Keep calm and continue hosting

FROM WHERE I SIT
Keep calm and continue hosting
OREGON STATER
Fall 2013, Vol. 98, No. 3
Publisher:
OSU Alumni Association
Kathy Bickel, executive director,
OSUAA; vice president for alumni
relations, OSU
Linda Hirneise, ’75, president of the
OSUAA
Editor:
Kevin Miller, ’78
Associate editors:
Class notes, history and traditions:
Ann Cassinelli Kinkley, ’77
Design: Teresa Hall, ’06
Photography: Dennis Wolverton, ’66,
’93
Sports: Kip Carlson
Designer: Andrew Galluzzo
STATER ADVERTISING AND
OSUAA SPONSORSHIP SALES
Ben Danley, ’94,
OSUAA marketing director
204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center
Corvallis, OR 97331-6303
541-737-2755
[email protected]
ADDRESS CHANGES, LETTERS,
OTHER STATER MATTERS
Send them to [email protected]
ONLINE
PDF and flip-page tablet versions at
www.osualum.com/stater
Copyright 2013 by the OSUAA,
204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center,
Corvallis, OR 97331-6303.
Oregon Stater (ISSN 0885-3258)
is a publication of the OSUAA. It appears
in fall, winter and spring.
Postage paid at Corvallis, OR 97333
and at additional mailing offices.
CONTACT OSUAA
877-OSTATER (877-678-2837)
[email protected]
www.osualum.com
Printed with ink containing soy at
Journal Graphics in Portland.
2
Every job has them, those “other duties not specified” they don’t tell you about during the
hiring courtship, maybe because they think you’ll run screaming from the room or because
they don’t think they’ll ever be desperate enough to ask you to do that.
Mine has its share. I have often found the results hilarious.
I’ve hosted an alumni whiskey tasting despite the fact that I retired from imbibing in 1987
(as a guaranteed first-ballot hall-of-famer, I might add). That went well except for the perplexed hostesses from the bourbon company, who wanted me to at least hold a tumbler of the
stuff so I could turn it and swirl it and pretend to be savoring it. I stuck with my Diet Pepsi
and that’s a good thing.
Several times I’ve gone on the road with our crew that hosts tailgaters at the Beavers’ away
football games. Once I carried — as luggage through LAX — a black plastic and canvas tube
that held the metal segments of a flagpole that flew our banner high above our tailgaters
so Beavers could find us. It had a nifty sling and was just about the size of the tube for a
shoulder-launched ground-to-air missile. Lugging it across an airport parking lot and into a
busy terminal proved to be a great way to make lots of new friends with badges.
I’ve also tried to charge a woman $1,011 for a shirt while using our portable credit card machine in bright sun, and once — while working the ballroom door at a home tailgater — I had
a kindly member of the OSU Alumni Association audit committee gently point out that as I
took money from our guests, it wasn’t actually making it into the cute little cash apron they’d
given me to wear. Bills were strewn around me on the floor; now I’m retired from that.
Earlier this summer, vacations and job changes affected our staffing here at the alumni association enough that it was bafflingly deemed prudent to send the editor of the Oregon Stater
north by himself to host an alumni picnic in the Seattle area.
Luckily for me and for any of you who attended, a trained squad of local volunteers was
on hand to keep me from doing anything catastrophic, and things came off pretty much as
planned except for my run-in with the woman who hated our signs.
My first hint at trouble came when I heard her yelling — in a simultaneously genteel and
crabby way — at our volunteer greeter. When you rely on volunteers in these situations as
much as I do, you feel protective of them, so I headed over to the registration table.
The woman said the directional signs we had posted to help people find our site in the
massive park were downright stupid. She asked me what made me think anyone from our
university would notice “those orange pieces of paper,” and suggested, by her very demeanor,
that the signage failure was but the tip of the iceberg of my picnic-hosting incompetence.
Her husband stood behind her and off to the side, and he kept quietly trying to tell her
something like “we came the wrong way,” but she silenced him with a chopping motion of her
hand.
Finally she told me there was no way she was paying for the lunch we were about to serve
— her loss because the burgers were great — and she huffed away toward their car.
It was a big, expensive car, and as I headed for my burger, I imagined her calling the OSU
Foundation to tell them she was reneging on her pledge of the largest gift in the history of
higher education philanthropy because the Stater editor was a doofus. Then I realized she was
headed back our way with something weighty in a fancy canvas bag.
I’m sure I outweighed her by at least 200 pounds, but I started to wonder how much force
would be justified to keep myself from being concussed by a tiny, elderly woman with a heavy
purse. Then she stopped short, pulled something out of her bag and thrust it at me, saying:
“We’ve come all this way. You might as well take this back and see if someone wants it.”
It was a massive book with the word “Makio” on the cover, which happens to be the name
of the yearbook at The Ohio State University.
She was mad because the signs should have been on scarlet paper. Her husband had been
saying they “came on the wrong day” because they were looking for a different OSU picnic. I
told her this was an Oregon State University event, and pointed toward several people wearing
shirts with Benny’s face or the word “Beavers” on them. I added (and I deserve extra politeness points for this) that she and her husband were welcome to join us, and I tried to tell
her that my new boss, Kathy Bickel, is from the scarlet and gray OSU (see page 36), but she
simply took the book back, told me she still thought our signs were ridiculous and went away.
That is what I call successful hosting. q
— Kevin Miller, ’78, editor
OREGON STATER
IN THIS ISSUE
16
CHANGES IN THE AIR
An aerial view of the campus building boom
20
ED RAY AT 10 YEARS
A look at how the state’s longest-tenured university
president made high aspirations cool again on campus.
30
GENERALLY GREAT GRADUATION
She is a history-making model of a modern major general,
and she put forth a challenge to the Class of 2013.
