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 To be announced Telephone: 503-725-3447 Email: rapsmail@pdx.edu Office hours: To be announced Campus mail: RAPS Web: psu-raps.org Board Members Co-Presidents Janine Allen & Bruce Stern Secretary Brian Lewis Treasurer Ansel Johnson Members-at-Large Alan Cabelly, Rick Hardt, Kris Kern 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 TBA 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 NOVEMBER 2023 RAPS ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRUNCH IS DECEMBER 7 SEE PAGE 4 ANN CUDD, who joined PSU in August as its 11th president, speaks to RAPS on Thursday, November 30, at the regular monthly meeting. She comes to PSU from the University of Pittsburgh, where she served as provost and senior vice chancellor for five years. She succeeds Stephen Percy, who announced his retirement last year. Cudd was the unanimous first choice of the PSU Board of Trustees. In announcing her appointment in March, Board Chair Greg Hinkley praised her for her “commitments to academic excellence, community engagement, the importance of equity and inclusion, and her deeply held belief in the powerful role that an urban-serving university can play in our region.” Prior to Pitt, Cudd served as dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston University. She has held faculty positions at the University of Kansas, Occidental College, Boston University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Cudd holds three advanced degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, including a Ph.D. in philosophy and master’s degrees in philosophy and economics. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Swarthmore College. If you plan to attend Cudd’s presentation on November 30, please keep two things in mind. First, the meeting will begin at 11 a.m., about an hour earlier than usual. Second, to accommodate the president’s schedule, the format of the monthly RAPS meeting will be reversed. Cudd will speak at 11 a.m., with time for questions from the audience, and lunch will follow at approximately noon. The meeting will be held in 333 Smith Memorial Student Union. New president speaks to RAPS Nov. 30 Cudd was the unanimous first choice of the Board of Trustees to succeed Steve Percy as PSU’s president. Ann Cudd was named the 11th president of Portland State University last March.
2 WE ARE EXPERIENCING trying times with conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, inflation eating away at our fixed incomes, and the plethora of fake news being bought by the under-educated. However, as RAPSters we have the opportunity to experience enlightening programs where we can learn new things, socialize with our colleagues, meet new ones, and have a bright spot in your day. The recent program on the economics of our nation and the prospect of a recession is a good example. Our colleague, Tom Potiowsky, gave a fantastic presentation on the economy at the October program. Although some statistics supported the notion that a recession is here and others did not, Tom thinks the Fed will not raise interest rates in the near term and that the prospect of recession is up in RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE In trying times, RAPS offers a bright spot in your day the air—or to quote the eminent sage Yogi Berra, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Our next program will be a good one that you won’t want to miss. Ann Cudd, PSU’s new president, will address us in an in-person program on Thursday, November 30, at 11 a.m. Dr. Cudd’s educational background is primarily in philosophy with some emphasis also in economics and mathematics. A light lunch will follow her presentation. RAPS is looking for members to step up and volunteer in the membership and awards committees. Volunteering is most rewarding. To quote DeAnn Hollis’ recent thoughts: “The heart of a volunteer is never measured by size, but by the depth of commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.” So, let’s hear from you. RAPS’ future depends on you. —Bruce Stern It’s a reach! Is that fear and trepidation we see from the RAPS Scholarship Committee chair as she stretches toward the basket? If so, it’s certainly understandable! It might be that she’s reaching in to see whether there are donation checks for the scholarship in the basket. Behind her expression are hope and determination: she very much hopes there will be generous, solid support when the request to contribute to the Robert Vogelsang RAPS Scholarship comes to RAPS members very soon. The Scholarship itself is terrific—a $9,000 boost for a graduate or undergraduate. While we welcome contributions at any time, the real fundraising push intensifies in the fall. But see the smiling faces surrounding her? They are obviously confident that support will come from RAPS members to maintain and build the endowment made possible by an anonymous and very generous donor. We hope that in January, when we have a picture of our fundraising outcome, you’ll see beaming RAPS Scholarship Committee members, awash in student scholarship support from you. Meanwhile, watch for the appeal in the next RAPS Sheet! —Sherwin Davidson, Chair, Scholarship Committee
