Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland State University received the biggest single gift in the school’s history this morning. The Miller Family Foundation announced a $25 million grant to PSU.

It’s a gift that PSU will have to match, ultimately creating a $50 million fund. As Rob Manning reports, the gift will go towards developing  one of the school’s signature areas: sustainability.

Since last week, word got around that Portland State had something big to announce. Rumors were rampant on blogs and around campus, much to the delight of brand-new PSU president, Wim Wievel.

Wim Wievel: “Some of my favorites have been that we’re merging with OHSU, or that we’re having one of the presidential candidates, or that we’re hiring Bobby Knight to be our basketball coach. One of my personal favorites was that we’re going to change the university mascot to the Flying Dutchmen. But none of these things, as you now know, are accurate.”

Still, the announcement met the hype. Chuck Putney, with the Miller Foundation, unveiled the big news.

Chuck Putney: “On behalf of the Miller Foundation, I’m honored  to announce a gift of $25 million, to Portland State University. It’s a matching, or challenge, gift, that’s designed to raise $50 million, or possibly more.”

It’s the biggest single gift, ever, both for the Miller Foundation and for PSU.

The largest ever in Oregon was a $75 million gift from Lorry Lokey to the University of Oregon.  But the Miller gift does have one superlative that U of O can’t claim. 

Wim Wievel: “As far as we know, the largest gift to U.S. higher education in the area of sustainability, ever.”

Again, that’s new PSU president, Wim Wievel. He says the gift will help PSU share sustainability research, and will  help cement the downtown university as a national leader in sustainability.

Wim Wievel: “We will extend the lessons that we’ve learned, not just to the region that surrounds us, but to the world beyond.”

The money will fund an academic plan, including up to ten new faculty positions in sustainability.

Jennifer Allen is PSU’s acting director of sustainability programs. She says the gift will boost a diversity of research on complex issues - like energy.

Jennifer Allen: “So we have people looking at it from the sociological standpoint, from an equity standpoint, from a technical standpoint. We have people looking at wind, and solar, a whole variety of issues related to energy. But we can really bring an integrated team into play to make sure that we’re giving energy issues, and energy opportunities, a 360-degree look.”

Jim Francesconi: “Discussions are happening about how the city and Portland State can take sustainability to a whole ‘nother level.”

That’s higher education board member, and former Portland city commissioner, Jim Francesconi. He’s hoping the gift can lead, eventually, to a physical home for the sustainability effort.

Jim Francesconi: “There’s talk of a sustainability center at Portland State, or near Portland State, that the city would also invest in, that would allow some of the research and education that you heard here described, but it would also be a place to bring visitors to when they come to Portland. It would be a way to market the efforts at Portland State into the city of Portland.”

Francesconi says establishing such a center is up to the new PSU president, Wim Wievel. He’ll also be responsible for raising the matching funds to turn the $25 million, into 50.

The university’s historic announcement came just three weeks after Wievel took the helm at Portland State.