November 20, 1997
The chatter of jackhammers, thuds of wrecking balls and rumble of heavy equipment fill the air as the campus undergoes a building boom unequaled since the $45.6 million science complex transformed the north central part of campus a decade ago.
New construction, renovation and expansion projects worth $73.2 million are underway or anticipated to begin during 1997-98 and subsequent years. Another $18.03 million worth of construction was completed or begun during 1996-97.
"Much of this flurry of construction probably can be attributed to the success of The Oregon Campaign, the university's $200 million capital campaign," says university architect Christopher Ramey. "Without that infusion of private funds, it is hard to see how anyone could have envisioned most of these projects happening."
Foremost among current projects is the $25 William W. Knight Law Center going up at East 15th and Agate. It is the centerpiece of a $36 million campus redevelopment project, funded by a combination of state bonds and private gifts, that is designed to expand and modernize core academic space.
Designed by Yost Grube Hall of Portland, the 140,000-square-foot structure will house the Law library, 565 instruction stations, 41 faculty offices and several administrative areas. Hoffman Construction Co. of Portland is the general contractor, and occupancy is set for January 1999.
The second stage of the redevelopment project is the $4 million renovation of the existing law center, Grayson Hall, for classroom and office use by Arts and Sciences and other departments. The existing 82,000-square-foot building will be modernized to provide additional classrooms supporting state-of-the-art instructional technology.
A $7 million addition to and remodel of Gilbert Hall for the Lundquist College of Business is the third stage of the campus redevelopment project. Intended to relieve pressure for general classroom space caused by an expected enrollment increase early in the next century, this project will add 40,000 square feet of new space and a total of approximately 900 classroom seats.
At the core of campus, the $4.65 million Erb Memorial Union Food Service and Recreation Center Improvements project has been underway since last summer. It involves remodeling the food service preparation and dining areas on the ground floor and renovating the recreation center and adding about 3,000 square feet for a new coffee house in the basement.
McBride/Seder of Portland are the project architects, and general contractor is Wildish Building Co. of Eugene. Completion is slated for August 1998.
Ramey, who heads University Planning, says the EMU Courtyard project at East 13th and University is potentially "the most visible and dramatic example of repair of a public place on our campus in recent memory."
Initiated to commemorate ASUO's 100th anniversary by 1996-97 ASUO President Matthew Scotten, the $385,000 project was designed by Cameron McCarthy Gilbert Landscape Architects of Eugene in conjunction with a large user group of students, staff and faculty. The project will include a plaza for large group gatherings with a raised "stage," and all areas will be accessible by gently sloping sidewalks.
Across the Willamette River, the $13.8 million Intercollegiate Athletic Facilities Improvements project is underway adjacent to the Casanova Athletic Center. Paid for by private funds, it includes the Ed Moshofsky Sports Center, an indoor practice facility for football, softball, soccer, track and golf, and outdoor natural grass practice and competition facilities for soccer and other sports.
The project, set for completion by March 1998, is designed by WBGS Architecture and Planning and is being built by Chamber Construction, both of Eugene.
Slated to begin this spring is the $18.4 million Recreation and Fitness Center--consisting of the renovation and expansion of Esslinger Hall and adjacent tennis courts and playing fields. Project designers are TBG Architects and Planners of Eugene, with Cannon Parkin of Los Angeles.
New construction will add about 49,000 square feet to accommodate indoor multipurpose courts, an indoor track, expanded weight and fitness facilities, a rock-climbing wall, and strength and fitness areas. Nearly 79,000 square feet will be remodeled or renovated, including the existing locker rooms, laundry areas, courts and multipurpose rooms.
New and remodeled areas are to be done by Fall 1999, while renovated spaces will be ready by Spring 2000.
In addition to these current major projects, Ramey says capital construction completed last year included:
Business Affairs starts make-over Dec. 8
For Suzi Creech, Dave Musgrove and their 56 Business Affairs coworkers, the campus building boom is landing right in the middle of their work space on the first floor of Oregon Hall.
For the next five months, Facilities Services and Telecommunication crews will tear out the 1970s-vintage office spaces that some have taken to calling "the Maze." In their place will go upgraded electrical and telecommunications systems and Americans with Disabilities Act-"Our objectives are to improve customer service, facilitate team coordination, create more efficient work space, streamline office traffic flow, provide ergonomic workstations and enhance office appearance," says Director Sherri McDowell. "As the university has grown and changed around us, we're modernizing our office so we're prepared to continue serving students and departments well into the 21st century."
