OSU named state’s leading four-year research university

A new classification of the nation’s colleges and universities propels OSU ahead of other four-year universities in the state, by designating it an institution with “very high research activity.” OSU is the only doctoral-granting Oregon institution to receive the designation.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies University of Oregon as a university with “high research activity” and Portland State University as a “doctoral/research university,” which are the next two lower classifications. Oregon Health & Science University, as a medical campus, falls within Carnegie’s “special focus institution” category.

OSU conducted nearly $209 million in research projects in 2004-05 — more than 60 percent of the total research funding garnered by the entire Oregon University System campuses.

Carnegie’s new ratings take into account multiple factors in evaluating each institution’s research activity — a key reflection of both academic quality and faculty productivity.

“This new Carnegie classification recognizes years of hard work aimed at building OSU into the outstanding research university,” said OSU President Ed Ray.

The Carnegie Web site states that OSU is among 95 institutions to receive the “very high research activity” designation, joining such other Pac-10 institutions as Stanford, Berkeley and the University of Washington.

Research magazine debuts

The university’s first comprehensive research magazine, Terra, debuted in March. Produced by OSU’s University Advancement division, with support from the OSU Foundation, the 24-page magazine will appear three times a year. Copies are mailed to state legislators, educators, community leaders and other Oregon decision-makers. The magazine’s stories, as well as additional photos and chances to see and hear faculty and students talk about their work, are available on a Web site, oregonstate.edu/terra

Although more students are attending OSU than ever before, Greek membership is on the decline.

Of the 19,236 full time students at the university, 1,669 or about nine percent are members of fraternities and sororities. This is down from a membership of 3,101 in 1990-91, when student enrollment stood at 14,366.

A combination of factors, including a stereotypical “Animal House” perception of the Greek community, is to blame, said Bob Kerr, Greek Life coordinator.

He said the community needs to adjust its marketing strategies to a changing student population. Both Panhellenic and the Interfraternity Council are working on developing new recruiting techniques.

Although the numbers might be going down, he said, the quality of Greek life at OSU is going up. The community has won awards for overall improvement from the Western Regional Greek Conference, and individual chapters have won awards from their national chapters.

This fall the university lost one sorority, Alpha Xi Delta. Fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, however, has returned to campus after disbanding in 1999. Local fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon was featured in Time magazine as a fraternity redefining the Greek experience by adopting a Balanced Man Program that shifts emphasis from partying to activities that promote healthy living and self-respect. “As they do every week, the 90 members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Oregon State University file into their dining hall for a very different kind of frat party,” begins the Time magazine article, “Taming the Toga” (Feb. 20, 2006).

The article continues: “The rows of scrubbed and pressed young men sit down to eat under the watchful eye of the brother who is acting as manners chair. No swearing is permitted. Napkins on laps are required. Small bites are urged instead of gulps. Scofflaws must do penalty push-ups or pay a fine ...”

Similar programs have been adopted by other fraternities on campus, including Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s “True Gentlemen,” and Beta Theta Pi’s “Men of Principle.”

Based on such quality programming, Kerr said, he is optimistic about the future for the Greek system at OSU.

After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth’s North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century.

If that happens, Alaska may be in danger of losing one of its most stunning natural phenomena — the Northern Lights. They are triggered by the sun, fixed in position by the magnetic field and drift with the movement of the North Magnetic Pole.

But the surprisingly rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesn’t necessarily mean that our planet is going through a large-scale change that would result in the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, said Joseph Stoner, an assistant professor in OSU’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

“This may be part of a normal oscillation, and it will eventually migrate back toward Canada,” he said.

In research funded by the National Science Foundation, Stoner and his colleagues have examined the sediment record from several Arctic lakes. Using carbon dating and other technologies, the scientists can determine approximately when the sediments were deposited and track changes in the magnetic field.

Joseph Stoner

Tucked out of the way on the third floor of Moreland Hall, OSU’s English department may seem overshadowed by larger, more visible departments on campus. But the hard work of its students and faculty is paying off, as they continue to earn accolades and publishing success.

The most recent young alumni to receive recognition include Todd Pierce, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; Sarah Hentges, who developed a graduate thesis into a book; and Elissa Minor Rust, whose first published collection of stories is garnering national attention.

In winning the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Pierce, a 1993 graduate, has won one of the most important short fiction awards in the country. His short story collection, Newsworld, was chosen by the distinguished novelist Joan Didion from more than 300 entries nationwide. It will be published next year by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Pierce currently is an assistant professor of English at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.

Hentges, who earned an M.A. in English in 2001, has published a book titled, Pictures of Girlhood: Modern Female Adolescence on Film (see below). The book is an expansion of the thesis she wrote under the direction of English professor Jon Lewis. The OSU professor said he isn’t surprised at Hentges’ success, but with how early in her career it has come. She is in her third year of a doctoral program at Washington State University.

Rust, a 1997 graduate in English, published a collection of stories, The Prisoner Pear: Stories from the Lake, which has won good reviews from the New York Times Book Review, Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews (see below ). She began her book under the guidance of Marjorie Sandor, OSU assistant professor of English.

Poultry building renovated A 1913 campus structure, known as the Poultry Building, was recently renovated by the Corvallis firm Endex Engineering. It also was moved to the corner of 8th and Washington, next to the renovated 1907 Incubator House. The Poultry Building contains a studio apartment, two furnished corporate apartments and space for commercial use. It is the fourth-oldest university building still in existence. John V. Bennes was master architect for the original building.

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