front section - OSU Alumni Association

fall 2008
movie magician n osu-cascades n student body builder
section
from where I sit
Poster child
OREGON STATER
Fall 2008 Vol. 93, No. 3
Publisher:
OSU Alumni Association
Jeff Todd, executive director
David Andersen, ’80, board president
Editor:
Kevin Miller, ’78
Associate editor:
Ann Cassinelli Kinkley, ’77
Associate editor and
director of photography:
Dennis Wolverton, ’66, ’93
History and traditions editor:
George P. Edmonston Jr.
Sports editor:
Kip Carlson
Contributing writer:
Patricia Filip, ’71
Design and layout:
Darrin Crescenzi, ’07
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Copyright 2008 by the
OSU Alumni Association,
Oregon State University,
204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center,
Corvallis, OR 97331-6303.
Oregon Stater (ISSN 0885-3258)
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appears three times a year in fall, winter and
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Postmaster:
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Oregon Stater is online at
www.osualum.com/stater
If you haven’t been back to Oregon tering my 32nd junior year, patiently
State in several years, you might not waiting for the Oregon University
System to approve a new major so I
know about the banners.
The vertical posters hang from could switch to it.
He made me be Barometer editor.
metal rods attached to lampposts and
other structures all over campus, and My budding passion for journalism
they feature mostly deserving people had yet to overcome my “just passing
through” approach to majors and powho make Oregon State what it is.
If you come to campus, don't stand tential careers. I was still thinking of
still for very long, lest somebody from becoming a highly paid, totally unsucthe office of university advancement cessful steelhead fisherman.
Then, in near darkness one evening,
come along and either hang a banner
right at the edge of the MU Quad, Lovell
from you or put your image on one.
Luanne Lawrence, OSU’s vice pres- ambushed me and said, “There you are!
ident for advancement, sees the banners Come with me. You’re applying to be
as a way to build pride and to remind editor!” He’s small but he can be pushy.
us that this place is really about people I relented and discovered something
useful that I might get paid to do.
who do important work very well.
Later, when I was barely months
Alas, some ingrates — myself included — have at times made fun of the from graduation, he stopped me from
banners. Maybe it’s jealousy, but I think quitting school and enlisting in the Navy,
it’s mostly because we Beavers are so which I was ready to do because I was
bored and because a recruiter told me I
uncomfortable with bragging.
That’s frustrating for Lawrence and might get to edit a newspaper on an airothers who want Oregon Staters to get craft carrier. For his brave and resolute
more credit for their accomplishments. action, the Navy owes him a medal.
He helped many other, more imIn an age of fierce competition for students, faculty and resources, we OSU pressive students over the years, but
people might be too good at hiding our just by getting me to graduate and land
a job he earned himself a banner. The
light under a basket.
The newest set of banners focuses folks in advancement agreed, but with
on mentors — mostly faculty members a catch: If he was going to be featured, I
who have changed the lives of their stu- had to be in the picture with him. This
dents. Each features a portrait of a men- was blackmail, and it’s why that’s me in
tor wearing a white shirt and a mentee the black shirt on Lovell's banner, which
“just happened” to get hung across the
wearing a black shirt.
Several months ago a call went out street from my office.
I think of it this way: He’s being
for nominees. I suggested Ron Lovell,
who taught in Oregon State’s now de- honored because he was a great teacher
funct technical journalism program and and remains an excellent mentor. Me?
became my advisor in 1976. He helped I’m just a poster child for haplessness
me and countless others find a passion who was lucky enough to stumble into
for journalism and turn it into a long, Ron Lovell’s office one day in 1976 and
rewarding career. I like to think of my- find my future. And by the way, Ron:
From here on out, I owe you nothing.
self as one of his biggest challenges.
Journalism was my fourth or fifth
— Kevin Miller, ’78, editor
major. I seemed to be moving away
from graduation. Somehow Lovell
saw a glimmer of talent and helped See the mentor banners at oregonstate.edu/
me get organized, or I might be en- about/mentors.
2
STAT E R
in this
section
issue
No, Harley Jessup doesn’t
work with all of his top
awards at his elbow, and he
doesn’t cover his office wall
with a visual scrapbook of
his life. He put them there
digitally at our request. (See
key to image and copyright
notices on page 21.)
