July 10, 1998
Arts and Sciences Dean Joe Stone announced on June 29 the appointment of three prominent UO faculty members to serve as holders of new endowed chairs and professorships.
Alec Murphy, Geography, was appointed to hold the Rippey Chair in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Geraldine Richmond, Chemistry, and Quintard Taylor, History, were appointed as Knight Professors of Liberal Arts and Sciences. All three appointments were effective July 1, and extend through June 30, 2003.
"I'm honored to offer these appointments to three of our best and brightest faculty," said Stone. "These new endowed positions will help us keep current faculty members from leaving for higher-paying positions and recruit new professors we otherwise wouldn't be able to attract."
The Rippey Chair, established with a donation from James and Shirley Rippey, is a rotating endowed chair which recognizes faculty members who are equally distinguished in research and lower-division teaching.
Murphy is an expert in areas including cultural and political geography, Europe and European integration, East-West relations and the impact of language on political problems and conflicts.
He received a variety of awards, including the 1977 Fellow's Prize for Outstanding Student in Saybrook College, a Fulbright-Hays Research Grant to Belgium, the UO's Faculty Research Award and an Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching. In addition, the National Science Foundation awarded him a Young Investigator Award, and for the past two years, he was the recipient of the UO's David M. and Nancy L. Petrone Scholar Award.
On campus, Murphy served on the review committee for International Studies, as a member of the University Senate, was active in the Humanities Program, and is currently on the Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics advisory committee.
Murphy received his bachelor of arts degree from Yale University in 1977, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Columbia University in 1981, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1987.
The Rippey gift also releases two Knight Professorships in the College of Arts and Sciences, to be held by Richmond and Taylor for the term of their appointments. Phil Knight donated $25 million to the UO in 1996, $15 million of which is dedicated to the creation of endowed chairs and professorships across campus. The university pledged to raise an additional $15 million for endowed chairs to match Knight's investment.
Richmond is a nationally recognized physical chemist with expertise in physical and environmental chemistry, laser studies of surfaces and interfaces, photocells, semiconductor reactivity, women in science, science policy issues and teaching science to nonscientists. She is the former director of the Chemical Physics Institute and a member of the Materials Science Institute.
Richmond was chair of the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers in Science Symposium from 1991-96. She received a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award for 1985-90, a National Science Foundation Faculty Award for Women in 1993-94, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship for 1985-87. In addition, President Bill Clinton recently presented Richmond a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
She received her bachelor of science degree from Kansas State University in 1975 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1980.
Taylor, a nationally recognized author and expert in western U.S. history, is the first African-American department head in Arts and Sciences. His most recent book, In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990, is a highly acclaimed portrait of black Western history. Taylor's expertise also includes Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, South Africa, Africa south of the Sahara and African history.
Taylor received his bachelor of arts degree in 1969 from St. Augustine's College and his master of arts in 1971 and Ph.D. in 1977 from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
When The Buzz coffeehouse and the Greatful Bread bakery and espresso bar open this fall in renovated space at the EMU, patrons there will be able to choose between Seattle Coffee Co.'s two brand lines--Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia.
In June, Seattle Coffee Co. edged out seven other bidders for a three-year contract, worth an estimated $60,000 per year, to supply coffee in those two new eateries, as well as at the Erb Essentials convenience store, the AAA Hearth Café in Lawrence, Atrium Café in Willamette and the Daily Grind in the Knight Library.
"The EMU received eight proposals for a comprehensive coffee program and scored them in accordance to the procedure set forth in the revised Request for Proposals (RFP)," explained Theresa Coleman-Kaiser, EMU Food Services director. "The evaluation and scoring included the coffee, the price, the company's ability to provide the service, equipment, equipment service and marketing assistance."
This was not the first time the Seattle firm had won the contract. Seattle Coffee Co. also was selected this spring, but three unsuccessful bidders protested that the public taste test and scoring under terms of the original bid request were unfair.
After reviewing the protests, contract coordinator Vicki Wanner, Business Affairs, directed EMU Food Services to start the process again. All nine of the original bidders were invited to resubmit proposals.
The outcome of the revised RFP, sans a public taste test and with clarified scoring procedures, drew one protest relating to how yield of the coffee was established. Wanner reviewed the objection, rejected it and ruled that the contract could be awarded to Seattle Coffee Co.
Custom Roasting of Eugene had objected that the EMU should have adopted a set standard for the amount of coffee used to brew a finished gallon and then measured all bidders using that standard when considering yield as a factor.
"The EMU feels it is extremely important to recognize the variables that are involved in the entire coffee process such as the selection of beans, the roast, the grind, and the brewing process," Coleman-Kaiser says. "Each of these variables contributes to the quality and yield of the end product, and this is why the recommendation of the amount of coffee to use is best proposed by each individual company that has handled these variables in their own particular, proprietary way."
As an example of these variables at work, she notes that many people have experienced changing from one brand or type of coffee to another, and then having to adjust the amount of coffee used to produce the particular taste they are looking for.
"Although none of the eight proposals met Specialty Coffee Association of America recommended standards as referred to in the protest, they are all reputable companies, and all have customers who are extremely satisfied with the quality of their end product," Coleman-Kaiser says. "The EMU is confident that each company's recommendation was based on their own proprietary methods to produce the best finished gallon possible."
For Kathy Cooks and Marlene Koines, making the university a more humane place to work is all in a day's work.
Cooks and Koines are among recent recipients of Martin Luther King Jr. Classified Employee Awards. They were honored earlier this year for developing and maintaining the Classified Staff Training, Development and Advisory Committee (CSTDAC) and its spin-off group, the Professional Partners Mentoring Program.
"Their leadership, initiative, positive approach and hard work have resulted in changes that help classified employees and the institution alike," said President Dave Frohnmayer in presenting the awards to Cooks and Koines.
