Introduction
Portland State University is a dynamic urban research university. In the past ten years, it has come to be regarded as a leader on the national higher education landscape. As a complex organization facing new challenges and opportunities, the University has continued to reflect on basic questions surrounding its curriculum, pedagogy, management, and community engagement. Its evolving role as a growing urban university has prompted adjustments to its policies, procedures, and practices.
Portland State's last self-study highlighted two key strategies for advancing the University: collaboration and greater use of technology. In the face of shrinking state resources and growing enrollment, advances in technology have helped to stretch existing resources to meet increased demands, as well as to meet the expectations of diverse constituencies. Collaborative arrangements have helped to finance buildings, deliver courses, and provide services, and have allowed for leveraging of limited resources to meet the institution's goals and objectives.
Two new strategies have emerged from the University's more recent work: flexibility and creativity. Changes in the external environment, continuing declines in state appropriations, and limitations in space and facilities have required the institution to think differently about its processes and practices. Through reorganization, new funding strategies, agreements with international and regional partners, and programmatic and process innovations that have improved services for students, faculty, staff and community, Portland State has been successful in using creative and flexible planning to further its mission and goals.
The Institutional Portfolio
This self-study is an example of how Portland State has used technology to advance the University's mission. The institutional portfolio, which provides the framework for the self-study, was developed through the Urban Universities Portfolio Project (UUPP), a national project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education. The concept of institutional portfolios emerged from discussions within and outside higher education surrounding the inadequacy of current methods of documenting institutional effectiveness in the face of increasing calls for greater accountability. Building on the growing use of reflective portfolios to portray the work of teachers and learners at all levels of education, the Portland State institutional portfolio provides opportunities to experience first hand how the University is striving to meet its mission to "enhance the intellectual, social, cultural, and economic qualities of urban life."
Three of the portfolio's major themes, "Community and Global Connections," "Research and Scholarship," and "Teaching and Learning," portray the University's goals and achievements in areas directly related to institutional mission. Narratives for each theme address why the institution is engaged in its work in that area and why the work is important to the campus and the community. Examples of faculty and student accomplishments, campus initiatives, and ongoing research illustrate each theme. In addition, discussion of the major institutional topics of growth, community engagement, internationalization, and diversity are threaded throughout each of the self-study's narratives.
One of the challenges for Portland State in preparing the self-study was how to mesh the portfolio approach to accountability with clear documentation of the University's work in addressing the standards for renewal of accreditation. It chose an approach that combines a standard format for the self-study with hyperlinks to the portfolio website and other electronic sources, where appropriate, with an eye to ensuring ease of access and clarity in communication of necessary documentation. As a result, while the self-study is embedded within the portfolio, it may be reviewed as a separate document specifically focused on the NWCCU Standards.
Each Standard's narrative was written by members of individual sub-committees and edited and reviewed by the self-study leadership team. An effort was made to make the process of self-reflection inclusive as possible, and to allow faculty, staff, and administrators multiple opportunities to participate and provide their perspectives on the university's work. As a result, many voices can be heard in the narratives, although a degree of clarity and consistency was maintained across all of the Standards.
The Institutional Environment
State funding has decreased dramatically in the ten-year period since Portland State's last accreditation visit, while state regulatory and policy restrictions and requirements have remained in place. At Portland State, these constraints have been partially offset by dramatic increases in research and sponsored projects, tuition revenues, other new revenue streams, and campus efficiencies. Resource limitations, however, continue to make it difficult to reward University staff and support faculty appropriately. Substantial changes in the composition and direction of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education have created some uncertainties for Oregon University System institutions, but have also streamlined processes and helped to clarify the System's strategic direction.
Growth
Growth has had a substantial impact on the campus. Growth in enrollment has fueled both demands for new programs (particularly at the graduate level) and revenue sources to replace declining state funding, and has led to Portland State's position as the largest public four-year university in the state. Increasing numbers of international students, out-of-state students, traditionally aged students, and under-represented students have diversified the student body and added to demands for services and infrastructure. Student needs for on-campus housing have prompted the University to build more residence facilities and to provide residence life programs to support these students.
