Author: Vinh Tran

A recently incorporated component to Portland State’s film studies program allows students to not only watch and analyze films in lecture halls but also have the opportunity to produce their own films.

Though this program is a new addition to the university, film studies already claims about 270 students. The program began in 2007 as a vision of several faculty members within the Department of Theater Arts, particularly professor William Tate. As a result of the collaborative effort, film studies recently included a production component to its program.

A cave in the Oregon Cascades may very well contain clues to ancient life on Mars, according to a paper published by Dr. Radu Popa, a Portland State researcher and associate professor of biology.

According to Popa’s paper, the South Ice Cave, located in central Oregon, sits at an elevation of 5,019 feet and isn’t actually a cave. It is a basalt lava tube, a common type of volcanic rock. Upon analysis, the volcanic rock shows evidence of fossilized bacteria that can survive in extreme conditions. The temperature in the cave can be as low as five degrees Celsius, and its physical environment is similar to that of Martian volcanoes.

More than a week after a Dartmouth student was found dead in Barcelona, Spain, while participating in a study abroad program run by Portland State, authorities and officials from the two universities still have not determined the cause of his death.

The Oregon University System released its Fall 2011 enrollment fact sheet for the seven OUS institutions, which shows a 12.2 percent increase in the number of international students enrolled.

The number of international students is at an all-time high of 6,387 students, 1,923 of which are from Portland State. The University of Oregon boasts the largest number of international students of all the OUS campuses with 2,116 students.

Students interested in working in the nonprofit sector should come to today’s nonprofit career fair, hosted by Portland State’s Career Center, that will feature 67 nonprofit organizations from around the city. The event will be held in the Smith Memorial Student Union ballroom from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For the past 11 years, the nonprofit career fair has provided resources and opportunities for students interested in working in the nonprofit sector. Representatives from some of the most recognizable organizations—including Planned Parenthood, the Peace Corps and Volunteers of America—as well as smaller organizations, such as Loaves and Fishes and Bethesda Lutheran Communities, will be on campus to speak to students.

The grand project to build the world’s first energy neutral, high-rise, urban building here in Portland is in need of a lifeline from the city and the state legislature—and it might get one, provided stakeholders can demonstrate that Oregonians won’t go broke paying for it.

One month after its grand opening, Electric Avenue is already drawing attention from all kinds of people, and its developers couldn’t be
more pleased.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Mary Wiese was on her way to catch a street car that takes her to a nearby grocery store, when something caught her eye: three Toyotas parked on Montgomery Avenue, each with a cord coming out its side. The accountant stopped for a minute to read the sign that explains Electric Avenue to visitors before she continued on her way.