3 RAPS club reports Book Club: ‘Let the Great World Spin’ The RAPS Book Club meets Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 2:00 pm at the home of Betsey Brown at Holiday Park Plaza, 1300 NE 16th Avenue in Portland. Contact her at 503-280-2334 or aebport@hevanet.com to RSVP and for directions. NOTE THE TIME CHANGE. We will discuss Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. The book is described as follows on the inside cover: In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunning portrait of a city and its people, connected in ways they don’t yet even know. Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence—awakening in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal. Looking ahead to February, we have selected Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. --Mary Brannan RAPS Hikers: Planning 2011 hikes Still in planning mode, RAPS Hikers will meet in midJanuary at a hiker’s home for a potluck and planning session for hikes to come in the new year. For additional information, contact Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. --Larry Sawyer Bridge Group: First deal of the year Jan. 11 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, Jan. 11. For further information, including the venue, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call no later than Friday, Jan. 7. --Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE Pres. Ramaley champions redesign of seal 1969-1990 1991-present udith Ramaley was hired in 1990 to be the seventh President of Portland State University – and the first female President in the Oregon University System. During her tenure (1990-1997), she greatly impacted the movement of PSU toward its identity as an “urban university.” One of Dr. Ramaley's early initiatives was to revise the university seal (required on official university documents such as diplomas and certificates) to reflect PSU’s urban mission. At a meeting of her Executive Council, President Ramaley said that she would like a new seal with a motto that would be consistent with the university's developing mission. John Cooper, Professor of English, suggested "Let Knowledge Serve the City." President Ramaley approved the suggestion. Robert Kasal, Professor of Art, was delegated the task of designing a new seal, and Rod Diman, Professor of Spanish, Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and probably the best Latinist on the faculty, was asked to produce a Latin translation, which he did: "Doctrina Urbi Serviat." The intended message was that the University, as the seat of knowledge, serves the city. Included in PSU’s mission statement is this sentence: “PSU values its identity as an engaged university that promotes a reciprocal relationship between the community and the university in which knowledge serves the city and the city contributes to the knowledge of the university." The new seal was officially adopted in 1991. --Roger Moseley, with assistance from Jack Cooper PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. J
4 PAST TENSE The Vanguard: then and now n 1946 Vanport Extension Center (popularly known as Vanport College) emerged in Vanport City, OR. The college was located in North Portland’s dilapidated housing project, rehabilitated a bit to educate servicemen and women returning from World War II. Don Carlo, a military veteran blinded in World War II, enrolled in the first class of students and worked from his home to create and become editor of the college’s first newspaper, Vet’s Extended. Fellow student W.T. “Bill” Lemman, who also assisted in creating Vet’s Extended, later became Portland State’s Business Manager and eventually was appointed Chancellor of the Oregon System of Higher Education. In recognition of the student body’s expanding representation beyond veterans, Vet’s Extended was renamed the Vanguard, and its first issue under the new banner was published Jan. 14, 1947. The Vanguard’s initial editorial, “The Spirit of a Student Body,” demonstrated the newspaper’s role in its founding years to communicate the hopes of the students for an institution of higher education to meet their needs: “We, as students, are helping to start a new idea for colleges. For it is true that there was no school here before . . . . we have within us the insatiable search for knowledge that was born while waiting for the end of the war. Many of us waited years so that we might have an opportunity to attend such a school.” The Vanguard flourished and followed the college’s move to Portland in 1952, its elevation to Portland State College in 1955 and to university status in 1969. The Vanguard of today continues to be student run, employing about 60 paid student writers, photographers, graphic designers, and editors. The newspaper and its staff have won several collegiate journalism