March 1, 1999
It's an elaborate game of musical chairs, but few losers will be left standing when the music stops because the Grayson Hall renovation will create more space for cramped departments while adding much-needed classrooms for students.
The Grayson Hall remodel of the current Law Center is the second phase of the campus development project. The first phase is the new William W. Knight Law Center, and the third phase will be an addition to Gilbert Hall.
Slated for completion in late 1999, the Grayson Hall make-over will allow the relocation of some Arts and Sciences departments, including History and Ethnic Studies. The Oregon Survey Research Lab (OSRL) and the Social Sciences Instruction Lab (SSIL) probably will be in the queue for the new facilities as well. Parts of the Computing Center also will move to the new space next door.
"This is great for Arts and Sciences," says Associate Dean David McDaniels, chair of the Grayson Hall user group. "It's also wonderful because it frees up more space in PLC and other places around campus that housed these departments."
The project's main goals consist of upgrading existing classrooms, creating new instructional areas, integrating computers and multimedia in some classrooms, and providing more efficient computing service facilities.
To translate these goals into reality, the plan calls for a drop-in computer lab (much like the one serving students in the EMU) equipped with about 20 workstations, and a separate instructional area that allows instructors to use computers as a classroom tool.
"We are getting more and more requests for instructional spaces that have computers," says Lynn Buffing, chair of the Computer Center user group. "This renovation will provide students with more accessibility to computers and it creates another computer classroom."
In addition, the plan will add 1,200 to 1,400 classroom stations, it will improve access to the building, and it will include a Cyber CafŽ, a small eatery that will be open for patronage by faculty and students.
"The design team, lead by Laura Hill, principal in charge from the architectural firm SRG Partnership of Portland, has met with project user groups and together we have created a people-friendly design," says Fred Tepfer, University Planning. "Every effort has been made to create excellent places for teaching and learning, including more flexible, comfortable and well-equipped classrooms that foster interaction among teachers and students, and office and support spaces for the departments that will help them deliver services to students in an accessible, inviting way."
For more project information, call Tepfer, 6-5564.
-- LEIGH FREEMAN, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN
Results are back from the Employee Benefits Survey taken early last month to gauge opinion about health insurance coverage as the Public Employees' Benefit Board (PEBB) works to consolidate by the Year 2000 the health benefits groups previously represented by the State Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) and the Bargaining Unit Benefits Board (BUBB).
Nearly half of all OUS unclassified employees--3,183 people representing every OUS campus--responded to the questionnaire with perspectives on benefit choice, wellness programs, benefit levels, cost-sharing, social subsidization and information flow.
Classified employees also took part in the survey, but their responses are being held at the request of their union until the end of the current bargaining period.
"The high level of participation in this survey is an indication of the importance of the benefits program to OUS employees," said OUS Human Resources manager Denise Yunker, who coordinated the survey. "Respondents provided a great number of thoughtful responses that will benefit both OUS and PEBB in planning decisions."
Among the messages OUS employees delivered to those designing the new consolidated PEBB benefits plan are:
Complete survey findings have been distributed to campus Human Resources offices and faculty groups. In addition, issues of newsletters designed to update OUS employees about recent PEBB activities affecting benefits are available on the Web at http://www.ous.edu/hr/benefits/pebb.htm .
For information, call UO benefits administrator Helen Stoop, 6-2967.
Tell me, and I will forget
Show me, and I will remember
Involve me, and I will understand
-- LAKOTA SIOUX WISDOM
The Process for Change Task Force on Undergraduate Education wants to provide upper-division students with high-quality opportunities for the practical application of the knowledge they have gained in the classroom.
Such Participatory Learning Experiences (PLEs) include internships, practica, field studies, and participation in faculty research projects, and may take place on or off campus. The projects must have demonstrable academic merit and be supervised by a faculty member.
This idea is not new to the UO, notes task force leader Karen Sprague, Biology.
"Our strong research mission has routinely created remarkable opportunities for undergraduates, and we have a history of maximizing the educational benefit of these experiences," she says. "Still, the Upper Division/Majors Team, part of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, believes that expanding and improving our PLEs offerings throughout the university will help our graduates enter the professional world with the capacity to analyze practical problems, develop solutions and communicate ideas clearly."
