October 2, 1997
"Thirty years from now, the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we first got the printed book."
The University of Oregon will survive, despite enormous challenges in front us, by transforming itself to meet the needs of a new Cyberage generation, President Dave Frohnmayer told faculty and staff at the University Assembly on Oct. 15.
In his annual state-of-the-university address, Frohnmayer launched a three-stage process in which he urged faculty and staff to employ "the Oregon Way" of using grass roots creativity to meet challenges from the bottom up.
The Provost's Office, which will lead the effort, will employ the University Senate and its various subcommittees to identify and define the most important issues facing the UO. The first step will be to gather and collate information about trends and prospects in enrollment, public support, new technology and educational quality, among others.
In the second step, university-wide groups of faculty, students and staff will generate the most effective, efficient and original responses to these challenges. In step three, the recommendations will be implemented on a priority basis.
The oft-quoted management expert Peter Drucker "is right to offer a wake-up call," but "is wrong in his specifics," Frohnmayer contended.
"University campuses will not be relics in 30 years," he added, but they will change in the next few decades, and some changes will be substantial.
Inescapable, unavoidable changes will happen due to diminishing resources, in part due to shrinking tax support; challenges to access and diversity; the move of information to Cyberspace; and conflicting expectations from various interest groups, Frohnmayer explained.
Frohnmayer underlined technology's ongoing effect on higher education.
In the past 18 months, more than 79 virtual universities have announced their formation on the Web. California is designing a virtual university that will offer on-line classes from nine UC campuses, 22 state universities, 106 community colleges and 164 independent colleges. In the West, 21 governors--including our own--are working on the WGA Virtual University.
"We know that a university campus is not a 'virtual' place, but a real one, where students learn life lessons as well as class lessons," President Frohnmayer said. "We know that education offered face-to-face and mind-to-mind is needed to feed the soul as well as the intellect."
"No virtual university can do that.
"We must cherish what is most valuable about our academy. We must use technology selectively and carefully to enhance those values.
"But we must also recognize that these developments in economy, demography, polity, technology and pedagogy pose important--in some people's views, epochal--challenges which we ignore only at our peril.
"We will continue to prosper in the next century. And we will find ways to do so in a manner congruent with the spirit of this place and our people.
"New faculty members particularly will be interested to know that we have a certain way of doing important things here that differs from most universities, a way of doing things that is written into the very stones and bricks of our buildings. In the 1970s, when it was applied to campus planning, it was called 'The Oregon Plan.'
"Of even greater salience is the manner in which we built our award-winning computer system for a fraction of the money spent by other campuses. It was done not by handing down edicts from a few administrators, but by gathering and coordinating the efforts of scores of individuals who were already seeking their own solutions....
"That is the Oregon way," Frohnmayer said, "and that is how we will create our own response, a uniquely Oregon response, to the challenges of the future."
The University of Oregon is one of the best bargains for students in the nation, according to a popular college guide for prospective students.
In its "Best Buys" list of 43 public and private schools in the 1998 edition of The Fiske Guide to Colleges, the UO is only one of three on the West Coast and only one of four schools west of the Mississippi River to make the list.
The Fiske Guide includes the editors' selection of public and private schools that "constitute the 'Best Buys'--where you can get the best possible education at the most reasonable cost," writes Edward B. Fiske, former New York Times education reporter who started the guide in 1982.
Despite rising tuition and decreasing state support, "there are still some bargains to be found in American higher education," he says. "Plenty of colleges have found ways to offer outstanding academics and still keep their price tags under control. We think we've uncovered the best of the lot."
The UO, the University of Washington and Evergreen State College are the only three West Coast schools (public or private) listed among the nation's schools offering "remarkable educational opportunities at a relatively modest cost." The University of Colorado is the only other school named in the West.
The Fiske Guide is in itself selective, providing in-depth essays on only 300 of more than 2,000 institutions surveyed each year. Its editors research a standard set of data from school administrators and a cross section of students who complete open-ended survey questions.
In essay questions on the University of Oregon, the surveyed students named architecture, music, molecular biology, business, chemistry, journalism and psychology as the UO's strongest programs. The students gave a four-star rating to the UO's quality of life and three stars each to academics and social life.
The intermittent difficulties affecting many campus e-mail users who have "@oregon" in their e-mail addresses since mid-September were associated with the software that controls the system, according to Bill Wiener, senior operations analyst at the Computing Center. New software, installed Oct. 12 on the Oregon server, was expected to remedy the problems.
