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 Office hours: Remote: 10 am-2 pm Mon, Wed & Thurs. In office: noon- 4 pm Tues, 10 am-2 pm Friday Campus mail: RAPS Web: psu-raps.org 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 Steve Brennan 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 Sherwin Davidson, Chair Social Nancy Eriksson, Chair The RAPS Sheet The newsletter of the Retirement Association of Portland State MARCH 2023 THE MARCH 16 member meeting is in two parts, starting with a potluck and ending with a presentation by Kelley Nassief, director of PSU’s Opera Program, and performances of arias from the upcoming spring opera by students in the program. And the opera? It’s The Magic Flute— one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most well-known and best-loved operas. RAPS members will enjoy a preview of the opera, with opportunities to see the full production in April. An opera in two acts with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, The Magic Flute is in the form of a “singspiel,” which includes both singing and spoken dialogue. Often referred to as “Mozart’s musical fairy tale,” the opera premiered in Vienna on September 30, 1791, just two months before Mozart’s premature death at the age of 35. A PSU alum, soprano Kelley Nassief joined the PSU faculty in September 2022 as assistant professor and director of PSU’s Opera Program. Her professional career has taken her all over the world. She has performed lead roles as an opera singer, including Mimi in La Boheme and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and appeared on the symphonic stage as a concert and recital artist with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic to the Berlin Konzerthaus. A teacher for more than 25 years, Nassief is a vocal pedagogue featured in master classes and clinics throughout the United States. Before joining the PSU faculty, she was a professor of music at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in music from Portland State University and a master’s degree in vocal pedagogy from Westminster Choir College. The potluck begins at noon on Thursday, March 16, in 294 Smith Memorial Student Union. At 12:45 p.m. the group will walk to 225 Lincoln Hall to join Nassief and her students for the 1 p.m. presentation. For more information about the potluck, please see page 2. RAPS gets preview of Opera Program’s spring production, ‘The Magic Flute’ Kelley Nassief, Opera Program director
2 RAPS SHEET n MARCH 2023 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Pavarotti does have a way of spurring interest in opera MUSIC HAS ALWAYS been a part of my life. My mother was a concert violinist and was invited to join the Portland Symphony (now the Oregon Symphony), but she quickly realized she could not effectively balance being a professional violinist, housewife, and mother—so she chose the latter. I tried my hand at playing violin and clarinet without a lot of success. Still, I enjoy a wide range of music ranging from Beethoven and the Beatles to Mendelssohn and the Moody Blues to Sinatra, Stravinsky, and Springsteen. One of the newer forms, rap, however, does not excite me. I have always referred to this genre as having a silent “c” in front of it. I was not a great fan of opera until I saw Luciano Pavarotti perform live. Since then I have become much more interested. Our March 16 RAPS program will be in person beginning at noon in SMSU 294 with a potluck lunch. Then at 12:45 we’ll wander to 225 Lincoln Hall for our program. Kelley Nassief, PSU’s Opera Program director, will provide background and our opera students will sing excerpts from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which premiered in Vienna in 1791. Please consider bringing a colleague who might be interested in what has been one of RAPS’ favorite annual programs. In the meantime, I wish you all health and happiness. —Bruce Stern You’re invited! 2023 RAPS Potluck and Opera Preview Noon Thursday, March 16 294 Smith Memorial Student Union You are invited to RAPS’s always delightful annual event, Potluck and Opera. Main dishes and beverages will be provided. Please bring a salad or dessert to share. (If you are not comfortable with potluck, feel free to bring your own lunch.) At 12:45 p.m. we will make our way to 225 Lincoln Hall, where Kelley Nassief, PSU Opera Program director, will present an outstanding troupe of opera students performing excerpts from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Questions? Please contact Nancy Eriksson. Email nan254@hotmail.com or phone 503913-7200.
