More than 200 members of the university community have volunteered to participate during winter term in the 18 solution teams that will carry the campus into Phase Two of the Process for Change.

The Provost's Office assembled the 10- to 17-member teams to identify what education should look like in the 21st century, what changes are needed if we are to provide high-quality services to our students and the people of Oregon, the nation and the world, and how we can implement these changes rapidly.

Led by a convener, each team is charged with addressing not only the general question, "What does it mean to be a `student-centered' institution of higher learning?" but also specific issues relating to how the university delivers various parts of its mission statement.

"We encourage every member of every group--and others across campus with ideas for addressing these pressing university issues--to think creatively, to stretch the boundaries in looking for solutions," says Vice Provost Lorraine Davis.

By March 5, each solution team will compile and present a preliminary report identifying recommended needed changes or validating current practices and outlining action steps to accomplish change. As time permits, teams also have been invited to address other specific issues and to articulate a definitive vision for the university.

Conveners are Paula Burkhart, Research and Graduate Education; Jon Cawthorne, Library; Dave Conley, OUS Academic Affairs; Georgeanne Cooper, Academic Learning Services; Donald Corner, Architecture; Marian Friestad, Marketing; Mary Gleason-Ricker, Education; Terri Heath, Social Science Instructional Laboratory; Kathy Heerema, University Computing; Maurice Holland, Law; John Nicols, History; Bob O'Brien, Sociology; Jane Poe, Resource Management; David Robertson, Museum of Art; George Sheridan, History and International Affairs; Jim Terborg, Management; Jim Upshaw, Journalism and Communication; and Gaye Vandermyn, Communications.

Citing legal due process concerns, President Dave Frohnmayer remanded to the University Appeals Board for further review two cases finding Student Conduct Code violations.

The cases concern alleged sexual misconduct by a student involving separate accusers. In both, the accused was found guilty by a hearings officer, and serious sanctions were imposed.

In a letter to the board, Frohnmayer said his decision was based solely on serious legal concerns over the due process procedures and was made in consultation with the university's legal counsel and after his "searching and independent review of the law.

"I conclude that an appellate court would not sustain the legality of either of the two orders as they presently stand," he wrote. "Remand and reconsideration will allow further proceedings to address these serious legal concerns."

The president indicated he hopes the issues "will be addressed promptly so that all parties can proceed in the secure knowledge that the law has been followed and that justice may be done."

The appeals board has remanded the cases to hearings officials, but rejected Frohnmayer's recommendation that the student suspended for sexual misconduct be permitted to return to campus while his cases are reconsidered. Board members agreed to stay other sanctions which have been imposed until appropriate final orders and the university appellate avenues, if any are sought, have been concluded.

The cases have sparked controversy on campus since the student, an Honors College senior, was suspended last year. No criminal charges have been filed in either case. A group of about 60 students, upset that the accused student might return to campus, held a candlelight vigil Feb. 6 outside Johnson Hall.

A scholarship fund established 25 years ago by the UO's international alumni may help 50 Asian students complete their spring term work to earn their degrees.

The university's plan to provide $1,000 grants to 50 students hardest hit by the Asian financial crisis is the latest addition to a package of emergency assistance officials are offering to students most affected by dramatic currency devaluations.

Previously, UO officials invited any of the 450 students from Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia who may face financial emergencies to make arrangements for deferring tuition and other UO bills without penalty through spring quarter. Individuals with special acute needs also can apply for emergency loans for living expenses from a $100,000 fund established to help students weather this crisis.

President Frohnmayer even asked members of the UO community and concerned citizens of Eugene and Springfield to open their hearts and perhaps even their homes to these young men and women whose personal and family resources have become hostage to economic forces beyond their control.

In addition, UO officials are looking at long-term strategies to provide increased financial assistance to international students by working with corporations with overseas affiliations and with UO alumni. The university also is joining forces with national higher education associations to lobby for speedier processing of applications for off-campus work permits issued by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Tom Mills, International Education and Exchange director, said the 50 special grants will be funded by spending $50,000 of the principal of the $250,000 Kenneth Ghent International Scholarship Fund. Normally, only interest earned on the Ghent fund--about $12,000 to $15,000 a year--is used to finance scholarships for international students.

Mills said the UO agreed to the plan first proposed by International Students' Association officers and local friends of international students, "because the current financial crisis had struck so suddenly and affected so many students so severely that they and their families really had nowhere else to turn.

"It is the humanitarian thing to do, especially for those close to graduation," he said, noting that international students bring a significant amount of cultural diversity and richness to the UO and the community.

Planning for a special fund-raising campaign among the university's 10,000 international alumni to replenish and expand the Ghent fund is underway.

Mills said international students first chosen to receive the special one-time grants will be those who are financially needy and near completion of their degrees. Priority will be given to students from South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, but any of the 1,600 international students on campus with severe financial need is eligible and encouraged to apply.

March 2 is the deadline for submitting grant applications to International Education and Exchange. For information, call 6-3206.

From Vietnam-era sit-ins to the filming of "Animal House" to the first time she wore pants to work, Jan Medrano has seen a lot happen in her more than three decades on campus. Having worked for seven university presidents, she has learned to adapt to the "constantly shifting priorities" of the Office of the President.

At 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, Medrano's many friends will celebrate her loyal and devoted service to the university with a reception in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall.

Medrano, who retires March 1, has worked all of her 31 years on campus in the Office of the President. Before she came to the university, she worked in the executive offices of US Plywood in Eugene, taking a two-year break in between to care for her three pre-school-age children.

Even after all this time as a confidential executive assistant, Medrano still laughs at the idea of describing her job in any set terms.