awards, including the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association General Excellence Award and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Award. PSU’s Vanguard continues to be a dynamic and relevant student newspaper as it strives to provide comprehensive coverage reflecting the institution’s growth, urban mission, and service to nearly 30, 000 students. --Steve Brannan The second issue of Vanport College’s student newspaper Vet’s Extended, with WW II veteran Don Carlo as editor, was published Friday, Nov. 22, 1946. Sixty-five years after publication of its first issue, the Vanguard continues to provide comprehensive coverage of University and community activities. Vol. 66, No. 7 pictured directly above was published Aug. 9, 2011. (References: The College That Would Not Die; Portland State: A History in Pictures; Creating Portland State: 19461955; and www.psuvanguard.org) PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. I
3 RAPS club reports Bridge Group deals 2 nd Tuesday of the month The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Friendly House (corner of NW 26 th and Thurman). For information about the group, please call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. If you would like to play, please call before noon Friday, Nov. 1. This gives us time to invite guests to join us if we need to make up a table. --Colin Dunkeld Book Club reads novel set in Pacific Northwest The RAPS Book Club meets at 1:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the home of Dez Roberts, 2610 SW 84th in Portland. Contact her at dezrob@comcast.net or 503-292-6095 to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss Jamie Ford’s debut novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. According to Publishers Weekly, Ford’s novel . . . concerns Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle who, in 1986, has just lost his wife to cancer. After Henry hears that the belongings of Japanese immigrants interned during WWII have been found in the basement of the Panama Hotel, the narrative shuttles between 1986 and the 1940s in a predictable story that chronicles the losses of old age and the bewilderment of youth. Henry recalls the difficulties of life in America during WWII, when he and his Japanese-American school friend, Keiko, wandered through wartime Seattle. Keiko and her family are later interned in a camp, and Henry, horrified by America's anti-Japanese hysteria, is further conflicted because of his Chinese father's antiJapanese sentiment. Looking ahead to December, we will discuss The Plain Truth by Jodie Picoult. --Mary Brannan RAPS Hikers hike locally as winter approaches The RAPS Hikers are shifting to local hikes for the winter. On Friday, Nov. 11 we will hike the pathway along the west bank of the Willamette River and dine at the Spaghetti Factory afterwards. This is a level hike on a paved walkway. Meet at the parking lot of the Spaghetti Factory at 9:30 am. The streetcar turns around about two blocks from there. RSVP to Larry Sawyer by Nov. 10 at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. In early December or possibly early January after the holidays, we will hold our annual potluck and planning session at one of the hiker’s homes. Potluck plans will be discussed on the November hike. --Larry Sawyer PAST TENSE SBA students join the PC revolution 1981 BC (Before Computers) hen IBM introduced its breakthrough personal computer (PC) in 1981, it was not cheap -- $2,880 without screen, according to one source, putting it far out of reach financially for most students. Recognizing the importance of introducing this new technology to students and providing both access and training, the School of Business Administration secured a $50,000 grant in 1984 from the Chiles Foundation to establish a microcomputer laboratory on the second floor of East Hall, at that time the home of SBA. The lab equipment consisted of 12 latest model IBM PCs with two floppy disk drives, six NEC dot matrix printers, and a Radio Shack daisy wheel printer. The Chiles Foundation continued its support of this program in 1985 and 1986, providing an additional $50,000 each year. In the spring of 1987, the Foundation granted $200,000 to provide for new and upgraded quarters in the new SBA Building and another $50,000 in 1988 for further development. Today the School of Business Administration has three computers labs: one for instruction, one for undergraduate students, and one for graduate students. Current computer equipment consists of 110 Dell PCs, one high-speed printer in each lab for graduate student and instructional use, and three in the lab for undergraduate student use. These labs are appropriately staffed for convenient student access. --Professors Emeritus Roger Moseley and Alan Raedels PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. Save the date! RAPS Annual Holiday Party Thursday, Dec. 15 Multnomah Athletic Club W