Montage by Harley Jessup
16
Movie magician
Harley Jessup didn’t learn how to make rat-prepared ratatouille look good
on the big screen at OSU, but he learned enough to launch a career.
Cover story by Kevin Miller
30 Cascades classroom
Spectacular scenery and a strong outdoor recreation industry create natural opportunities
for programs at OSU-Cascades in Bend.
By Mark Floyd
26 Who are the next Beavers?
As the pool of potential students goes through big changes over the next few years, Oregon
State seeks to get better at managing its enrollment to meet its many missions.
By Kevin Miller
49 Great expectations
The Beaver football program has raised the bar of fan anticipation, and Coach Mike Riley
says he welcomes the added pressure to keep getting better.
By Kip Carlson
Fall 2008
Central Oregon’s stunning landscape,
including Sparks Lake and Mount
Bachelor, is part of the draw for many
students at OSU-Cascades. Photo by
Dennis Wolverton
Departments
04
06
10
12
35
42
44
49
56
Letters
OSU News
Ed Said
Pop Quiz
Giving Back
Back in the Day
Membership Matters
Sports
Class Notes
3
section
letters
Fight song fights on
I read Frank G. Sauer’s letter (Spring
2008). I was a trumpet player in both
the marching band for football games
— when OSC was referred to as “Zero
SC” — and the pep band for basketball
games from 1951-1955.
Fortunately, in the latter case,
(Coach) Slats (Gill) kept things interesting. The football coaches had job security so long as they could beat Oregon.
The OSC-UO game was referred goodnaturedly as the Benton-Lane County
championship, a misnomer as neither
team played any high school teams.
But back to the point of this note,
did our beloved fight song become a
casualty to some hostile action? I enjoy
your publication but note a dearth of
news about my classmates. Are any of
us left?
Leo Hageman, ‘55
El Paso, Texas
The editor responds: Not to worry. The fight
song is unchanged.
Beware of ballot measures
4
As a long time reader of the Stater, and
a member of the OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, I applaud the
Stater’s efforts to keep us informed of
the many successes OSU is experiencing. One matter that deserves attention
is the degree to which OSU is affected
by the decisions we all make at the
ballot box. This isn’t a matter of voting
for Republicans or Democrats — we
know that Beaver Believers come from
both sides of the aisle.
It is all about ballot measures. This
fall, Oregon voters will consider a dozen
of them. A number of these could profoundly affect OSU as well as the other
public universities in Oregon. For example, when we create mandates to spend
money on prisons, that amounts to a
choice to spend less on something else
— including our universities. Oregon already ranks as first in the nation on the
basis of how much of our state budget is
devoted to prisons. Yet we rank among
the bottom five on how much we spend
on higher education.
We also need to consider what happens when we cut revenues. It certainly
is in the interest of the top 10 percent of
Oregon taxpayers to make federal taxes
fully deductible on state income tax returns. But consider that it will also reduce state revenues by over $3.4 billion
over the next four years. For most tax
paying Oregonians, this measure will
do nothing but cut public services —
including support for OSU.
Everyone reading this letter knows
the value of higher education. The
systematic disinvestment in our higher
education system is against Oregon’s
future. The patchwork budget and
policy direction resulting from decades
of shortsighted ballot measures has left
us weaker. We need to turn that tide
and find ways to start re-investing and
thinking long term for Oregon (and
Oregon State’s) future.
I urge my fellow Beavers — and
Ducks — to fully consider the impacts
these measures will have on the broad
range of public services, including our
alma maters.
Pat Egan, ‘92
Lake Oswego, Ore.
Thanks for the clues
Much thanks goes to Oregon State for
giving clues — and to you for providing
more of them in the spring issue.
I received my Oregon Stater a couple days ago, but didn’t get a chance
to read through it until now. Early this
Friday morning on my ritualistic rush
out the door, I grabbed the new issue
off my coffee table and took off. After
I got to work, unloaded my purse, had
coffee, and booted up my computer —
not necessarily in that order — I cleared
off a spot on my desk and opened up
my Stater, from the back first. See, I
read magazines from back to front. (It’s
a long story and not the subject of this
essayette. ... It has to do with most ads
being loaded in the front.) Anyway, I
was immediately drawn to the love
letter story of Linus and Ava Helen.
Absolutely beautiful.