"No two days are ever alike. I never know what is next." Often, she adds, whatever was slated for tomorrow gets pushed to the side by morning for more pressing matters.

With enough stories to fill her own book about the university, Medrano recalls 1960s sit-ins where the office was packed so tight with protesters that there was hardly any space to move. During the filming of "Animal House," she was able to get John Belushi's autograph for each of her children.

Medrano also recalls the day in the early 1970s when she first wore pants to the office. "There was no written rule about pants but it was understood that we couldn't wear pants before then. I've never worn a skirt since!"

The university is "a gem that people in Oregon don't fully realize," she says. "This is a special place, made so by the very special people who work here--outstanding because of the quality of its faculty, staff and students."

Fishing plays a key role in Medrano's retirement.

"My husband and I have been planning a trip to Alaska since `89 when he retired," she says with a twinkle in her eye as she talks about their plans to drive up the Al-Can Highway to Alaska.

--EMMILY BRISTOL, COMMUNICATIONS STUDENT

FREEMAN FACULTY FELLOWSHIPS of $1,500-$4,000 apiece are available for up to four tenure-track faculty who submit applications before Friday, Feb. 20. Scholars of Asia and experts of other fields may use the funds for research, travel and other living expenses. Projects must be completed by Dec. 31. Awards will be announced by March 1. For information, call Lori O'Hollaren, 6-1521.

WORK ORDERS FOR TELEPHONE SERVICE ADDITIONS OR SOFTWARE CHANGES will be frozen for three weeks beginning Feb. 25 so Telecommunications Services staff may prepare to upgrade the campus telephone system. During the freeze, phones can be physically moved, but no phones can be added and no calling features can be changed. A campus-wide telephone outage, lasting about half of the day, is set for March 21, the first Saturday of spring break, for the Phase-Two upgrade. Informational sessions on new features of the upgraded phone system are set for 2-4 p.m. March 16 and 9-11 a.m. March 17, both in the Bean East Conference Room. To reserve a seat and for information about the upgrade, call 6-1017.

APPLICATIONS FOR STANLEY B. GREENFIELD FACULTY GRANT AWARDS must be submitted by March 2. The endowed program provides UO faculty an opportunity to request funding for research materials, outside the scope of regular departmental library acquisitions, for the Library's collection. In the past 17 years, more than $70,000 in materials have been purchased. Grant awards will be announced in April. For information, call 6-3056.

FACULTY FIRESIDE FUNDS are still available to help faculty offset the cost of hosting an informal gathering for their students. Reimbursement is $1.75 per person, with a $60 cap per event. Faculty hosts may be reimbursed for one event per quarter. For information, call 6-1152.

The EMU Art Gallery was renamed the Adell McMillan Art Gallery in honor of the former director of the Erb Memorial Union during a gala reception and renaming ceremony Feb. 12.

"Adell McMillan has always been a strong advocate for the arts, particularly in her nearly 40 years of service at the University of Oregon," says Debby Martin, EMU Student Activities Resource Office. "Throughout her 16-year-tenure as EMU director, she never hesitated to support the freedom of artistic expression in the EMU Art Gallery."

Bringing McMillan's name to the fore, Martin says, is a fitting expression of the philosophy and integrity of the student-run gallery.

After graduating from Whitman College, McMillan came to the EMU as program director in September 1955. Not only did she initiate union programming covering a broad cross section of the arts, but she also was instrumental in the programming for the Eugene University Music Association, bringing acts such as Ella Fitzgerald and the Philadelphia Orchestra to town.

In 1962, McMillan worked with other university arts advocates to initiate the Pacific Northwest Art Annual, a program to purchase a piece of art each year by a Northwest artist to add to the EMU permanent collection.

When she became EMU director in 1975, McMillan continued to add her administrative support to the arts. In 1981, she was inaugurated president of the Association of College Unions International, declaring 1982 to be the "Year of the Arts."

In the spotlight

Hailin Wang, Physics and Optics, is one of just six condensed matter physicists to be awarded an Early Career Award by the National Science Foundation. The award will fund his research in semiconductor quantum optics for the next four years.

Judy Sonnenberg, University Counseling, has been selected to serve on the board of the Oregon Psychological Association.

Dennis Howard, Sports Marketing, is recipient of the 1998 Earle F. Zeigler Award, the highest honor given by the North American Society of Sport Management. He will present the Zeigler Lecture and receive the award on May 30 in Buffalo, N.Y., during the group's annual conference.

Kathleen Holt, Oregon Quarterly, is one of 20 winners out of 750 entrants in The Virgin Fiction Contest sponsored by Rob Weisbach Books, a William Morrow imprint, and Salon Magazine, an on-line journal, for unpublished writers under 35 years old. Holt's "Collecting the Dead" and other winning short stories will be published in an anthology this spring.

Tom H. Stevens, Chemistry and Molecular Biology, is the recipient of a 1998 Discovery Award sponsored by the Oregon Health Sciences Foundation. The awards recognize Oregon scientists who have spearheaded and supported original research leading to improved medical care. Stevens's work during the past 15 years has focused on protein sorting in cells.

On the move

Sherrie McArthur, Educational Leadership, Technology and Administration, left the university Jan. 24 to become executive assistant to the chief operations officer and the engineering and production marketing vice presidents at Percon, Inc. The maker of scanning devices will move this summer to the Riverfront Research Park.

Charlene Simpson, Student Financial Aid assistant director, retired Jan. 31 after nearly 30 years of service.

Changes in the Registrar's Office include Tina Hammock, who is transcript processor, and Associate Registrar Kate Johnson, who left Nov. 15 to join Systems and Computing Technology (SCT) Corp. as a Banner Student senior consultant.

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