Contributors to Part 1
Martha Balshem, Associate Professor of University Studies, was involved in the design and early implementation of the program and currently teaches Freshman Inquiry and serves as coordinator of the Freshman Inquiry Faculty Council. She is the author of Cancer in the Community, an ethnography of a health-education campaign, and Profiles of Oregon's Preschool Children: A Call for Public Discussion, as well as numerous articles.
Michael J. Flower, Associate Professor of Honors, was originally trained in biology and zoology as a developmental and molecular biologist. He has spent most of the past twenty years integrating these areas of specialization into the issues of bioethics, sociology of scientific knowledge, and science education curriculum reform. His work has been conducted at the Salk Institute, the University of San Diego, Lewis and Clark College, and now Portland State University. He is in the process of bringing these interdisciplinary concerns together in a book to be entitled "Technoscientific Liberty: Science Literacy and Democratic Political Practice."
Linda A. George is Assistant Professor in the Center for Science Education at Portland State University. She has been teaching interdisciplinary courses in the University Studies curriculum since its inception. She is an active researcher in atmospheric chemistry and is developing programs integrating scientific research with classroom science education experiences. As the project director of "The Portland Horizons Project: Integrating Science Education and Scientific Research," she is developing regional air quality research projects with high school and middle school teachers. Her research and teaching interests also include feminist pedagogy, gender and scientific literacy, and environmental justice issues.
Candice L. Goucher is Professor of Black Studies and International Studies and Chair of the Black Studies Department at Porland State University. She holds a Ph.D. in African History from UCLA (1984) and recently co-authored the book In the Balance: Themes in Global History (McGraw-Hill, 1998). She has published numerous works on African and Caribbean History.
Roberta Jessen, Testing and Assessment Specialist at Portland State University since 1988, has been actively involved with assessment of the new general education curriculum since its implementation in 1994. Since 1996 she has been working with Cheryl Ramette to conduct classroom observation in both Freshman Inquiry and Transfer/Transition courses.
Devorah A. Lieberman is Professor of Speech Communication and International Studies and Director of Teaching and Learning Excellence in the Center for Academic Excellence at Portland State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Speech Communication with an emphasis in Intercultural Communication. She has published widely on culture, teaching strategies, and learning styles. Currently, she researches and publishes on effective teaching in the technologically rich classroom.
Judy P. Patton, formerly of the Department of Dance, is now Professor of University Studies at Portland State University. For over four years she has taught in the Freshman Inquiry course "Embracing Einstein's Universe" at both the Pennsylvania State University and Westview High School in Beaverton, a Portland suburb. She is the Program Director and also directs the University Studies K-16 Reform Initiative. Her current research interests include inividualized teaching, the impact on faculty of teaching in the Freshman Inquiry program, and broader issues of education reform.
Joseph Poracsky is Professor of Geography at Portland State University, where he teaches courses in cartography, remote sensing, and urban natural resources. He served on the Working Group that designed the University Studies curriculum and taught for two years in the Freshman Inquiry program in a course called "City Life."
Cheryl Ramette, Curriculum Analyst at Portland State University, has been practicing classroom observational research since 1994. Beginning in 1996 she and Roberta Jessen started their observational assessments of Freshman Inquiry courses. Ramette has conducted classroom based observational assessment in over 20 courses with 28 faculty at Portland State University and local community colleges.
Leslie Rennie-Hill, former Director of Mentor Programs and Assistant Professor of University Studies, at Portland State University holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. Her research and writing is focused on K-16 school reform, specializing in areas of urban education, faculty development, curriculum, assessment, and organizational change. She is currently an independent consultant to secondary schools and higher education institutions navigating the path of school reform.
Jack C. Straton is Assistant Professor of Physics at Portland State University. He earned his B.F.A. in Photography (1976) and his M.S. (1983) and Ph.D. (1986) in Physics from the University of Oregon. His research focuses on electron correlation in the quantum theory of atoms.
Michael A. Toth, Professor of Sociology at Portland State University, has been teaching in Freshman Inquiry ("Understanding Our Pluralistic Society") since its inception. He was chair of the committee on interdisciplinarity, which worked together with the committee that created University Studies; served as the first coordinator of the Freshman Inquiry Faculty Council; and is currently Director for Communications and Technology in University Studies. His current interests focus on integrating Web technologies into the curriculum and the impact of the Freshman Inquiry experience on the faculty.
Ann Weikel, a member of the Portland State University History Department since 1967 and Professor since 1980, was a member of the committee studying issues associated with interdisciplinary curriculum and one of the original Freshman Inquiry faculty. Her field of specialty is early modern English history. She has been the editor of three volumes of the court rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire (1536-39, 1550-52, 1585-87), published by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. She is currently working on a book on the Counter-Reformation in Elizabethan England.
Charles R. White is currently Associate Dean for University Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Portland State University. He chaired the General Education Working Group, which developed the comprehensive general education reform that constitutes University Studies, and has been the chief administrator of the program since 1994. Previously, he was a Professor in the Department of Political Science, where he was responsible for courses in comparative politics and research methods.
Emily Young is Professor Emerita of Art at Portland State University. She has taught the foundations of studio and computer art at every age level and taught for two years in Freshman Inquiry. Her specialties are drawing, painting, and designing on the computer and teaching and advising art educators. Since retiring in 1998, she has devoted her time to art advocacy and her paintings.
