Gov. Kitzhaber announces appointments to PSU's new Board of Trustees
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Governor John Kitzhaber on Monday announced his appointments to a newly created Board of Trustees for Portland State University, part of the governor’s comprehensive overhaul of Oregon’s public education system.
PSU’s new 15-member board will provide fiscal stewardship for the university while promoting student equity and access and excellence in teaching, research, and community service. Governor Kitzhaber also announced appointees to the boards for Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
Go here for the governor’s full announcement and here for the full list of candidates for all four boards. The appointments are subject to Senate approval.
"We have recruited an outstanding, experienced set of leaders to serve on Oregon’s higher education boards," said Gov. Kitzhaber. "Together, they offer deep and broad expertise in all aspects and levels of education, which will inform their work to ensure that Oregon's higher education system is efficient, equitable, and well-coordinated. I am confident these appointees will be laser-focused on supporting Oregon students while helping to deepen relationships among higher education, K-12, early learning providers, and other education partners."
Beginning July 1, 2014, these institutional boards will be responsible for overseeing their respective institutions, including the authority to hire the President, issue bonds, set tuition (subject to HECC and legislative oversight), and operate as separate legal entities. The boards will also be focused on meeting Oregon’s education goals by helping more Oregon students earn post-secondary degrees at an affordable price. Students, faculty, and non-faculty staff members serve for two-year terms, with four-year terms for the others.
Here are the governor’s appointments to PSU’s board:
Swati Adarkar
A recognized leader, adviser and spokesperson on early childhood issues, Adarkar is president and CEO of the Children's Institute based in Portland, Oregon. Adarkar has a wealth of experience in research, communications, child advocacy and public policy development. Adarkar has helped shape the growth of the Children's Institute since its inception, first serving as vice president of research and communications. Prior to that, she advised nonprofit organizations on public policy and communications, served as policy director for Children First for Oregon, and was director of community affairs for Children Now. An instrumental leader in the 2007 expansion of Oregon Head Start Prekindergarten, Adarkar also helped lead the successful campaign for first time state funding for Early Head Start in 2010. She also served on Oregon’s first Early Childhood Matters Advisory Council for Governor Kulongoski and on Governor Kitzhaber’s Early Childhood and Family Investment Transition Team. Adarkar is currently a member of the Cradle-to-Career Council in Multnomah County. Adarkar has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor's degree in communications studies from UCLA.
Gale Castillo
Castillo is the president and one of the founders of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, the largest Hispanic Chamber in the Northwest with over 800 members. Castillo is also the co-owner of Cascade Centers, Inc., one of the largest privately held companies that provides Employee Assistance Program (EAP) service and staff development in the U.S. In addition to her work with the Chamber and Cascade Centers, Castillo previously worked as an assistant to former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and as the state manager of the Oregon Economic Development Department's Job Training Administration. In the private sector, Castillo has worked for AT&T, Pacific Northwest Bell, and RESTOR Communications in management, marketing, and national sales positions. The recipient of many awards for service to her community, Castillo is the first in her family to graduate from college receiving a Bachelor of Arts, Linfield College and a Masters of Arts, Education, Portland State University. Castillo has also completed Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program.
Paul J. De Muniz
The Honorable Paul J. De Muniz was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court in 2000 and served as the court’s chief justice and administrative head of the Oregon Judicial Department from January 2006 to May 2012, retiring from the court at the end of 2012. Between 1990 and 2000, he sat on the Oregon Court of Appeals and served as presiding judge on one of the three panels that comprise that body. Prior to ascending to the bench, De Muniz was in private practice for 13 years, specializing in complex criminal and civil litigation, as well as appeals. From 1975 to 1977, he was a deputy public defender for the State of Oregon. De Muniz was inducted into the National Center for State Courts’ Warren E Burger Society in 201l. He serves as a member of the boards of the Conference of Chief Justices and the National Judicial College and recently completed a three-year term as a member of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Session for State Court Leaders in the 21st Century. De Muniz received his bachelor’s degree from Portland State University in 1972 and his Juris Doctor from Willamette University College of Law in 1975. He was the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in Oregon.