UO Charitable Fund Drive departmental coordinators received their marching orders Oct. 9 from President Dave Frohnmayer who urged them to encourage their co-workers--to paraphrase this year's slogan--"not to give till it hurts, but until it feels good."
"As a university, we make a commitment--in fact, it is part of our mission statement--toward the enrichment of the lives of Oregonians," he said. "Our participation in this drive is a visible and practical means of doing just that--and of appealing to what we have in common, while also offering opportunity for choice in the funds and organizations that can be supported."
This year's UO drive, with a $140,000 target, will continue through Friday, Oct. 31, says campus chair Frances Dyke, Resource Management. Employees may give by payroll deduction or by cash donation to more than 60 agencies in seven federations.
For information, consult departmental coordinators or call campus coordinator Nancie Fadeley, 6-3013.
Requests for nearly all building and office keys will be processed within one working day, promises Stan Reeves, Public Safety director.
Such improved customer service, he says, is the result of moving the UO Lockshop in July to Facilities Services where its proximity to the Carpentry Shop allows for better coordination of cutting keys with installing doors and locks.
All customers still must send or bring their completed and signed key requests to OPS in Straub Hall. However, a procedural change associated with the move is expected to help customers avoid waiting in line.
The person designated in each department to prepare key forms now may link to an electronic key request form at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~pubsafe/. OPS will process the request and customers may pick up their keys by 1 p.m. the next working day.
Customers also may continue to hand-deliver standard key request forms to OPS, but they will need to return after 1 p.m. the next working day to pick up their keys.
In either case, Reeves advises calling OPS to verify keys are ready.
An after-hours drop box for key request forms now is available at the OPS entrance on East 15th. Keys requested on forms placed in the box after 4 p.m. will be ready for pick-up after two working days.
For information, call Reeves, 6-2912, or Tom Hicks, 6-1475.
User passes that offer access to two swimming pools, a fully equipped weight room, racquetball and tennis courts, gymnasiums and locker room/showers are now available for purchase from Recreation and Intramurals.
Faculty/staff passes, sold for fall only or for fall and winter terms, are available on individual and family plans. A budget payment schedule is available for two-term passes only.
"We will not sell year passes this fall as we don't know the status of our facilities during spring and summer terms, when construction on the new $18 million Recreation and Fitness Center is set to be underway," says Karla Rice, Physical Activity and Recreation Services director. "We will do our best to keep users posted about construction progress and to continue recreational opportunities and services."
For prices and other information, visit the RIM Office, 102 Esslinger, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays or call 6-4113.
Faculty looking for an opportunity to teach abroad for a term during the 1998-99 academic year must apply by Oct. 21 to the Northwest Council on Study Abroad (NICSA). Positions are available to teach in specific disciplines during fall or winter term in Angers, France; during fall, winter or spring terms in London, England, or Siena, Italy; and during fall term in Vienna, Austria. Faculty retain their UO salaries, and NICSA pays their round-trip transportation and provides an apartment at the overseas site. UO departments are reimbursed $5,000 (including OPE) when a faculty member teaches for NICSA. For information and application materials, call Tom Mills or Melanie Williams, International Education and Exchange, 6-3207.
If you're heading for Autzen Stadium Oct. 18 to cheer the Ducks as they take on the Utah Utes in a Homecoming matchup, take an LTD bus, ride your bike or walk if you can. Auto traffic in the Ferry Street Bridge corridor, particularly on Country Club Road, could be a real headache due to the ongoing construction. Currently, Country Club Road is restricted to one lane in each direction. From two hours before the 1 p.m. kick-off until two hours afterwards on game day, that road will be switched to two lanes of one-way traffic. For the latest information, call the city's traffic hotline, 984-8484.
Classified employees currently enrolled in the Bargaining Units Benefits Board (BUBB) copay insurance plan are especially encouraged to attend one of the two open enrollment meetings on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
Open to all classified staff, the briefings with BUBB staff members are set from 8:30-10 a.m. and from 10:30 a.m.-noon in the EMU Fir Room. Staff do not need to sign up in advance to attend either session.
As of Jan. 1, 1998, the BUBB copay plan will be replaced with a new BUBB point of service plan in Lane and several other counties. Classified employees also will be eligible to enroll in a new managed-care dental plan which includes coverage for orthodontic treatment.
The Oct. 21 meetings will give classified employees an opportunity to ask questions about these and other changes in benefits for the coming year.
No briefings are scheduled for academic employees. Their 1998 benefits package, managed by the State Employees' Benefit Board, includes several medical and short-term disability plan changes as well as rate changes for HMO, life insurance and long-term disability coverages.
