9/08

Achieving Programmatic Excellence and Institutional Distinction:

Creating World Class Programs in Sustainability at Portland State University

Over the next decade and beyond, Portland State University will make focused programmatic investments to build excellence in a range of academic programs. This process enables us to advance the creation of knowledge on critical issues facing the metropolitan regions of the world, to provide a richer experience for our students that will better prepare them to address important issues of the future and as a consequence to contribute significantly to all aspects of quality of life in the Portland metropolitan region.

As a first step in this process, Portland State will invest in a campus-wide effort to advance our academic, research and engagement activities in Sustainability. The University’s commitment and ongoing investment in faculty and programs to advance sustainable processes and practices, along with the extraordinary generosity and catalytic funding of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, combine to advance our national and international leadership in sustainability. Portland State sees sustainability as an integrating concept that encompasses the interaction of humans both with each other and with the natural environment, guided by the objective of improving the long term health of social, economic and environmental systems. In addition to being central to the vision and values of Portland State, this commitment to sustainability is shared by the citizens, governments and business community of the Portland metropolitan region and the State of Oregon. Portland State is leading the efforts to make the region a model living laboratory for sustainable urban development and with this significant investment, together we are creating a national reputation for Portland State and our community.

Our mutual investment of financial and human resources in this programmatic area aligns with investments in several initiatives in the metropolitan region and the state including:

  • the Oregon University System’s priority focus in sustainability-related research activities
  • the recent establishment by the Oregon Legislature of the Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) signature research center to promote collaborative research, technology transfer and economic development related to sustainable technologies, and
  • the Portland metropolitan region’s recent initiative to develop a “SustainabilityCenter” that would help link the business, government and educational actors involved in sustainable development.

Portland State’s institutional investments will leverage these initiatives by focusing on the unique and strategic role that the University can and must play in both fostering cutting edge sustainability research and in educating students to become the leaders and problem-solvers in our common future.

Institutional Outcomes

Our targeted investments in academic programs and other sustainability activities are focused on achieving excellence in student learning, in research and scholarly activities, and in the value of our engagement with our community. Specifically, this initiative focuses on enhancing the student experience at Portland State, on building the success of our faculty’s contributions to teaching and research, on broadening and deepening our engagement with our communities, and on strengthening our overall institutional capacity to ensure long term success. Our goal is to be recognized nationally and internationally as a preeminent urban research university that is known for demonstrating how higher education can work collaboratively with other partners to solve critical problems and create a better future for the region and the world.

Through these efforts, Portland State will continue to serve as the institution of opportunity in the metropolitan region but will also become the “University of Choice” for those students - locally, nationally and internationally – who seek the rigorous, meaningful, place-based education that Portland State can uniquely offer as a result of our integrative curricular approaches, our cutting edge research, and our central place as part of the creative and innovative Portland community.

Through the commitment of the University, the significant contribution of the Miller Foundation and the matching gifts to their investment, we will enhance our institutional capacity and raise our overall profile to become known as the place where sustainability is taught, tested and practiced and demonstrate the academic quality of the institution to the communities we serve.

Building on our strengths

Our pursuit of institutional excellence in sustainability is based on two principles central to Portland State’s identity – our commitment to being a fully engaged partner with our community, and our belief that sustainability is a concept that must be understood and addressed in an integrated manner.

“Engagement” is more than a slogan for Portland State – we are known nationally as a leader in community-based research and learning, and we are well respected in the region for the contributions that our students and faculty make through their work with community partners. We seek solutions to the most complex problems through collaborations among academics, practitioners, and partners from across the street and around the globe.

Portland State is also dedicated to providing our students with both a deep understanding of the inter-connections between social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability and a healthy respect for the challenges and the complexity inherent in seeking to achieve sustainable outcomes. To achieve this integrated approach, we have developed organizational and curricular structures that bring students and faculty from multiple disciplines together to better understand the complex nature of sustainability. These efforts include a number of strong academic majors, an innovative general education program, undergraduate minors in environmental science and urban studies, and our graduate sustainability certificate. These initiatives collectively provide a unique framework for integrated educational, research and engagement activities related to sustainability.

Recognizing the need to provide more proactive institutional coordination for these and other programs, Portland State established the Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices in 2006. The Center’s role is to promote and support academic Sustainability activities on campus with an emphasis on facilitating multi-disciplinary research and community engagement. To date, the Center has focused on fostering multi-disciplinary interaction of faculty and their graduate students and coordinating the multi-disciplinary graduate certificate.