CSTDAC grew from concerns shared by Cooks and Laverne Norman, a previous MLK Jr. award recipient, after they determined that others also had experienced difficulties in getting job training to keep up with technology, enhance job skills and qualify for promotions. CSTDAC was formed to improve access for classified employees to training that is offered on campus.
"The first CSTDAC improvement was making administrators aware that classified employees wanted to attend the supervisor training workshops coordinated by Human Resources. Even though they were mandatory for management, at the time, they weren't even considered for classifieds," Cook recalls.
The committee has formulated several surveys and hand-tabulated the responses. "We were using our lunch hours and time at home to get through it all," Koines remembers.
As co-chairs, Cooks and Koines helped develop the Professional Partners Mentoring Program in 1997. The mentoring program has established groups and phone lists to enable employees to talk to each other about their specific experiences.
"The administration has been so helpful in recognizing that there is a need for such informal networking," Cooks says.
For Cooks, receiving the MLK award was a great honor. Koines was surprised to be honored with such an award and pointed to all the people working behind the scenes who had helped her and Cooks but were not formally recognized.
"We wanted to get all the people who helped us named on the award because it wouldn't have been possible without them," Cooks said.
THE SUMMER CHILD SITTING DIRECTORY is now available for faculty, staff and student parents. Call Human Resources, 6-3159, to request a copy.
Graduates of the UO's doctoral program in clinical psychology are at the head of the class when it comes to passing a professional skills test known as the EPPP exam--the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology.
Newly compiled data indicate that, for the period of 1988 to 1995, UO graduates' EPPP scores ranked first among graduates from more than 180 institutions, according to an article recently published in Psychological Science.
That's better than graduates of such institutions as Yale, Berkeley, Northwestern and UCLA.
"This is high praise for our program and the value our graduates get from it," says Anne Simons, Clinical Psychology director. "These impressive findings confirm what we have always known and confirm the other high rankings we receive, such as consistently being rated in the top 10 clinical psychology programs in the country by the Gourman Report."
Psychology professor Scott Monroe adds that "The EPPP tests cover a great deal of material that students study both in courses taken specifically in clinical psychology, as well as in courses taken in other areas of psychology within the department, which also provide excellent training." These kinds of comparative figures have not previously been gathered, Monroe says, "so when we received the news we were quite pleased and excited."
The program accepts only three or four new students per year out of an application pool of between 150 and 200. Small size contributes to a high student-to-teacher ratio and close working relationships between faculty and students.
Another strength, notes Simons, is that the program stresses scientifically proven methodologies, statistics and research modeling.
"Oregon can't be beat in training for how to do research," says program graduate John McQuaid, now a staff psychologist with the San Diego Veterans' Administration Medical Center.
"The quality of the research training was truly outstanding," agrees alumna Diane Spangler, now a Brigham Young University professor. "Perhaps more important, though, was that the training went beyond instruction in scientific and statistical methods and also included application to important clinical problems."
Both of these program alumni attribute much of the success of UO graduates on the EPPP test--an exam similar to the bar exam that law school graduates face--to the quality of the faculty.
"The clinical faculty have high standards for their students, and are extremely supportive and generous with their time, resources and intellect," Spangler notes.
Human Resources has established an account at U-Lane-O Credit Union on behalf of the three employees whose children were injured in the Thurston High tragedy on May 21.
Although anyone may donate, this fund provides officers of administration and faculty members an opportunity to help Pamela McKenzie, University Health Center; Rebecca Lynn, Admissions; and Janet Taylor, University Housing. Cash contributions or checks should be made to the UO Employee Fund at U-Lane-O.
The fund, which totals about $350 so far, will remain open through July 17, according to Linda King, Human Resources director. At that time, the account will be closed and the money will be divided equally among the three employees to help offset unanticipated expenses.
Leadership of the Oregon Public Employees Union earlier worked with Human Resources to facilitate hardship leave donations by classified staff for these classified employees whose daughters were among those shot. The brother of a UO student athlete also was injured May 21.
To date, hardship leave donations total about 600 hours for use as needed by the three employees, says Joyce Rauschert, Payroll. Classified employees still may donate leave if they wish.
In addition, UO counselors offered their services to those affected by the shootings, and President Dave Frohnmayer issued a statement of condolence, also posted on the UO home page.
DIRECTION for Employee Assistance, a counseling service of McKenzie-Willamette Hospital for UO employees, continues to offer support to those affected by the shootings. For a confidential consultation, call 345-2800.
UO faculty selected Helen Gernon, the Charles H. Lundquist Professor of Accounting, and the late Alan Wolfe, professor of East Asian languages and literatures, to receive Charles E. Johnson Memorial Awards June 13 during Commencement. First given in 1980, the Johnson Award traditionally honors only one faculty member each year who has demonstrated exceptional service to the university and its community, and who has exemplified the principles affirmed by former UO President Charles E. Johnson. This year's selection committee was unable to choose between the two recipients so chose to honor both, one posthumously.
Cris Cullinan, Human Resources, led the Diversity Trainers Institute at the 11th National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education, May 28-June 1 in Denver.
Aletta Biersack, Anthropology, received a six-month grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research to study culture and political economy in an era of gold mining among Ipili speakers in the New Guinea highlands.
During a July 6 memorial service on campus for former OPEU local president and chief steward Risa D. Haberman, Bart Lewis, Business Affairs, announced plans to erect a bench in her memory. Although no location has been selected, it likely will be near Friendly Hall where Haberman was office coordinator for East Asian Languages and Literatures. Haberman, 48, died May 23 of cancer. Send cash or checks payable to the UO Foundation-Haberman Memorial to the UO Foundation, P.O. Box 3346, Eugene, OR 97403.