Sho Dozono
A graduate of Portland State, Dozono is the president and CEO of Azumano Travel. A prominent member of the Portland business community and an active civic leader, Dozono was born in Japan and moved to Portland with his family when he was 10. He attended Cleveland High School and earned his bachelor’s degree in education and history from the University of Washington. He later went on to earn a master’s degree in education from PSU and to teach social studies at Grant High School for five years. Dozono joined his father-in-law’s business, Azumano Travel, in the mid-70s, becoming president in 1981. Dozono founded the Portland School Foundation and organized a massive march in support of school funding in the late 1990s, which helped raise millions of dollars to save teaching positions. A strong advocate of diversity and equal opportunity, Dozono has served as co-chair of the Oregon League of Minority Voters, the US-Japan Council, the Portland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, among other organizations. He is known as an advocate for Oregon as both a travel and tourism destination as well as an ideal location for business and investment opportunities.
James Francesconi
Francesconi was appointed to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education in February 2007, and served as vice president of the board from 2009-2011. Francesconi is currently an attorney with the law firm of Haglund, Kelley, Horngren, Jones, and Wilder LLP, and has an extensive background in community and public leadership. Francesconi is well known as a champion of all levels of education from K-12 to higher education. He is a co-founder of Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), which provides before- and after-school programs, and the Portland Workforce Alliance, which partners employers with high schools providing mentorships and work experience. Francesconi also is founder and president of The Oregon Idea, a coalition of higher education stakeholders that advocates for greater public investment in higher education. Francesconi serves as a member of the Thomas A. Edison High School Board, the World Affairs Council Board, the OMSI Emeritus Board, and, most recently, the St. Andrew Nativity School Board. Francesconi also served as a city commissioner on the Portland City Council for two terms, from 1997 to 2004, managing Portland Parks & Recreation, Portland Department of Transportation, and Fire and Emergency Services. Francesconi received a B.A. in Humanities from Stanford University, and his J.D. from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar.
Thomas J. Imeson
A member of the PSU Foundation Board of Directors, Imeson has been employed at Port of Portland in the position of public affairs director since November 30, 2006. Imeson started his own consulting firm in 2000 and was appointed by Governor Kulongoski to serve on the Port Commission in 2003. Mr. Imeson has served with three Oregon Governors. He was chief of staff for Governor Goldschmidt from 1987 to 1991 and served on the transition teams for both Governor Kitzhaber and Governor Kulongoski. He spent 16 years on Senator Mark Hatfield’s staff serving in a variety of positions including Oregon field director and a member of the staff of the Senate Energy and Senate Appropriations Committees. His private sector experience, in addition to his consulting practice, includes 11 years with PacifiCorp, first as federal affairs manager and then as a vice president. Imeson’s civic involvement has included committee and board work with Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Health & Science University, the Oregon Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Cascade Aids Project, Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission and the Oregon Board of Higher Education, where he served as president of the board. Imeson received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Fariborz Maseeh
Dr. Maseeh is the founder and president of The Massiah Foundation, a charitable organization which invests in programs that can result in broad public benefits in education, health or arts and culture. He is also the founder of Kids Institute for Development and Advancement and an investment firm, Orbitron LP, Picoco LLC, and is the founder, president and CEO of IntelliSense Corp. A first-generation immigrant from Iran who arrived in America at the age of 18, Dr. Maseeh attended Portland State University where he earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering and a master’s degree in applied mathematics. He went on to receive a second master’s in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his doctorate in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A generous philanthropist as well as a creative entrepreneur, Dr. Maseeh has donated $12 million to PSU in recent years. The College of Engineering and Computer Science, to which he donated $8 million, is now named the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Maseeh has published numerous scientific articles and serves on the board of several technology firms and engineering advisory boards at MIT, USC and PSU. Although his main residence is now in Southern California, Dr. Maseeh also owns several commercial properties and a condo in Oregon.
Rick Miller (Karl R. Miller, Jr.)
Rick Miller is the founder and chairman of Avamere Group, one of the Northwest’s largest senior care and housing providers with an employee base of more than 6,500. A sixth-generation Oregonian committed to starting and growing businesses, Miller co-founded the private equity firm, Rogue Investments, in 2010 to provide other entrepreneurs in Oregon with funding and mentorship. Miller serves on the boards of ID Experts and Diabetomics and is past chairman of the American Health Care Organization, the Oregon Health Care Association and the Portland-based chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization. Miller also is co-chair of Portland State University’s School of Business Administration Building Campaign. Miller was recognized in Portland Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” in 2004 and his company was selected as one of “Oregon’s Most Admired Companies” in 2010. He also was honored as the 2012 Distinguished Graduate Alumnus by the PSU School of Business Administration, and he and his wife, Erika, recently received the Simon Benson Award for philanthropy. Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from the University of Oregon and his MBA in 1991 from Portland State.
