UO E-Clips is a daily report prepared by the Office of Communications (http://comm.uoregon.edu) summarizing current news coverage of the University of Oregon.
Media mentions for June 12
EDITORIAL: UO leader needs free hand
Register-Guard: Before getting down to the business of scrutinizing Michael Gottfredson’s prospects as president of the University of Oregon, let’s pause to savor the term “sole finalist.” Gottfredson will be introduced as such in Eugene today and Wednesday, the only publicly identified candidate to succeed UO President Richard Lariviere and interim President Robert Berdahl. The word “finalist” implies more than one. Better descriptions of Gottfredson’s status, chosen but not yet confirmed, might be “presumptive president” or “president pending formalities.”
Searchers make pick for next UO chief
Register-Guard: After a six-month search by the Oregon University System, Michael Gottfredson, provost at the University of California at Irvine, emerged Monday as the top candidate to serve as the next University of Oregon president. If approved by the state Board of Higher Education on Friday, Gottfredson would become the university’s 17th president and start his new job on Aug. 1.
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Late mentions for June 11
Higher ed board names just one finalist for UO president
KATU via Portland Business Journal: Michael Gottfredson will likely be the next president of the University of Oregon. Gottfredson is executive vice-chancellor and provost at the University of California, Irvine, that university's No. 2 job. He was interviewed in executive session by the state Board of Higher Education last Friday. Gottfredson will visit the campus Tuesday and Wednesday this week to meet faculty, students and staff ... This Friday, the Board of Higher Education is expected to pass a recommendation by Oregon University System Chancellor George Pernsteiner to hire Gottfredson.
Meditation hope for mental health
United Kingdom Press Association: A month of meditation training alters brain wiring in ways that could open the door to new treatments for mental disorders, research has shown ... After just four weeks, or 11 hours, of training scans showed physical changes in the brains of the volunteers ... Study leader Professor Michael Posner, from the University of Oregon, who carried out the original US research, said: “This study gives us a much more detailed picture of what it is that is actually changing. We did confirm the exact locations of the white-matter changes that we had found previously. And now we show that both myelination and axon density are improving.
Portland Public Schools: Up-to-date facts make the case for up-to-date schools
Oregonian: In a recent guest commentary, Lainie Block Wilker questioned the need for a bond to upgrade schools until Portland Public Schools closes more schools and reduces central office staff ... And these are good schools that are earning their pay ... As for Jefferson, it is no longer a neighborhood school, but a growing citywide high school, designed to provide 450 to 600 students with as much as one year of college credit at neighboring Portland Community College. Universities (such as the University of Oregon and Oregon State University) have stepped in to support this model by offering free tuition for eligible Jefferson graduates.
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Media mentions for June 9
EDITORIAL: The UO's 'inflection point'
Register-Guard: The University of Oregon is in the midst of one of the most profound transitions in its history -- a transition from mid-sized to big, from state-run to autonomous, and from tax-supported to tuition- and donor-funded. These changes are connected to one another, and it's vital that they be understood so that Oregonians can preserve and strengthen the UO's mission as a public institution of higher education. Interim UO President Robert Berdahl charted the shifting landscape in a recent conversation with The Register-Guard's editorial board.
Oregon can't afford higher ed playoff
Oregonian: To general surprise last week, we learned that Oregon had the second-highest economic growth rate of any state in the country. That is, overall growth. Natural resources and financial activities were down again. Eighty-three percent of the growth in Oregon's economy was due to durable goods, largely in high-tech. In other words, Oregon's heavy dependence on high-tech and the education that supports it doesn't match a state that's 44th in the country in spending on its higher education system. We need stronger universities, not people fighting over universities. ... The problem is that two different voices can end up not being twice as loud but instead drowning each other out and there's no reason for that to happen. Another round of the University of Oregon against everybody else -- a highlight of the last legislative session -- tends to end up with nobody winning.
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Late mentions for June 8
Tuition Increase Prompts Forum
KEZI: A forum at the University of Oregon Thursday night was inspired by a student rally. About a dozen students sat down with administration. The main focus was rising tuition. Students proposed the university consider reprioritizing funds by specifically taking money from athletics and the Department of Public Safety and shift it to academics. "We are here telling the administration that we have a lot of concerns aboout this tuition increase. We don't think it should be happening," said UO senior Beshara Kehdi. "The reality is there aren't dollars available. It's not like that state legislature has a huge pot of money they're sitting on and they're withholding it from students. Really, there isn't money available," said UO spokesperson Phil Weiler. The students will use the information they gathered and raise awareness about the tuition increase.