Students centerpiece of OSU engineering campaign
By Steven Lont

The engineering campaign will provide scholarship funding to recruit more high-achieving students such as Presidential Scholars Dan Chong, left, and Paul Alappat.

As Oregon's economy moves from traditional strengths in agriculture and forestry to one that is dominated by the high-tech industry, Oregon State University is changing.

Incoming students are demanding a high-tech education, and OSU is responding by continually upgrading computer and information technology resources, applying technology to every field of study, and strengthening its programs in engineering. Now hundreds of individuals and many companies are stepping forward to assist this effort through a technology campaign to boost the College of Engineering - and the entire campus - to a higher level of excellence.

Ultimately, says Ronald Adams, dean of the College of Engineering, the technology campaign is all about students: "The investments from the campaign will enable OSU to deliver to its students an engineering education that is one of the nation's best. Our graduates will be in even higher demand, and they won't need to leave Oregon to receive a top-ranked degree."

In the past, the state hasn't had the capacity to prepare enough students for the very best high-tech jobs in Oregon. "The high-tech sector has grown about 1,000 percent during the last decade and now accounts for one-fifth of Oregon's gross state product," Adams says. "This means the demand for a high-tech educated work force is high."

He said that currently, more than 60 percent of high-tech workers must be recruited from out of state.

Last December, the Oregon Stater reported that Intel has had to recruit outside of Oregon to fill its engineering positions at its Hillsboro campus. In addition, the company reported last summer that it had 800 unfilled software professional positions.

Adams says a focus of the College of Engineering technology campaign will be to increase the capacity of its engineering programs to meet the needs of students and the state.

"The long-term goal is to double the number of engineers the college graduates," Adams says. He calls the effort "a service for Oregon."

As one of the components of the technology campaign, the OSU Foundation plans to build a $40.9 million endowment earmarked for graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships, ensuring that education is accessible and that OSU can offer competitive financial aid packages.

Paul Alappat, a junior in the department of electrical and computer engineering, typifies the high-achieving students that OSU would like to recruit. Alappat says he was seriously considering Carnegie Mellon until OSU offered him a Presidential Scholarship.

"The aid OSU offered was a very significant factor in my decision," he said. "It made the difference." He adds the scholarship component of the technology campaign is especially important because it will help recruit more of the very best students.

"Everyone that I've talked to about the campaign is excited about it. I wish it could have happened sooner, so I could have seen the benefits. But I'm glad that future classes will have the new opportunities that are being created."

Similarly, Dan Chong, a senior in the department of computer science, says that the Presidential Scholarship, along with the Multiple Engineering Cooperative Program, played a significant role in his decision to attend OSU.

"The two companies I did internships with, NEC eLUMANANT and UPS Aviation Technologies, contacted me afterward and gave me offers. And the money I earned helped with schooling and set me up for my career."

Chong says he plans to stay in Oregon because of the offers.

As the effort to boost the College of Engineering continues, even more high-achieving students, such as Chong and Alappat, will come to OSU and later become a vital part of the state's economy. Not only do future engineering students win, so does the state.

New endowed chair to memorialize Ava Helen Pauling By Steven Lont Ava Helen Pauling in 1922 at age 18

One of the world's great and often unrecognized peacemakers has recently been memorialized in a very special way.

The late Ava Helen Pauling, the wife of two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, has just been honored through an endowed chair at OSU's Linus Pauling Institute.

Balz Frei, director of the institute, said it was fitting to name the chair after Ava Helen Pauling "because she was of great importance to Linus Pauling, his scientific career, and his work opposing nuclear testing and promoting world peace. Pauling always felt she should have shared the Nobel Peace Prize with him. We are pleased to be able to honor her memory with this endowment."

The bulk of the funding for the chair was made possible by a donation that came as a complete surprise. In January 1998, a bank in Maine notified the OSU Foundation that a trust had been dissolved and that the Linus Pauling Institute would be receiving $1.2 million. The trust had been established by Orlo Williams, a small-town lawyer from Maine who once wrote the institute for health information he wished to pass on to a friend. The institute gladly sent him the requested information and a newsletter featuring the latest findings on nutrition research.

In the following years, Williams contributed a few hundred dollars annually to the institute. No one knew he had the desire or means to make such a large donation.

Balz Frei, who holds the Linus Pauling Institute Endowed Chair and Directorship, says the institute decided to set aside the unexpected gift as an endowed position.

"We decided the best use of the funds would be to recruit an additional faculty member to the institute, a scientist of outstanding reputation and stature among his or her peers," he said.