3 PAST TENSE Protests at PSU: Big, Small, Imaginary As I was walking in November through the maze of tents at the urban village called Occupy Portland in Chapman Square, I noticed many PSU students. This is nothing new. PSU students have protested wars, on-campus military recruiting, campus credit card banking, police killings, tuition hikes, gay pride, anti-gay pride, and various guest speakers – to mention only a few. The protests have been both large and small. I remember walking through the Park Blocks outside SMSU one day when the local itinerant preacher pointed his finger right at me and screamed, “You are all thieves, liars and fornicators.” There was the usual small protest. On March 4, 2010, The National Day of Action, 200 Portland State students protested tuition hikes. Darrell Millner, Black Studies, said, “The good news is change can occur; the bad news is it is never easy.” The largest and most famous protest at PSU (illuminated in the film The Seventh Day) occurred May 6, 1970 (see photo on page 2.) This protest was against the killing of Kent State University students and, of course, the Vietnam War. Thousands of students, faculty and staff demonstrated. So many crammed into the Park Blocks that traffic was halted. Some say this led to the City of Portland agreeing in 1972 to remove all vehicular traffic for six blocks through campus, as it is today. Another result of that protest, told to me by an oldtimer, is that the trees in the Park Blocks have been permanently “limbed-up” so protesters can’t climb up and occupy them. A most interesting protest is the one that didn’t happen. People love to tell how PSU students chained themselves to the copper beech tree in front of the library in 1991 in order to save its life. It’s a good story but it’s an urban legend. The library administration had always planned to build around the famous tree. However Occupy Portland proceeds, we know that protests at PSU will always continue in one form or another, large, small or imaginary. --Susan Jackson PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. RAPS club reports Book Club members speak the plain truth The RAPS Book Club meets Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 1:30 pm at the home of Betsey Brown, Holladay Park Plaza, 1300 NE 16th Ave. in Portland. Contact her at 503-280-2334 or aebport@hevanet.com to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss The Plain Truth by Jodie Picoult. The book is described on the back cover as follows: The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-yearold Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn’s mother, took the child’s life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned bigcity attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide—and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep inside the world of those who live “plain,” Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within—to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past re-enters her life. We have had good reads this year and are looking forward to 2012. In January we will discuss Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. --Mary Brannan Bridge Group convenes Dec. 13 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Friendly House (corner of NW 26th and Thurman). For information about the group, please call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. If you would like to play, please call before noon Friday, Dec. 9. This gives us time to invite guests to join us if we need to make up a table. --Colin Dunkeld RAPS Hikers plan for the New Year The RAPS Hikers meet at noon Saturday, Dec. 10 at the home of Larry and Diane Sawyer for a potluck lunch and planning session for hikes in 2012. Past and potential hikers are invited. RSVP to Larry Sawyer at 503-7711616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. --Larry Sawyer HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the RAPS Board!
2 President’s Message wo of my family members were adopted by a kitten today. Out walking (as those our age are advised to do), they were approached by a tiny, mewing kitten. When picked up, the kitten snuggled in their arms. By the time they had taken it home, dried it, warmed it, and fed it, they found they had consented to the adoption. I took my grandson to see it this afternoon— a beautiful ginger kitten with white markings. This is a story for the holidays, isn’t it? A story of rescue and adoption, and a story of reaching out to alleviate just a little bit of the misery in the world. The kitten is going to do very well now. In this season when we are called on to reach out and share, let us do so willingly and generously, remembering how difficult these recession years have been for many and for the agencies that try to help. And may we each have our holidays brightened by a tiny ginger kitten. Don’t bring your kitten to the RAPS holiday dinner. But do bring yourselves—it should be a splendid occasion. I hope to see everyone there. With best wishes for the holidays. --Joan Shireman OCCUPY PORTLAND, 1970s STYLE. Protesters gather in the South Park Blocks during the tumultuous days following the May 6, 1970 deaths of four Kent State University students. See the PAST TENSE column on page 3 for RAPS member Susan Jackson’s observations on protests at PSU, presented in the context of the Occupy Portland movement that began in October 2011. Photo from PSU archives. T
