February 8, 2002
What does a university do when it loses 16 percent of its classroom space? Nothing special, really. It takes the space and time it has available and it makes the most of them.
Later this year when the wrecking ball falls on Commonwealth Bridge, the building connecting the two wings of Gilbert Hall, the university will be ready to face future terms without 22 classrooms. The new Classroom Scheduling Protocols, implemented at the start of winter term, will do more than make up for temporarily reduced classroom space.
By taking advantage of four time zones and the optional evening fifth zone to spread out the teaching day, the university improves student choices, standardizes class beginning and ending times, and prepares the university for increased enrollment.
Until now, most UO classes tended to meet between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., but the new protocols required departments to look beyond the midday hours to schedule classes.
Implementing the protocols so far has been successful.
"We expected to have classes without rooms, but it didn’t happen," says Registrar Herb Chereck.
The Registrar’s Office produced a schedule after university departments submitted class and time information. According to Assistant Registrar Sue Eveland, the first winter schedule produced turned up only 53 classes that needed moving.
"We were expecting 200," an obviously relieved Eveland says.
With a few modifications, the schedule was completed three weeks before winter registration opened on DuckWeb.
"We attribute the success of implementing the new protocols to the academic departments," says Chereck. "Their involvement and patience have been invaluable."
The Gilbert Hall complex, including Commonwealth, contributes the most classroom space to the university. When finished during the 2003-2004 academic year, the new Lillis Business Complex, in conjunction with the concurrent Gilbert Hall renovation, will give the university an additional 600 classroom seats as well as an auditorium and several case rooms.
The new protocols mean the university will be better able to handle an enrollment expected to approach 20,000 students.
"Of course, in 2003 when the Lillis Business Complex opens its doors, the university will have room to stretch out," Chereck says. "The new protocols will allow the university to take full advantage of the added space when it opens and well into the future."
Karen Scheeland, Nita Nickell and Kim Mangun have a suggestion for your next coffee break: Go short on a latte and make a grande difference!
The trio are heading the annual Governor’s Food Drive on campus that runs through March 4. With a theme of "Fighting Hunger and Feeding Hope," this year’s drive is particularly important to Food for Lane County which benefits from the UO drive.
"September 11 kind of paralyzed people, and when they took action, it was really tremendous all the resources we received at the last minute," says Deb Buchanan, Food for Lane County’s food solicitor. "Now that the holiday rush is over, however, people tend to forget about our ongoing needs."
The university’s goal for this year is to collect 60,000 pounds of nonperishable food. Last year, campus donors gave 52,653 pounds to the Governor’s Food Drive.
"Give a little each day and feel good for the rest of the year," say Scheeland, Nickell and Mangun. "Take the Governor’s Challenge and donate $50 to the food drive!"
According to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, Oregon has the highest prevalence of hunger of any state in the nation. Last year, Food for Lane County distributed emergency food boxes to 652,000 people, up 9 percent from the previous year.
The primary recipients of these boxes live below the federal poverty level of $1,138 per month for three people. The average household income for Food for Lane County recipients was $666 per month, and the average household size was three people. One in four, or 267,320 recipients, were under 17 years old.
Food for Lane County is in particular need of high-protein food such as canned tuna or other meats, peanut butter and canned beans. Foods high in carbohydrates such as grains and pastas are also important in filling the emergency food boxes.
In addition to food donations, Food for Lane County needs cash.
"Your $1 gift to the Governor’s Food Drive buys one meal for a family of four," the UO campaign leaders say. "Your lunch money feeds that family for a whole day."
Each dollar buys six pounds of food, and cash also helps with Food for Lane County’s operating expenses.
To donate food, look for the big brown barrels with the Food for Lane County logo and deposit nonperishable foods in them. To donate cash, do a payroll deduction or write a check to "Food for Lane County." Your department’s food drive coordinator can take your checks and provide information on giving through a payroll deduction.
For information, visit <darkwing.uoregon.edu/~oga/fooddrive.htm> or call Scheeland, Governmental Affairs, 6-5020; Nickell, Trademark Management, 6-6036; or Mangun, University Advancement, 6-5313.
Citizens across the state will have a chance this month to share their ideas on what type of individual should become the next chancellor of the Oregon University System.
Jim Willis, chair of the State Board of Higher Education’s search committee, says the panel will hold five regional "public conversations" to gather information and ideas from citizens.
"We want Oregonians to help us as we search for the right person to become the new chancellor," Willis said. "We’d like to know what Oregonians see as the key challenges facing the chancellor and the board in the future. What, specifically, should the new chancellor accomplish and what kind of person would it take to accomplish that?"
All of the meetings are planned as informal, walk-in sessions where Oregonians can visit with search committee and other board members to share comments and ideas.
Current OUS Chancellor Joe Cox plans to step down from leading the Oregon University System later this summer. The search for his successor began recently when Willis’ search committee was appointed.
OUS "public conversations" are set as follows:
• Ashland/Medford: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 7-9:30 a.m. Red Lion Inn, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford.
• Bend/Redmond: Wednesday, Feb. 20, 4-6 p.m. East Dining Room, St. Charles Medical Center, Bend.
• Corvallis/Eugene: Thursday, Feb. 14, 12-1:30 p.m. EMU Gumwood Room.
• Portland: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Room 229, PSU Smith Memorial Center.
• Salem: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 12-1:30 p.m. Basement Room C, Public Service Building, 255 Capitol St. N.E.
Nominations of outstanding students for major university awards, given during Spring Family Weekend, are being accepted until Friday, Feb. 15. The awards honor excellence in scholarship, leadership and service. Recipients are selected by panels of faculty, staff and students. Send or deliver nominations to Laura Blake Jones in Student Life, 164 Oregon Hall. For a list of the awards and for information, call 6-3216.
Sign-up cards for service on Faculty/Administrative Committees are due by Friday, March 1. Faculty may indicate up to five choices, in preferential order, for service during the 2002-2003 academic year. The Committee on Committees recommends appointments to President Dave Frohnmayer who will notify each selected faculty member during Spring Term. Information about each committee is available at <darkwing.uoregon.edu/~committees/>. Submit completed sign-up cards by Campus Mail to Kathy Wagner in the President’s Office, 6-3036.
On the move Heather Briston has joined the Library as the new University Archivist. Formerly project archivist at the University of California‘s Environmental Design Archives in Berkeley, she is a graduate of the University of Michigan, with a concentration in archives and records management. She also is a graduate of the Syracuse University law school. As archivist, Briston is responsible for the historical documents and records management program. In memoriam Raymond Lowe, Counseling Psychology emeritus, died Jan. 23 of cancer. A pioneer in family and school counseling, Lowe, 83, founded the Eugene Community Parent-Teacher Education Center in 1958 and was its director for 20 years. He also directed the VISTA training program from 1965-69 and founded and directed a parent-teenager counseling program in 1976. He was a graduate of Massachusetts State College at Fitchburg and of Northwestern University. Memorial contributions may be made to the Ray Lowe Memorial Trust at the downtown branch of Washington Mutual.