President highlights university accomplishments
University Day is a fall tradition at OSU, held in September to honor outstanding faculty and staff. In his remarks at this fall’s University Day, OSU President Paul Risser highlighted the university’s accomplishments. Some highlights include:

Competitive funding for research and scholarship continues to increase — OSU has a larger sponsored research program than all the other Oregon University System universities combined. OSU is ranked 57th among the top 100 universities in total funds awarded for research and development.

Every academic and professional program up for accreditation this past year was accredited, including the university itself. University Counseling and Psychological Services sought national accreditation for the first time and joined other OSU programs in reaching that goal.

OSU’s natural resources programs continued their high ranking by professional organizations: forestry, first or second in the country; oceanography and atmospheric science, fifth; agriculture,13th; ecology, 11th; range science, third; and fisheries and wildlife, fifth.

The Honors College enrolled a record 573 students last year. Honors College graduates had essentially a 100 percent placement in medical school and graduate school. OSU graduates overall are accepted into medical school at a rate of more than twice the national average.

The graphic design program in OSU’s department of art is considered the most outstanding in the Pacific Northwest and comparable to the best programs nationally. Graduates from OSU’s program enjoy a placement rate of more than 90 percent.

On the national Fundamentals of Engineering professional licensure examination, OSU engineering students passed the exam at 96 percent. The national average is 72 percent, putting OSU engineering students in the top 1 percent in the country.

More corporations and companies recruit graduating students from OSU than from any other public or private higher education institution in Oregon.

OSU’s forensics team captured its first team championship at the National Forensics Association championship tournament.

Faculty members of the OSU creative writing program in the English Department have won the Oregon Book Award for Fiction for three years in a row.

The Daily Barometer captured the top awards among student newspapers in the state.Plans finalized for campus hotel

After years of planning and countless delays, a new hotel planned on the southern edge of the OSU campus has cleared its final hurdle, and construction is planned for next spring.

A 68-foot-high bell tower, a gift to OSU from the family of the late H. Dean Papé, has been erected east of The Valley Library. The tower was dedicated to Papé, who graduated from OAC in 1942 and founded the Papé Group of companies.