News
Fifty-six years after its inception, Portland State University will finally have a building to commemorate its founder's legacy when it renames the Birmingham, a student residence facility currently under construction, Stephen E. Epler Hall.
Epler Hall, located at 1824 SW 12th, replaces the old 13-unit Birmingham building with 130 units in a six-story complex. The University expects the project to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifieda designation given by the U.S. Green Building Council. Construction will be complete by August 2003, in time for fall students and classes.
Stephen E. Epler created PSU's forerunner, the Vanport Extension Center, in 1946 and was its first director. The Vanport flood of Memorial Day 1948 washed away the center, but Epler made sure that it was re-established. The center began operation again in the summer of 1948 and, despite opposition from organizations throughout Oregon, became a permanent two-year institution in 1949.
Epler remained at the helm of the center until it became Portland State College in 1955. His tireless efforts helped ensure that Portlanders would have affordable access to higher education, a story recounted in historian Gordon Dodds' The College that Would Not Die: The First Fifty Years of Portland State University, 1946-1996 (Oregon Historical Society Press, 2000). Epler died in 1997.