STAT E R
I stopped at page 12 and read about current “athletic” beaver with “Beavers”
the Linus stamp, thinking, “That’s the written below. When we used the block
guy who wrote the love letter ... wow, I O, did anyone complain about it not
gotta find out more about this.” Then to having the S and U? When we have the
the “Book notes.” I have a few passions “athletic” beaver logo on the side of our
in life, and topping the list are books football helmets, does anyone refer to us
and coffee. So I’m enamored with the as Beavers University?
While I did not like the design origrecommended books. I’m telling you, I
will probably buy all of them and have inally, it has grown on me. I was raised
watching numerous OSU athletic teams
them read in a week or two.
Then to the “From where I sit” compete. There was no continuity in
column in the front. ... Your expressions their uniform logos, fonts, and designs.
and recollections of similar sights and The new logo is a great, much-needed
change for the athletic department and
memories of mine brought a smile.
Your bank story made me shake the university.
I know and understand that I am
my head and sigh. My 18-year-old-son,
who graduates from high school this fairly new to the Oregon State alumni
month (and who has absolutely no idea community. However, those who don’t
what to do next), recently overdrew his agree with the OS logo, many of whom
bank account by about a few hundred are our older and much respected alumbucks. Yep. He thought his debit card ni, need to accept this change as a good
would just stop working if he didn’t thing. It will separate us from the other
have money in his account ... who needs OSUs and give us a sense of pride in
a check register when you’ll just be knowing there’s not another one like
denied access if the balance is too low, us around. There’s only one real OSU
right? Wrong, of course. And I had tried and that’s us, with the OS logo. It’s just
a logo.
my best to explain that to him.
Chris Coleman, ’04
He’s a believer now. He got a clue.
Portland, Ore.
He needs a few more clues, and bucks.
I should so send him to Corvallis for
some more of those clues. I got a few of Nice job but no Air Force
‘em there once myself. Thank you, and Great article, “Over There,” (Spring
go Beavs.
2008) by Ann Kinkley. My only disapRebekah J. Porter, ‘05 pointment was that there was not an Air
Helena, Ala. Force officer included.
Lt. Col. Boyd Yaden, ret., ’67
Clackamas, Ore.
People! It’s just a logo!
Over the past year I have heard and
read numerous complaints about Ore- Letters policy
gon State’s new “OS” logo. I don’t quite We love them. We might edit them for clarity,
understand what people are complain- brevity or factual accuracy. Please include
ing about. They often say, “How can your class year and current city of residence.
you take the U out of OSU? It’s just not E-mail them to [email protected] or
right.” I just want to say to that: “IT’S mail them to Letters, Oregon Stater, OSUAA,
JUST A LOGO AND ONLY A LOGO!” 204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center, Corvallis,
Just because the logo says OS doesn’t OR 97331-6303.
mean we still can’t refer to ourselves as
OSU. We are still Oregon State Univer- Corrections policy
sity, no matter what the logo says.
We want to know when we make a mistake.
In the past, we have had many lo- Please tell us of errors by e-mail at stater@
gos represent our university and its ath- oregonstate.edu or by mail at Corrections,
letic programs. Some of those include Oregon Stater, OSUAA, 204 CH2M HILL
an eight-sided orange block O and the Alumni Center, Corvallis, OR 97331-6303.
Fall 2008
5
osu news
section
OSU benefactor Martin Kelley dies at age 80
OSU lost one of its most generous and me for my career in civil engineering
dedicated supporters in June when construction,” Kelley said at the openMartin N. Kelley, namesake of The Kel- ing of the new building in 2005. He
ley Engineering Center, died of cancer at called the 146,000-square-foot, environmentally friendly structure “fantastic.
the age of 80 at home in Lake Oswego.
It’s hard for me to imagine
Kelley earned a bacheanything that could look any
lor’s degree in civil engineerbetter.”
ing from OSU in 1950, and
When Kelley retired from
then began a long career as
Kiewit in 1990, he and his
an engineer, rising to become
wife, Lora Laslett Kelley, ’49,
vice president and chief enstarted a charitable foundagineer at Kiewit Engineering
tion and he gave $5 million to
in Omaha, Neb. At Kiewit,
OSU, which was then the largone of the nation’s largest
Martin Kelley
est single gift to the university
construction firms, he helped
build major projects throughout the by an individual alumnus. Lora Kelley
died in 1993. They had five sons and one
world.
When he decided in 2000 to give daughter. He married Judith Carlson,
$20 million for a new engineering build- ’78, in 1994.