Pete Nickerson
The immediate past-chair of the PSU Foundation Board of Directors, Nickerson is the co-founder and principal of Chinus Asset Management. The former general manager of Nike in China, Nickerson is a fluent Mandarin speaker who has conducted business throughout Asia and lived for extended periods in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Nickerson has also founded and developed trading, investing and manufacturing businesses that currently generate just under $1 billion of sales and directly employ over 85,000 people. Nickerson has been deeply involved in both the Asian and American public and private equity markets over the past four decades and has built an extensive network in Asia through his role as director of Growth-Link Overseas Company, a Hong Kong–based investment firm he co-founded in 1988. Nickerson currently serves as a board member for two publicly listed companies: Feng Tay Enterprises (TW9910) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Cascade Corporation (CASC) on the NYSE. Nickerson holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oregon.
Peter Stott
Stott has been president of Columbia Investments, Ltd. since 1983. He also served as the vice chairman and a principal of the real estate private equity firm ScanlanKemperBard Companies from 2005 to 2010 and as CEO of that company from 2008 to 2010. Stott was formerly president and CEO of Crown Pacific from 1988 to 2004. Stott founded Market Transport, Ltd. in 1969, the largest “asset-based” transportation and logistics services company headquartered in Oregon, and served as chairman and CEO of the company until 2006. Stott is a member of the board of directors of the Portland State University Foundation, member of the Founder's Circle of SOLV, and trustee of the Portland Art Museum. Stott also serves on the Board of Directors of Gerding/Edlen Development Company, a Portland-based commercial real estate development firm specializing in mixed-use urban renewal projects and Omega Morgan, one of the largest machinery moving and industrial construction companies in the Pacific Northwest. Stott attended Portland State University and has an honorary doctorate from the university.
Christine Vernier
Vernier is co-founder and CFO of Vernier Software & Technology, a 32-year old company that produces STEM educational software and hardware. Vernier S&T is an active member of HOSP (Hands-On Science Partnership) and Change the Equation. Vernier and her husband also are co-founders of the Vernier Charitable Fund at the Oregon Community Foundation and are major donors to numerous education, social service and environmental organizations in Oregon. Vernier currently serves on the Triangle Coalition for STEM Education, a national board advocating for the improvement of STEM education, as well as the board of the Oregon Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. She previously served on the boards of the Oregon Business Education Compact and the Board of Visitors for the College of Science at Oregon State University, among other boards. Vernier has received distinguished service awards from the American Association of Physics, AAPT Ohio section, University of Oregon, and Oregon Science Teachers Association. A social worker and law office manager prior to co-founding Vernier S&T, Vernier received her B.A. in Sociology from Ohio State University.
Maude Hines
A recent past-presiding officer of the PSU Faculty Senate, Dr. Hines is an associate professor of English. Dr. Hines specializes in American Literature. Her teaching and research focuses on Anglo-American Children's Literature, African American Literature, and Cultural Studies. Dr. Hines is currently completing a manuscript on citizen formation in late nineteenth-century American children's literature. She is also working on a project about the treatment of racial transformation in American cultural production. Her published work includes articles on Philip Pullman, Alice Walker and Paule Marshall, Ecocriticism in Children's Literature, and Louisa May Alcott. In addition to her leadership role on the PSU Faculty Senate, Dr. Hines is currently PSU’s lead representative to the OUS Interinstitutional Faculty Senate and IFS representative to the OUS Provost's Council. Dr. Hines received her B.A. from The City College of New York in 1992 and her Ph.D. from Duke University in 1998. Dr. Hines has served on the PSU faculty since 2000.
Pamela Campos-Palma
PSU student
Erica Bestpitch
PSU administrative program assistant
Wim Wiewel (non-voting member)
Wiewel assumed the presidency of Portland State University in August 2008. Prior to coming to PSU, Wiewel was the provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs at the University of Baltimore. From 1979-2004, Wiewel was with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where he most recently served as dean of the College of Business Administration. Wiewel also directed UIC’s Center for Urban Economic Development. He holds degrees in sociology and urban planning from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University. Wiewel has authored or edited nine books and more than 65 articles and chapters that have appeared in publications and journals, including “Economic Development Quarterly,” “Economic Geography” and the “Journal of the American Planning Association.” His most recent books are “Global Universities and Urban Development,” “The University as Urban Developer” and “Suburban Sprawl.”
