UO E-clips, Oct. 16

Lokey gift a record for UO academics (The Oregonian): The University of Oregon will get $74.5 million for science teaching and research -- the state's largest single academic donation -- from philanthropist and business communications entrepreneur Lorry I. Lokey. Campus leaders and scientists said Monday they hope the gift will raise the profile of science program by attracting top-notch faculty and students and giving them the tools to make major scientific advancements. "It's an absolutely stunning and heartwarming gift," President Dave Frohnmayer said. "It's what we call a catalytic gift, because it's a catalyst for what will now happen." Lokey, who was born and raised in Portland but never attended UO, has given a total of $132 million to the university in the past four years. He said in an interview that giving to UO is his way of giving back to his home state. He added that Oregon has not supported its public universities as well as it should and needs to invest more in higher education.

Lokey gives UO largest gift: $74.5M (Portland Business Journal): Philanthropist Lorry I. Lokey has given the University of Oregon $74.5 million to benefit science teaching and research. The gift is the largest single academic donation in UO history. The gift brings Lokey's total giving to the University of Oregon to $132 million over just the past four years. Lokey grew up in Portland and is a 1949 graduate of Stanford University. Lokey founded Business Wire, an international news release wire service with 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Last year, Business Wire, founded in 1961, was sold to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The $74.5 million gift is the second largest single gift in UO history. Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, gave UO $100 million this past August.

$74.5 million donation makes UO history (Daily Emerald): Lorry Lokey has given $74.5 million to the University - the largest single academic donation in University history - and put Campaign Oregon past $700 million. University President Dave Frohnmayer said Campaign Oregon, the unprecedented $600 million fundraising campaign, will continue until 2008 as scheduled. Including alumnus Phil Knight and his wife, Penny's, $100 million athletics donation and Lokey's gift, Campaign Oregon has thus far raised $717.5 million. In a statement, Frohnmayer called Lokey's gift "catalytic." "This extraordinary contribution from this extraordinary man - combined with donations of others - will help secure the University of Oregon's future as a major international force in scientific research and education and as Oregon's flagship institution in the liberal arts and professional education," Frohnmayer said.

Businessman donates nearly $75 million to UO (Associated Press): Retired businessman Lorry Lokey has given a $74.5 million gift to the University of Oregon, with most of the money going toward the sciences. The sciences will get $62 million to recruit graduate students, hire and retain top faculty, build and renovate facilities, improve the science library and provide other support. "It is an extraordinary act of philanthropy that will transform the university," Allan Price, the university's vice president for advancement, said Monday. And the philanthropist did not even attend Oregon. A Portland native, Lokey grew up and attended schools there before seeking a journalism degree at Stanford. But a personal visit by Price and UO President Dave Frohnmayer sparked a relationship that led to the donations.

UO hails academic gift (Register-Guard): With a single gift that school leaders described as “stunning,” retired businessman Lorry Lokey today became the largest donor to academics in University of Oregon history with a record-setting bequest of $74.5 million. The far-ranging gift will lift the university in areas that span the campus, from the humanities and journalism to scholarships and endowed professorships. But the sciences will get the biggest boost, receiving $62 million to hire and retain top faculty, recruit blue-ribbon graduate students, build and renovate facilities, improve the science library and provide other support. “It is an extraordinary act of philanthropy that will transform the university,” said Allan Price, the UO’s vice president for advancement. UO President Dave Frohnmayer said the gift has the power to generate momentum that can lift the entire campus to a higher level.

City officials talk Ducks, Civic (Register-Guard): The University of Oregon’s reborn baseball program needs a stadium, while the Eugene Emeralds play in a very old, if beloved, stadium with an uncertain future. Can the Ducks and the Ems share a stadium? Should they? And if so, where? And if not, what does the future hold for the Ems, and for Civic Stadium? A lineup of heavy hitters -- Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, acting city manager Angel Jones, Eugene school Superintendent George Russell and representatives of the university, the Emeralds and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce -- will discuss those questions in a non-public meeting at 1 p.m. today at the chamber. “I don’t have any preconceived notions other than that it seems there should be a good partnership in that room,” said Oregon director of athletics Pat Kilkenny. “I’m hopeful that’s what’s going to come out of it, because it seems that from a timing perspective, Civic Stadium, at least in its existing form, has kind of come and gone.

Assessing the Faculty Role in Sports Oversight (Inside Higher ED): It’s a commonly held belief that professors are far removed from the issues facing their college’s athletics program until, say, a scandal erupts that threatens the integrity of the institution. A national survey of professors released last week confirmed that a disconnect exists -- and in some cases showed a measurable level of disinterest in sports. In the survey of more than 2,000 faculty members at 23 universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s top competitive level, more than one third of the people reported being unaware of many athletics program practices and policies, and roughly the same number said they had no opinion about concerns raised by national faculty athletics reforms groups, who are calling for increased faculty involvement in athletics oversight. When asked to rank the priorities of faculty governance groups, athletics finished 12th out of 13 categories. … “Faculty athletics boards have to have some strength, some real teeth,” said Nathan Tublitz, a professor of biology at the University of Oregon and co-chair of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, an alliance of faculty senates interested in changing big-time college athletics. “Otherwise, faculty aren’t going to serve.”

The dark side of friendship (Daily Emerald): Childhood friends and conversations may be shaping who students are today -- even if that's for the worse. Friendships and conversation topics could affect the development of children, researchers say. A recent University study found friendships in adolescence can be beneficial and harmful. Close friendships are generally associated with positive outcomes, but close friendships that are centered around anti-social values appear to be harmful, researchers found. "Most people look at what kinds of good things come from friendships, but what we were interested in is finding the dark side of friendships," said study co-author Tom Dishion, a professor of psychology and school psychology.

UO index shows few trouble spots (Register-Guard): The University of Oregon’s Index of Economic Indicators continues to point in the same direction: slower growth, but no visible hazards ahead that could bring the local economy to a screeching stop. “We’ve got this consistent pattern,” said Tim Duy, economist and the index’s author. “What you see in the data is clear evidence of slower patterns of growth.” The UO index declined 0.4 percent, dropping to 103.1 in August. That compares with a base rate of 100 in 1997. Six of the index’s eight indicators deteriorated in August, and only two showed gains -- Oregon’s non-farm payrolls and the weight distance tax, a measure of trucking activity. “You have a number of indicators that are weak, but are not weak enough to suggest that a recession is happening,” Duy said, “and some that are still quite strong that would argue against a recession.”