Kelley won many honors for his
ing at Oregon State, Kelley at first insisted that the gift be anonymous, but work and philanthropy, and was named
he changed his mind after OSU officials a lifetime Trustee of the OSU Foundaconvinced him that being named as a tion in March.
Born in New York City, he grew up
donor might encourage others to give.
“He launched the transformation of in Pasadena, Calif., one of three sons in
the College of Engineering,” said Ron a family where responsibility, independence, and hard work were stressed in
Adams, dean of the college.
“I always felt that the Oregon State a phrase he often heard his father say:
education did a good job of preparing “Fish, cut bait, or get off the dock.”
Book notes
n Ethel Merman: A Life (Viking) by Brian
Kellow, ’82. Kellow traces Merman’s
life from her childhood in New York
through the peak of her stardom.
n Food for the Soul: Traditional Jewish Wisdom for Healthy Eating (Gefen Publishing) by Chana Fresco Rubin, ’77. Rubin,
a registered dietitian, presents dietary
information and recipes geared toward
a Jewish lifestyle.
6
n The Complete Steelheader: Successful
Fly-Fishing Tactics (Stackpole Books)
by John Larison, ’07. Larison, a fishing
guide before attending Oregon State,
outlines techniques used by fly fishing
guides and provides suggestions for fly
patterns that will attract the most fish.
n Where’s Your Jesus Now? Examining
the Fear that Erodes our Faith (Zondervan/HarperCollins) by Karen Spears
Zacharias, ’79. The author looks at how
fear eclipses faith in difficult times and
demonstrates how to confront what one
fears most.
n With Grit and By Grace: Breaking Trails
in Law and Politics (OSU Press) by Betty
Roberts with Gail Wells, ’96. Portrayed is
the life of Betty Roberts, who rose from
Depression-era childhood to become a
candidate for governor and eventually
Oregon’s first woman Supreme Court
justice.
STAT E R
Once-banished students of Japanese ancestry get their degrees
Among the 4,365 people receiving 4,586
degrees at OSU’s 139th Commencement
in June were a group of former students
and their friends and descendants who
also received an apology.
Forty-two Oregon State students of
Japanese ancestry — including a Beaver
football player who was kept from playing in the 1942 Rose Bowl — were forced
to leave school during World War Two
after President Franklin Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066.
Most of the students and their families ended up in internment camps.
Many of the 42 students who had to
leave Oregon State have died. But several returned to campus for the ceremony
and family members represented others
— living and dead. As President Ed Ray
granted them honorary bachelor’s degrees, their student photos appeared on
Reser Stadium’s giant video screen and
the large crowd cheered and applauded.
“This is the commencement
ceremony that you should have had so Football player Jack Yoshihara was not allowed to play in the Rose Bowl. Photo by Jim Folts
many years ago,” Ray told them. “And
this is the opportunity for all of us to mencement. “Not just so that the schools because of fears the Japanese might attell you publicly how sorry we are for can honor (the detainees) but so that the tack if it were held in California.
Soon, Yoshihara’s family was sent to
entire state can.”
your pain.”
Those receiving honorary degrees an internment camp in Idaho.
Roosevelt’s order led to the roundThe ceremony was featured in a
up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese included: Noboru Endow, Raymond
heritage — 3,500 of whom were from Or- Hashitani (deceased), Roy Hashitani (de- lengthy report on the Public Broadcastegon — to one of 10 internment camps. ceased), Kate Iwasaki (deceased), Masao ing System’s “NewsHour” program,
The camps were overcrowded and pro- Kinoshita (deceased), Kay Kiyokawa, Si- broadcast July 29. A transcript and video
geo Kiyokawa (deceased), Kay Nakagiri, of the segment is available at www.pbs.
vided poor living conditions.
In May of 2007, Oregon Gov. Ted Ku- Tom Namba (deceased), Jack Nomi, Lena org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec08/
longoski signed Oregon House Bill 2823 Kageyama Omori (deceased), Tommy honorary_07-29.html. In it, Kay Nakagiri
into law, granting honorary college and Ouchida, Mabel Sadako Takashima (de- noted that he had been bitter about the
university degrees to former students of ceased), Masao Tamiyasu (deceased), Ed- experience for decades.
