News
On May 15, Portland will vote to determine who will replace Sam Adams as mayor. Adams, who assumed office in January of 2009, made the surprising announcement in July 2011 that he would not be seeking re-election. Speculation has been rife ever since as to who will succeed him at the end of his term.
Baher Butti—refugee advocate, community activist and founder of the Iraqi Society of Oregon—will speak Thursday, Feb. 9 at Portland State as part of a lecture series hosted by the Middle East Studies Center. Butti’s presentation will address the role history and archetypes play in shaping the collective personality of Iraqis and how this personality comes to bear on the Iraqi refugee experience.
Suzanne Bonamici has won the Oregon special election and will take David Wu’s place in Congress.
Bonamici collected 54 percent of the vote, easily winning the majority vote over her main challenger, Rob Cornilles, who received 40 percent. She will now serve out the remainder of Wu’s term, which lasts until the Nov. 6 general election, at which point she will need to run for re-election if she wishes to remain in Congress. She earned the distinction of being Oregon’s only current female legislator.
Portland State is growing, tuition is on the rise and state funding is declining. In response to this reality, the university is increasingly relying on part-time and full-time fixed-term faculty positions in order to meet the instructional needs of students. According to Roy Koch, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, PSU is “leading what will be a national trend—this shift of faculty mix, because the issue of state funding is becoming more and more widespread across the country.
On Jan. 18, Portland State President Wim Wiewel and Portland Community College President Preston Pulliams met to sign an agreement that will alter the nature of the schools’ co-enrollment program. The changes will allow students concurrently enrolled at both PSU and PCC improved access to Portland State housing, among other benefits.
The Portland citizens group Yes for a Stronger Multnomah County is working to instigate a sugar tax that would place a one-cent-per-ounce tax on all sugar-added beverages including soda, energy drinks and some juices. According to the group, the purpose of the sugar tax is to improve children’s health and create jobs.
During the initial allocations period that ended in early January, the Student Fee Committee, the Cultural Centers Committee and the Diversity and Multicultural Student Services deliberated on a new financial and administrative arrangement for PSU’s multicultural centers in the 2012–13 academic year.
Portland State professor of chemistry Robert Strongin and his research team have patented a specific type of dye technology that can be used to test for a variety of diseases. PSU has partnered with a diagnostics company based out of Colorado to develop the dye into a specialized medical test.
On Friday, Feb. 6, Portland State will host a public forum on Active Transportation featuring mayoral candidates Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith. The forum will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Lincoln Hall’s main auditorium. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and light refreshments will be provided.
On Jan. 19, more than 20 students in Portland State’s Blumel Residence Hall awoke to find their rooms damaged by water after a pipe in the building’s waterline sprouted several leaks.
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The amendment states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”