2021 was a year of challenges, celebrations and a shift toward normalcy. Join us in taking a look back at the year's highlights.
75th Anniversary
Portland State University celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2021 with a variety of virtual activities celebrating its heritage as a small start-up serving G.I.s home from World War II growing into Oregon’s most diverse and innovative urban public research university.
While the COVID-19 pandemic limited most activities to virtual and online, Portland State celebrated its 75th anniversary with a special anniversary issue of its award winning Portland State Magazine. A special commemorative video debuted, highlighting PSU’s history, and stories of notable alumni from throughout its 8 decades were published on the web and social media.
PSU alumni shared their favorite PSU memories on social media and emails, videos and audio spots celebrating PSU’s anniversary ran in the Portland Business Journal, KOIN, KRDW and OPB. Finally, PSU’s virtual Day at the Capitol showcased the many ways PSU contributes to our community to state legislators in Salem.
PSU Toon Tour
In February the streets were slick with rain and PSU’s campus was quiet, with remote teaching and learning in full effect and vaccines still not widely available. But splashes of color and whimsy sprang up across campus when Portland State launched its first ever Toon Tour in partnership with Portland artist Michael Bennett.
With news crews filming PSU officially launched the tour with the help of Portland’s Unipiper, Brian Kidd, whose image was one of 26 life-size cartoon cutouts scattered across campus in a delightful treasure hunt.
"Every single piece has a fun little backstory based on Oregon, Portland, or specifically Portland State,” said Bennett, describing the tour.
Characters included a Max train, a hazelnut and, of course, a Viking. The images led participants on a tour of campus and stayed up until June when individual pieces were given away to prospective students at events and installed permanently in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions University Welcome Center and office space.
Vaccine Clinic
In early May, PSU became one of Oregon’s first universities to announce a vaccine requirement — all employees and students were required to get their COVID-19 vaccination or submit a valid exemption by the time classes began in September.
“All of us are eager to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and come together again in person as a campus community,” said PSU President Stephen Percy. “Widespread vaccination is our clearest and best path toward that future.”
To improve vaccine access, the Incident Management Team hosted a two-day vaccine clinic in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, an event that attracted the attention of local television stations and Victor E. Viking who lined up to get his shot. The clinic, operated by the Safeway-Albertsons pharmacy, was open to all everyone in the PSU community, including family members. Dante Chachere, a sophomore and quarterback on the PSU Vikings football team, got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine the first day of the clinic.
“As a program and a team, if we all get towards getting the vaccine, I feel like we can get back to that normalcy, back to how things used to be," Chachere told KATU News.
2021 Grads and First Class of Four Years Free
In June, we celebrated the class of 2021 with a virtual ceremony highlighting their amazing accomplishments. On the road to receiving their degrees, our 6,255 graduates overcame immense challenges, completing their studies amid the stress of a global pandemic. The 2021 graduating class proved that resiliency is at the core of every PSU student. We know these Viks are already making the world a better place.
Included in the celebration was the first class of Four Years Free graduates. Four Years Free, which launched in 2017, covers base tuition and mandatory fees for eligible Oregon students, allowing them to graduate with as little debt as possible.
For many of the Four Years Free graduates, the program made it possible for them to attend a four-year university straight out of high school.
“I was really honored to receive it,” Julia Misenhimer ‘21 said about her Four Years Free support. “It just made me feel a lot better because my family isn't able to support me financially for college. It took a lot of that burden off of what I feel my dad was feeling and definitely off of myself too.”
Summer Bridge
Transitioning to college can be intimidating — and that’s without having spent more than a year in remote classes. To help first year students hit the ground running their first year, PSU launched a new Summer Bridge Scholars Program in August. Around 260 Summer Scholars participated in the free four-week program, with most scholars living on campus.
In the jam-packed program, scholars completed coursework, gained insights into how they learn best, identified academic goals, were introduced to campus resources and made new friends.
“I wanted to build community since I'm going to be commuting,” said scholar Nelly Bescond. “I've even found two people that I can really rely on if I am late and I can exchange notes with them or meet up for coffee later.”
The Summer Bridge Scholars Program was originally created as a response to the pandemic, but there are now plans to hold the program again next summer.
“I think what COVID really did was just magnify the inequities that already existed within the educational system, particularly in K through 12,” said Shoshana Zeisman-Pereyo, director of PSU’s Learning Center and coordinator of the program. “To be able to offer it again next year is going to be great.”
Montgomery Street Mural
In September, Montgomery Plaza got a fresh look. More than 60 volunteers painted a giant student-designed mural on Montgomery Street as part of a long term effort to grow the plaza as a pedestrian-friendly community space.
The new mural was designed by Nia Musiba, Naomi Likayi, Sonia Chavez, all student leaders with Comma, a group of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students from PSU’s graphic design program.