He said that even after the war, he
Japanese ancestry who were displaced ward Ko Yada (deceased), Jack Yoshihara
had
been treated with disrespect when
by the war. Two OSU students, Andy and Robert Yoshitomi.
Yoshihara, who attended pre-grad- he applied to return to his studies at OrKiyuna and Joel Fischer, ’08, played key
roles in the effort to get the bill written uation festivities wearing a letterman’s egon State.
After the ceremony, Nakagiri said
and passed, and state representatives jacket and sporting a Rose Bowl ring, was
the
day’s activities had brought him
an
end
on
the
Beaver
football
team,
but
Tina Kotek of Portland and Brian Clem,
he did not make the team’s Rose Bowl some healing.
’94, of Salem co-sponsored it.
“I appreciated the fact that the stu“I think that it’s really a great thing trip to play Duke. An early restriction on
that this became a law,” said Fischer, students of Japanese ancestry forced him dents applauded so long,“ he said. “I felt
who was a legislative aide to Kotek and to remain close to campus. The game that we were welcome and all that prejureceived his own degree at the OSU com- was played in North Carolina that year dice and suspicion was gone, finally.”
Fall 2008
7
osu news
section
Commentary: Higher education continues to lag in state funding
By Jock Mills
Following Oregon’s 2007 legislative
state rankings for community
session, higher education supporters
college and university
heard a lot from legislators on both sides
appropriations
of the aisle about how well Oregon’s
(per full-time student – 2005)
public universities had fared.
Indeed, thanks to Governor Ted
Kulongoski’s proposed budget and
subsequent actions taken by the House
1
Wyoming
$12,354
and Senate, for the first time in almost a
2
Alaska
$9,479
decade, the Oregon University System
3
New Jersey
$8,417
(OUS) saw a significant increase in fund4
North
Carolina
$7,893
ing over the previous biennium — $112
million (16 percent). When coupled with
5
Georgia
$7,808
$30 million in increased investments in
6
Nevada
$7,792
the “Shared Responsibility Model” which
7
New Mexico
$7,620
provides grants to low income students,
8
Connecticut
$7,608
Oregon’s public universities and the
9
Hawaii
$7,472
students who attend them looked like
10 Idaho
$6,840
they were on the road to recovery.
But that road is long and winding.
In 2005, the most recent year for which
national statistics are available, Oregon
41 South Dakota
$4,692
ranked 46th among the states in terms
42 Maryland
$4,556
of appropriations per public community
43 West Virginia
$4,536
college and university student.
44 North Dakota
$4,413
More telling are changes in how
45 Ohio
$4,365
Oregon’s legislature allots the money
46 Oregon
$4,060
it has. While this session’s increase in
47
Montana
$4,051
expenditures for higher education was
48 Colorado
$3,084
significant, it followed decades of disinvestment. Over the last 20 years, OUS
49 New Hampshire
$2,628
has dropped from a 15.1 percent share
50 Vermont
$2,330
of the state budget to a 6.4 percent share.
source: state higher education executive officers
For the current “banner year” for higher
education, the higher education share
Other voter initiatives, such as Meaincreased one tenth of one percent.
sure 11, passed in 1994 to mandate prison
Why the shrinkage of higher educa- terms for violent crimes, have limited the
tion’s piece of the pie? One of the most legislature’s ability to invest in higher
significant causes for the drop in state education. According to a recent study
support for higher education is the cost by the Pew Center on the States, Oregon
of voter-approved ballot measures. With ranks first in the nation in terms of the
the passage in 1990 of Ballot Measure 5, percentage of its budget spent on prisons
which limited property taxes, the major – 10.9 percent, compared to a national avresponsibility for funding K-12 educa- erage of 6.8 percent. Regardless of where
tion shifted from property taxes levied one stands on such measures — and Orby local school districts to state income egon voters face a dozen of them on the
taxes appropriated by the legislature. November 2008 ballot — there is no disIn 1990 K-12 comprised 25.8 percent of pute that their fiscal impact would affect
the state’s general fund budget. In the Oregon’s ability to fund its universities.
current biennium it’s 41.3 percent.
The trend has had a profound effect
TOP 10 STATES
BOTTOM 10 STATES
8
on students. When I started as OSU’s lobbyist in 2000, the state invested $5,303 in
every student who attended OSU, while
OSU in-state students paid $3,531 in
tuition and fees. The state picked up 60
percent of the classroom tab while each
student covered 40 percent.
