Board approves conference center name change, adds new trustee

The space formerly known as the South Campus Conference Center has a new name: the York Graduate Center. The Board of Trustees adopted the change at its May 3-4 meeting, during which members also engaged with two student panels, heard a presentation on upcoming improvements to campus wayfinding and signage, elected a new trustee, bade farewell to outgoing student government leaders, and welcomed students elected to lead next year.

Consideration of a new name for the conference center was prompted by recent changes in campus naming conventions, which included phasing out the old “South Campus” moniker in favor of “Graduate Campus.” Asked for suggestions, the graduate school community rallied around the idea of recognizing York, the slave who was a vital part of the Lewis and Clark expedition and whose legacy is honored in a statue on the undergraduate campus. The name change takes effect immediately.

“The new name pays tribute to the role that York played in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and to the many individuals whose contributions to history have been overlooked and excluded, or were unrecorded because of their social position or identity,” Dean Scott Fletcher said. “I could not be more pleased with the new name we have for this important classroom and community meeting space on the graduate campus.”

Students were front and center at the meetings of both academic affairs committees. The CAS committee interacted with a panel of students reflecting on their internship experiences and the ways in which internships enhance undergraduate career preparation. The panel at the law and graduate academic affairs meeting explored community collaborations. Featured on that panel were Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership Mollie Galloway and students from Roosevelt High School who have benefited from Lewis & Clark’s work at Roosevelt, as well as student and faculty representatives of the law school’s Western Resources Legal Center, who discussed their work representing ranchers, farmers, and property owners in Oregon.

At the meeting of the buildings and grounds committee, trustees heard a presentation from the consulting firm Anderson Krygier on the campus wayfinding project. The third phase of the project, coming this summer, includes the installation of new vehicle/pedestrian directional signs, information pylons to increase the visibility of the “You Are Here” map sites, improved parking signs, and entry signs to help drivers identify that they have arrived at Lewis & Clark.

The trustees heard farewell remarks from the outgoing student leaders of the three schools—Associated Students of Lewis & Clark President Annalisa Peterson, Student Bar Association leaders Manohar Sukumar and Sergio Elias-Wilson, and Graduate School Student Union President Aukeem Ballard. Next year’s leaders were then introduced to the board. These included ASLC President Xander Blair, ASLC Vice President Callie Rice (who is continuing as the representative of the CAS Student Academic Advisory Board), SBA President Michael Kearney, and SBA board representative Amira Streeter. Ballard’s successor as Graduate Student Union president has not yet been named.

On May 3, the trustees attended Lewis & Clark’s annual Philanthropy Leadership Dinner, held at the Portland Art Museum. The event’s featured speaker was Paul Bragdon, former president of Reed College and former interim president of Lewis & Clark. At the dinner, a contingent of Watzek Award winners were welcomed and honored.

Also, the board elected a new member, Portland attorney Jan Baisch JD ’74. Baisch is a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an organization limited to 500 lawyers worldwide, and past president of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and the Oregon Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1993.

Baisch is married to Marcia Baisch, who received an MAT from the graduate school. His late uncle, Clarence “Reuben” Baisch ’51, studied health and physical education and was inducted into the Lewis & Clark Athletics Hall of Fame for his prowess on the football field. Baisch has served the law school as an adjunct professor and continues to mentor students at his law alma mater.