The Upper Division/Majors Team, chaired by Mel Aikens, Anthropology, soon will request proposals from faculty to initiate, expand or improve PLE opportunities in specific disciplines. The team has identified characteristics of desired PLEs. These will be described fully, and illustrated with examples, in the Call for Proposals, but are in brief:
Sprague observes that many people are aware of PLEs currently offered in the sciences, Journalism and Architecture.
"We think that excellent PLEs could be offered in many other areas, however, based on an informal survey of current activities," she says.
Aikens plans to call for PLE proposals in late February to be implemented in fall 1999. The proposals would be due in late March and decisions would be announced in May. It is anticipated that a second round of proposals will be sought during spring term 2000.
Address questions to Lois von Hippel, assistant to the task force, at loisvonh@oregon.uoregon.edu or call 6-2092. Additional information about the Process for Change is available from a link on the UO home page at http://www.uoregon.edu .
CSTDAC PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIP MENTORING PROGRAM groups will meet during March as follows:
Two faculty--Susan L. Boynton, Music, and Allen D. Malony, Computer and Information Science--are recipients of 1998Ð99 Fulbright scholar grants. This academic year, Boynton is studying the music and liturgy at the Abbeys of Farfa and Subiaco, ca. 1000Ð1200, at the University of Rome. Malony will spend MarchÐJuly at the University of Vienna, studying program and performance analysis tools for high-performance parallel and network computing.
The Edmund Spenser Home Page http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/, edited by Richard Bear, Library, has received the Pick of the Day award from the Los Angeles Times.
Suzanne Clark, English, has been elected to a five-year term on the executive committee of the Modern Language Association's Division on 20th-Century American literature.
Allan Chung, University Planning, is vice president of the Willamette Valley Chapter of the International Facilities Management Association.
Russell Donnelly, Physics, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree on June 3 from McMaster University during a science faculty convocation at the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, research university. His alma mater, which has invited Donnelly to address the convocation and to take part in associated academic and social activities, is honoring him for his outstanding contributions to science and his achievements as a scholar, educator and administrator.
Two faculty--Marilyn Farwell, English, and Allan Kays, Geological Sciences--have been given the rank and title of Professor Emeritus in honor of their contributions during nearly seven decades of combined academic service to the university. Both will retire Feb. 28 but participate in the 600-hour program.
Jeff Brown joined the UO Foundation Donor Relations staff on Feb. 26 as program assistant. A 1998 UO business graduate, he had been working in a temporary Donor Relations post since November.
Kecia Welt resigned Feb. 26 as alumni affairs director for the Lundquist College of Business to become director of alumni affairs for the OHSU School of Medicine.
Cindy Alexander left as office manager for Legislative Relations in mid-February to fill a similar post in Government Relations at OHSU. She also expects to begin graduate school.
Six humanities faculty--Steve Durrant and Steve Kohl, East Asian Languages, and Louise Westling, James Earl, Anne Laskaya and Steve Shankman, English--have turned a 1992 NEH Summer Institute experience into a literature anthology with global perspective. The World of Literature, published by Prentice Hall in January, is a one-volume historical survey of global literary production that emphasizes connections among cultures as well as their distinctive qualities. The book is used for the UO World Literature course and others like it around the country.
James B. Lemert, Wayne Wanta and Tien Lee, Journalism and Communication, are authors of "Winning by Staying Ahead: 1996 Debate Performance Verdicts" in The Electronic Election: Perspectives on the 1996 Campaign Communication, published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates in 1999. Wanta, Lemert and Lee also wrote "Consequences of Negative Political Advertising Exposure" in Engaging the Public: How Government and the Media Can Reinvigorate American Democracy, published in 1998 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Tom Hager, Communications, spoke about "Linus Pauling and the Untold Story of the Double Helix" on Feb. 24 as part of the 60th annual OSU Biology Colloquium in Corvallis.
Kate Nicholson, Art History, presented "Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West" as part of the Oregon Festival of American Music's American Composers Series Jan. 13Ð15 in Eugene.
Wayne Westling, Law, presented "Using Simulation Problems to Reinforce Evidence Learning" at the second annual Evidence Teachers' Conference on Feb. 20 in Sydney, Australia.