Eight years later, the state’s investment has increased by a mere $83 per
student, with no adjustment for inflation.
In-state tuition has climbed by $2,665, for
a total tuition and fee bill of $6,196. Over
the past eight years students faced a
whopping 75 percent increase in tuition
and fees, and they are now responsible
for well more than half of the expense of
attending OSU. These figures do not include other costs such as books and room
and board, which have also climbed. Increased state investments in financial aid
have helped ease the burden, but they
come nowhere close to compensating for
higher tuition and fees.
While increased tuition has hit students and families directly, it has also
helped change the educational profile of
Oregon’s population. The average 25-to34-year-old Oregonian today has a lower
level of educational attainment than the
average 45-to-54-year-old. As a population, we are growing less educated in a
global economy that is increasingly reliant on an educated workforce, not to
mention the myriad of other benefits a
college education brings.
The road ahead is not only long and
winding — it’s rocky. The most recent
economic forecast for 2009-11 shows that
Oregon will likely lack the general fund
revenues to even maintain the current
level of state services. Other factors, such
as increased energy costs and the loss of
federal forest funds in local government
budgets, will create unprecedented fiscal
pressures for legislators.
If you’re an Oregon taxpayer and
voter, what can you do? First, carefully
consider whether a ballot measure creates unfunded mandates or cuts revenues. Both actions affect the state’s ability to invest in higher education. This fall
STAT E R
SHARE OF STATE GENERAL FUND APPROPRATIONS
total general fund (in billions)
$16
to the oregon university system
16%
$14
14%
$12
12%
$10
10%
$8
8%
$6
6%
$4
4%
$2
2%
$0
0%
87–89
89–91
biennium
91–93
93–95 95–97 97–99
99–01
01–03
ous percent of general fund
Oregon voters will consider 12 measures,
some of which will either reduce revenues or require that existing revenues be
spent on specific activities.
Second, meet your local legislator
and talk about your concerns. Without
increased investments in Oregon universities and in the students who attend
them, Oregon risks falling further behind. Over the last decade we have succeeded in importing many college graduates into Oregon, but we are failing our
own residents. A high school diploma is
no longer a ticket to a family wage job.
This doesn’t have to be “politics as
usual.” Democrats and Republicans may
not see eye to eye on how to get there,
but most legislators agree that investing in Oregon’s universities should be a
bipartisan priority.
Nevertheless, on one hand, many
legislators say that until the necessary
majority of their colleagues agrees to
increase taxes, they won’t have the revenues to invest in higher education. On
the other hand, many say that funding
for higher education should be drawn
from cuts in other programs.
03–05 05–07 07–09
oregon university system (ous) percentage
total general fund (in billions of dollars)
Are they both right? For those who
believe more taxes are needed to support
public services such as higher education,
it only makes sense to invest in universities, whose graduates and research produce sustainable economic growth that
creates a healthy tax base. For those who
believe state spending is at an appropriate level, it makes sense to invest more
in those programs that yield the highest
returns on investment, and our universities leverage more dollars per public
dollar invested than almost any publicly
supported enterprise in Oregon. q
Readers who are interested in finding
out more about how to get involved can
contact Jock Mills, Director of Government
Relations at OSU, at Jock.mills@oregonstate.
edu.
9
Fall 2008
section
osu
news
ed said
How is OSU President Ed Ray doing on his
“to do” list? One of the themes of his five
years in the university’s top job has been
the creation of a university-wide strategic
planning process that ultimately produces
to-do lists for pretty much everyone who
works or volunteers for Oregon State. For
this installment of “Ed Said,” we asked him
to look at his own list and reveal his most
and least accomplished items.
“When I first came here, it was July or August
of 2003, and I was asking about all kinds
of events, and people said, ‘Well, you have
to be at University Day in September and
give a speech,’ and I said, ‘Oh, what kind
of speech?’ and Tim White, who was the
provost at the time, looks at me and says,
‘A defining speech.’ (Ray laughs at the
memory.)
“In that speech, probably the most direct
message I gave the university community
was that we can’t realize our aspirations
for this place — and I had talked to
people about these aspirations and I knew
people here wanted to achieve incredible
things — and I said that we can’t realize
these aspirations on the backs of students
and their families. The university had just
implemented a 10 percent tuition increase
before I got here, and it was pretty clear
to me that, unconstrained, that wasn’t
sustainable. I had enough political sense to
realize that the political system wasn’t about
to let that become a regular occurrence ...
which is exactly what happened.
