April 17, 2001
The University of Oregon's graduate programs in education, psychology, law and architecture are among the best in the country, according to the recently released annual edition of U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate Schools.
"We are very pleased with the University of Oregon's showing in this survey," says President Dave Frohnmayer. "We know that our graduate programs are among the finest anywhere, and it is rewarding to see that they are getting the national visibility they deserve."
Education's graduate program ranks first in the Northwest, fifth among public colleges and universities in the nation and 11th overall. These represent an improvement from last year's rankings as 20th in the nation and 14th among publicly funded institutions, according to the newest survey.
For the second year in a row, the report lists the Special Education graduate program as third-best in the nation. Education also is second in the nation in receipt of research funding.
"We are thrilled with these rankings," says Dean Marty Kaufman. "Our reputation as one of the best education programs in the U.S. continues to grow."
Kaufman says the college has gained national visibility and presence through research partnerships with schools that led to improved student behavior and academic performance. The prominence of the UO Education faculty and their research also drew Secretary of Education Rod Paige as an Oregon Conference speaker in March.
Researchers at the college contribute to federal, state and local programs to improve the teaching of reading and language arts. They also have developed innovative and effective programs to enhance school safety and are national leaders in curriculum assessment. For the fifth year in a row, the UO Education faculty received more research and training grant funds than any other education faculty at a public university.
"We received $21.5 million in research funding last year," says Kaufman. "That is the highest funding amount received by any public school ranked in the report. And in terms of research dollars per faculty member, we are almost twice as productive as our nearest competitor. These ratings reflect growing national recognition of the faculty's research contributions."
The UO Clinical Psychology graduate program was ranked 14th in the nation. Psychology's overall Ph.D. program ranked in the top tier at No. 45.
Law's graduate program was ranked in the second tier-just below the top 50. The UO law school and many others nationwide, however, challenge the rankings, saying that they rely too heavily on test scores of admitted applicants and may ultimately discourage students from applying to the law school best suited for their individual needs.
The Architecture graduate program was ranked 15th in the last survey; new rankings were not compiled this year. The University of Oregon offers the only professionally accredited architecture graduate degree program in the state of Oregon.
The magazine's annual survey considers student selectivity, placement success, faculty resources and separate measures of institutional reputation.
Allan Price, vice president for institutional advancement at Arizona State University in Tempe, visited the UO campus April 16-17 for a series of interviews and meetings with various university constituencies. His wife Susan, a writer and human resources consultant, participated in many of the finalist candidate meetings.
If hired to fill the redefined position of vice president for university advancement, Price would succeed Vice President Duncan McDonald, Public Affairs and Development, who is returning to the Journalism and Communications faculty on July 1.
Vice President Dan Williams, Administration, chairs the nine-member search advisory committee. They have been assisted in identifying candidates by Educational Management Network, executive search consultants and a division of Witt/Kieffer, with offices in Irvine, Calif., and 12 other cities.
The vice president for university advancement will be the senior administrative officer with overall leadership responsibility for comprehensive programs of development and alumni relations for the university, coordinating and integrating development and alumni relations activities across campus. The vice president will function as the chief fundraising strategist as the university prepares for the initial phase of a major, nationally based comprehensive capital campaign.
Price has held his current post at ASU since 1995. Prior to that, he was assistant and associate vice president from 1989-1995, Arizona Board of Regents associate director for public affairs from 1986-89 and a senior policy analyst in the Arizona Governor's Office from 1983-86.
He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in social work from Arizona State University and was selected the university's outstanding 1982 graduate. Price earned his M.S.W. in planning and administration from ASU in 1983 and is completing coursework there for a doctoral degree in public administration.
The University of Oregon is one of the top five colleges and universities in the nation to send volunteers overseas with the Peace Corps, and is the No. 1 recruiter in the Pacific Northwest. With 67 graduates currently serving as volunteers, the UO moved up from 15th place on the list last year. "The university's outstanding record of successfully recruiting and placing alumni in assignments around the world would not occur without the strong international focus in our academic program--especially our strong language, geography, planning and political science programs," says Larry Smith, Career Center director.
University employees donated the equivalent of 52,653 pounds of food--one-fifth more than the year before--to the month-long 2001 Governor's State Employees Food Drive, which ended March 1.