First to come out will be the front counter which will be replaced with a more customer-friendly design at several heights that will be accessible to all. In later stages, Collections, Purchasing Support Services, General Accounting, Accounts Payable, Information Systems and the director's office will be re-organized along straightened aisles in the back of the office space.
Musgrove, who is coordinating the facelift for Business Affairs, says work will begin in the Cashiers and Payroll areas and then will progress through the office in seven phases of about two or three weeks each.
Creech, part of the 10-member Furniture and Space Committee chaired by Marlene Singer that helped plan the make-over, says a fact sheet handout, video and possibly a reader board explaining the project will be available to visitors in the Business Affairs lobby.
"Our employees also will get stress management training to help them to cope with the disruptions and changes in their workspaces during the project," she says.
Musgrove asks visitors to be patient and to "pardon our dust while we make Business Affairs a better place to work and to serve our customers. When we're finished, we'll have all of our customer service departments--Cashiers, National Direct Student Loan, Accounts Receivable and Payroll--grouped together right off the lobby so it will be easier for students and others to conduct their business with us."
Flu shots available at Health Center
The Student Health Center offers low-cost influenza vaccinations this fall for faculty, staff and students. From 8-9 a.m. each Wednesday through Friday, center staff gives shots for $4 apiece to faculty and staff. Students may get flu shots for $3.50 each from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. For information, call 6-4441.
More Oregon students choose UO
The University of Oregon enrolled 372 more Oregon students this fall, compared to fall 1996 and, despite a big drop in out-of-state enrollment, total fall head count--at 17,207--is just 62 fewer students, says Jim Buch, associate vice president for student academic affairs.
The UO's final enrollment figures this fall document a trend observed in college admissions offices across the West earlier this year, he explains.
"More students are choosing to stay closer to home to pursue their degrees."
California's reinvestment in higher education also started to pay off for that state with more of its residents choosing California schools. That showed up in UO enrollment figures this fall as out-of-state undergraduate enrollment declined, dropping from 4,899 students last fall to 4,352 this fall.
Although higher nonresident tuition fees helped the UO balance its budget in the past few lean years as state support declined, Buch adds, "the big increase this fall in Oregon students shows real confidence that we have done a good job in refocusing and strengthening our academic programs. It also looks like we are attracting more students interested in a rigorous academic program, as students have generally signed up for heavier class loads."
Because students are taking more classes, our faculty are seeing as many or more students in just as many classes as they did last year, he explains.
Buch says he also was pleased to see 78 more community members taking courses this fall, showing that UO efforts to respond better to the needs of working adults were successful. Enrollment in continuing education courses offered in the evening and weekends climbed to 701 non-admitted, part-time students this fall.
Education researchers get $3 million
Three Education researchers have received $3 million in federal grants to determine why so many promising new approaches to education work for awhile in a few model school programs, only to fade away soon after the initial research is done.
"We need to find out how successful innovations become part of the culture of schools instead of a curriculum add-on that is easy to abandon once the research projects end," says Mike Benz, Secondary Special Education and lead researcher on Project SUSTAIN: Strategies for Understanding and Sustaining Educational Innovations.
Project SUSTAIN will receive $1 million from the U.S. Department of Education for a four-year study of how to replicate Oregon's Youth Transition Program in other states. Developed at Education, the program has helped hundreds of disabled youths succeed at jobs after they graduate from high school.
A $1 million grant to the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will support a five-year study. The project, headed by Hill Walker, will look at how to adapt the early development phase of the First Steps program for younger children enrolled in Head Start centers in rural, suburban and urban sites in Oregon. UO education researchers developed First Steps to prevent violent behavior among very young children. The study will be designed to assure that recruitment and assessment procedures are appropriate for all families, including African Americans, European Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans.
The U.S. Education Department gave the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators $1 million for the Beacon School Project to identify schools that produce unexpectedly high levels of achievement and determine how to spread that success. Doug Carnine, Instructional Research, heads the five-year project.
These three awards are the latest grant-writing successes of Education which last year received $13.5 million in federal grants and contracts, 40 percent of the university's annual research revenue.
