February 24, 1997
The study is reported in The Rise of American Research Universities: Elites and Challengers in the Postwar Era, by Hugh Davis Graham, the Holland N. McTyeire Professor of American History at Vanderbilt University, and Nancy Diamond, a Goucher College administrator. The Johns Hopkins University Press just published the book.
Graham's and Diamond's analysis focuses on faculty quality, measured on a per-capita basis according to several indices of scholarly research activity. Their methods permitted them to compare universities of different sizes and types as their performance changed over time.
According to their analysis, the quality of faculty research at the UO places it among the top 15 public universities in the nation. In the Northwest, only the University of Washington, at 14, ranks higher.
Oregon placed sixth nationally in the authors' additional ranking of "rising" public universities--those in the first group that had not been previously ranked among the nation's top 25 in any of three major comparative studies during 1960-82.
While the methodology of any university ranking study is open to criticism, this work's tight focus on per-capita quantitative measures of research quality does help underline a major UO strength: unusually high faculty quality, says Provost John Moseley.
"It also is important to note that the UO's relatively high ranking occurred not because of our strong sciences alone, but because of a strong showing in the social sciences and humanities," he says.
Using 1945-1990 data from 203 universities in the Carnegie classification of "research or doctoral institutions," the researchers ignored soft "reputational" rankings and compared instead five quantitative variables: federal research-and-development grants received, number of articles published in all fields, articles in 45 top-rated scientific and 44 top-rated social science journals, and arts and humanities fellowships received.
The study compared and ranked separately 131 public and 72 private doctorate-granting universities. Based on the study's procedures, the University of Oregon earned an R&D index of $23,800 and an overall publication index of 2.03. The top-science publications index was .21, top-social science journals mark was .88 and arts-and-humanities fellowship index was .60.
Those rankings earned the UO the 15th spot among public universities nationally, tied with the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Graham and Diamond then pooled the 58 top publics and ranked them according to their combined scores on the per-capita top-science, top-social science and arts-and-humanities indices.
The highest scoring were named "rising public research universities," and here the UO ranked sixth. The most dramatic "rising stars" among publics were similar to Oregon, the authors say: state flagship research universities that belong to the Association of American Universities.
According to Graham and Diamond, between 1968 and 1988, the six top-ranked rising public universities--UC Santa Barbara, SUNY-Stony Brook, Colorado, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz and Oregon--received an average per-capita increase in constant R&D dollars of 121 percent.
Noting the emerging strengths of Colorado, Oregon and Arizona as western flagships not customarily found in the top-25 rankings, Graham and Diamond attribute the success of these and other top-ranked publics to focused investment.
"The flagship formula, building on established institutional strength, is a time-tested strategy. Although our findings challenge the perceived standing of many public universities, for most American states the flagship model has historically been effective in concentrating scarce resources to build high-quality programs," the authors say.
"I feel like the library is an essential part of the university, and I enjoy being part of the `hub.' I live vicariously through the lives of the students with whom I work, and I like to think it helps keep me young to be around them."
In her ninth year with the Knight Library, Stigall is the supervisor of current periodicals and stacks. The importance of the student workers to the library is something Stigall does not overlook.
"I try to make all my student employees feel like they are an important part of the library and not just because they are the ones who put the books back on the shelves.
"The library is overwhelming," she continues, "even for people who work here. There are the rare occasions where people go four years through college without stepping inside the library. It is a huge a place, and it can be really intimidating. So, I think that for students to come in and see people who are dressed as they are, the same age and confident in the work they are doing--it can make the library seem less intimidating," Stigall says.
Those on campus during 1991-92 probably recall when the library entrance was temporarily on the side facing the Pioneer Cemetery and all the collections seemed out of place. Thanks to Stigall, all those collections survived the major renovation, expansion and reconstruction of the library.
"That was a pretty memorable experience. I got to plan the moves of several of the collections. The fact that things went smoothly and according to plan made for an exciting experience," Stigall says.
Reading, theater, films and bird watching--or "birding" as Stigall says the "hard-core" bird watchers call it--occupy her spare time. She also enjoys going to the coast as often as possible, as well as backpacking and camping in the summer.
Stigall tries to remember this personal credo at least once a day: If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed.
"It takes too much energy to take yourself too seriously. It is a big world," she continues, "and there is so much going on that if you get too wrapped up only in what is going on with you, you miss the big picture."
"Mostly at this point, we really need to hear from classified staff what they need or want, problems we might be able to provide solutions for, or anything else about their training and development they want to tell us," says committee member Lara Nesselroad, Library. "We know what we think is needed, but because until now there hasn't been a particularly good mechanism for reaching us, there may be other things we don't know about yet."
The committee recently established an e-mail account and a web site to make it easier for staff to communicate among themselves and with panel members. To reach the entire committee, send e-mail to cstdac@darkwing.uoregon.edu.
A list of committee members with e-mail and phone numbers can be found on a link from the committee's Web site, which is at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~cstdac/classif.html.
"We want to make our presence known, since employees who don't know about us may have problems that are very discouraging, but not know where to turn," Nesselroad says.
Marlene Koines, History, chairs the group which was initially formed in June 1994 and has served since October 1996 as an advisory group to administrative Vice President Dan Williams. The nine-member panel, which currently has two vacancies, meets twice monthly, submitting its recommendations and proposals to Williams via Linda King, Human Resources director.
Based on a survey of all classified staff shortly after its creation, the committee has made several recommendations about training needs, such as supervising student employees.
Current panel topics include:
"It seems to us that classified staff are an often undervalued resource, and we'd like to see individual staff rewarded for learning new skills and doing good work by finding opportunities for advancement," Koines says. For information, call her at 6-5900.