4 PAST TENSE A walk through the PSU Park Blocks: Past and Present he South Park Blocks are the oldest parks in Portland and go through the heart of downtown. They were donated to the city in 1852 for public use by Daniel Lownsdale, a Portland landowner and tanner. Landscaping of the park blocks began in 1877 with the planting of 104 Lombardy poplars and elms to form a 12-block tree-lined street, SW Ninth Avenue. The Oregonian has called the Park Blocks Portland’s “extended family room” and The New York Times declared the area to be “literally at the heart of the city’s cultural life.” Every block contains public art. The latest art piece, Holon, was made of white Indiana limestone by Oregon sculptor Donald Wilson and installed in 2004 at SW Park between Harrison and Hall. Farewell to Orpheus, the bronze statue and fountain created by the late PSU art professor emeritus Frederic Littman, was installed in 1973 at SW Park and Montgomery. Before: Bulldozers remove pavement in the Park Blocks by College Center (now Smith Memorial Student Union) in 1972. When Portland State moved to downtown Portland in 1952, it developed around the South Park Blocks, initially at the site of the old Lincoln High School (now Lincoln Hall). Ever since, the Park Blocks have served as the University's hub. Early on, though, parked cars around the Park and buildings, coupled with free flowing traffic, interfered with pedestrians and helped, in part, to spur a redesign of the campus in 1972. During that year, the southern six blocks, from Market to Jackson Streets, were closed off to vehicular traffic. The streets were demolished and replaced with walkways, benches and seating areas, resulting in a beautiful green space under a canopy of trees in the middle of campus. Since 1973 the Park Blocks have provided a refreshing and peaceful urban environment for students, staff, faculty, and the community at large to enjoy. The Park area is now used as a meeting place, an outdoor study area, a space for art events, concerts, summer graduation, festivals, speakers, food carts, and even a Saturday Farmers’ Market. The Park Blocks are an example of a cooperative venture between Portland and Portland State, with the city owning the property and the University maintaining and controlling its use. After: With the renovation completed in 1973, walkways and seating areas transform the space opposite present-day Smith Memorial Student Union. --Mary Brannan and Steve Brannan PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. T
3 RAPS club reports Book Club tackles ‘Tinkers’ The RAPS Book Club will meet Tuesday, March 15 at 1:30 pm at the home of Dez Roberts, located at 2610 SW 54th in Portland. Contact her at dezrob@comcast.net or 503679-3870 to RSVP and for directions. This month the club discusses the Pulitzer Prize winner Tinkers, written by Paul Harding. The book is described on the back cover as follows: An old man lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature. Looking ahead to April, we will read the Multnomah County Library Everybody Reads selection The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. As always, we encourage anyone to join us. --Mary Brannan RAPS Hikers seek magnolias in March On Friday, March 11 we will hike in Forest Park. The exact route will be determined when we find out if the magnolias are in bloom. The Nussbaums will coordinate this hike. Meet at 9:30 am at the Rose Garden concessions stand. Lunch will be in a restaurant/cafe in northwest Portland. Confirm your attendance with Larry Sawyer 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. On Friday, April 8 we will hike the canyon trail in Silver Falls State Park. We will carpool and take a sack lunch. Marge Terdal will coordinate the April hike, as Larry Sawyer will be out of town. We held our first snowshoe hike in February. Due to only 5" of snow at Government Camp, we hiked a little over two miles at Bennett Pass near Meadows. The weather was clear and in the high 30s or low 40s. Three snowshoed and one cross country skied. The last two times we were on the mountain we stopped at