“The design concept was around the themes of connection and community,” said Musiba. “And then we wanted to keep in mind the location as part of the green street plan and landed on this almost underwater, kind of whimsical thing. We wanted something fun and colorful.”
The offices of Planning & Sustainability and Transportation & Parking Services, PSU’s Creative Placemaking pilot project, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and the non-profit City Repair also contributed to the effort.
The unveiling of the mural welcomed the PSU community back to campus and reintroduced Montgomery Street as a place for gathering and celebration.
“I'm really hoping that people see Montgomery Street as a space for everyone, including the whole campus community as well as the people that live in the neighborhood,” said Liz Hoekstra, Senior Campus Planner with PSU. “I'm excited to see what happens there.”
Return to Campus
In Fall 2021, we were able to say good-bye to isolation and hello to new experiences. We caught up with old friends and made new ones. COVID-19 upended life as we knew it, but thanks to safety protocols and a vaccination requirement, campus reopened for the first time since March 2020 and in-person classes returned.
Flexible class schedules and hybrid formats meant students could create a plan that worked for them and their families — including the pilot program Attend Anywhere, a new course modality that allows for both in-person and remote options.
Thanks to the resiliency of the PSU community and a renewed dedication to safety, Fall term signaled a return to normalcy. And it’s just the beginning.
Ore Sat 0
Oregon’s first satellite is destined for the stars thanks to the Portland State Aerospace Society (PSAS).
The interdisciplinary student group delivered the satellite known as OreSat0 to Seattle’s Spaceflight Inc. who will integrate OreSat0 into its Sherpa(R) Orbital Transfer Vehicle — scheduled to launch in early 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
OreSat0 is the first in a series of three satellites designed by PSAS and includes solar panels, batteries, a color camera and an amateur radio system. The small satellite gives PSAS a chance to test their open-source satellite design before building the next iteration for NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, scheduled to launch in late 2022. Think of OreSat0 as the training wheels for a tissue-box shaped bike speeding through space.
The second, larger satellite, being built for the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, is a mission for climate science. PSAS’s satellite will look at cirrus clouds and the distribution of cirrus clouds around the world. As if OreSat0 could get any cooler — the design is open source and available for anyone to use. OreSat0 hasn’t even launched yet and already several universities have reached out to collaborate and make their own versions of the satellite.
Downtown Revitalization Project
With thousands of students and employees returning to campus this fall, PSU played a major role in bringing downtown Portland back to life.
In order to capitalize on that energy, PSU worked with a local tech company, several nonprofit organizations and the city of Portland to make the return to campus even more impactful — while putting money in the pockets of students.
The initiative — called Here for Portland, Downtown — introduced students to local restaurants and retail businesses whose livelihoods and workforces have been hit hard by the pandemic, including local businesses owned by low-income entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color. Through an app-based gift card called Kuto, 600 students received $50 in virtual cash to spend at downtown businesses. The program also secured federal funding to place 20 students in paid internships at some of the same businesses, many of them eager for new workers.
"We're so heartened to have our students and employees back downtown at Portland State," said Stephen Percy, Portland State University President. "Our vibrant urban campus is key to the PSU identity and we are a committed partner in revitalizing this community and this region to thrive in the years to come."
Vanport Building Grand Opening
Portland State capped its 75th year in December by celebrating the opening of a new building on its downtown campus. The Vanport Building is the work of close community partnerships and its name carries forward an important legacy.
The building name commemorates the city of Vanport, the residents who were lost or displaced by the Vanport flood on May 30, 1948, and the Vanport Extension Center, which was eventually renamed and became Portland State University following the college’s relocation to downtown Portland. The decision to name the building in honor of Vanport reflects Portland’s diverse history and honors generations of activism, engagement and community organization within the city.
The building serves as a new home for PSU’s College of Education, the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, Portland Community College’s dental hygiene and dental assisting programs, and the City of Portland's Bureau of Planning & Sustainability.
Throughout the building, diverse art installations reflect PSU’s core values of racial justice and equity, including a mural on the first floor that tells a story about the Vanport flood.
Honorable Mention: Athletics
2021 has been an exciting year in Vikings Athletics as most teams returned to competition after their 2020 seasons were put on hold. The Softball team had a stellar year, becoming Big Sky Conference Champions. Cross Country's Katie Camarena ran her way to the NCAA National Championships, and Volleyball made it to national post-season tournament play for the first time since 2010.
Football went 4-4 in conference play led by Senior quarterback Davis Alexander, and both basketball programs named new head coaches this year, with Jase Coburn and Chelsey Gregg leading the teams.
Vikings student-athletes saw success in the classroom as well; Women's Tennis was selected as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team after maintaining an impressive 3.86 team GPA. The Vikings had a lot of memorable moments in 2021 and look forward to continuing their success in the new year.