News briefs

Schedule of classes to be online only

Beginning Winter term 2008, the university will no longer publish printed copies of the “Schedule of Classes.” Instead, students who cannot find building or room assignments for their classes will have to go online to https://sa.pdx.edu/soc/, where room placement information will be available about two weeks before the start of term.

PSU has opted for the change over to online-only room listings as a way to handle classroom shifts due to disability requests, enrollment increases and last minute room switches. Kathy Coates, assistant director of scheduling systems, said the only exception to this new format will be classes that meet off-campus or online, so regulars on the Portland Community College shuttle and other off-campus class commuters can still rely on the printed copies of the schedule.

-Melinda Freeland

PSU librarians head to China for faculty exchange program

Two Portland State faculty members will be traveling to the Fujian province of China this October as representatives of Oregon’s library system to observe the practices of Chinese libraries and share skills with other librarians.

PSU Professor Amerita Rosalind Wang and faculty member Gretta Siege will spend three weeks participating in the Horner Library Staff Exchange Project in a staff exchange program with Oregon’s sister province, observing the practices of librarians at the Fujian Provincial Library, as well as sharing their skills and expertise via consultation and training.

Established with donations by the late Dr. Layton Horner, who gave money for similar programs to libraries around the country, the project occurs annually through a joint effort by the Oregon Library Association International Relations Roundtable and the Oregon State Library. Four participating librarians from the Fujian province spent three weeks at PSU last August.

–Melinda Freeland

One year program examines adults’ progress in learning to speak English

Faculty from PSU’s applied linguistics department recently received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for work on a project examining the pace at which adults are able to learn the English language.

The one-year grant project will focus on why adult immigrant students with little formal educational background have a slower English language acquisition rate compared to their immigrant counterparts who have more formal education, Professor John Hellerman said.

“This is a national finding,” said Professor Kathy Harris.

The recipients of the grant, part of the project called “How Prior Learning Experiences Influence Adult Learning in Formal Settings,” will review videos taken of English as a second language classrooms over the last four years, hoping to find out reasons for certain adults’ slower progress in learning English. The results may help teachers be better prepared to instruct them, Hellerman said.

–Talmage Garn