President Bernstine’s Convocation

President Daniel O. Bernstine addressed the faculty at Portland State University on Wednesday, Sept. 19. Bernstine took this time to review last year’s goals and to announce his plans for this upcoming school year.

Last year’s theme was “Great City, Great University.” This year, there are additional activities that have been planned to continue this theme.

“I remain convinced this is the institution of Oregon’s future,” Bernstine said.

He reflected back to last year’s address and talked about how enjoyable it was. This year he said that kind of entertainment did not seem appropriate in light of recent national events.

Bernstine stressed that this university should embrace and support the diversity that this campus represents.

One of the main focuses for this year is to internationalize the campus, which will be achieved in a four-level process. Bernstine said that the objective is to be “more assertive and purposeful about this initiative” than he has in the past.

There are already international Portland State campuses in countries such as Germany, Japan and Korea. Portland State is the first university in the United States to offer a degree in business to North Korea.

This year there are a record number of international students and Bernstine said that we need to make these students feel comfortable.

Along with internationalizing the campus, Bernstine also discussed further the university’s relationship with the outside community.

“Portland State is an institution with a wonderful history and a great future,” Bernstine said.Bernstine also discussed the topic of money. As of date, the university has reached one-third of its fundraising goal of 90 million dollars.

In addition to raising money, the university’s budget continues to remain balanced.