3 RAPS SHEET n MARCH 2023 RAPS Group Reports Book Group THE BOOK GROUP met on February 21 and discussed Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree. This is the story of a woman employed by the Forest Service who became interested in the interconnectedness of the trees and other plants in the forest. Part memoir, part scientific treatise, she recounts her career path and the discoveries she makes. A central concept is that of the “Mother Tree,” an older tree at the center of the vast communication network of trees and plants in the forest. The Mother Tree nurtures her offspring as well as young trees of other species. Thus a community is created. In an era when trees are destroyed for the wood products our civilization demands, and in which we are only beginning to understand that the forest is not limitless, these discoveries raise important issues about forest management. The protagonist engages with these forest management questions, first as an employee of the Forest Service, then as a scientist with a growing reputation. She decides on a career in academia, marries and has children, and details the workload issues of a complex life. The Book Group focused to a considerable extent on the disadvantages of being a woman and being effective in promoting a new way of thinking about forest management. We liked the book very much, and thought ourselves enriched with new learning and challenged by the ideas of the similarity of communities, whether they be plants or humans. In March the Book Group is going to read Eminent Oregonians: Three Who Matter by Steven Forester, Jane Kilpatrick, and R. Gregory Nokes. The book presents short biographies of Abigail Scott Duniway, Richard Neuberger, and Jesse Applegate. The Book Group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 1:30 p.m. Currently we are meeting via Zoom. All RAPS members are welcome to join the group. —Joan Shireman Bridge Group THE BRIDGE GROUP has begun playing in person, after a long pandemic hiatus. We need additional players; do you want to join us? We really could use some more players, and we promise not to bite any new players. We need to establish a suitable time to meet. Which days and weeks work best for your schedule? I would like to hear from any interested RAPS members, or others you know who might want to play in our group. The Bridge Group does not require RAPS membership. Your friends and relatives would be welcome to join us. Please rattle your social and family networks to see if you might be able to shake loose a bridge player or two. Please contact Steve Brennan, 503-889-0146. My email address is: the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. —Steve Brennan Hiking Group FIVE PEOPLE FOLLOWED the Laura Foster Portland Hill Walks hike, Willamette Heights to Balch Creek Canyon Loop, on February 8. This is a local hike through neighborhoods and forest, with lots of ups and downs to stretch different leg muscles. It didn’t rain and was warm enough that we ate lunch outside at the NW Thurman Street foodcarts. The March hike, scheduled for March 15, will be in Oregon City. To be included in the email list, please email tgdieterich@earthlink.net. —Tom Dieterich Mary Lane Stevens, Tom Hard, Pati Sluys, and Tom Dieterich pause, very likely near Leif Erikson Drive, while on a Laura Foster Portland Hill Walks hike in Northwest Portland in February. Cilla Murray photograph
4 RAPS SHEET n MARCH 2023 PAST TENSE: Looking back at PSU’s early history Fostering mentoring— PSU and community partnerships As a child growing up in poverty, Duncan Campbell experienced a very difficult life and reached out for support beyond his parents as he worked to graduate from high school, complete a college degree, and become a CPA and a lawyer. After founding a successful firm fostering timber investment funds, he decided to focus his efforts on improving the situation of children facing the greatest adversities, who needed guidance to navigate their complicated lives and grow into caring and responsible young adults. Local systems and agencies that provided child services were largely functioning to handle crises, and rarely were able to provide long-term assistance so that children avoided dropping out of school, having early pregnancies, and experiencing trouble with the law. Instead, Campbell consulted with child development specialists, educators, social workers, and psychologists to conceive a highly innovative approach: to identify the children facing the greatest obstacles at an early age (kindergarten), to provide them with a paid, professional mentor (who would see them four hours a week), and to offer this support unconditionally (no matter what) until they graduated from high school (at least 12 years). In 1993, Campbell provided funding to establish Friends of the Children as a nonprofit program. The first Friends of the Children chapter, founded in North Portland, had three mentors, known as “Friends,” who provided long-term one-to-one mentoring to a total of 24 children. As local support grew, Campbell reached out to some Portland State faculty who provided advice and served on the board of directors of Friends of the Children. An initiative grew to identify and hire a faculty member who was an expert on mentoring and could work collaboratively with local programs to enhance services and outcomes. So with funding from local supporters, Portland State was able to create the Duncan & Cindy Campbell Endowed Professorship for Children, Youth and Families with an Emphasis on Mentoring. An expert on youth mentoring from the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago, Thomas Keller, was hired as the Campbell Professor, and began working in September 2006 at the PSU School of Social Work. Keller began serving on the board of directors for Friends of the Children and supported research initiatives to study and refine the program as new chapters opened. Keller was also able to establish the Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research at PSU and hold an annual Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring to help develop mentoring initiatives and provide continuing education. Currently Friends of the Children chapters have been established in more than 25 locations in the United States, ranging from Portland and Southwest Washington to Chicago, New York, Tampa Bay, Austin, and Los Angeles, as well as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Left to right: Duncan Campbell, founder, Friends of the Children, with Tom Keller, Campbell Professor of Social Work, and Terri Sorensen, national chief executive officer, Friends of the Children.