More faculty members have been hired to meet the higher demand for more courses. Many of these faculty members have contributed to the rapid growth in research and sponsored projects (some of this work is highlighted in the portfolio theme "Research and Scholarship.") With continuing budget uncertainties and increasing reliance on student tuition and fees, much of the growth in faculty has been in fixed-term contract faculty, rather than tenure-related faculty. This was a deliberate policy designed to provide budget flexibility should the growth in enrollment slow or stop in the near future. Throughout this decade of growth, Portland State has remained fiscally sound and has maintained a balanced budget. As the self-study narratives show, growth has become a source of stress for both people and spaces, but also a source of increased revenues to maintain and expand quality programs and services.
Engagement
Engagement is the keystone of the University. Portland State's motto, "Let Knowledge Serve the City," is promulgated through academic programs, research directions, and service. In 2003, the University involved faculty and staff in restating its vision and values. During this process "engagement" emerged as a key component of the institution's vision and was the most frequently mentioned value by the campus community. This affirms the sense of connection that members of the Portland State community have with the larger metropolitan region, and the recognition that academically based activities can and should support and enhance local communities, rather than being purely academic or campus-based.
At Portland State, students are recognized for their leadership roles, faculty members are often tenured and promoted because of their emphasis on the scholarship of engagement, and alumni and community partners maintain mutually beneficial relationships with the University. Portland State is proud to have received virtually every national award for civic engagement and community-based learning. The University is recognized nationally and internationally for the depth and breadth of community engagement throughout the campus and for its broad portfolio of community partnerships. The institutional portfolio themes "Community and Global Connections," "Research and Scholarship: Serving Various Communities," and "Teaching and Learning: Undergraduate Programs" illustrate the many ways Portland State contributes to its community.
Diversity
As the most diverse campus in Oregon, Portland State has consciously opened its doors to a wide range of people. Diversity is defined broadly at Portland State, including traditionally under-represented minorities, various nationalities, abilities, sexual preferences, ages, and social and economic backgrounds. Even though Oregon is one of the most homogeneous states in the nation, Portland State's program to recruit faculty of color has resulted in marked increases in minority faculty. The diversity of the human experience is a campus wide goal of the nationally recognized University Studies general education program.
Internationalization
Although Portland State has always had strong international connections, internationalization of the campus took on new significance as a Presidential Initiative in 2003. As a result, the University has engaged in a number of activities designed to further the President's goal in this area. Through increased recruiting and student support services, Portland State has maintained its international student enrollments in the face of tighter visa regulations for some nations and international political or environmental disruptions. A floor has been designated in one of the new residence halls to pair U.S. and international student roommates. In addition, Portland State offers instruction in more languages than any university on the West coast.
Several new Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with foreign universities, perhaps the most developed being the delivery of a Portland State baccalaureate degree completion program in Shanghai, China. Portland State continues to host visiting scholars and delegations from around the world, as well as provide opportunities for Portland State faculty and students to travel abroad for research and scholarly activities. Some of the these activities are documented in the portfolio theme, "Community and Global Connections."
Campus Culture
The culture of the campus has been changing over the past ten years. Portland State now ranks among the 100 largest universities in the country and is viewed as a national leader in a number of areas, particularly in undergraduate education and community engagement. Faculty and student research and scholarly activity has more than tripled in the last decade. National and international recognition for the quality and innovativeness of its general education and selected graduate programs has improved the University's ability to attract students and faculty. The rapid expansion in research and scholarly productivity and the national and international recognition of individual faculty members has provided enhanced opportunities for students and other faculty to engage in high quality learning experiences.
Conclusion
Growth and expansion in enrollment, research, and facilities and the broader diversification of the faculty and student body has placed new challenges on the University's policies, practices, and infrastructure. Portland State's 2005 self-study presents a very different institution from the one described ten years ago. Linking the self-study to the institutional portfolio has allowed the University to present information necessary for sound judgment about the standards for accreditation, but also to represent the dynamic and complex institution that Portland State has become. Challenges facing the institution are numerous and real, but they are recognized and continually examined by the campus community. The most compelling feature of the institution, however, is its people. Their willingness to engage in serious self-reflection, take risks, and challenge the way things have "always been done" is reflected in the narratives that follow.
PSU Portfolio Themes