3 RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 Book Group THE BOOK GROUP met on October 17 and discussed Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott. The author is a reporter for The New York Times and spent seven years in episodic contact with a family in New York City. The family—parents and eight children— was living in a shelter for homeless persons when her reporting began. Over time there were changes. The poor condition of the home, directly tried to poverty, led to Child Protective Services becoming involved. Some of the children entered foster care. The author is clear that the dissolution of the family led to more difficulties for all the family members. We had a very lively discussion centered on the issue of where responsibility lay for the family’s troubles. We discussed whether the assistance they received was appropriate, and whether they should have received any assistance. Although we all wanted the best for the family, we discovered that our varied backgrounds led us to quite different ideas about what would be helpful. Some members also had question about the ethics of the reporter’s presence. An excellent book that provoked discussion about very basic issues. In November we are going to read The Music of Bees: A Novel by Eileen Garvin. The author’s home is in Hood River; perhaps we will learn the secrets of our local bees. The RAPS Book Group meets on the third Tuesday of the month. Currently we are meeting over Zoom. All RAPS members are welcome. —Joan Shireman RAPS Group Reports Bridge Group THE BRIDGE GROUP needs additional players. Why would anyone join our group? Our players are friendly and enjoy the social aspect of playing bridge together. We benefit from the mental challenges (e.g., remembering what the trump suit is, tracking which important cards have already been played, figuring out whose turn it is to deal the next hand, and more). I would like to hear from any interested RAPS members, or others you know who might want to play in our group. The RAPS 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 REGRETTABLY, the October RAPS hike was canceled. Two leaders were out of town, Covid isolated another two, and the fifth potential hiker wasn’t available. The plan was to start at the Jones Camp trailhead off Highway 6 over the Coast Range, go east to a waterfall, return to the starting point, and go west to another waterfall. The November 15 hike is still scheduled for the Newall Creek Canyon trail in Metro’s newish park in Oregon City. —Cilla Murray Upcoming RAPS events NOVEMBER 8WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 Hiking Group: Newall Creek Canyon (Oregon City). Contact: Tom Dieterich/Cilla Murray, tgdieterich@earthlink.net 8THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30 Presentation by Ann Cudd, Portland State’s new president. 333 SMSU. Note: President Cudd speaks to RAPS at 11 a.m., with lunch to follow. 8TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21 Book Group: The Music of Bees: A Novel by Eileen Garvin. Contact Joan Shireman at joanshireman@gmail.com. DECEMBER 8THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7 Annual Holiday Brunch, Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Avenue, Portland. Doors open 10:30 a.m. JANUARY 8THURSDAY, JANUARY 18 “Divest Oregon: Confronting Climate Risks to PERS and the Planet,” presentation by Rory Cowal, instructor in the PSU School of Music and volunteer with Divest Oregon, a statewide grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations seeking to have the Oregon State Treasury divest pension funds of fossil fuel holdings. 333 SMSU. FEBRUARY 8THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 “Two Terroirists from Tualatin,” a joint presentation by wine experts Michael Alberty and Scott Burns. 333 SMSU.
4 RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 GREGORY F. GOEKJIAN, who served Portland State for four decades as a professor of English, died October 3 in Portland. He was 81 years old. Professor Goekjian was born August 13, 1942, in Cleveland to Kenneth K. Goekjian, a veterinarian, and Florence Goekjian, née Kuntz, a homemaker. He had an older sister, Mary, and a younger sister, Valerie. His father was a survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the former Anatolia, a region of modern-day Turkey, and was among the founders of St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church of Cleveland. After graduation from high school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Professor Goekjian enrolled at Northwestern University to study engineering. He changed his major to English and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1964. He completed a master’s at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1966, and a doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh in 1970. He joined the Portland State University English faculty the same year and remained at the University until his retirement in 2008. Upon retirement he was promoted to professor emeritus. Professor Goekjian taught literary criticism, poetry, 18th-century literature, and Milton. He also researched, wrote, and taught the literature of genocide. He authored articles on Milton, Derrida, and genocide, and was a visiting professor at Yerevan State University in Armenia and the West Sussex Institute of Higher Education in Britain. In 1999 he received the John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award. With