the Zigzag ranger station and talked to ranger Sam Oakland. He got a law degree after he left PSU and lectures occasionally at the Hatfield School. --Larry Sawyer Bridge Group counts the cards March 8 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, March 8. For further information, including the venue, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call by Friday, March 4. --Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE Remembering Sharkey Nelson he recent death of onetime PSU basketball coach and faculty member Loyal "Sharkey" Nelson brought to mind an incident in Feb. 1965, when Nelson’s team had played an away game at Southern Oregon. Coach Nelson learned of curfew violations by some team members and suspended them for the remainder of the season. When other team members admitted that they, too, had violated the curfew regulation, Sharkey wound up suspending the entire team -- with the exception of his own son, John, who had been with him at the time. John later said, "I know it was extremely uncomfortable for him to suspend all the players but his son. I can assure you it was also very awkward for me." Asked how he could dismiss the entire team, Sharkey replied, "I couldn’t turn my back." Try to imagine that happening in athletics today. The team used Junior Varsity players plus John Nelson to finish out the remaining three games of the season, with Bob Scruggs as acting coach. Some of the JV players would play their own game early in the day and come back for the varsity game in the evening. There was an outpouring of student support for the team and, just like a Hollywood movie, the players finished the season with a 73-69 overtime win against the eventual conference champion, Eastern Oregon. John Nelson recalls that "almost all of the suspended players came to the games in support of the team." That was nearly a half century ago and I still remember the thrill of that final win. --Clarence Hein Editor’s note: Clarence Hein was editor of the Vanguard at the time of the incident recounted above. Sharkey Nelson died Aug. 22, 2009 at the age of 96. His obituary appeared in the Oct. 2009 edition of the RAPS Sheet. PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. T Sharkey Nelson in 1956
3 RAPS club reports RAPS hikers relax in the home of Rudi and Laureen Nussbaum following their March 11 hike in Forest Park. The Nussbaums, who organized the hike, invited the group to lunch at their home in the West Hills overlooking Portland. RAPS Hikers set sights on Silver Falls The April RAPS Hike is set for Friday, April 8 at Silver Falls State Park near Silverton. With the heavy rainfall this spring, the falls should be especially beautiful—and the trails muddy. Silver Falls is Oregon’s largest state park and has 10 beautiful falls on the canyon trail. Bring your cameras, hiking boots, raingear, a sack lunch, and water. We will meet at 8:30 am on the roof of Parking Structure 1 (across Broadway from Neuberger Hall) to form carpools. Marge Terdal is leading this hike and needs to know who is going and who is able to drive. Call her at 503244-5714 or email her at terdalm@pdx.edu. Marge will be out of town March 30 to April 6 but will check messages. --Larry Sawyer Book Club: ‘The Other Wes Moore’ The RAPS Book Club will meet Tuesday, April 19 at 2:30 pm at the home of Maxine Thomas, located at 6535 SW Canyon Court in Portland. NOTE THE TIME CHANGE. Contact her at 503-291-1279 or ondangwa@yahoo.com to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss the Multnomah County Library Everybody Reads selection The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. The book is described on the back cover as follows: Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heartwrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other West Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world. Looking ahead to May, we will read The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa, published in Italian in 1958 and translated into English in 1960. --Mary Brannan Bridge Group plays on second Tuesday The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, April 12. For further information, including the venue, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call by Friday, April 8. --Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE Name that PSU person PAST TENSE usually focuses on a person, place or event in Portland State’s history. For a change of pace, this month’s offering features photos of four people with enduring ties to the institution. Which of these Portland State personalities do you recognize? Email the RAPS editor (whited@pdx.edu) with their names and positions. Those who correctly identify all four people will be recognized in the next RAPS Sheet. #1 #2 #3 #4 PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu.