44
BEAR-STRONG MUTUAL AFFECTION
One of OSU’s greatest sports heroes is retiring, sort of,
as his impressive, harrowing, loving journey continues.
AND SO MUCH MORE ...
ON THE COVER:
FALL 2013
CHANGES FROM ABOVE — 16
BIG-CITY BEAVERS — 26
COMMENCEMENT 2013 — 30
BEAR-STRONG LOVE — 44
THE MAGAZINE OF THE OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
OREGON STATER
OSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
FALL 2013
26
FALL 2013
4 Letters, campus news: Happy almost-centenarian; President Ray
on the new governing board; the OSU Advantage gets results; we
Beavers have some good stuff to brag about.
10 Pop Quiz: Think you know movies? Grab your popcorn and your
pen.
12 More news: OSU loses two pioneers and one of its most devoted
and generous friends.
34 Campaign update: New chair, new trustees selected; donors push
the campaign toward its goal.
36 New OSUAA boss: The alumni association’s new executive director promises to be out and about.
38 Calendar, association news: Events and trips aplenty for Beavers
and friends; new alumni president and board members
42 Back in the Day: Whither the Beaver? Are college yearbooks
headed for extinction?
44 Sports: A year of conference champs; hoops teams get courts of
their own with a great view.
52 Class notes: New life members; Beavers to remember; five alumni
profiles
TAKING IT UP A NOTCH OR TWO
Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun, both class of 2007, carry
the skills and work ethic they learned at Oregon State
into the ultra-competitive environment of New York City.
PHOTO BY AARON WOJACK
Ed Ray:
10 years
of aiming
higher
Much has changed at OSU in
Edward J. Ray’s decade as its
president, but his biggest impact
is probably on the way Beaver
Nation thinks about itself. Story
on page 20.
PHOTO BY JAN SONNENMAIR
3
LETTERS
More and more good
I want to thank you for sending me your
most recent Stater. It is good to see the good
things multiplying into more good things.
One thing I would like to see is for colleges and universities to create courses on
the reading and studying of the Congressional Record on a steady basis.
I am now over 98 years of age and in July
2013 will be 99. I graduated OSU in 1950.
Thomas Youngblood, ’50
Creswell
P.S. I am happy I am still living.
Wrong coach
The spring Stater has a letter, “Coach played
a key role,” by Dick Sherman, ’69.
I would like to correct and give credit
where it belongs. Mr. Sherman stated he attended OSU in
1964 when Dee Andros took the Beavers
to the Rose Bowl. True the Beavers played
Michigan in the January 1965 Rose Bowl,
but the head coach was Tommy Prothro,
not Dee Andros.
In fact Dee Andros, even with his great
Giant Killer team in ’67 and a very good
team in ’68, never took a Beaver team to
any bowl game. It was 35 years before OSU
went to another bowl.
Mark Buxton, ’74
Sandy
Editor’s note: We received multiple letters about
this error. Considering that the editor can often
hear the Beavers practicing on Prothro Field
from his office window, there’s no good excuse
for not catching this before publishing the letter. Our alumni correspondents deserve better
proofreading from their editor.
Yay, band supporter!
I appreciated the spring 2013 letter, “Boo,
Duck band,” in which some rather bushleague tactics by Oregon’s band were
criticized for typifying the stereotype given
to Duck fans.
As a band alum, it was encouraging to see
OSU faithful supporting our band, and explaining why the booing was not an issue of
a lack of class — at least on the part of OSU
fans. One small correction though: our band
is actually bigger — it was just crammed
into a much smaller space.
Ben Forgard, ’12
Portland
Board choice supported
Ed Ray made the right decision and he did it
in a proper way. Oregon State University will
have its own independent governing board.
4
As the land grant university of Oregon,
from its earliest days Oregon State has
served the people of Oregon throughout the
state and done it in direct ways more than
any other institution of higher education
within Oregon. At Extension offices in
every county, agricultural research and forest
research stations throughout the state, a
marine science center, a seafood laboratory,
a food innovation center, a campus in Bend
and more, Oregon State University faculty
and staff have worked closely with Oregonians everywhere.
Before making his decision to have an
independent board, or not to have one,
President Ray talked with people throughout
Oregon. Overwhelmingly, those he talked
to told him, yes, have an independent board,
but continue to be a team player; promote
collaboration and affiliations throughout
higher education.
Do it the Oregon State Way. All of
Oregon will benefit.
Sure, there will be problems the board will
have to face and it will cost money to have
an independent board, but the potential is
there to bring Oregon State University into
closer harmony with the people it serves
than ever before. If there’s a risk in having an
independent board, that’s a risk worth taking.
Nice job, President Ray.
John V. Byrne
Corvallis
Editor’s note: John V. Byrne was president of
OSU from 1984 until 1995. See letter from Pres.
Ray, next page.
Calling NROTC grads
I would like to inform interested alumni of a
remarkable groundswell project developing
at the OSU Navy ROTC Unit.
A group of alumni who earned commissions through the NROTC program at OSU
started organizing this spring with a goal of
helping former classmates connect and support the NROTC Unit.
More than 2,300 OSU graduates participated in the NROTC program and earned
commissions in the Navy or Marine Corps
since its beginning in 1946. We plan to
hold our first annual all-class tailgater at the
Naval Armory this fall before the Colorado
football game on September 28.
Interested readers can find more information about the tailgater at: nrotc.oregonstate.
edu or by contacting me at srsmith772@gmail.
com.
Stan Smith, ’72
Tigard
Engelbart remembered
I lived with Doug Engelbart, ’48, on campus
for two years. Over one billion of his “mice”
have been sold. He never received a penny.
It was very disheartening to read Doug’s
obituary in the New York Times. (See story,
page 12.)
His extensive list of honors such as the
$500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize was not a
surprise to me. His other extensive honors
are listed in Wikipedia. His diagnosis of Alzheimer’s was devastating for such a genius.
