I complied this document as a parting gift to the Pacific University community in Eugene. The primary voice of this history project is mine and contributions by other authors are presented in a different font. Ultimately, my goal is to include many voices, including faculty, staff, and students. I have done my best to check this for accuracy, but I have undoubtedly, unintentionally, made errors. In addition, I admit to complete subjectivity. What I have written is impacted by my position of being a full-time faculty member who was the first to receive tenure-track status in Eugene. Later, as “senior faculty,” I was the recipient of many privileges, such as first choice of an office in the Broadway St. building. Anyone who ever visited that tiny office will remember that one wall consisted of windows and looked out upon a large tree and the downtown. It was decorated with large, framed pictures that my mother had used in her office. Aside from that, there was room only for my desk, a small table and chair for guests, and files.This tiny office was created when we undertook a major remodel in 1999 to accommodate our growing needs. There had been one large room at the front end of the hallway, with a window onto the street (which was then a walking mall). Willard decided that if any one faculty was given that office, it would be too big and out of proportion to the other offices. But when the contractors tried to split it in two, it turned out that they had to put the wall closer to the front of the building due to internal windows and other architectural structures; thus, we ended up with one nice-sized office and one that was barely bigger than a storage closet. I tell that slightly humorous story to illustrate my intentions in this history project: to record these odd, funny stories about our campus that otherwise will quickly fade away.
Almost all of the ancillary documents included here thus far were culled from my files before I recycled the rest of it. Because of that, once again, my own point of view is emphasized; these are the papers I chose, for some reason to keep over the years. Thus, if you would like to add anything at all, from a small detail, to a long entry, to a correction, you will bring much-needed perspective and variety to this project. Please contact me at: meltzoff@pacificu.edu. I truly welcome and, indeed, seek, collaboration from any members of our community. Of course, Jesse Everett is also able to assist with the addition of any text or documents.[jeverett@papcificu.edu]
At home, I kept a journal about each of my children from the time they were born until they were twenty-one, and I gave it to them when they reached adulthood. In that same vein, I have created this document. When I arrived, in 1993, the program was a baby, and when I left, in 2015, it had just turned twenty-one. At the beginning, I felt that I was indispensable and that I had great responsibility for, and control over, the operation of the program. As the program grew and matured, it shifted in unexpected ways, and, like the parent of a teenager, I moved more to the background in importance and impact. Oh, of course I still gave my opinion and tried to exert some control, but I felt the shift. Finally, it didn’t really need me anymore. There were some years when I felt it had veered off the path, some years when I even feared for its survival, but, as I write this at the close of the 2015 academic year, I am happy to see the program as a hard-working young adult, full of promise, and moving out into the world in new and exciting ways.
This history is divided chronologically into an introduction and four sections. For each each section, I wrote a narrative and then added comments of others who were kind enough to take the time to participate. Finally, I attached documents that might be of interest. In this introductory section, for instance, you can find an excel chart listing all employees at our campus, from its inception. For this, which provided a springboard for many of my memories, I thank the expert and meticulous Barb Sample, from the Forest Grove campus. See Document: Employees from July 1996 thruough 2015 Eugene Campus at 4_21_15. Also, the all-knowing and helpful Maggie Olivos provided lists of administrators and presidents, among other official details. See Documents: list of administrators; presidents and deans.
In each subsequent section, you will see lists of students. These students were why we existed; each came to us with a heart full of hopes and dreams and left a different person. I always said that it was such a privilege to work with our students and that I had a great job. They were optimistic and idealistic; they were there because they believed the world could be a better place and they had a responsibility to try to make it so by dedicating their lives to working with children and young people. In a sense, a teacher-educator is like that proverbial pebble thrown into a pond. As teachers of future teachers, we start the ripples with the intent to improve schools and, ultimately, to make the world a better place. The impact continues through our students, reaching outward further and further and further, through all of their students, and on and on. Now, I stand on shore and watch from a distance. I hope, in this history, to provide witness for all of the good work that has been done at the Pacific University Eugene Campus.
See Document: Smolnisky history page
See Document: Conception of this History Project