Annual gift aids sport institute
Through the power of compounding, the $20,000 gift received this fall by the International Institute for Sport and Human Performance from the McKenzie View Fund is expected to grow to more than $500,000 to support the institute's education and research efforts during the next two decades.
As a designated beneficiary of the fund established by the Bowerman Family in the Oregon Community Foundation, the institute will receive an annual distribution for 17-20 years, depending on the fund's earnings, that will increase by three percent over each prior year's amount.
"This generous gift will bring increased stability to and help to assure the continuity of our programs, many of which were started with one-time seed grants," says institute director Henriette Heiny.
A self-funded entity in Arts and Sciences, the institute collaborates with the Exercise and Movement Science to promote and synthesize interdisciplinary research in sport, exercise and human movement sciences.
Community outreach efforts include newsletters on healthy living as well as the Athletic Training Service Center and the Health through Exercise and an Active Lifestyle Conference (HEAL), which focuses on older-adult health.
In cooperation with PeaceHealth's Oregon Heart Center and local fitness clubs, the institute offers certifications for the American College of Sports Medicine for fitness and cardiac rehabilitation specialists. Institute staff also educate Japanese students in athletic training.
In the spotlight
CLARIFICATION: Terry Hummer, listed in the Oct. 31 News & Views as a Creative Writing faculty member, left the UO last spring and is now at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.
Russell Lande, Biology, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Greg Retallack, Geology, will be inducted as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Mike Majdic, Instructional Media Center; Dan Miller, former Journalism adjunct; and current or former Journalism students Larry Haftl, Lara McKaughan and Matt Walser are producers of "The Heppner Flood of 1903," a video that first aired in February 1996 on Oregon Public Broadcasting stations. The documentary received a 1997 Northwest Regional Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Majdic accepted a trophy on behalf of the production team June 13 in Seattle.
Susan Anderson, Germanic Languages and Literatures, has been elected to the Executive Council of the 7,000-member American Association of German Teachers for 1998-2000.
Warren Smith, School and Community Health emeritus, was among instructors this summer for educational programs offered by the Lane County OASIS program for active senior citizens. Among special events OASIS members attended this summer was a performance by Stephen Stone, Music emeritus, and the Emerald City Jazz Kings. Teaching OASIS classes this fall are Martin Acker, Counseling Psychology emeritus; Ewart Baldwin, Geology emeritus; Timothy Rawson, History GTF; and Sharon Sherman, English and Folklore.
Greg Ringer, Asian and Pacific Studies adjunct, has received a 1997-98 Fulbright grant to spend seven months lecturing on biodiversity and ecotourism at Makerere University in Uganda.
Daniel Kimble, Psychology, will receive a 1998 Alumni Achievement Award in June from Knox College of Galesburg, Ill., for his meritorious career achievements. A UO faculty member since 1963, Kimble earned a bachelor's degree from Knox in 1956 and received a Ph.D from the University of Michigan in 1961.
Jon Erlandson, Anthropology, received the Faculty Mentor of the Year Award in October at the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education's Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute in New Orleans.
In Print/On Display
Edwin Bingham, History emeritus, and Tim Barnes of Portland Community College are co-authors of Wood Works: The Life and Writings of Charles Erskine Scott Wood published in October by the Oregon State University Press. It is the first volume of "Northwest Readers," a new series of anthologies of writings by Northwest authors or on Northwest themes.
Elizabeth Reis, History, is the author of Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England, published in 1997 by Cornell University Press.
David Frank, Honors College, is the author of "The New Rhetoric, Judaism and Post-Enlightenment Thought: The Cultural Origins of Perelmanian Philosophy" in the August 1997 issue (83:3) of The Quarterly Journal of Speech.
Lawrence Crumb, Library emeritus, is the author of "Stanford & Swords: Publishers to the Young Episcopal Church" in the latest issue (no. 42) of Publishing History.
On the podium/stage
Judith Hibbard, Planning, Public Policy and Management, was invited to speak Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C., to the "President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry."
Milagro Vargas, Music, toured Spain in May with Helmuth Rilling, Oregon Bach Festival artistic director and conductor. She was alto soloist in performances of Schubert's "Rosamunde," Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" and Beethoven's "Miss Solemnis." Rilling also conducted Verdi's "Requiem" at Carnegie Hall on June 22. When he returned home to Stuttgart after the Oregon Bach Festival, Rilling directed the European Music Festival from Aug. 31-Sept. 14.