I met Doug in the fall of 1942. He graduated from Franklin High School in Portland
and came to Oregon State College. We lived
in Campus Club across the street from the
campus. There were about 20 of us, mostly
waiting to be drafted.
Doug was an electrical engineering major.
He was one of the most studious guys I had
ever met. He had to be.
I graduated in April 1944 and that was
the last time I saw him. He must have been
drafted in that summer and was lucky to
become a radar technician, a very new science at the time.
... Doug had one bad attribute; he was
smarter than most people.
Not many are still alive who had a close
relationship with Dr. Douglas Engelbart. I
am one of the lucky ones, but others made
millions from his inventions.
Phillip Leveque, ’47, ’49
Molalla
Send us letters
We love your letters. We might edit them for
clarity, brevity or factual accuracy. Please be
sure to include your current city of residence,
and a phone number at which you can be
reached in case we have questions. Email
to [email protected] or mail to Letters
to the Editor, Oregon Stater, OSUAA, 204
CH2M HILL Alumni Center, Corvallis,
OR 97331-6303.
Corrections
Our apologies for listing James K. Whittaker,
’71, Pilot Rock, as deceased in the spring
Stater. His record in the alumni database was
transposed with that of his father, James W.
Whittaker of Pilot Rock, who died in April.
The coach of Oregon State’s 1965 Rose
Bowl team was Tommy Prothro. A letter in
the spring Stater named the wrong coach for
that team. (See letter, “Wrong coach”.)
Report errors at [email protected] or
at Corrections, Oregon Stater, 204 CH2M
HILL Alumni Center, Corvallis, OR
97331-6303.
OREGON STATER
LETTERS
Letter from president
about new OSU board
Dear Members of the OSU Community:
In light of the passage of Oregon Senate
Bill 270, I am writing to inform you of my
decision in July regarding the creation of
an institutional board of trustees at Oregon
State University and to thank you for the
many comments and suggestions I received
over the past three months.
Your collective input and insights helped
me to determine that OSU should establish
its own independent institutional board to
help guide OSU’s mission to serve the state
and the needs of its citizens in a growing
global economy. I have confirmed this intent
with Gov. John Kitzhaber.
I have heard two clear and distinct
messages throughout my decision-making
process: First, given the adoption of SB 270,
OSU should have an institutional board and
should do so on the same timeline as the
University of Oregon and Portland State.
The second message surprised me a little
and pleased me a lot. People told me that
we should step up and do all that we can
to maintain a sense of a system in higher
education by promoting collaboration and
affiliations. Simply put, we must not let
Editor’s note: Oregon State’s board is to
include civic, business and education leaders,
including one student, one faculty member
and one university employee who is not from
the faculty. OSU’s president is to serve as an
ex-officio, non-voting member. Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s set of 14 nominees for the OSU
board includes four alumni and is subject to
Oregon Senate confirmation:
Mark B. Baldwin, OSU analyst programmer, Albany
Patricia “Patty” Bedient, ’75, Weyerhaeuser Co. chief financial officer and
executive vice president, Sammamish,
Wash.
Rani Borkar, Intel Corp. vice president
and general manager, Intel Architecture
Development Group, Portland
Darald “Darry” Callahan, ’64, retired
Chevron Chemical Co. president, San
Rafael, Calif.
Michele Longo Eder, coastal marine
and fisheries lawyer, Newport
Elson Floyd, Washington State University president, Pullman, Wash.
Orcilia Zúñiga Forbes, retired OSU
FALL 2013
down the people of Oregon just to make
the university better off. We view advancing Oregon’s future and attaining Oregon’s
40-40-20 educational achievement goals as
mission critical.
As many of you know, Oregon’s “4040-20 Goal” calls for 40 percent of adult
Oregonians to hold a bachelor’s or advanced
degree, 40 percent to have an associate’s
degree or a meaningful postsecondary
certificate, and all adult Oregonians to hold
a high school diploma or equivalent by the
year 2025.
Guided by our mission and values, we
are working closely with the governor as
he seeks leaders from across the state and
nation to serve as board members. I know
these new leaders will help guide us in this
important work.
For more information, please visit our
new institutional board website at
oregonstate.edu/leadership/trustees, where
you’ll find the latest information about the
board and its mission.
Edward J. Ray
President
Now there are
TWO ways
to fly through
Los Angeles!
Nonstop service
from the
Eugene Airport on
Allegiant Air and
American Airlines.
vice president, Portland
Paul Kelly Jr., retired Nike general
counsel, Portland
Brenda McComb, OSU Graduate
School dean, Philomath
Laura Naumes, ’81, Naumes Inc. fruit
company vice president, Medford
Patricia “Pat” Reser, ’60, Reser’s Fine
Foods, Inc. board chairwoman, Beaverton
Taylor Sarman, OSU political science
student from Union
Kirk Schueler, St. Charles Health
System chief administrative officer and
executive vice president, Bend
John Turner, retired Blue Mountain
Community College president, Pendleton
Said President Ray of the nominees:
“I am very appreciative of the time,
effort and consideration Gov. Kitzhaber
devoted to nominating 14 outstanding individuals from across the state and nation
to serve as board trustees. Each nominee
is an outstanding leader, and collectively
they will help guide OSU’s mission to
serve the state and the needs of its citizens
in a growing global economy.”
5
CAMPUS NEWS
OSU Advantage for companies, grads, OSU
OSU engineering graduate Brian Benson works as a product validation engineer at Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, making
sure the giant rigs’ real-world performance matches the company’s
claims and the customers’ expectations. PHOTO COURTESY DAIMLER
6
A partnership between OSU and Portland-based Daimler Trucks
North America is helping to develop more fuel-efficient 18-wheelers that emit fewer greenhouse gasses, and it’s also providing a great
example of how the university’s OSU Advantage program can work for
students and alumni.
