NEWS BRIEFS March 11, 2011

Institute for Sustainable Solutions to host conservation forum

Portland State’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions was chosen as one of six sites in the United States to host a national forum on natural resource policy issues.

According to a press release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture holds the forums every five years. They are aimed at gathering public input on how to expand conservation programs, as well as how to improve delivery of conservation services to landowners and communities. 

PSU is the only west coast site chosen to host this year’s forum. This is due to economics professor David Ervin’s work on natural resource and environmental management issues. He has been studying this issue for decades, according to the press release.

The forum is open to the public and will be held on March 18. The event will start at 9:30 a.m. in Smith Memorial Student Union.

To register for the event, visit www.farmfoundation.org.

Corie Charnley

Princeton Review rates PSU as one of nation’s best colleges

A recent report published by The Princeton Review ranked Portland State as one of the best institutions in the United States for undergraduate studies. Only 376 colleges were included in the list.

Overall, five Oregon colleges were included in the list: PSU, the University of Oregon, Reed College, Willamette University and Lewis & Clark College.

The Princeton Review surveyed more than 122,000 students. Each student was asked to rank their schools in areas such campus life and classroom environment.

Corie Charnley

French Club to host conversation groups

Starting in spring term, Portland State’s French Club will host two weekly recurring conversation hours to help students improve on their French speaking skills, sentence construction and vocabulary.

According to a press release, native speakers will lead the conversations. Students will be encouraged to speak only in French.

Dates and times have not been arranged, but the French Club requests that interested students vote for a time that accommodates their schedule.

To vote, visit https://orgsync.com/27697/polls/8301/show.

Corie Charnley

FADM Fair to be held on March 16

The Office of Finance and Administration will host its fourth annual FADM Fair on March 16 to raise awareness of its services and role on campus.

The event, which is put on by Vice President of Finance and Administration Lindsay Desrochers, will include information booths, interactive displays and raffle prizes.

Representatives from various campus departments, including Human Resources, University Housing and Facilities and Planning, will be present.

The event will start at noon in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom.

Corie Charnley

Professor wins AIA award

Portland State professor Sergio Palleroni and his colleagues recently won the American Institute of Architects Latrobe prize for their research proposal examining the role architects play in public interest projects. 

Colleagues Roberta Feldman, Bryan Bell and David Perkes joined Palleroni in receiving the honor

“All have been leaders in community activism and architecture,” Palleroni said.

Commenting on his community involvement, Palleroni said he was in a minority of architects.

“We have been the fringe of the profession, working to include the 95 percent of people who never get the benefit to have an architecture involved in their lives,” he said.

In his work, Palleroni sees the need to employ architects and involve his employees in the design of buildings. Palleroni and his colleagues call this concept “public interest architecture.”

The public sector is important to Palleroni, he said.

“Public interest architecture will create more jobs for architects and at the same time bring us back into serving a wider audience more representative of the general population, and not just the upper 10 percent of society,” Palleroni said.

According to Palleroni, the unemployment rate is currently about 40 percent for architects.

Palleroni and his team are about to launch a survey, targeting architects and students of design to gain a better understanding of why they chose to enter the field.

He will then survey architecture firms, helping him understand how firms are morphing to accommodate the changes in the architecture field.

Palleroni plans to publish a book with the findings of his surveys.

Feldman said that the Palleroni team worked together on the survey project proposal and that team members will contribute equally to the work.

The Latrobe prize included $100,000 in research funds for the team.

Brenda Yahm