other emeriti faculty members, Professor Goekjian helped establish the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project in 2012. He served on the project’s advisory board, brought speakers to Portland State, and presented in other instructors’ classrooms on the Armenian genocide. Off campus, his involvement with the Armenian community included lobbying for Armenian causes, securing medical equipment and supplies for Armenia after the 1989 earthquake, and helping found the Armenian Community Organization of Oregon and Washington. Professor Goekjian was also an accomplished work worker, a skill he taught himself while working on his parents’ second home in the countryside near Cleveland. In retirement he built toys, furniture, and cabinets for family and produced several pieces for St. Kevork Armenian Church, of which he was among the founders. Professor Goekjian was married three times: to Anne Sease; to Gretchen Brown, with whom he had two children, Ben and Mary; and to Jane, who survives him. He is also survived by his son and daughter; a sister, Valerie Zahirsky (Rev. Michael); a niece, a nephew, six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, a grandniece, and a grandnephew. Remembrances may be sent to St. Kevork Armenian Church, 9215 SE Church Street, Clackamas OR 97015. In memoriam: Gregory F. Goekjian, 1942-2023 2 0 2 3 RAPS ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRUNCH Thursday, December 7 n Refreshments at 10:30 a.m. n Brunch at 11 a.m. AUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH n 2710 NE 14TH AVENUE n PORTLAND You’re invited to the RAPS Annual Holiday Brunch, Thursday, December 7, at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Avenue, Portland. Please enter the church through the NE 15th Avenue door, which opens at 10:30 a.m. Nearby on-street parking is usually plentiful, and TriMet line 8, Jackson Park /NE 15th serves the location. Cheryl’s on 12th will provide a delightful buffet brunch. Our usual array of mimosas and assorted wines is served at 10:30 a.m., and brunch is served at 11 a.m. The brunch is $30 per person. To reserve your spot, please contact the RAPS office at or 503-7253447. Mail your check by Saturday, December 2; make your check payable to the PSU Foundation and write “RAPS Holiday Brunch” on the memo line. Mail to RAPS, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland OR, 97207-0751. See you there!
5 RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 In memoriam: W.T. ‘Bill’ Lemman, 1925-2023 W.T. “BILL” LEMMAN, a Portland State pioneer who was instrumental in expanding the University’s campus, died October 10 in Portland following a fall at his McMinnville home. He was 98 years old. Mr. Lemman was born on September 6, 1925, in Beaumont, Texas, to Woodhull and Thelma Lemman. After a year at Texas A&M University, he joined the Marine Corps in September 1943 and conducted preinvasion reconnaissance on several islands in the Pacific Theater. He entered the fledging Vanport Extension Center—the forerunner of Portland State University—as a student in fall 1946. It was the beginning of an association with Portland State that spanned eight decades. He began his professional career in 1950 as an assistant business manager at Vanport College and ended it 40 years later as chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. When Mr. Lemman enrolled at Vanport, he was one of hundreds of students who were veterans of World War II— as were a number of the faculty members. “Many of (the faculty) were just two, three, four, or five years older than the students,” he recalled in a 2010 interview for Portland State University Oral Histories (http://archives.pdx.edu/ ds/psu/18073). “They were very comfortable with their students, who had a similar (wartime) experience.” After transferring to the University of Oregon to complete his bachelor’s degree in business administration— Vanport did not grant degrees—Mr. Lemman returned to Vanport College, as it was informally known, in 1950 as assistant business manager and acting registrar. He was delighted to return to campus. “It was being with the folks that I enjoyed so much, and there’s nothing more invigorating to me than a collegiate environment,” he said. By 1955 Vanport College had moved into the former Lincoln High School building on the Park Blocks and had become a degree-granting institution named Portland State College. Mr. Lemman left Portland State in 1956 to become fiscal officer for the Oregon State University agricultural experiment station. But only three years later, he was back at PSU as business manager, a position that evolved into director of business affairs and later vice president for business and finance. The early 1960s were a pivotal time for Portland State. “We were growing at 10, 12, 15 percent a year and just struggling to find space,” Mr. Lemman recalled. As the chief fiscal officer, Mr. Lemman fostered partnerships with city, state, and federal governments and used urban renewal to develop the campus and bring student housing to the University. “I believe that was my main contribution,” he said. “Everything grew from that, piece by piece and time over time.” Still, Mr. Lemman acknowledged that the expansion of the Portland State campus created a difficult transition for neighbors of the growing campus. “There were these two- or