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Construction begins on campus hotel After more than a decade of planning, false starts and delays, construction is beginning on a Hilton Garden Inn hotel on the OSU campus that will thrust the university into the business of attracting major conferences. When the Hilton is completed in the fall of 2003, OSU will have one of the five largest on-campus conference complexes in the country, officials say. The construction of a "headquarter" hotel just across Western Boulevard from two major university meeting facilities — LaSells Stewart Center and the CH2M HILL Alumni Center — is seen as the final piece of the puzzle that will help OSU attract major academic and civic conferences to Oregon. Already nearly three-dozen conference organizers have called about reservations. "During the past few years we have had a handful of conferences at OSU, but the lack of a headquarter hotel really has hampered our ability to compete on a national level," Melanie Fahrenbruch, OSU’s director of conferences and special events, said. "When the Hilton is complete, it will give OSU an on-campus conference complex as impressive as that of any university in the country." When its new conference complex is complete, the university should be able to attract more of the national conferences run annually by academic professional organizations. And that will provide a direct benefit for Oregon State students, said OSU President Paul Risser. "This will give our undergraduate and graduate students more opportunities to participate in major professional conferences, significantly enriching their academic experience," Risser said.
Residence hall named for African-American student What’s new about the new School of Education? New might seem an unlikely description for a near-century old teacher training program housed in a 100-year-old building. Yet after rounds of budget cuts and a merger with the College of Home Economics during the 1990s, the School of Education is now receiving renewed emphasis and has been re-established as a separate entity on campus.
"This year OSU identified teacher education as one of its highest priorities and established the School of Education with Dr. Sam Stern as its dean," said OSU President Paul Risser. "Our new School of Education will offer multiple pathways toward teacher licensure and will provide particularly responsive continuing education programs." At the same time that the School of Education is rededicating itself to the mission of preparing teachers, counselors and educational leaders, work is under way to explore new possibilities for OSU’s Education Hall, originally dedicated in October 1902. During the week of Oct. 14, 2002, a series of events are scheduled to commemorate Education Hall’s 100-year anniversary and the emergence of the new School of Education. "It’s not every 100 year old that gets to be reborn," said Stern who talks enthusiastically about the building’s rededication this fall and even more enthusiastically about the academic changes ahead for the school. Perhaps the most significant change being planned is development of new programs for teacher training that will reach a larger number of students who wish to teach at elementary or secondary schools. Although OSU had trained thousands of teachers during the last century, about 10 years ago the school discontinued its undergraduate teacher licensure program. Instead it offered a graduate program leading to a Master of Arts in Teaching degree. The school now will begin to develop new experimental programs for undergraduate teacher licensure. "I would easily bet there are at least 500 students at OSU who wish to be in a program but can’t because the program we have is designed to accommodate a relative small number of graduates," said Stern. "A different program, but of high quality at the undergraduate level, would reach more of the people who want to be teachers and help Oregon’s schools." He said that many alumni remember a time when the School of Education prepared 1,000 new teachers a year. He hopes the emphasis on providing students with multiple pathways to earn a teaching license will enable OSU to quickly increase its number of elementary and secondary education graduates. Currently about 200 students a year earn elementary and secondary teaching licenses through OSU. There is a need for almost 4,000 new teachers every year in the state, said Stern, and it’s important for Oregon State to play a significant role in meeting that need. "This is a time when teaching and learning are incredibly important in Oregon and all around the country," he said. "Because OSU is the most comprehensive university in the state — with programs ranging from engineering to liberal arts — it is important to prepare teachers to represent its comprehensive programs." OSU’s new School of Education also includes the university’s College Student Services Administration program and the 4-H Youth Development program, which had previously been part of the College of Home Economics and Education. Stern said the School of Education will be able to provide creative opportunities for education students to work with students from these other programs. For example he said 4-H Youth Development programs has 55 faculty in every county in Oregon, who work with 7,000 volunteers who work with 70,000 youth both in and out of school in urban and rural areas. OSU’s School of Education also offers training in adult education, preparing professionals to work in business and industry in training and development or to teach in community colleges. In addition, OSU offers master’s and doctoral degrees in counselor education and the leading doctoral program on the West Coast in community college leadership. To learn more about the new School of Education visit its Web site at http://oregonstate.edu/education. OSU — Patricia Filip Dean leaves his mark on international education By Patricia Filip
