[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 93 (Monday, June 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S7449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RETIREMENT OF DANIEL BERNSTINE

 Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I want to pay tribute to one 
of Oregon's and indeed our Nation's finest higher education leaders, 
Dr. Daniel O. Bernstine, president of Portland State University. 
Portland State University is our state's largest university, and is 
foundational to Oregon's well-earned reputation for educational and 
technological innovation. Earlier this year, President Bernstine 
announced he would leave PSU at the end of the academic year and become 
the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Law School Admissions 
Council in Pennsylvania.
  Pennsylvania's gain is truly Oregon's loss. As president of Portland 
State, Dan and his team have truly transformed Oregon's only urban 
university. Under his leadership the enrollment has grown 
substantially; research funding has increased from $17 million to more 
than $40 million; the University completed its first ever comprehensive 
campaign; and the campus has added a new Urban Center, the University 
Place hotel, the Native American Student and Community Center, the 
Simon Benson House, Epler Hall, the Broadway Housing complex, the Peter 
Stott recreational field, the Northwest Center for Engineering, 
Science, and Technology, and the Portland Streetcar.
  Dan has forged community partnerships that truly reflect the 
university's motto: Let Knowledge Serve the City. These include many of 
the nonprofit organizations in the Portland Metropolitan community, the 
urban and suburban school districts, and the area's community colleges.
  I want to highlight a development at Portland State that is 
especially important to me and to the work I have pursued in the 
Senate. Shortly after his arrival, Dan said that investment in science, 
technology, and engineering would be a priority. One area that has 
emerged as a national research center is in nanometrology. Attracting 
Dr. Jun Jiao to Portland State set the initiative in motion and today 
PSU has one of the premier centers for Electron Microscopy and 
Nanofabrication. This is evidence that President Bernstine understands 
the importance of nanotechnology and is committed to having PSU make a 
major contribution in this area.
  Under President Bernstine's leadership, Portland State University has 
received national recognition for its faculty, community and service-
learning programs and is listed in the Princeton Review book, Colleges 
with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community 
Involvement. For its work to revitalize its community, its work in 
urban development, and support for the local economy, Portland State 
University is listed on the first President's Higher Education 
Community Service Honor Roll and was recognized by The New England 
Board of Higher Education as one of 25 universities considered 
``Saviors of Our Cities.'' The Association of American Colleges and 
Universities also recognized PSU in its report, ``College Learning for 
the New Global Century,'' as a leader in the area of fostering civic, 
intercultural, and ethical learning. And for the past 5 years, Portland 
State University has ranked among the Nation's best colleges in five 
categories that lead to student success, according to U.S. News & World 
Report in its America's Best Colleges 2007 edition.
  For these reasons and more, I consider President Bernstine's decision 
to take on this new responsibility to be a loss to Portland State 
University and to Oregon. I am pleased that he will remain active in 
the higher education community and I wish him well in his new position 
in Pennsylvania. Mr. President, Daniel O. Bernstine is an Oregon 
treasure and has made a positive difference in the lives of students 
and to our community.

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