Over the next three years, thousands of other donations came in from friends and supporters around the country. This January, the institute was able to appoint Joseph Beckman, a world-renowned scientist and leading researcher of Lou Gehrig's disease and other degenerative diseases, to the Ava Helen Pauling Endowed Chair.

"Dr. Beckman will bring his outstanding reputation and research program to LPI and be an invaluable asset to the Institute," Frei said. "He will also substantially enhance the scientific reputation of OSU. We are very honored and excited that he has chosen to accept the chair and join the institute to build a strong research program in neurodegenerative diseases."

As an attorney, Orlo Williams knew the importance of correctly wording a bequest. Occasionally, well-meaning donors have used ambiguous language in their estate plans. A gift made to "the Forestry Department" might end up benefiting the State of Oregon instead of OSU's College of Forestry. There is, however, a simple way to ensure a gift will benefit the intended cause.

"Donors should always name the OSU Foundation as the beneficiary of all gifts to OSU, particularly if made as part of an estate plan," said Theresa Ridgway, a planned giving officer at the foundation. "Once donors pass away we no longer have the ability to ask them to clarify their intent, so it is important to use specific language when planning. We recommend that you or your legal adviser talk to a development officer who can provide or suggest language to meet your needs."

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor and the commitment of hundreds of contributors, OSU botanists and volunteers have received a significant boost in their efforts to create a comprehensive record of the flora of Oregon. The project will eventually produce a manual to identify all of the vascular plants in Oregon as well as create an electronic plant atlas.

Last October, an anonymous donor challenged supporters to raise $10,000 for the project - if so, the donor would contribute an additional $10,000.

Scott Sundberg, an OSU research assistant professor and coordinator of the project, sent a letter about the challenge to members of the Native Plant Society of Oregon and those receiving the Oregon Flora Project newsletter. By mid-November, the goal was met.

OSU assistant professor Scott Sundberg coordinates the Oregon Flora Project.

Pleased by the rapid response, the donor doubled the challenge to $20,000. "When I heard, I was delighted, overjoyed," Sundberg said. "It made me think about many aspects of the project we could initiate, thanks to the increased support."

As the momentum continued, hundreds of contributors stepped forward yet again, exceeding the additional challenge by more than $6,000. Sundberg says the drive, which brought in a total of $46,879, was an "enormous success" and that first-time donors accounted for half the contributions.

"The donations have charged up the Flora Project with new energy and excitement," he says. "Increased funding has made it possible for us to hire additional part-time staff. The vast majority of the project is being done by volunteers, so the addition of paid staff really speeds our progress."

To guide fieldwork for the atlas, project leaders have divided the state into 174 "blocks" of 576 square miles each. OSU researchers and numerous volunteers, including many members of the Native Plant Society of Oregon, have been systematically searching for and cataloging plants in each block and then have reported their findings back to Sundberg.

The atlas will have many applications, from amateur naturalists identifying plants on hikes, to botanists researching rare plants, to environmentalists and developers looking for ways to allow people and nature to coexist. Findings from the project already have moved some species to the state's rare plants list.

"It's important to know what plants are around us," Sundberg says. "For any study - biodiversity, ecology, surveys for endangered species - the manual is needed. In many cases, if you can't identify the plants of an area, you can't conduct an accurate study."

Since the last manual of this type was produced in 1961, more than 30 percent of Oregon's plant names have been changed by the botanical community, a consequence of rapid advances in taxonomic research.

The project has been under way for seven years and, depending on funding, may take 10 more to complete. For more information, please visit the project at www.oregonflora.org.

Oregon University System staff members Loren Stubbert, director of campus budget services, and Marilyn Lanier, deputy vice chancellor, briefed State Board of Higher Education members on the chancellor's decision regarding the new Central Oregon branch campus.

In an effort to strengthen OSU's proposal to manage a branch campus in Central Oregon and to deepen OSU's commitment to scholarship support for students in the Central Oregon area, the OSU Foundation unveiled a plan to provide $150,000 annually in scholarship funds for the new campus.

"The move the Foundation's Board of Governors made to support the scholarships was a powerful statement that really helped OSU's proposal," said Rebecca Cole, president and CEO of the OSU Foundation. "It showed that OSU and the OSU Foundation are serious about our commitment to scholarships and that we want to guarantee sustained access to higher education for all students."