Headed by Executive Associate Vice President for Research Ron
Adams, former dean of the College of Engineering, the program is
working on and off campus to show businesses how OSU’s research
enterprise can benefit them, and how the university can provide their
businesses with career-ready graduates whose skills match the companies’ needs.
“What I hear most about is real-world experience, and a demonstrated ability to solve real-world problems,” Adams said of his contacts
with corporations considering an investment in OSU research or an
increased effort to recruit OSU graduates. “Their number one interest
in working with Oregon State is access to talent.”
Enter Brian Benson, who earned a master’s in mechanical engineering in 2011. During his graduate studies in Corvallis he worked with
Daimler engineers while helping with the university’s contract research
on the Super Truck program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy
and Daimler.
The project yielded good results and a promising prototype of a
lighter, carbon-fiber chassis rail and an innovative design for cruise control, both intended to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Daimler
is working on the economics of bringing the innovations to market.
The partnership began in 2009 when Daimler contacted John Parmigiani, a research assistant professor and director of industry research
and Outreach in Oregon State’s School of Mechanical, Industrial and
Manufacturing Engineering, seeking ideas. Daimler is the leading commercial truck manufacturer in North America.
Benson’s work as a graduate researcher caught the eye of Daimler
engineers and he landed a job with the company after completing an
internship while writing his master’s thesis. He concentrates on overthe-road testing of Daimler trucks. He loves the work and he’s already
seeing another OSU connection.
“I’ve worked with students from OSU doing their MECOP (Multiple Engineering Co-op Program) internship,” he said.
That brings a smile to Adams’ face, because — while the start of
the OSU Advantage came mainly from a desire to land more privateindustry research contracts — helping companies connect with OSU’s
talented graduates and graduates-to-be is also key.
In the end, Adams noted, it all works together, as companies that
partner on OSU research also learn how to find talented OSU graduates to hire, and those Beavers in turn go out into the world and build
stronger connections back to the university. q
The OSU Advantage delivers bottom-line benefits for business through
access to career-ready graduates and world-class research. To discover what
OSU’s Venture Accelerator and the Industry Partnership Program can do
for your business, contact Ron Adams, Executive Associate Vice President for
Research, Oregon State University, A312 Kerr Administration, Corvallis OR
97331; [email protected]; oregonstate.edu/advantage; 541737-7722. A list of the first 13 enterprises selected for the Venture Accelerator
is on page 8.
OREGON STATER
CAMPUS NEWS
Cognitive decline with age normal but not inevitable, research shows
If you forget where you put your car keys and you can’t seem to remember things as well as you used to, the problem may well be with
the GluN2B subunits in your NMDA receptors.
And don’t be surprised if by tomorrow you can’t remember the
name of those darned subunits. They help you remember things, but
you’ve been losing them almost since the day you were born, and it’s
only going to get worse. An older adult may have only half as many
of them as a younger person.
Research on these biochemical processes in OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute is making it clear that cognitive decline with age is a
natural part of life, and scientists are tracking the problem down to
highly specific components of the brain. Separate from some more
serious problems like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, virtually
everyone loses memory-making and cognitive abilities as they age.
The process is well under way by the age of 40 and picks up speed
after that.
But it may not have to be that way.
“These are biological processes, and once we fully understand
what is going on, we may be able to slow or prevent it,” said Kathy
Magnusson, a neuroscientist in the OSU Department of Biomedical
Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, and professor in the Linus
Pauling Institute. “There may be ways to influence it with diet,
health habits, continued mental activity or even drugs.”
In recent research, supported by the National Institutes of Health,
OSU scientists used a genetic therapy in laboratory mice, in which
FALL 2013
a virus helped carry complementary DNA into appropriate cells and
restored some GluN2B subunits. Tests showed that it helped mice
improve their memory and cognitive ability.
The NMDA receptor has been known of for decades, Magnusson said. It plays a role in memory and learning but isn’t active all
the time — it takes a fairly strong stimulus of some type to turn it
on and allow you to remember something. The routine of getting
dressed in the morning is ignored and quickly lost to the fog of time,
but the day you had an auto accident earns a permanent etching in
your memory.
Within the NMDA receptor are various subunits, and Magnusson said that research keeps pointing back to the GluN2B subunit as
one of the most important. Infants and children have lots of them,
and as a result soak up memories and learn new things like little
sponges.
“You can still learn new things and make new memories when
you are older, but it’s not as easy,” Magnusson said. “Fewer messages
get through, fewer connections get made, and your brain has to
work harder.”
Until more specific help is available, she said, some of the best advice for maintaining cognitive function is to keep using your brain.
Break old habits, do things different ways. Get physical exercise,
maintain a good diet and ensure social interaction. Such activities
help keep these important subunits active and functioning.
7
CAMPUS NEWS
Not-so-small talk
More to share for not-so-bashful Beavers who want to brag a little
Steve Clark, ’75, vice president for university relations and marketing, has helped us produce another batch of talking points for Beavers and Beaver
supporters who want to spread the good word about Oregon State among their friends and acquaintances:
OSU-CASCADES GOOD TO GROW | $20 MILLION
OSU-Cascades in Bend is accelerating on its path to become a four-year
branch campus of OSU in 2015. The expansion received a major boost as the
2013 Oregon Legislature supported Gov. John Kitzhaber’s recommendation
to provide $16 million in bonds for the project. Meanwhile, Central Oregon
residents and others will have given $4 million in philanthropic support by the
end of 2013. The Bend campus is expected to have 3,000 to 5,000 students
by 2025.
TOP AG AND FORESTRY | 8TH IN THE WORLD
OSU has been named the world’s eighth best university for agriculture and
forestry by the widely read QS World University Rankings, which considered nearly 3,000 universities in 30 subject areas. This echoes national
recognition that Oregon State’s agriculture and forestry programs have long
received. The Journal of Forestry recently listed the College of Forestry as
the top university program of its kind in North America.
