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland. MARY HALL KOGEN, a professor of music who served Portland State for 26 years, died at her home on June 5 at age 78. Professor Kogen was born January 28, 1944, in Rochester, Minnesota, to Elizabeth Cargill and Byron E. Hall. She graduated in 1966 with a bachelor of music and in 1968 with a master of music from Northwestern University, where she studied under Guy Duckworth, a pioneer of group piano pedagogy. She was an adjunct professor of piano and pedagogy at Eastern Illinois University before joining the Portland State faculty in 1979. In an article by Valerie Brown in the fall 1995 edition of PSU Magazine, Professor Kogen described how her dream of a performance career ended before it began. “I was best at my high school but at Northwestern I was the worst,” she said, a realization that convinced her that a career in piano performance wasn’t possible. According to the article, “Kogen’s profound disappointment turned into anger at ‘the system.’ “‘I was cutting class, acting out,’ (Kogen) says. Finally, one of her professors, Dr. Guy Duckworth, took her aside and asked her what was going on. ‘I let him have it,’ Kogen says, about all the things that were wrong with the university and the country. But to Kogen’s surprise, Duckworth said he was grateful for her honesty and offered to make a deal with In memoriam: Mary Hall Kogen, 1944-2022 her. She had to agree to attend his classes, but would be free to challenge him every time she thought he was wrong. This arrangement worked out so well that the next year Kogan became his assistant.” It was Duckworth who told her she could be a gifted teacher. She earned a master’s in music education and incorporated Duckworth’s methods into her own teaching. After her stint at Eastern Illinois, where Professor Kogen won the outstanding faculty award, she moved to Portland State. In the PSU Magazine article, she described her interview at PSU. “Kogen was asked to play the piano. ‘I said, “No. If you want a performer, don’t hire me. Why hire me? Because I will establish the finest pedagogy program on the West Coast.”’ Instead of performing, Kogen taught a sample lesson for the hiring committee to observe. She got the job.” The PSU piano pedagogy program had six students in 1980; by 1995 it had 30, and 50 students had completed the master’s program. Professor Kogen also created a youth summer camp through Self Enhancement Incorporated. It ran for 10 years, teaching rhythm, melody, ensemble singing and playing, and performance to at-risk inner-city children. In retirement she taught classes and held workshops on both piano pedagogy and TaKeTiNa, an experimental rhythm system, at schools, universities, and conferences, as well as at her Portland studio. It was a retirement that Professor Kogen predicted in the PSU Magazine article: “In old age, she says, ‘I’m going to buy a house in northeast Portland and give free lessons. Be a funky old lady.’” Professor Kogen was a member of the Oregon Music Teachers Association and was a recipient of the Nellie Tholen Excellence in Teaching award in 2020. She also wrote two children’s books and, for her granddaughter, recorded a musical CD entitled Grandmere Sings for Elli. When she wasn’t teaching, Professor Kogen enjoyed travel, gardening, and cooking, as well as collecting frogs and wind chimes. Professor Kogen is survived by her partner, Harold Gray, of Portland; her daughters, Leah Kogen Busam, of Denver, and Amy Kogen Ellis, of Salem; her granddaughter, Elli Busam; and her brothers, Robert C. Hall and Byron E. Hall, Jr. Remembrances in Professor Kogen’s memory may be made to the Mary Hall Kogen Coordinate Movement Endowed Scholarship, which facilitates classes and events focused on health and well-being for musicians, at the Portland State University Foundation, www.giving.psuf.org.
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