The funds, which are the equivalent of a $3.5 million endowment, will provide as many as 60 scholarships of $2,500 each. University leaders plan to use the funds to recruit upper-division students and to provide stipends for graduate students at the new campus.

"This is a terrific commitment by the foundation that goes to the heart of the Oregon State University branch campus proposal - helping students achieve success," said OSU President Paul Risser. "It will no doubt be a tremendous asset in the recruitment of top students from Central Oregon for the new branch campus."

Cole points out that the scholarship plan is an extension of the foundation's mission to support the university. "A few years ago, President Risser made scholarships the top priority for the foundation," Cole said. "Now, more than $68 million of the foundation's assets are set aside for scholarships and that number continues to grow as we raise more support for students." Many of these resources are held in several hundred named scholarship funds established by donors.

As OSU's plans take shape in Central Oregon, the OSU Foundation will continue to play an active role. Cole is working on a cooperative plan with the Central Oregon Community College Foundation to provide four years of scholarship support for students who transfer to the Central Oregon campus from Central Oregon Community College. The OSU Foundation is also developing a challenge grant to provide a special incentive for donors to support the Central Oregon campus.

"OSU donors and alumni in Central Oregon are delighted about the new campus," Cole says. "Dr. Risser has received incredibly positive feedback."

Historically, Oregon State has had a major presence in Central Oregon, with the majority of college-bound seniors choosing OSU over other four-year institutions. OSU has more than 2,400 alumni in the region, and they have given more than $6.3 million in private gifts to programs at OSU.

By Steven Lont

For the past 20 years, Rick Bennett, '79, has been hiring OSU graduates. As president and owner of Corvallis Fitness Center in downtown Corvallis and Santiam Fitness Center in Lebanon, he has seen firsthand what graduates of the College of Health and Human Performance can offer.

"I have several OSU graduates on my management team," he says, "and I know, as a business owner, that my long-term success is determined by the people I surround myself with."

Bennett cites the quality of instruction in the college as a main reason he hires OSU graduates.

"The background from the curriculum and the support students receive from faculty is excellent. Former dean Tim White and now interim dean Jeff McCubbin have done a great job of keeping the program mainstream and cutting edge in theory and practice."

For fitness club owners, knowledge is a valuable tool that keeps members happy and healthy.

"Our consumers are more educated about health and fitness than they were twenty years ago," Bennett says. "This means a knowledgeable staff is even more important."

Kelly McGraw (left), shown with Corvallis Fitness Center manager Helen Bennett, '92, received a newly funded Corvallis Fitness Center scholarship.

He says that more and more seniors are joining his clubs and that his staff needs to know how to address the needs of people with osteoporosis, heart problems, and other age-related complications. He finds that knowledge in OSU graduates.

Now, as a way of showing his appreciation to OSU and to encourage the growth of the fitness profession, Bennett has established two scholarships for students with financial need in the College of Health and Human Performance who are majoring in exercise and sports science or health promotion and education.

Freshman Jennie Mieger knew she wanted to prepare for an advanced degree in physical or occupational therapy after taking her grandfather to see a physical therapist several times.

"His progress was unbelievable," Mieger said. "You'd see him light up - it gave him hope that he was alive." She says receiving the scholarship was an "awesome surprise" that has really helped.

Bennett's other scholar, freshman Kelly McGraw, was also surprised to be chosen as one of the recipients.

"I was amazed that I got it," she said, "and I really appreciate it. It gave me an extra push to come to OSU, and has helped me financially."

McGraw hopes to go to graduate school for a master's degree before working in the competitive field of health and fitness. "I'm exploring my options now," she says. "Besides working with athletes, I'm interested in exercise and health rehabilitation -getting injured people back on their feet."

Bennett is very pleased that he's been able to make a difference for students at OSU through the scholarships. In fact, he's so pleased that he's asking others to give as well.

"I've sent out letters encouraging other club owners to support fitness management programs," he says. "If they can support OSU, great, or if they can support a local college in their city or town, that's great too. The backbone of our industry is our staff - we need educated people."

OSU President Paul Risser, Jean Starker Roth and Les Risser

Jean Starker Roth, '42, was named the "Presidents Club Most Honored Member"
at the Presidents Club dinner in Corvallis last October. An active volunteer and generous donor to the university, she has been a member of the Presidents Club since 1975 and a trustee of the OSU Foundation since 1989. She has supported a wide range of programs including the Marine Mammal Research Program, athletics, 4-H, scholarships, the College of Home Economics and Education, and the College of Engineering. She has also served as chair of the College of Home Economics and Education Development Council.