Significant University resources have been committed to sustainability efforts through the creation of the Center and the recent commitment to expand support for the center and hire additional faculty. However, strengthening of our sustainability programs by supporting existing faculty and hiring additional faculty in selected areas requires additional major resources which the Miller Foundation and the matching partners will provide with their investment. Simply stated, this effort is fundamentally the course we are taking as an institution – and the investment by the Miller Foundation will allow these efforts to broaden, deepen and come to fruition in a fully integrated model that would not be possible without private investment partners.

As evidence of our commitment, we are currently recruiting nationally for a Director of the Center who will provide organizational leadership to this effort, including directing the recruitment of the additional faculty. Over the next years, with the strategic investment of funds from the Miller Foundation, the matching gifts, and funding from institutional resources, we intend to transform the Center into a stronger, bolder and higher profile organizational initiative so that we can better promote integrated teaching and research and provide the level of leadership and support needed for us to achieve our goal of becoming an academic powerhouse in the sustainability field.

Summary of Example Activities and Outcomes

A. Enhancing the Student Experience: Summary of Activities and Outcomes

Example activities

  • Strengthen major programs by adding faculty positions and creating and supporting a visiting faculty program
  • Integrate sustainability as a learning objective in undergraduate curriculum
  • Provide undergraduate scholarships for students pursuing one of the sustainability minors or with a core focus on sustainability
  • Provide Graduate Fellowships/Assistantships for students pursuing the graduate certificate or working with faculty on key research
  • Provide support for post-doctoral positions
  • Support student travel support to enhance regional, national and international experiences
  • Expand experiential opportunities for students through systematic internship programs

Possible Outcomes

  • Portland State is the “university of choice” for students seeking a rigorous education in sustainability
  • Graduates of Portland State are known for “sustainability literacy”
  • Graduates are leaders in developing and implementing sustainable practices through professional and individual activities
  • Portland State is a center for international “community of interest,” engaging students, resident and visiting faculty, community partners and alumni

B. Expanding Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research: Summary of Activities and Outcomes

Example activities

  • Expand faculty positions in selected focus areas
  • Develop matching funds to endow and name several professorships, the director of the Center/Institute
  • Provide support for visiting scholars/fellows in the Center/Institute
  • Support for PSU ‘Faculty Fellowships” in the Center/Institute
  • Expand access to innovative spaces for collaborative research and problem-solving
  • Provide funds to support priority research in green buildings and green infrastructure
  • Provide start-up and matching funds for research activities
  • Develop matching funds to endow graduate fellowships
  • Develop specialized facilities to support research
  • Expand on instrumented urban/metropolitan watershed
  • Establish a green building research and evaluation center – instrumentation for smart/living buildings, materials testing and evaluation, eco-roof assessment
  • Expand green building research center to encompass green urban development– integrating technology, policy, and practice such as the School of Business building and other facilities that will be funded through matching dollars.
  • Expand Portland State’s capacity to mobilize private funding resources
  • Identify and pursue federal funding for both research and infrastructure

Possible Outcomes

  • Portland State is a top tier urban university known internationally for our expertise in interdisciplinary sustainability research and education
  • Portland State attracts and retains top tier students and faculty
  • Faculty are known to be on leading edge in sustainability curriculum development and research
  • Portland State is clearly identified as center for rigorous assessment of green building technologies
  • Portland State has capacity to conduct leading edge research that translates into practice on the ground and has direct impact on regional businesses
  • Top graduate students are attracted to Portland State to work in living laboratory
  • Region’s reputation as a living laboratory for sustainability is enhanced and actualized
  • Matching dollars are raised from a variety of sources

C. Enhancing Excellence in Community Engagement: Summary of Activities and Outcomes

Example activities

  • Expand and strengthen Portland State’s convening function by proactively convening groups around issues related to sustainability
  • Host national/international conferences
  • Support faculty conference participation
  • Expand our international relationships to ensure a global reach
  • Develop and implement communications and outreach program to raise Portland State’s profile and to deepen sustainability network

Possible Outcomes

  • Portland State has a local, regional and international reputation for both conducting and disseminating research and lessons learned about sustainability
  • Portland State is known internationally for taking on challenging sustainability issues and engaging partners to move toward solutions
  • Our community of interest is vibrant and constantly being renewed
  • We are a leading 21st century urban research university

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