4 PAST TENSE From Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan he recent photo at right of Lincoln Hall’s Music Recital Hall in the School of Fine and Performing Arts is a far cry from what room 75 was like at the beginnings of Portland State University. Room 75 served as the Lincoln High School gymnasium until Portland State occupied the building in 1952. It became the Portland State gym from then until 1966, when the new gymnasium was erected. By far the worst gym in all the Portland high schools, it was dubbed “The Black Hole of Calcutta” for its darkness, low ceiling, and lack of fresh air. The slight stench of old gym socks prevailed. The gym was suitable only for exercise classes and wrestling matches, although it was also used for basketball games. It’s tough playing basketball or volleyball in a one-story sweaty dark room, as you can see from the photo below right. When the Music Department began expanding into the basement of what was then Old Main (now Lincoln Hall), I was the first to move my office (to room 30). This small room was once the men’s locker and shower room. The remodeling was minimal -- there were still pipes and valves coming out of the walls. The even smaller room next to mine became the late Bill Tuttle’s office; it had been the women’s locker and shower room. While men students had only to walk to the east end of the basement floor to attend gym classes, the women had to go outside, cross Market Street, and jog two blocks north to SW Park and Clay Streets to attend classes in an old abandoned Jewish synagogue -- mercifully torn down after the new gymnasium was built (see page 59 of Portland State: A History in Pictures). Today, Room 37 is the Instrumental Rehearsal room -- but at one time it was the only science laboratory on campus. After the first remodeling of Lincoln Hall, I taught many classes and conducted bands, orchestras and chamber music groups until my retirement. But I also remember being a physics lab instructor there for a short period of time when I was first hired. In the early days we had to wear many hats. --Gordon Solie 75 Lincoln Hall, The School of Fine and Performing Art’s Music Recital Hall, after its 2009-10 renovation. Low ceilings and light fixtures are just two of many challenges facing Portland State students shooting hoops in the old gymnasium, Room 75 Old Main (now Lincoln Hall). PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. T
3 PAST TENSE 1976: Keith Larson garners Partners Award for PSU The Special Education Department at Portland State University has a rich history of involvement with the Partners of The Americas, an international nongovernmental organization committed to fostering a closer relationship between the peoples of Latin America and the United States. In 1969 Oregon became a partner with Costa Rica, and improved services for the disabled were identified as a high priority. Keith Larson, Chair of the Special Education Department at Portland State, was recruited by the Oregon Partners to co-chair a cooperative inter-Americas project fostering improved opportunities and education and rehabilitation services for Costa Ricans with disabilities. Larson’s efforts during the 70s included assisting Costa Rica with the first study of special education’s status in the country, helping establish Costa Rica’s first national program of special education, and supporting creation of a new department of Special Education within the Ministry of Education and at the University of Costa Rica. Keith’s major efforts over several years focused on student, faculty, and teacher exchanges between Oregon and Costa Rica that embraced all major areas of disability and needed services. In 1976 Keith received special recognition for his efforts when Portland State University was presented with the international “Distinguished Service Award” from the Partners of the Americas. This award recognized the important services provided to the Partners by PSU’s Special Education Department under the leadership of Keith Larson. The award, in the form of a plaque, was presented by National Partners President Alan Rubin to Keith Larson and PSU President Joseph Blumel. Keith Larson died April 16, 2011. At the July 29 memorial for Keith at PSU, the Larson family gave the Partners award and accompanying photo to the Special Education Department, with the request that the gift be prominently displayed in the School to preserve and celebrate an important aspect of the Special Education Program’s history. –Steve Brannan PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee, raps@pdx.edu. RAPS club reports Book Club reads Rebecca Skloot’s bestseller The RAPS Book Club meets Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 1:30 pm at Marge Terdal’s beach house. Contact her at 503-2445714 or terdalm@pdx.edu to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss the New York Times nonfiction bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book is described on the back cover as follows: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more . . . This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing, and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. Looking ahead to October, we will discuss The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. --Mary Brannan RAPS Hikers hit the trail Sept. 9 On Aug. 12, the RAPS hikers took a short hike to Ecola Point in Ecola State Park followed by lunch hosted by Jack Cooper and Terry Rohe at their Cannon Beach home. The Sept. 9 hike will be on the trail from Frog Lake to Lower Twin Lake, four miles round trip. Despite the 500foot elevation gain, the trail is an easy grade all the way. Frog Lake is just off Hwy 26, about eight miles south of Government Camp. Bring a sack lunch. Please let Marge Terdal know if you will be participating in the hike. Contact her at terdalm@pdx.edu or phone 503-244-5714. --Marge Terdal Bridge Group counts the cards Sept. 13 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, Sept. 13. For further information, including the venue, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call by Friday, Sept. 9. --Colin Dunkeld Partners President Alan Rubin (center) presents the Distinguished Service Award to President Joseph Blumel (left) and Special Education Chair Keith Larson.
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