5 RAPS SHEET n JANUARY 2024 JACK S. SCHENDEL, who was the last dean of the Portland State University School of Health and Human Performance, died December 2 at the age of 91. Dean Schendel was born in Turlock, California, on August 30, 1932, to Ted and Grace (Haworth) Schendel. He grew up in the nearby town of Denair, where he graduated from high school in 1950 and at which he later taught and coached. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s in 1960 from California State University, Fresno, and completed an Ed.D. in 1963 at the University of Oregon. His career as a professor and administrator took him from Eugene to the University of Toledo and eventually to Portland State, where he became dean of the School of Health and Physical Education in 1978. (The school’s name was changed in 1990 to Health and Human Performance.) In a 2014 interview for Portland State Oral Histories, Dean Schendel said the PSU position was attractive because the University was “really serious about being an urban-related university integrated with the city.” Just over a decade after he became dean, Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 5, which limited the rise of property taxes, and also guaranteed that state funds would make up the difference in funding lost by local elementary and secondary schools. The impact of Measure 5 on higher education was immense, and among the casualties was the School of Health and Human Performance. In the Oral Histories interview, Dean Schendel recalled a meeting with PSU’s interim provost, Bob Frank, in early January 1992. “He didn’t beat around the bush. He just said, ‘I’m really sorry to be the one to have to tell you this. The implications of the budget reduction (are) . . . of such a major nature that it looks like we are going to have to eliminate your school.’ “And I said, ‘What?’ . . . From that point on, there was never any question in my mind that the decision had been made.” Despite support from Portland’s medical community and presentations by school faculty and administrators to campus committees and the State Board of Higher Education, the School of Health and Human Performance was closed at the end of the 1992 academic year as part of Portland State’s budget reduction plan in the aftermath of Measure 5. With the school’s closure, Dean Schendel retired. After his retirement, Dean Schendel and his wife, Ruby, worked with Campus Crusade for Christ in Riga, Latvia, and served his church community. He was preceded in death by his wife and infant son, Jonathan Paul Schendel. He is survived by his four children and their families, Betsy and Jeff Taylor, Carol and Bruce Shelby, Jackie Schendel, Kurt Schendel and Olivia Gill. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 13, at 11 a.m. at Resurrection Catholic Church in Tualatin. Memorial donations may be made to Jesus Film Harvest Partners at ifhp.org or the U.S. Olympic Team at support.teamusa.org. An online guest book is available at www.oregonlive.com/obits. In memoriam: Jack S. Schendel, 1932-2023 1991 PSU Digital Archives Gallery
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