New life for a campus landmark
A renovated Weatherford Hall reopens as a special home for young entrepreneurs

Weatherford Hall reopened this fall after a $20 million renovation, transforming the 76-year-old building into a specially designed home for nearly 300 students in OSU’s Austin Entrepreneurship Program. What makes Weatherford unique is its complete focus on entrepreneurship — from the students, to live-in faculty, to in-hall lectures by visiting industry leaders, to the special “incubator” rooms where students can design and develop their own businesses.

The Austin Entrepreneurship Program (AEP) is a joint venture between the university’s College of Business, College of Engineering and University Housing & Dining Services. Its name comes from engineering alumnus Ken Austin, ’54, and his wife, Joan, owners of A-Dec, a leading dental equipment company, who provided the lead gift for renovating Weatherford Hall.

For the past decade, Weatherford Hall has been vacant, the victim of aging plumbing and wiring and general dilapidation. It had become something of a poster child for deferred maintenance issues on campus. It is always easier to raise money for new buildings than to repair old ones. But tearing down Weatherford, one of OSU’s most stately buildings, wasn’t really an option.

	Weatherford students Aaron Moore and Garrett Rysko demonstrate an innovative Heli Development Project.
	Former OSU President Paul Risser visits with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski during the grand opening of Weatherford Hall.

That’s when the entrepreneurial spirit kicked in.

“We thought, why not create a brand new building, inside the older shell, that complements the innovative vision and goals of an academic program,” said Tom Scheuermann, director of OSU’s University Housing & Dining Services. “Many of the features in Weatherford are designed especially for the entrepreneurial focus of the student residents and AEP faculty.”

The incubator rooms are among the most intriguing features of Weatherford. They are designed to serve as workshops for developing new inventions, innovations or business ideas.

The fifth floor has an entrepreneurship library, open 24 hours a day. On the ground floor is the apartment of Justin Craig, a faculty member in OSU’s College of Business, who serves as faculty-member-in-residence for the program. Another feature is Bing’s Cafe, named after OSU alumnus and donor Bernie “Bing” Newcomb, ’65, the co-founder of E-Trade.

And there are two suites for visiting entrepreneurs, executives and scholars. Within weeks after announcing the program, more than two dozen successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists had signed up for the program. Many will visit Weatherford overnight or for a weekend, give lectures in the hall, meet with students and provide entrepreneurship mentoring.

AEP students come from majors across OSU’s broad spectrum. Business and engineering students lead the way, but Weatherford has numerous science, liberal arts, health and human sciences, and other majors. That mix of students — from different backgrounds and majors, yet linked by entrepreneurship — is what makes Weatherford unique, said Ilene Kleinsorge, dean of OSU’s College of Business.

Ron Adams, dean of OSU’s College of Engineering, said the collaborative Austin Entrepreneurship Program and Weatherford Hall may soon give a boost to the state’s economy.

“The real benefit will come a few years down the road, when students begin spinning off companies that create new jobs here in Oregon and beyond,” Adams said. “Remember, Michael Dell (Dell Computers) started his company in a dorm room and look where he is today.”

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Large Fulbright contingent
Five OSU faculty members have received grants from the Fulbright Scholar Program to travel abroad for teaching and research during the 2004-05 year. Three other Fulbright scholars will visit OSU.

OSU Fulbright scholars include Morrie Craig, ’65, ’71, a professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, who will travel to the University of Tokyo in Japan; Pui Shing Ho, a professor and chair of OSU’s department of biochemistry and biophysics, who will be at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France; James A. Kennedy, an assistant professor of food science and technology, also will be in France, at Victor Segalen University in Bordeaux; Gregory Perry, a professor of agricultural and resource economics, will be at the University of Talca in Chile; and Richard E. Sapon-White, a librarian at OSU, will lecture at Charles University in Prague, the Czech Republic.

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Carrington named AAAS fellow
James Carrington, a professor of botany and plant pathology and director of the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The honor was awarded this year to 308 of the nation’s leading scientists. Carrington was recognized “for sustained innovative contributions to the fields of virology and plant biology.”

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Enrollment hits record highs

Beginning a new tradition, students walked to Gill Coliseum for New Student Orientation, foreshadowing a similar walk they will make at commencement.

Despite a slow down in growth, the one percent increase in enrollment at the OSU Corvallis campus has created a historic high number of students again this year. Enrollment is 19,159 this fall, up from 18,974 last year at the same time.

High tuition costs, which increased 11 percent to $5,319 per year at the Corvallis campus since last fall, as well as a reduction in financial-aid dollars from the state have made OSU a less affordable choice for many students.

Another reason for the decline in the rate of growth is attributed to the drop in international students, down 11 percent this year as a result of the post-Sept. 11 restrictions on foreign students entering the United States, and the higher out-of-state tuition costs.

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Ohio State leader tapped as VP for research
John M. Cassady, a leading cancer researcher and former pharmacy dean at The Ohio State University, has been named vice president for research. He will begin his new duties on March 1.

Cassady will be Oregon State’s first vice president for research in several years. OSU’s growing research enterprise pulled in a record $177 million in funding last year, and President Ed Ray said Cassady can help faculty colleagues leverage that success into even more future grants and appropriations.

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“Go Big” ad campaign highlights OSU opportunities
It’s bold. It’s edgy. And it’s probably unlike any OSU TV commercial you’ve seen.

OSU’s new advertising campaign “Go Big” is designed to wow prospective students and get the word out that amazing things are happening at the university, said John Russell, president of Leopold Ketel, the agency developing the campaign.

The TV spot features innovative music and design and highlights big opportunities — such as the chance to study the world’s biggest organism or track whales in the ocean — that people would be surprised to know are available at Oregon State

The new TV commercial aired during Oregon State’s PAC-10 football games this season and is also airing in Portland on programming targeted to teen audiences. A series of “Amazement” print ads is planned to follow, and inspirational banners have been installed along Jefferson Street on the Corvallis campus.

The campaign will reach beyond teen recruitment, as well. Campaigns are currently in the works for OSU’s Ecampus online degree program, for OSU-Cascades in Bend and for Oregon State’s Summer Session program. Over time, the university’s other colleges and departments will also incorporate elements of the campaign.

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Oregon State authors pen prize-winning books
Oregon Staters scored big wins in this year’s Oregon Book Award competition. Tracy Daugherty, professor of English, won his third Oregon Book Award — the Ken Kesey Award for the Novel — for Axeman’s Jazz, the story of a woman who returns to her childhood home.

Alumnus Scott Nadelson, ’00, won the H.L. Davis Award for his first book, Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories, a collection of linked stories.

Other alumni winning awards were Ellen Morris Bishop, ’78, ’83, who was presented the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction for In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History and Patricia Gallagher, ’79, who won the Walt Morey Award for Contributions to Children’s Literature.

In a separate literary contest, Marjorie Sandor, OSU associate professor of English, has been awarded the 2004 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime, a collection of stories.