Portland State University's Community Watershed Stewardship Program, in collaboration with the City of Portland, won the first-ever United States National Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus Community Collaboration. The announcement and award were presented June 4, 2008, by former President Jimmy Carter at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Community Watershed Stewardship Program has led over 27,000 community volunteers donating a quarter million hours to install 80,000 plants and restore 50 acres of watershed along two miles of waterways within the region's watershed. Individual projects have been led and supported by more than 700 students working as part of class projects, resulting in several graduate theses and faculty research publications.

"The Community Watershed Stewardship Program supports an innovative way to address environmental concerns by effectively connecting students and community in water improvement projects throughout the region," said Kevin Kecskes, PSU's Center for Academic Excellence. "These projects have allowed students to participate in applied learning environments, engage local residents and enhance neighborhoods. At its core, this program allows participants to practice essential collaboration and partnership skills required for success in the new global century."

The Community Watershed Stewardship Program is a partnership with the Bureau of Environmental Services, City of Portland, and utilizes Portland State graduate students to run the program with the help of Barry Messer, adviser and a professor in Urban Studies and Planning. Through the years, Portland State students organized assistance on more than 130 community projects: from restoration, stormwater management and nature-scaping, to educational workshops and creative writing, art and video projects.

"All three university finalists were exemplary," said Sue Sehgal, president and founder of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation. "Portland State's Watershed Program was ultimately selected because it has wide impact, a multiplying effect, and involves faculty, community and students of all abilities and scholarship."

Last fall, the Watershed Program earned the C. Peter Magrath/W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement West Region award, making Portland State the only university west of the Mississippi to receive the prize. For more information on the Watershed Program watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlAaYpiL8rc or visit www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=43077.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation
The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration is one of the programs of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation and it honors one award recipient in a state where there is a program that addresses critical areas of public need undertaken by a college or university in partnership with a community group. The award is named for President and Mrs. Carter as a tribute to their lifelong efforts to develop and support safe, healthy and caring communities throughout the world. More information about this program and other programs of the foundation is available at www.jrcpf.org.

Portland State University
Portland State University serves as a center of opportunity for more than 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located in Portland, Oregon, one of the nation's most livable cities, the University's innovative approach to education combines academic rigor in the classroom with field-based experiences through internships and classroom projects with community partners. The University's 49-acre downtown campus exhibits Portland State's commitment to sustainability with green buildings, while many of the 125 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees incorporate sustainability into the curriculum. PSU's motto, "Let Knowledge Serve the City," inspires the teaching and research of an accomplished faculty whose work and students span the globe.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#08-042)

Source: Kevin Kecskes (503-725-5642)
Center for Academic Affairs