This amount represents $7,211.45 in cash and checks, $1,054 in payroll deductions and 3,060 pounds of actual food donations, according to Deb McGeorge, food solicitor for Food for Lane County. Overall, UO employees donated approximately 9,000 pounds more food than in 2000, an increase of 20.3 percent over last year.
"These contributions will make a big difference in the lives of many Lane County families," McGeorge says. "At Food for Lane County, the number of emergency food boxes provided in 1999-2000 increased by 22 percent. In addition, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of children receiving emergency food boxes, as well as an 8 percent increase in the number of senior citizens receiving the emergency boxes."
Numerous individuals and departments worked hard to make this year's food drive so successful, says Kim Mangun, Public Affairs and Development, who helped to coordinate the campus-wide drive. Several departmental coordinators came up with creative ways to motivate their departments to donate food and money. For example:
Departmental coordinators were recognized at an awards ceremony March 7. Assisted by the Oregon Duck, President Dave Frohnmayer distributed certificates to those in attendance and recognized the top three departments for their efforts.
In addition, Frohnmayer thanked Karen Scheeland, Governmental Affairs; Nita Nickell, Merchandise Marketing and Licensing; and Mangun for coordinating the campus-wide drive.
The calendar may say it's spring, but even though Earth Day is on the horizon, it's really harvest time at the University of Oregon.
In a drive dubbed the "Computer Harvest," Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is rounding up old computer monitors and other electronic gear that no longer works or that is no longer needed. The collection initiative, spearheaded by the ad hoc Computer and Electronic Equipment Task Force, will free up closets, hallways and cubbyholes for more useful purposes while supporting reuse and environmentally friendly disposal.
"The task force surveyed other colleges about how their computer recycling programs operate and then we devised this plan as the best way to dispose of the equipment while protecting the environment," says Nick Williams, EHS environmental manager. "Our plan not only collects and disposes properly of unusable or 'dead' equipment that is already on campus, but it also offers ongoing programs and increases awareness so that campus employees will know in the future that monitors and other electronic gear should be collected and not stored or simply thrown away."
Faculty and staff can help prepare for this spring's harvest by sorting through monitors, CPUs, keyboards and similar computer and electronic equipment they no longer use. Tag those that are working and separate them from those that aren't.
Equipment that is still operational will go to the state's surplus property facility at Salem in May. "Dead" equipment will be shipped to an authorized recycling or de-manufacturing facility where the chemicals they contain, such as the lead in the monitors, can be removed and kept out of landfills, thus reducing the potentially enormous risk posed by the chemicals leaking into the environment.
For information, call Williams, 6-3197. To arrange for equipment to be picked up, send e-mail to Connie French, <connie@oregon>, using "Computer Harvest" in the subject line.
--Stefani Blair, Editorial Associate
Registration for two summer youth sports programs is underway. Sign-ups will be accepted until available slots are filled. Scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon on June 20 through July 20 is the Children's Summer Sports Program for children in kindergarten through seventh grades. Costing $295 per child, the program offers sessions for developing and using skills in a wide variety of sports including swimming. Sports-O-Rama--three one-week sessions beginning July 23, July 30 and Aug. 6--offers sports and games for each age group of children from age 5-10. The cost is $65 per week per child, with daily sessions scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon. For information, call Flo DeLaney, PARS, 6-2777; <fdelaney@oregon>.
In the spotlight
Ehud Havazelet and Dorianne Laux, Creative Writing, and Monte Westerfield, Biology, are among this year's 183 recipients of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, one of the most distinguished prizes in the nation. With three recipients this year, the University of Oregon has the most Guggenheim fellows from a single institution in the Pacific Northwest. Altogether, 37 current UO faculty have been Guggenheim fellows.
On the podium/stage
Don Dumond, Anthropology emeritus, presented an invited paper, "Lessons Learned: Evaluating Scientific Sampling of Oil Spill Effects," at a meeting last spring in Anchorage sponsored by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. For the Anchorage observance of Alaska Archaeology Month, Dumond also delivered the keynote address, "Fish Runs to Flu Victims: Forty Years of Archaeology on the Alaska Peninsula."
A. Dean McKenzie, Art History emeritus, gave three illustrated lectures on Russian icons at the Portland Art Museum in conjunction with its major international cultural exchange exhibition last spring, "Strogonoff: The Palace and Collections of a Russian Noble Family."