Portland State university

Since its designation as a 4-year college in 1955, Portland State has had 8 presidents: John F. Cramer, 1955-1958; Branford P. Millar, 1959-1968; Gregory B. Wolfe, 1968-1974; Joseph C. Blumel, 1974-1986; Natale A. Sicuro, 1986-1988; Judith A. Ramaley, 1990-1997; Daniel O. Bernstine, 1997-2007; Wim Wiewel, 2008-present. Stephen E. Epler was director of the school from its foundation in 1946 until it became a college in 1955. There have also been three interim presidents: E. Dean Anderson, March - April, 1974; Roger N. Edgington, 1988-1990; and Michael E. Reardon, 2007-2008. Following the departure of President Cramer in 1958 there was a triumvirate consisting of: John M. Swarthout, Errett E. Hummel, and John H. Stehn.

The president is the chief executive officer of the university. The president reports to the Chancellor of the Oregon University System (originally Oregon State System of Higher Education).

The College Bowl was a quizbowl-style game show in which two four-person teams of undergraduate students, each representing their respective college or university, competed against each other to answer questions on liberal arts academic subjects. The 1965 Portland State College team went undefeated in the 1964-1965 season. The PSC team consisted of Larry Smith, a junior in English; team captain Jim Westwood, a junior in Physics; Robin Freeman, a senior in Philosophy; and Mike Smith, a junior in Psychology.

The College Bowl began in 1953 as a radio program on the NBC Radio Network. At that time the moderator was in a New York studio, the students were on their own campuses, and the entire cast was connected through a three-way radio hookup. The show was initially televised Sunday afternoons as the General Electric College Bowl, and aired from January of 1959 until its cancellation in 1970. The game reappeared on college campuses beginning in 1977 and ran until 2008. During the 1977-2008 run, the show appeared intermittently on radio and television.

The game was played with two competing teams and a moderator. The moderator would ask two types of questions: ‘toss-up’ and bonus. The toss-up questions were worth 10 points each, while bonus questions had a 20- to 40-point value depending on difficulty.

The game was comprised of two sections of 12 minutes each. During an intermission between the sections, the moderator would briefly interview the team members, and schools appearing for the first time were given an opportunity to show campus films and give a brief history of their school. A team that was victorious in its initial appearance proceeded to its next opponent until defeated, or until it had won for five consecutive weeks. The winning team received a $1,500 scholarship each week it won, as well as an additional $1,500 if it won all five weeks.

The toss-up questions could be answered by anyone from either team; only the first person to signal could answer without conferring with team members. The signals were comprised of a light under the name of each panelist that lit up when they wished to answer a question, followed by a buzzer (for one team) or bell (their opponents). If a player answered a toss-up incorrectly, the question could be answered by the opposing team. Alternately, a player could interrupt the moderator before he finished asking a question; however, if he answered an interrupted question incorrectly, his team lost 5 points.

Bonus questions were team questions and could be answered with a permitted conference. Any member could respond, but in the event of differing answers, the answer provided by the team captain was considered official. This official answer held true even if the correct, but different, answer was provided by another team member.

PSC was the alternate during the season, which meant they would be called on only after a team had retired as champion. They got their chance when Lawrence University retired; the PSC team appeared January 31 (versus University of San Francisco), February 2 (versus Park College), 14 (versus Kent State), 28 (versus Coe College), and March 7 (versus Birmingham Southern University) of 1965. They won each of their games; in their fifth and final match they scored 415 points and tied the record for the fifth-highest single game total. The team’s 1725 total points for the season, a record at the time, made them the fourth highest scoring overall. After community contributions, the team was awarded $15,575 in scholarships.

The College Bowl victory helped increase PSC’s prominence in Portland, the state of Oregon, and the nation. According to the March 26, 1965 issue of Time magazine, the PSC team’s achievement was credited with helping alter the school’s image as “the flunk-out school” for University of Oregon and Oregon State University drop-outs, and credits the College Bowl victory as a significant factor in the decision to fund future state-supported graduate programming.

After appearing on the GE College Bowl, Jim Westwood briefly became a television weatherman before going to law school at Columbia and returning to practice law in Portland. Larry Smith became a writer and died in 1999. Robin Freeman died in London in November of 1999. Michael Smith suffered from cystic fibrosis and was frequently hospitalized during the nine months of preparation for the show, but played all five games. Following Michael’s death in 1968, the Smith Memorial Student Union at Portland State was named for him. Head College Bowl coach Ben Padrow was a professor of Speech and the director of Forensics until his retirement. Padrow was also active in Oregon; he died in 1986. Padrow was assisted by Ronald Glossop, professor of Philosophy, as well as several other faculty members. Alternates for the team were Jim Cronin, Marv Foust, Doug Hawley, Al Kotz, and Jim Watt.