three-story houses, some with apartments, but (on) the street level were little businesses: a cleaners, a sewing shop, a hair salon” that closed as PSU grew. In 1974 he left Portland State to become vice chancellor of personnel and administration for the Oregon State System of Higher Education. Mr. Lemman later became executive vice chancellor and concluded his career as OUS chancellor from 1987 to 1988. He also served as interim president of Oregon Institute of Technology from 1990 to 1991. Although Mr. Lemman’s career took him away from the Portland State campus, he remained a loyal Viking. “Even when I was away (at the chancellor’s office) for 15 years, this (campus) was still in here,” he said in a 2019 oral history (https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30547) interview, tapping his chest. “It’s like family, it’s part of me.” He continued his work for PSU in retirement, serving on the Alumni Board, helping establish Friends of the Library, hosting numerous Vanport reunions, and twice sitting for lengthy oral history interviews. Portland State recognized his service in 2004 by granting him an honorary doctorate and again in 2023 when President Steve Percy presented a Presidential Medal to Mr. Lemman. A RAPS member, Mr. Lemman was honored by the organization in 2018 with an Outstanding Retiree Award. “I’ve just been blessed to have had the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time,” he said in the 2010 oral history interview. “It became a passion to see this institution become permanent and to grow.” Mr. Lemman married Geneva Foster in Portland on February 24, 1950. She survives him, as do sons Paul (Katherine Howes) and Phillip (Kimberly), as well as several nephews and nieces. A private family service will be held. Mr. Lemman was a frequent donor to Portland State, including to the library, Veterans Resources, scholarships— including the RAPS Robert Vogelsang Scholarship—and the Lemman Family Endowed Scholarship Fund. Remembrances may be sent to the PSU Foundation at www.psuf.org or to Saint Francis Family Housing in Salem at www.sfssalem.org. 1973 PSU Digital Archives Gallery
6 RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 In memoriam: Thomas Kindermann, 1954-2023 THOMAS KINDERMANN, a professor of psychology who served Portland State for 34 years, died unexpectedly on June 19, one day short of his retirement. Professor Kindermann was born in February 18, 1954, in what was then East Berlin. He was the eldest of three sons born to Anton and Inge Kindermann, née Teubner, who were physicians. In 1960 the family fled to West Germany just months before the Berlin Wall was built. The children were distributed to relatives until the family could build a new life, which they did in Emmerich, a small town on the Rhine River. Professor Kindermann received a bachelor’s degree in 1976 and a master’s degree in 1980 from the University of Trier. In 1989 he completed a Ph.D. at the Free University of Berlin. It was in Berlin that he met an American, Ellen Skinner, who was working at the Max Planck Institute. The couple married in 1989, the same year Professor Kindermann began his career at Portland State. (Professor Skinner joined the Portland State psychology faculty in 1992.) Professor Kindermann’s academic career, interests, and accomplishments were recalled in an obituary written by Professor Skinner and the couple’s daughter, Leona, which was published on the PSU website (https://www.pdx.edu/ liberal-arts-sciences/news/memorial-service-planned-psuprofessor-thomas-kindermann) on September 5: “Devoted to teaching, research, students, and developmental science, Thomas taught classes on child development, adulthood and aging, social development, lifespan development, observational methods, and children’s peer relationships. His own research, which included studies of the development of the elderly in institutions and infants in family homes, eventually zeroed in on a lifelong passion for understanding children’s peer relationships—what peers do to, for, or against children’s development—as a social context that children actually select and create for themselves. Working with colleagues, Thomas developed methods, called sociocognitive mapping, for capturing children’s peer networks and distinguishing selection from socialization effects. Conducting multiple grant-funded longitudinal studies, often in collaboration with his wife, he focused on the effects of peer relationships on children’s motivation, engagement, and learning in school. He published dozens of papers and several books and textbooks. He adored advising, mentoring, and working with both undergraduate and doctoral students across the department and university. He believed in his “Doktorkinder” and their many successes brought him great joy. He was committed to contributing to the larger community and served continuously on departmental and university committees, including most recently, Sigma Xi. He read and thought broadly, a true scholar, interested in the natural and social sciences, and especially in developmental perspectives. He had a special fascination for the conundrum of time.” A celebration of life was held on September 23 on the PSU campus. Remembrances may be made to UNICEF children’s fund at https://www.unicefusa.org/
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