A LOT FOR THE MONEY | BEST BUY
For the second time in two years, Oregon State is among “Best Buy Schools”
named by Fiske Guide to Colleges. Fiske honored OSU as one of only three
“Best Buy” public or private colleges or universities in the Pacific Northwest
and 41 nationally. The guide ranks public and private schools throughout the
U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
STUDENT RACERS WORLD BEATERS | SMART & FAST
OSU’s Global Formula SAE car racing team in early August won an international competition held in Germany that attracted more than 115 student
teams from the best engineering universities around the world. The OSU
entry is a project partnership between Oregon State and Duale Hochschule
Baden-Wurttemberg-Ravensburg in Germany. Motorsport Magazine, which
covered the international competition, called the Oregon State win “an overwhelming victory.” OSU’s team, made up of mostly College of Engineering
students, has had a consistent run of success in Global Formula SAE racing.
SOLAR GRAND PRIX | BEST UNDER THE SUN
Oregon State students also know how to harness the sun and put its solar
power to work to get a car round a track. This summer an OSU team drove
its sleek solar vehicle, “The Phoenix,” to victory in the 2013 Formula Sun
Grand Prix competition in Austin, Texas. See story on page 11.
MORE ROOM TO LEARN | $125 MILLION
The campus is in the middle of a construction boom with major projects totaling about $125 million as OSU and its many supporters invest in educational
and research excellence, as well as athletic success, accessibility and
improved campus amenities. All told, nearly $300 million in construction work
will be completed over the next few years and will be funded by a combination of private giving through The Campaign for OSU, matching state funds,
student fees and bonding. See stories inside front cover and on page 16.
THIS GREEN LOOKS GOOD ON US | COOL SCHOOL
The Sierra Club’s new “Cool Schools” ranking lists Oregon State as the 11th
coolest university in the nation — and top in the Northwest — when it comes
to being environmentally responsible.
ACCELERATING INNOVATION | 13 FOR THE FUTURE
The Venture Accelerator, part of the OSU Advantage initiative, has named
the first 13 concepts or spinoff companies to participate in the program,
which is designed to spur the creation of new companies from universitybased research or from the ideas of students and faculty. They are:
Waste2Watergy – Commercializing OSU research on producing electricity
from wastewater while treating the wastewater.
Valliscor LLC – Low-cost, environmentally-benign manufacture of chemicals
for large-scale markets, using specialized continuous flow reactor
systems in place of large batch systems.
MOVE – Referring to “methane opportunities for vehicle energy,” this company seeks to create a car that runs on methane, can compress its own
fuel and can be refueled from a homeowner’s natural gas supply.
Macromolecular structure characterization – Work based on a patent
of a new way to solve protein structures that could transform biological
research.
Heating systems – Developing small and/or portable devices using microchannel arrays to heat air or water for residential or other uses.
8
Beet – Developing a solar cell device on patented absorber material that
allows high conversion efficiency.
Multicopter Northwest – Developing and selling small helicopters and
photographic systems to produce photos or video at an altitude up to
400 feet.
PlayPulse – Measuring physiological responses of video game users to help
producers understand user behavior.
InforeMed – Creating serious games for health care education.
BuyBott – A website to simplify shopping and enhance social interaction.
Bauer Labs LLC – Technology from the company includes a facilitator for
emergency caesarean delivery, a special challenge in rural hospitals.
FanTogether – Helping sports fans stay connected to their favorite teams
or individuals.
NRGindependence – Sustainable energy through battery systems with an
extended lifetime, improved reliability and decreased service costs.
For more on other aspects of the OSU Advantage, see story on page 6.
OREGON STATER
CAMPUS NEWS
BOOK NOT ES
Ava Helen Pauling: Partner, Activist, Visionary
(OSU Press) by Mina Carson, OSU
associate professor
of history. Carson
has published the
first biography of
the wife of Nobel
laureate Linus
Pauling, ’22, who
was an activist
for civil rights,
peace, feminism
and environmental
causes.
California Condors in the Pacific Northwest
(OSU Press) by Susan Haig, OSU courtesy
professor of wildlife ecology, and OSU
Ph.D. candidate
Jesse D’Elia. Haig
and D’Elia blend
science, culture
and natural history
to document the
condor’s history
in the region
and explore the
challenges of
reintroduction.
Confessions of
a Horseshoer
(University of North
Texas Press) by
Ron Tatum, ’56.
Tatum presents an
up-close view of his
experiences working
as a farrier for nearly
40 years while
balancing a job as a
college professor.
Ellie’s Log: Exploring
the Forest Where
the Great Tree Fell
(OSU Press) by
Judith Li, ’90, OSU
professor emeritus of
fisheries and wildlife.
Ellie’s Log, the first
children’s book
published by OSU
Press, tells the story
of two children exploring the H.J. Andrews
Experimental Forest in the Oregon Cascades.
FALL 2013
Ethical Adaptations to Climate Change:
Human Virtues of the Future (MIT Press)
edited by Allen
Thompson, OSU
assistant professor
of philosophy, and
Jeremy BendikKeyme. Essays
examine moral
issues raised by
climate change
and humanity’s
role in altering the
environment for
future generations.
The House of Order (Anaphora Literary
Press) by John
Paul Jaramillo, ’04.
This collection
of stories, set in
the Southwest,
was a finalist for a
2013 International
Latino Book
Award.
Living Land: the Gardens of Blasen Landscape
Architecture (ORO Editions) by Eric Blasen,
’84, Silvina Blasen and Hazel White.
This resource
for landscape
architects
and botanical
gardeners includes
photographs,
garden design
drawings and an
extensive plant list.
SAVOR
EDUCATION
Making Do in Damascus: Navigating
a Generation of Change in Family and
Work (Syracuse
University Press)
by Sally Gallagher,
OSU professor of
sociology. Based
on fieldwork that
spans nearly 20
years, Gallagher
portrays ordinary
family life in
Damascus, Syria.
