College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
January 2006 Volume 1, Number 4

In This Issue:    

Celebrating Achievements

We begin the New Year celebrating our many achievements. As you read the articles in this issue you will recognize that, as Oregon's fastest growing university, our programs actively engage students, faculty and community, and are intended to ensure excellence, innovation and accessibility. This happens every day because of quality programs and talented faculty. Each month we highlight a few of our stories.

We are proud of our accomplishments, and we envision a future filled with exciting possiblities. At the same time, we face a funding challenge of enormous proportions. Alumni and friends, like you, help to make a difference.

Thank you!
Marvin A. Kaiser
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Alumni Connections in Qatar

In November 2005, Dean Kaiser traveled to Qatar to establish faculty and student exchanges between Portland State University and the University of Qatar. His mission also included recruiting new Qatari students for PSU.

Many high-ranking positions in Qatar are held by PSU graduates including the Minister of Justice, the Director of Qatar Gas and Water, the General Manager of the General Postal Corporation, and more than ten Qatari ambassadors around the world. After meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, Chase Untermeyer, and assisting a new PSU applicant, Dean Kaiser emphasized, "We are dedicated to increasing the number of students from the Gulf at PSU. We are here to assist any student applying to PSU."

Students First

New students who are the first in their families to attend college often are not sufficiently knowledgeable to identify and use the resources available to them to succeed at the university level. The Students First Mentoring Program, a new pilot program at Portland State, is helping over 70 first-generation students succeed at their college experience.

Sociology Professor Peter Collier directs the project, which connects new students to a range of campus resources and provides them with proven strategies for making the adjustment to university life easier. Collier says, "One group that has been shown to be at particular risk is first-generation students. Because PSU is an institution that is committed to helping its students succeed, there is a natural fit between the goals of the University and the focus of this project." Read more

CSE Promotes Science in Our Schools

The Center for Science Education (CSE), a dynamic part of CLAS since it was established in 1993, strives to enhance science teaching and learning through innovative education, research and community outreach programs. CSE community programs provide science and civic education outreach services to teachers and students at the K-12 level through four exciting programs.


   Dr. William Becker, Director CSE
  • Horizons Project, is an atmospheric science education project that engages middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate students in studying weather and air pollution in the Portland-Vancouver region.
  • Teachers in the Woods program, funded by the NSF, is a partnership between PSU, the Mt. Hood National Forest, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and 6 other national forests and parks throughout the Pacific Northwest, to provide continuing education to science teachers in junior and senior high schools.
  • NW Corps of Rediscovery is an extra-curricular program for local middle school students that blends science and history themes within the context of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
  • Intel Northwest Science Exposition's (Intel NWSE) is a state-wide competition for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair that has been held for 5th through 12th grade students every spring since 1984.
    • Read more


 

Contact Us

Email:
clas@lists.pdx.edu

Location:
491 Neuberger Hall
724 SW Harrison Street
Portland OR 97207

Mailing address:
PSU
P.O. Box 751
Portland OR 97207-0751

Telephone:
503-725-3514

Fax:
503-725-3693

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External Grants Elevate PSU

In little more than a decade, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) has grown its annual external grant income from $2 million to $13 million—an increase of about 650 percent. Most of these grants fund research in the sciences. Examples for the 2004-2005 academic year include,   Dr. Anna-Louise Reysenbach, biology, who has 12 research grants totaling $872,305;   Dr. Mark Sytsma, environmental sciences and resources, who has 31 research grants totaling $1,170,310; and   Dr. Jun Jiao, physics, who has 10 research grants totaling $838,066.

External grants also fund research in the social sciences and humanities. In fact, faculty throughout the college manage to raise, individually, numerous grants. Applied Linguistics, through the work of  Dr. Steve Reder, has secured $1.3 million in grants in 2004-05. In the social sciences, two examples for the same period include,  Dr. Matthew Carlson, sociology, who has six grants totaling $117,947; and  Dr. Leslie Hammer, psychology, who has three grants totaling $80,574.   Read More

The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Senator J. William Fulbright, is dedicated to strengthening global understanding and communication through educational exchanges involving more than 150 countries.

Five Fulbright Foreign Language teaching assistants will spend the 2005-2006 academic year at PSU: Musa Nushi (Iran), Anita Chaudhuri (India), Kara Abdurrahman (Turkey), Anisa Saleh Al Maskari (Oman), and Elena Igorevna Sukhina (Russia). In addition, Liliana Garcia, from Sonora, Mexico, taught Spanish language classes fall term through a Fulbright Teacher Exchange program. Her PSU counterpart, Manya Wubbold, taught Garcia's English classes in Mexico.

The Foreign Languages and Literatures department, chaired by Sandra Freels Rosengrant, offers instruction in 23 languages, more than any other university in Oregon.   Read More

Deborah Lipstadt Lecture: "History On Trial"

Dr. Deborah Lipstadt will discuss her book, "History on Trial: My Day In Court With David Irving," Monday, January 23, at 7 P.M. in the Columbia Falls Ballroom at University Place. The book tells the story of Lipstadt's libel trial in London against David Irving, who sued Lipstadt for calling him a Holocaust denier. The lecture is sponsored by PSU's Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies and the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; $10 general admission.  Read More

RSVP to Aaron Pearlman 503-725-8449 or pearlmana@pdx.edu

Contributions from new donors to any PSU academic scholarship will be matched by the James F and Marion L. Miller Foundation dollar for dollar through June 30, 2006. A total of $250,000 is available and will be matched to the same scholarship as the donor's gift.

PSU Telefund Drive
In the coming weeks, a PSU student will call to ask for your support of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Please take a moment to speak with the student and participate in the fund drive. No gift is too small; every gift counts.

Make your investment in a bright future by giving to a CLAS scholarship.
Thank you!

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