“Double-digit tuition increases ... that’s
just so incompatible with who we are. Our
aspirations involve providing opportunities
for people, so the notion that we could just
put it on the backs of students and families
was just not a sustainable strategy for us.
We had to do everything we could to grow
our own resources, and I said, ‘We have to
have the first comprehensive fundraising
campaign that this university has ever had.’
“People got that, but there was
skepticism. It wasn’t ‘Why?’ People were
smart enough to know that’s the way to
President Ed Ray speaks at OSU’s 2008
commencement. Photo by Jim Folts
bring money in, but apparently the university
had made a couple of forays into this area
before and they’d gotten dropped, so I was
faced with, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna have a
campaign. We’ll believe it when we see it.’
“During the first six months, whenever
I went around and talked to people they
always asked, ‘Are we really gong to have
a campaign?’ I got so tired of saying, ‘Yes,
we’re really going to have a campaign,’ that I
just started saying, ‘Well, yes, actually, we’re
already in the campaign,’ and they’d say,
‘How can that be? We didn’t hear anything
about it,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, it’s called the
quiet phase of the campaign, and that’s why
you haven’t heard anything about it.’ (He
laughs.) That first year, I was the only one
campaigning.
“That sort of convinced people we were
having a campaign ... and my sense now,
and we still have a lot of work to do, is that
our fundraising campaign — The Campaign
for OSU — is going extremely well. ... We’re
now at $430 million-plus in a campaign
that has three years to go to get us to $625
million. (See campaign update, page 39.)
That’s not a gimme; the money isn’t just
going to come in over the transom, but it
does give you a sense that we know what
we’re doing.
“So that’s something that was on my todo list where I think we’re off to an incredibly
successful start. We’ve got a plan, we’ve got
terrific people in key positions, wonderful
volunteers, and I think we’re on track.
“On the other side, I think something
I also said in the first speech I ever gave
here was that at Oregon State University,
we understand that our graduates are the
most important contribution we make to the
future, and I said we were only graduating
60 percent of our students (within six years
of enrolling) and only 80 percent were
persisting after the first year, and that was
just unacceptable. I don’t know of any
business that considers itself successful
that has a 60 percent non-failure rate on its
product.
“We’ve tried a number of things to
address this. We’ve added some new
initiatives ... but I think that inadvertently
we’ve paid too little attention to the support
services that students need outside of the
classroom. We’ve been inattentive to the
availability of academic advisors, career
counseling, and to other support services
that students need.
“So, in five years, we’ve barely moved
the needle at all on this. If you look at our
retention and graduation rates, we set a
five-year goal back in 2003 of a 65 percent
six-year graduation rate by now, and we’re
still only at 61 percent! We’ve moved a little
bit, and we’re not underperforming relative
to many other public universities, but relative
to our aspirations, we really need to move
those numbers.
“That’s going to be an area where we
really have to focus.”
Show your pride, help students with Beaver plates
10
Owners of some 6,175 licensed vehicles renewal time; they can switch whenevin Oregon aid OSU students by paying er they want by paying a slightly higher
fee. The OSU plates are not available as
a bit extra for Beaver license plates.
The plates, first offered in 1999, “vanity” plates, with customized combihave brought the university about nations of letters and numbers.
For more information, or to order
$415,000 to support scholarships. They
cost an extra $16 per year, or $32 at the your OSU license plates, go to:
www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/vetime of the standard two-year renewal.
Eager Beavers need not wait for hicle/platehied.shtml.
STAT E R
-PPLBUNF
*µNBCFBWFS
XFMMJµMM
CFEBNN
FE
No squirrels were harmed in the making of this ad.
4":
Bring your next tailgate party out to Spirit Mountain. Try the delicious
food at the Cedar Plank buffet, the largest buffet in Oregon.
Or check out one of our concerts in the new Event Center.
Great food, great entertainment, great everything!
The perfect place to celebrate the next big Beaver football victory.
SEASIDE
VANCOUVER
WASHINGTON
PORTLAND
99W
18
18
LINCOLN
CITY
GRAND
RONDE
22
SALEM
22
97
)JHIXBZs(SBOE3POEF0SFHPO
TQJSJUNPVOUBJO$0.