5 RAPS SHEET n MARCH 2023 DAVID WARREN MCCLURE, who served Portland State as a professor of chemistry for more than 35 years, died January 14 at the age of 86. Professor McClure was born September 12, 1936, in Yakima, Washington, to William Thompson McClure and Freda Margaret Scott McClure. The family moved to Alaska when Professor McClure was a young boy and settled in Ketchikan. During his high school years he worked in the U.S. Fisheries Products Laboratory, where he developed a passion for science, an experience he considered life changing. After graduation from Ketchikan High School in 1954, Professor McClure enrolled at Washington State University and received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1958. He then entered the University of Washington to pursue a doctorate in physical chemistry and received a Ph.D. in 1963. It was during his graduate studies that Professor McClure took a mountain climbing course from the mountaineer Pete Schoening, and he was soon climbing peaks throughout the Northern Cascades. Upon completing his doctorate, Professor McClure went to England for postdoctoral training at Cambridge University. He returned to the United States in 1965 to take a research position with Shell Development Company in Emeryville, California. But after only a year with Shell, he was eager to return to the Pacific Northwest and joined the Portland State faculty in 1966. Professor McClure taught physical chemistry, but also developed courses in statistical mechanics and a popular summer course on the chemistry of winemaking and brewing. He retired from Portland State in 2002, although he continued to teach courses for several more years. In 1982 Professor McClure married Cheryl Maslen, and the couple spent much of their free time rock, ice, and alpine climbing, as well as skiing, hiking, backpacking, and river rafting. They also attended opera and theater in Portland, Seattle, and New York, often with friends and family, including Professor McClure’s two children, James and Amanda. He was also an avid squash player, a game he learned while living in England. He competed regularly on the West Coast squash circuit and mentored younger players. In retirement Professor McClure turned many of his passions into volunteer activities. He served as a docent at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum and volunteered in the emergency room and in the Acute Care for Elders program In memoriam: David W. McClure, 1936-2023 at Meridian Park Hospital. He was also a light walker for Portland Opera, a house manager for Portland State University Opera, a Humane Hero with the Oregon Humane Society, and a rescue climber and a board of directors member for Portland Mountain Rescue. Professor McClure participated in several search and rescue operations on Mt. Hood and the surrounding area. During the tragic 1986 Mt. Hood climbing accident that took the lives of seven high school students and two adults, he served as Base Operations leader. Professor McClure’s efforts during the rescue were chronicled in Code 1244: The 1986 Mount Hood Tragedy by Ric Conrad. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl; son James McClure (Carmen); daughter Amanda Bingham (Warren); four grandchildren; three sisters; and numerous nieces and nephews. A celebration of life is scheduled for 2 p.m. on March 24 in Lincoln Hall, 1620 SW Park Avenue, Portland. Remembrances may be sent to the Oregon Humane Society, the Portland State University Opera Program, or a charity of your choice. An online guest book is available at www.oregonlive.com/obits.
6 RAPS SHEET n MARCH 2023 Upcoming RAPS events MARCH 8THURSDAY, MARCH 9 RAPS Board Meeting: 12:15 p.m. via Zoom. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.edu. 8WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 Hiking Group: Oregon City hike. Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net 8THURSDAY, MARCH 16 RAPS General Meeting: noon, 294 SMSU. Annual Spring Potluck followed by presentation in 225 Lincoln Hall by Kelley Nassief, new Opera Program director, and PSU opera students singing excerpts from the spring opera, Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.edu. 8TUESDAY, MARCH 21 Book Group: 1:30 p.m., via Zoom. Contact: Joan Shireman, joanshireman@gmail.com. 8TBA Bridge Group: Contact: Steve Brennan, the.steve.brennan@gmail.com or 503-889-0146. APRIL 8THURSDAY, APRIL 13 RAPS Board Meeting: 12:15 p.m., via Zoom. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.edU. 8MONDAY, APRIL 17 Book Group: 1:30 p.m., via Zoom. Contact: Joan Shireman, joanshireman@gmail.com. 8TUESDAY, APRIL 18 President’s Annual Luncheon for Retired Faculty and Staff. 11:30 a.m. Hosted by President Steve Percy. PSU Ballroom. Time TBA. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.edu. 8WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 Hiking Group: Catherine Creek/Coyote Wall. Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net. 8TBA Bridge Group: Contact: Steve Brennan, the.steve.brennan@gmail.com or 503-889-0146. MAY 8THURSDAY, MAY 11 RAPS Board Meeting: 12:15 p.m., via Zoom. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.eDU. 8TUESDAY, MAY 16 Book Group: 1:30 p.m., via Zoom. Contact: Joan Shireman, joanshireman@gmail.coM. 8WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 Hiking Group: Chehalem Ridge (unless used as geology hike in August; alternative hike will be Wilson River Trail on Wednesday, May 10). Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.neT. 8THURSDAY, MAY 18 RAPS General Meeting: noon, room TBA. “The World of Changing Ice,” in-person presentation by Andrew Fountain, PSU professor emeritus of geology. Contact: Eben Yemoh, rapsmail@pdx.edU. 8TBA Bridge Group: Contact: Steve Brennan, the.steve.brennan@gmail.com or 503-889-0146. JUNE 8WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21 Hiking Group: McIver State Park. Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net JULY 8WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 Hiking Group: Elk Meadow (Mt. Hood). Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net AUGUST 8TBA Hiking Group: Geology hike with Scott Burns. Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net SEPTEMBER 8WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 Hiking Group: Wildwood Area, Boulder Ridge (Mt. Hood) Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net
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