Vice Provost and Dean Steadman Upham, chair of the search committee, says Stephen W. Camp, vice president of leasing and marketing for UNICO Properties, Inc., in Seattle, will meet with faculty, staff, students, alumni and others on Feb. 26-28.
J.S. May, a UO alumnus and executive director of the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation in Portland, will visit campus on March 5-7.
Rick Ventura, executive director of development for the University of California, Riverside who visited here in late January, continues as a finalist after two others--Connie Kravas of Washington State University and John Goodwin of the University of Washington, withdrew on Jan. 31.
Upham, citing the depth and quality of the candidate pool, says the search panel now expects to recommend a candidate by the end of March to President Dave Frohnmayer.
Camp, who has held his commercial real estate post since 1983, was executive director of development at the University of Washington from 1978-83. During his UW tenure, private support doubled, and he oversaw establishment of a university-wide planned giving program that resulted in major new endowments and facilities.
A 1963 University of Washington graduate, Camp completed graduate studies in business and public administration at the University of San Francisco and California State University, Los Angeles. He previously held fund-raising and development posts at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., and at the University of Evansville in Indiana.
May joined the Doernbecher Foundation at Oregon Health Sciences University in 1992 after directing corporate support at Oregon Public Broadcasting for six years. Previously, he was an account executive with KGW Radio and a sales representative with Rogers Cablesystems, both in Portland. May manages a $30 million capital campaign for the foundation whose revenues have increased 350 percent since his arrival.
A 1989 Oregon graduate in telecommunication and film, May is a certified fund-raising executive and two-term Oregon Chapter president of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. He has directed the Portland Public School Foundation since 1996.
"Although we hear that some of the UO Cards have broken when exposed to the cold, only a few have been returned," he says, speculating that some may be hesitant to replace their cards because they know it normally would cost them $15.
In the case of cards broken or damaged as a result of exposure to the elements, Spradling says his staff will replace them at no cost to cardholders, "as long as cardholders bring the broken pieces of the cards with them to our office. With no proof of breakage, we must assume the card to be lost of stolen."
For replacements, go to EMU Room 12 or call 6-3113.
Competitions between departments are getting underway to see which campus group can fill the barrels with the most canned, boxed or other nonperishable food by March 7. That's when the barrels will be delivered to Food for Lane County.
"This is an opportunity for members of the UO family to show other state employees that we don't `duck' our responsibility to help ensure that our neighbors do not go hungry," says Melissa Crown, coordinator of the UO State Employee Food Drive. "It's important that everyone take part. I'll work with any departments competing with other units to come up with an excellent prize for the winners."
A journalism and sociology intern in the UO President's Office, Crown says food and money collected during the statewide drive will help Food for Lane County and other Oregon Food Bank Network agencies that last year distributed emergency food supplies to more than 400,000 Oregonians, nearly half of them children.
"Even though we're getting a late start, we can meet the challenge to collect as much food as possible," Crown says. "In 1991, the UO won the state contest with more than 14,000 pounds of food. The stakes are much higher now--OSU collected the equivalent of 146,000 pounds last year--so I urge everyone to be as generous as they can."
Baby food, formula and powdered milk are among the most critically needed items. Canned fruits, vegetables and meats, boxed meals, soups, peanut butter, pasta and grains also are "most wanted."
Cash donors should make checks payable to "Food for Lane County" and give them to departmental representatives. The university will receive credit for six pounds of food for every dollar collected.
For information, call Crown, 6-3071.
The District VIII Awards competition annually attracts more than 350 entries. Awards were presented Feb. 24 at the CASE District VIII Conference in Vancouver, B.C.
Larry Smith, Career Center director, received an Outstanding Service Award Jan. 15 during the Western Association of Colleges and Employers annual conference in Portland.
The Oregon Academy of Science on Feb. 22 awarded William Loy, Geography, its 1997 Outstanding Contribution to Science Award in recognition of his distinguished career as a teacher, researcher and leader in fostering interaction and communication among scientists in various disciplines. A UO faculty member since 1967, Loy is a past president of the academy.
Caitriona Bolster, KWAX music director, has been selected as host and commentator for 26 national programs on the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Written by Bolster and critic-at-large Fred Crafts, the series will air on commercial and noncommercial classical radio stations, including KWAX, across the country beginning in April. Earlier, Bolster spent three years as commentator for the Mozartwoche national broadcast series.
In Print
"Catching Air" by Lani Loken-Dahle, Physical Education, was printed in the Winter issue of Inside USA Diving, official publication of US Diving.Sean Kohles, Exercise and Movement Science, is sole author of "Minimal dependence of ultrasonic propagation velocity on frequency" in Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, Vol. 22, No. 9, pp. 1297-1298, 1996.
On the podium/stage
Dominic LaRusso, Theater Arts emeritus, presented a plenary session paper at an American Society for the History of Rhetoric conference on Nov. 22 in San Diego. The paper was a translation and commentary of the Armonia Retorica (1569) of Orazio Toscanella.Two History professors--James Mohr and Randall McGowen--presented papers Feb. 7 during a colloquium at Oregon State University on the nature of truth and the changing standards of courtroom evidence in the United States and elsewhere. Mohr's paper was "Evidence of Insanity and the Law of Will Cases in 19th Century America," while McGowen spoke on "Knowing the Hand: Forgery and the Question of Evidence in 18th Century England."
Sean Kohles, Exercise and Movement Science, spoke about "Elastic and physicochemical relationships within cortical bone" to the Texas A&M Department of Bioengineering on Feb. 24.