FLORENCE
EUGENE
BEND
20
101
97
osu news
section
=PH9F<L@=
TRADITION
K@GOQGMJ
PRIDE
O=9JL@=
COLORS!
COLORS
Why is it less rainy at the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend? Photo by Dennis Wolverton
We all make decisions based on the
weather. Where do you prefer to live
— where it’s hot and dry and brown, or
cool and wet and green? Do you need
your umbrella today? Will it rain on your
daughter’s wedding day?
We can’t do much about the weather,
but we can try to understand it a little bit
better.
Students from around the world can
master the basics of weather by taking
ATS 210, Introduction to the Atmospheric
Sciences, an OSU Extended Campus
(Ecampus) class offered online by the
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric
Sciences.
This issue’s Pop Quiz features
questions typical of the material research
associate Bill Tahnk covers in his online
instruction.
Answers are on page 60.
1. Why does the OSU campus in Corvallis
get an average of 40 inches of rain a year
while the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend,
just 100 miles to the east, receives only 11
inches?
2. What is the difference between an El
Niño event and a La Niña event?
3. Why do hurricanes dissipate so rapidly
once they move over land?
4. We know that hurricanes in the Northern
Hemisphere rotate counterclockwise.
Does the same rule apply to tornadoes?
5. Why does the ozone hole over Antarctica
persist year after year if the production and
use of the CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) that
are primarily responsible for it were banned
in the '90s?
A friendly Benny Jr. for kids
EVERY FRIDAY
STARTING AUG. 29
collegecolorsfridays.com
12
It turns out that Benny Beaver’s relentlessly fierce
countenance can be too much for infants, toddlers and
young children. So OSU marketers have launched a
new, friendlier but still mischievous-looking “Benny
Jr.” trademarked image, intended for use on kid-oriented gear and by OSU-sanctioned youth fan clubs.
It will start appearing on licensed merchandise this fall. Big Benny will not be affected,
except for maybe a prideful twinkle in his eye.
STAT E R
section
13
Fall 2008
section
osu
news
Crocodile Hunter’s family supports whale research
study endangered humpback whales.
Terri Irwin — whose work with her late
“Thanks to Terri’s generosity and
husband, Steve Irwin, and their daughenthusiastic interest in protecting threatter Bindi to protect wildlife made her an
ened wildlife around the world, we’ll be
international conservation figure — will
able to significantly expand the research
support two whale research trips led by
capacities of the OSU Marine Mammal
OSU researcher Bruce Mate.
Institute,” said Mate.
Steve Irwin was killed by a stingTerri Irwin grew up in Eugene and
ray in 2006. He was known around the
said she has always been a little afraid
world for his conservation work at the
of the ocean. She joked that she once
Irwins’ Australia Zoo and for his apsuggested that her husband rename his
pearances in television and films.
small ocean-going research boat from
“I am so proud to be developing a
“Croc One” to “For Sale.”
partnership with OSU for important reShe got to know Mate and his team
search to conserve whales,” Terri Irwin Bindi Irwin joined her mother Terri in announcing
her
family’s
gift
to
Oregon
State.
Photo
by
several months after her husband’s
said. “Steve was very passionate about
Karl Maasdam
death, when she asked Mate if he could
whales.”
A vocal opponent of harvesting ert all appeared with Mate and OSU make use of a research trip chartered by
whales, even for scientific purposes, she President Ed Ray at a June news confer- Steve Irwin before his death.
She recognized right away the
lauded the non-lethal methods used ence at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center.
by Mate and the OSU Marine Mammal She promised to spend about $250,000 passion and purpose in Mate’s whale
Institute. The donation will create the each on two trips by Mate and his re- research.
“He’s definitely to whales what
Steve Irwin Whale Research fund.
searchers to waters near American SaShe, her daughter and her son Rob- moa and Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, to Steve was to crocodiles,” Irwin said.
=
HELP US BUILD
=
A
ccomplish great things for
students, alumni and OSU
by joining the OSU Alumni
Association Legacy Builders.
Oregon Staters who make an
annual gift of $1,000 or more
to support the association are
recognized as Legacy Builders as
well as members of the OSU
Fund President’s Circle.
Make your gift
today!
For more information,
contact:
OSU Alumni Association
541-737-7857
[email protected]
www.osualum.com/legacy
14
STAT E R
section
15
Fall 2008