The Barbless Hook (Keokee Co.) by Dennis
Dauble, ’72, ’88.
These stories, drawn
from a lifetime of
fishing experiences,
explore a range of
topics of interest to
anglers.
Beaver Classic™ cheese has a subtle, nutty
taste with creamy, buttery and caramelized
flavors. It is developed and produced by
Oregon State University food science
students.
Savor fine artisan cheese while supporting
our students and preparing them for careers
in the food and dairy industry.
Sample Beaver Classic at the CH2M HILL
Alumni Center prior to all home football
games.
Purchase Beaver Classic at
oregonstate.edu/main/cheese.
9
CAMPUS NEWS
LIGHTS, CAMERA, POP QUIZ!
So you think you know movies?
OSU film studies professor Jon Lewis has been
recognized internationally for innovative courses
and thorough examinations of the film industry
and has written books covering topics such as
censorship, teen culture and “The Godfather”
trilogy.
His most recent publication is a textbook, Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis.
Its e-reader version includes interviews Lewis conducted with film practitioners around the world as
well as clips from films.
Our Pop Quiz questions came from the final
exam for Film 245, described in the class catalog
as “a formalist, ideological and commercial investigation into contemporary American cinema.”
Teaching assistant Bill Fech, who received his
master’s degree from OSU’s School of Writing,
Literature and Film in 2013, helped. The questions
cover key concepts, people or events in American
film history from 1972 to 2013.
Q U E S T I O N S
1. “Talk is cheap. Action is expensive.” What does this credo mean when applied to a director or period?
2. Explain playability and marketability.
3. 1979/1980 was a crucial turning point in the American film industry. What three important events occurred during this
period? Why were they significant?
4. Much of Film 245 is concerned with how auteurism — the theory that the director’s creative style denotes authorship,
rather than the screenwriter’s — evolved in the Hollywood system. Explain where auteurism “goes” after the auteur renaissance of the 1970s.
5. The issue of masculinity features extensively in several films. What films enter into this discussion? How do they depict
masculinity?
6. Bonus question: (Try to be accurate and interesting, not just accurate.) In “The Hurt Locker,” what is the significance of
the scene set in the supermarket?
Answers on page 64
10
OREGON STATER
CAMPUS NEWS
Beavers’ solar racer takes
Formula Sun Grand Prix
In bright sun and 105-degree midsummer heat, the solar vehicle team from OSU drove
“The Phoenix” to victory in the 2013 Formula Sun Grand Prix competition in Austin, Texas
— 193 laps, or 661 miles, around the Circuit of the Americas raceway on nothing but solar
energy.
Eleven teams from across North America competed in late June in the closest Formula Sun
Grand Prix race in its 13-year history, a three-day race that featured 24 hours of racing time.
The OSU team was followed by Illinois State University with 192 laps and Iowa State
University with 191 laps in a cooperative format in which teams help other teams solve problems in the interest of helping all teams do as well as possible.
PHOTO COURTESY OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
“The Phoenix had several motor problems this year, but Missouri University of Science
and Technology generously lent their spare motor, and OSU was able to make it out on the
track,” said Jacob Hamar, a mechanical engineering major who co-captains the team.
More motor problems developed later in the race, but Northwestern University offered use
of the motor from its car that was unable to race for other reasons. In that cooperative spirit,
OSU team members helped many other teams create, install and test new solar modules,
repair brake systems, and identify battery protection concerns and other issues.
The OSU team also received the sportsmanship award for assistance to other teams. Last
year the team received the Spirit of the Race award for excellence in engineering, teamwork
and sportsmanship. The Beaver team plans to compete again next summer in the 2014
American Solar Challenge, which will include both track race and road race competition.
The team helps undergraduate and graduate students build skills in all aspects of solar
vehicle technology. Participation provides experiences in teamwork, engineering and business
project management. More details are available at groups.oregonstate.edu/solar. q
13ALA1013_2.2639x9.875_EMSL_Beavers_StaterMag_Ad_e3.indd
7/29/13 5:18
1 PM
FALL 2013
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CAMPUS NEWS
Bill Tebeau blazed a trail at OSU and in his profession
Bill Tebeau, who died on July 5, 2013, in
Salem, was known both as an engineer and
a social pioneer. But those who knew him
well most often mention the humility and
kindness of the first African American man
to graduate from Oregon State.
(Oregon State’s first African American
graduate was Carrie Halsell Ward, who
graduated in 1926; Halsell Hall is named in
her honor.)
Born in Baker City, Tebeau graduated in
1948 with a bachelor of science in chemical
engineering. A feature story in the December 2003 Oregon Stater recounted how
he faced discriminatory housing rules in
Corvallis but was not deterred.
Upon graduation, he found no jobs for
an African American chemical engineer
in the Northwest, so he returned to Baker
City to study for a license as a civil engineer
while working as an engineering aide for
the Oregon State Highway Department
(later renamed the Oregon Department of
Transportation).
His 36-year career with ODOT included
construction, surveying, planning, hydraulics
and highway/bridge design, and leading the
planning division for several years before
retirement.
During this time he also taught at
Chemeketa Community College in Salem,
including courses in math, economics,
thermal dynamics, physics, chemistry and
engineering, continuing to teach for a total
of 45 years. He was named Teacher of the
Year in 1970 as well as Employee of the Year
by the Oregon State Employees Association
in 1971.
In 2008, Tebeau became the first recipient
of the Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers
Trailblazer Award.
He was an Eagle Scout and a member
of Alpha Phi Omega, the national college
fraternity for those who have been involved
in Boy Scouts.
Ron Adams, then OSU’s dean of engineering, presented Tebeau with a College of
Engineering Oregon Stater Award in 2010.