All campus employees, faculty and classified, should receive their Open Enrollment information packets for 1998 by the middle of October. If you have not received a packet by Oct. 30, call Cindi Peterson at Human Resources, 6-2956.
Forms for all employees are due at Human Resources by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. Changes generally will be effective Jan. 1, 1998.
Open Enrollment information is available on the web at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~humanres/benindex.htm. Faculty and staff may access the Web at the Knight Library Information Technology Center and at the CC-EMU Microcomputing Lab.
Applications for faculty and student fellowships administered by the Oregon Humanities Center must be postmarked by Nov. 3. New this year is an OHC Summer Seminar and Fellowship for non-UO scholars who will participate in a four-week research fellowship with a visiting Danish professor of European cultural studies. OHC Graduate Research Fellowships are for UO students expected to complete their dissertations by the end of the 1998-99 academic year. Research and teaching fellowships for UO faculty are intended to foster humanistic study for one quarter in residence at the center and to invigorate teaching by supporting course development during the summer. Recipients of these OHC awards will be notified by Jan. 15, 1998. For applications and information, call 6-3934.
Six faculty have been selected Humanities Center Research Fellowships during 1997-98. They are Ian Duncan and Linda Kintz, both English and both for fall term; Laura Fair (fall), Julie Hessler (winter), and Barbara Welke (fall), all History; and Madonna Moss (winter), Anthropology. Alternates are Garrett Hongo (spring), Creative Writing; Nancy Tuana (winter), Philosophy; and Charles Lachman (fall), Art History.
Craig Hickman and Ken O'Connell, Fine Arts, are among the "Top 100 Producers of 1997," according to AV Video & Multimedia Producer magazine. Hickman was honored for his "Box in the Basement" project, while O'Connell was recognized for his "Alphaplanet" project. They and their work will be profiled in the magazine's November issue.
Emilio Hernandez Jr., High School Equivalency Program, has been appointed to the Oregon Board of Education. The second Hispanic person to serve on the board, he is vice chairman of the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs.
Karl Nestvold, Journalism and Communications, and Howard Lindstrom, Library, have been given the rank and title of professor and associate professor emeritus, respectively.
Diane LeResche is new director of the Mediation Program, succeeding Jacqueline Gibson who retired. LeResche holds a Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University.
Jeanne Maasch joined University Publications on Oct. 6 as a publications designer. She previously was in charge of publications for the Lundquist College of Business.
Don Dumond, Anthropology emeritus, is the author of The Machete and the Cross: Campesino Rebellion in Yucatan (University of Nebraska Press, 1997).
Kenneth Calhoon, Germanic Languages and Literatures, published "Emil Jannings, Fallstaff and the Spectacle of the Body Natural" in Modern German Quarterly (Vol. 58:1).
Wood and stone work by Tom Urban, EMU Craft Center coordinator, is on exhibit through Nov. 1 as part of a two-person show at the Alder Gallery, 55 W. Broadway, Eugene.
Regina Psaki, Romance Languages, published "The Sexualized Body in Dante and the Medieval Context" in Annali di storia dell'esegesi, 13/2 (1996).
Yoko McClain, East Asian Languages and Literatures emerita, is author of The Joy of Retirement: American Perceptions (in Japanese) (Tokyo: Kairyusha, September 1997). Her previous Japanese book, Soseki: Granddaughter's View (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1995), a literary criticism of her grandfather's novels, is now in its third printing.
John Lukacs, Anthropology, presented a paper, "Health, Climate and Culture in Prehistoric India: Conflicting Conclusions from Archaeology and Anthropology?" during the 14th International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held in July in Rome.
Nan Coppock-Bland, University Publications, led a discussion on "The Life of the Chapters" during the Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Sept. 25-28 in Chicago. Louise Bishop, English, who is vice president and president-elect of the UO chapter, joined chapter secretary Coppock-Bland in representing the university.
Tatyana Gorokhovskaya, Russian, died Oct. 1 in Eugene from injuries she suffered in a Sept. 27 car accident. A UO faculty member since earning a master's degree here in 1991, Gorokhovskaya, 50, was a popular instructor of Russian language students. In 1989, she received one of the UO's Graduate Teaching Fellow Awards for Excellence. A memorial service was held Oct. 5 on campus.
Jeffrey S. Luke, Planning, Public Policy and Management adjunct, died Oct. 14 in Eugene of cancer. A member of the UO faculty since 1986, Luke, 46, held bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and specialized in public management, strategic planning and organizational behavior. Memorial service arrangements are pending.