Jack Van de Water has been involved with international programs at OSU for so long, he has found himself working with sons and daughters of former students. After more than 25 years of directing international education at the university, however, he is leaving his role as dean of international programs to assist the OSU-Cascades campus develop an international eco-tourism degree program and international agenda. He will continue to serve as assistant vice chancellor for international programs for the Oregon University System. Bart Thielges, former associate dean of forestry, will serve as interim dean, and a search is being launched for a permanent replacement. "Most people don’t realize it’s been a half-time job," Van de Water said of his position as dean of international programs at OSU. As he displays two separate business cards, he points out that his work at the system level isn’t as comprehensive as his responsibilities at the campus level. At OSU he has headed a staff and faculty of 70, written grants, developed scholarships, instituted new partnerships and worked with academic units to support their international priorities. "I arrived at OSU in 1976, never, ever expecting to stay in Oregon for all these years," he said. "OSU was by any measure a provincial university in 1976, defining itself as a traditional land-grant institution with a statewide mission." At that time there were three programs for students to study overseas. Now there are about 40. The number of international students and scholars also has increased. Van de Water is particularly proud of the strong network of programs and services that have been built for international studies and the fact that OSU’s international programs were picked out for commendation in the university’s recent accreditation report. "We’re certainly above the national average for both the number of students we have here from around the world and in the number of programs we have for sending out students," he said. Van de Water said OSU was nationally at the forefront in developing an international degree program, international internship program and international undergraduate research program. "These are programs we pioneered, developed, funded and implemented that put us on the map with regard to international programs," he said. He also points with pride to OSU’s International Cultural Services Program, which enables international students to receive some tuition support in exchange for serving as an educational and cultural resource for the university, the community and the region. What Van de Water will miss most is the diversity of the job and the interaction with the staff in the international office. In any given day, he and his colleagues dealt with students and scholars from different countries and programs, such as study abroad and English as a second language programs. They handled everything from negotiations with presidents of foreign universities to a student’s personal crisis. Van de Water said he has been disappointed in recent years in the decline in support for education at all levels. "Institutional funding continues to shrink," he said, "And so we have to fill in the gaps any way we can just to stay even." Funding struggles aside, Van de Water speaks with satisfaction about the progress made in international education since he arrived on campus in 1976. "Thousands of students and scholars from around the world have come to OSU and Corvallis; they have had an excellent experience, both on campus and in the community," he said. "OSU and Corvallis have earned a worldwide reputation for welcoming international students and scholars. And thousands of Oregonians have lived and studied abroad. I can’t help but think this makes a difference in the big picture of promoting improved understanding among peoples and cultures."
Vet college receives funds to expand The Legislative Emergency Board released $3.82 million in funds in April that had been approved in the last session of the Oregon legislature to allow the offering of the entire four-year professional program of veterinary medical education at OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Construction should begin in the spring of 2003 on the expansion of Magruder Hall to include a new small animal clinic, new library, and additional laboratory and instructional facilities. Construction will completed by spring 2004. Since its inception in the late 1970s, the college has had to send its students to Washington State University for small animal medical training. With the new funding and enlarged facility, OSU now will be able to provide that training. Alumni Fellows announced The OSU Alumni Association has announced the Alumni Fellows award winners for the year 2002. They are Jon DeVaan, ’85, senior vice president of the Microsoft TV Division; Duane C. McDougall, ’74, former president and chief executive officer of Willamette Industries; and Jeffrey D. Peace, ’73, vice president and general manager, Boeing 747 program. The Alumni Fellows will be honored during Homecoming week at a special ceremony on Friday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center. The December Oregon Stater will feature profiles of the Alumni Fellows. Rare species center moves to OSU OSU has assumed management of Oregon’s most comprehensive database of information on rare species after signing separate agreements with The Nature Conservancy and the Division of State Lands. The agreements facilitate a transfer of the data and staff of the Oregon Natural Heritage Program to OSU — a move authorized by the 2001 Oregon legislature. The university will operate the program’s "Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center," a major repository of information about the state’s rare species and habitats. The Division of State Lands will continue to oversee the state’s Register of Natural Heritage Resources and coordinate the Natural Heritage Advisory Council that recommends new sites for inclusion on the register. "This in many ways is a perfect marriage," said OSU President Paul Risser, who last year chaired a panel of scientists who produced the State of the Oregon Environment Report. "This more closely ties some of Oregon’s critical biological data to the scientific community, while at the same time advancing the coordination of scientific information and its accessibility to the public."
OSU leader in nuclear education program U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has named Oregon State University as a lead university for one of four consortia of universities across the country that will share $5.5 million in the first year as part of the administration’s newly unveiled Innovations in Nuclear Infrastructure and Education program. OSU and the University of California Davis will lead the Western Nuclear Science Alliance(WNSA), which also includes Washington State University, the University of California Berkeley, and six national laboratories. OSU activities will be led by the Radiation Center and the OSU department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics. The grant will be used to make new investments in OSU’s research reactor and nuclear engineering program and to establish strategic partnerships with regional universities, national laboratories and industry. Correction An article about Douglas Engelbart in the April 2002 issue of the Stater incorrectly stated that Engelbart grew up near Salem. He grew up in southeast Portland and attended Franklin High School. |