“The thing that I remember most about
him is how humble he was in receiving the
award,” said Adams, now executive associate
vice president for research at OSU. “And the
other thing I remember is the support he
got from his family.”
Tebeau is survived by his wife of 62 years,
Genevieve, seven children, 13 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and eight
great-great-grandchildren. q
Mouse inventor Doug Engelbart recalled across globe
An OSU alumnus who invented one of the most important devices
of the modern era — the computer mouse — yet received almost
nothing in return for decades, Doug Engelbart was remembered in
glowing terms as word spread of his death in California in July.
Engelbart received his electrical engineering degree from OSU in
1948.
At a 2002 campus conference, “Computers and Philosophy,” he enjoyed a
celebration of his accomplishments, with
world-renowned scholars — including
experts from MIT, Oxford and Stanford
— discussing his work. Oregon Gov. John
Kitzhaber proclaimed Jan. 24 of that year
as “Douglas C. Engelbart Day” in honor
of the man credited with inventing the
computer mouse, email, the concept of
windows on a computer screen, hypertext,
the pointer cursor and numerous other
innovations that revolutionized the way
people interact with computers.
Tributes to Engelbart appeared in major
newspapers around the world upon news of
his death.
He had described his inventive process
as “augmenting human intelligence” toward
the goal of “boosting collective IQ”.
“Collective IQ is a measure of how ef12
fectively a collection of people can concurrently develop, integrate
and apply its knowledge toward its mission,” the Douglas Engelbart
Institute states on its webpage.
He seldom benefited financially from his work because he was
thinking too far ahead of potential markets. By the time the commercial value of his ideas became evident, his copyright had usually
passed and others reaped the rewards of
taking his innovations into production.
After pursuing graduate degrees at
Stanford, he taught there before starting
his own lab and eventually founding The
Bootstrap Institute (now the Douglas
Engelbart Institute) with his daughter,
Christina Engelbart.
In 1968, Engelbart gave a live, 90-minute demonstration to a spellbound audience, showing for the first time how a
computer might be used to communicate
live with someone in a remote location.
That presentation, which can be found
on YouTube by searching for “The Mother
of All Demos,” shows an early version of
the computer mouse, video conferencing,
teleconferencing, word processing, collaborative real-time editing of copy with a
person at a different keyboard, and other
inventions. q
OREGON STATER
CAMPUS NEWS
University loses a dear and most generous friend
One of Oregon State’s most beloved and generous supporters, Joan
Austin, ’05(H), died June 5 in Newberg, where she lived with her
husband, Ken Austin, ’54, who survives her. They had been married
for nearly 60 years. She was 81.
Founders of A-dec, the world’s largest privately-owned dental
equipment manufacturing company, the Austins have been among
the state’s most generous philanthropists, centering their giving on
their hometown and on Ken Austin’s alma mater. While Joan Austin
was not an OSU graduate, the OSU Alumni Association made her a
true Beaver with its first Honorary Alumni Award in 2005.
Working always as a team, the couple demonstrated their devotion to OSU in many corners of the campus. They raised money
and/or gave major gifts to help build the LaSells Stewart Center,
home of the Austin Auditorium; to create the Austin Family Business Program; and to launch the Austin Entrepreneurship Program at the Weatherford Residential College building, which they
helped remodel and reopen. They helped get the CH2M HILL
Alumni Center built in 1997, and one year from now the new
100,000-square-foot home of the College of Business will be completed and will be named Austin Hall to recognize their lead gift.
Joan Austin served 26 years on the OSU Foundation Board of
Trustees and was one of the first two people chosen as Lifetime
Trustees. Off campus, she held the distinction of being the first woman to chair the board of directors for Associated Oregon Industries.
“Joan was a great lady who had a special way of connecting with
people,” said OSU President Ed Ray. “She was a very warm, approachable, and engaging person, and the Oregon State family will
truly miss her. Joan and Ken have been unbelievable supporters of
the university for many years. Our thoughts and prayers are with
Ken and the entire Austin family.”
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughter and
son — Loni Parrish, ’81, and Ken Austin III, ’76 — and their spouses — Scott Parrish, ’81, and Celia Strickland Austin, ’76 — and five
grandchildren. q
More nighttime heat waves seen
A study co-authored at OSU has revealed that heat waves are increasing in the western
portions of the Pacific Northwest, but not the kind most people envision, with scorching hot
days of temperatures reaching triple digits. These heat waves occur at night.
Researchers documented 15 examples of “nighttime heat waves” from 1901 through 2009,
and 10 of those have occurred since 1990. Five of them took place during a four-year period
from 2006-09. And since the study was accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied
Meteorology and Climatology, another nighttime heat wave took place at the end of June, the
authors point out.
“Most people are familiar with daytime heat waves, when the temperatures get into
the 100s and stay there for a few days,” said Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon
Climate Service at Oregon State University and a co-author on the study. “A nighttime heat
wave relates to how high the minimum temperature remains overnight.
“Daytime events are usually influenced by downslope warming over the Cascade Mountains, while nighttime heat waves seem to be triggered by humidity,” said Dello, who works
in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. “Elevated low-level moisture
at night tends to trap the heat in.”
In their study, Dello and co-authors Karin Bumbaco and Nicholas Bond from the University of Washington defined heat waves as three consecutive days of temperatures at the
warmest 1 percentile over the past century. Using that standard criterion, they documented
13 examples of daytime heat waves during the time period from 1901 to 2009.
A warming climate suggests the problem may worsen, studies suggest.
“If you look at nighttime temperatures in Oregon and compared them to say the Midwest, people there would laugh at the concept of a Pacific Northwest heat wave,” Dello said.
“However, people in the Midwest are acclimated to the heat while in the Northwest, they
are not. People in other regions of the country may also be more likely to have air conditioning in their homes.”
FALL 2013
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13
CAMPUS NEWS
Alumnus opens cultural door at Longhouse
Major improvements to OSU’s four main ethnic cultural
centers have shifted into high gear, with the new Native
American Longhouse Eena Haws open, a new Asian
and Pacific Cultural Center and a new Centro Cultural
César Chávez under construction, and renovation of the
Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center under way.
In the new longhouse, artist and teacher Shirod
Younker, a member of the Coquille Tribe and a 2001
liberal arts graduate, worked with his associate, Tony
Johnson of the Chinook Tribe, to create laser-cut steel
renderings of basketry patterns from the nine federally
recognized tribes in Oregon. They appear on a large
exterior door and on structural beams in the Great Hall.
Here is Younker’s guide to the patterns as they appear
on the door (seen below):
From the top, first design: Represents the Confederated Tribes of Coos,
Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. The design is from a large storage basket
that was made in the South Slough area, near the mouth of Coos Bay.
Second: Represents the Coquille Indian Tribe, from a design in the tribal flag,
which in turn originated from a basket owned by tribal elder.
Third: Represents the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. This design is very common among Sahaptin speaking basket weavers
of the plateau located in the central and northeast parts of Oregon, and was
inspired by a historic photo of a Umatilla woman wearing a basket hat.
Fourth: Represents the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The subtle,
slanted design is from one of the baskets in the Grand Ronde collection and
was made by a tribal member well known for making and selling baskets.
Fifth: Represents the Cow Creek Band of Indians. A tribal member selected
this design as a good representation of a basket from the band. The basket
from which it is inspired from had an open weave on its edges; the design
represents that.
Sixth: Represents the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. This design is
the tribal logo and is both historically and currently used on basket hats and
cooking baskets.
Seventh: Represents the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (comprised of
the Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute tribes). This design represents a fish gill
design and appears on multiple types of food storage bags used by the Wasco
people who lived along the Columbia River. These bags would be used to store
food such as dried fish, meat and roots and vegetables.
Eighth: Represents the Burns Paiute Indian Tribe. This design is actually two
designs combined and was suggested by the late Minerva Soucie (a basket
weaver) to represent her tribe. The diamond pattern would be prominent
on the bow of a cradle basket (used to wrap, soothe and protect babies while
carrying them) made for a female baby. The diagonal pattern would be on the
bow part of a cradle basket for a male baby.
Ninth (along bottom): Represents the Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc,
Yahooskin bands). From a design element in the tribal flag, typically called a
“quail’s plume” and commonly used in baskets from the region now known as
Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Tenth, along left side of door: Represents all other tribal people that attend
OSU. The design is from a lower Columbia River basket but is commonly used
elsewhere as well; it represents all people.
As for the patterns as they appear on the beams in the Great Hall of the new
Longhouse, Younker explains:
“If you stand in the center of the room and look at any specific basket
pattern, you will be looking in the direction of that tribe’s reservation or
ancestral homelands. This way any student coming from one of these tribes can
orient him- or herself to their tribal homeland.” q
Shirod Younker, ’01, discusses his artwork with visitors at the
dedication of the new Native American Longhouse in May.
PHOTO BY KEVIN MILLER
14
To read more about Younker and his work, see this fall’s inaugural issue of The
Leading Edge, the new magazine of OSU’s College of Liberal Arts. It appears as
an insert in the version of this Stater that is received by liberal arts alumni, and is
otherwise available online at osualum.com/stater, via a link on the left side of the
page.
OREGON STATER
CAMPUS NEWS
New science dean arrives with diverse, deep experience
Sastry Pantula, a statistics professor from North Carolina State University who since 2010 has served as director of the National Science
Foundation’s Division of Mathematical Sciences, is the new dean of
OSU’s College of Science.
Pantula succeeds interim dean Vince Remcho.
A fellow of the American Statistical Association, Pantula served
as president of that organization in 2010. He also is a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“Sastry Pantula has a distinguished career during which he consistently has demonstrated his ability to help develop outstanding
opportunities for undergraduate and graduate
students and collaborative research, as well as
build strong and diverse faculty,” said Sabah
Randhawa, OSU provost and executive vice
president.
“The College of Science, and Oregon State
University, will benefit from his excellent organizational and leadership skills.”
Pantula has bachelor’s and master’s degrees
from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata,
India, and a Ph.D. in statistics from Iowa State
University.
He has been on the NC State faculty since
1982. He headed the statistics department
there for eight years, and also directed the
university’s Institute of Statistics.
He worked with his dean and the college foundation to create
three $1 million endowments for distinguished professors, and also
has secured more than $7 million in funding from the National
Science Foundation and other agencies and industries to promote
graduate student training and mentorship.
His own research focuses on time series analysis and econometric
modeling, with a broad range of applications.
He has worked with the National Science Foundation, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
U.S. Bureau of Census on projects ranging from population estimates to detecting trends in global temperature.
As dean of OSU’s College of Science, Pantula
will provide leadership for some of OSU’s most
recognized disciplines, including nationally noted
programs in physics, ecosystem informatics, water
resources and environmental health science.
The college’s conservation biology program is
ranked best in the nation and two other departments — zoology and science education — have
been ranked in the top 10 by the Chronicle of Higher
Education.
The college includes eight departments — biology,
biochemistry & biophysics, chemistry, mathematics,
microbiology, physics, statistics and zoology — and
12 interdisciplinary programs.
CONGRATULATIONS
to the
OSU Women’s Giving Circle
Celebrating more than $500,000 in
grants to Oregon State University!
JOIN THE CIRCLE
Your support has benefited scores of OSU programs,
more, and vote next spring on how the pool
touching the lives of thousands of students. Thank you!
of funds will make a difference at OSU.
Become a member with a gift of $500 or
Learn more: campaignforosu.org/wgc
Kellie Parker
OSU Foundation | Annual Giving Programs
541-737-4691 | [email protected]
FALL 2013
15