News
THE $25 MILLION grant awarded to Portland State in September from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation is the largest gift in the University's history. It is also the largest grant the Miller Foundation has ever made, and the way its directors came to the decision shows what deep roots PSU has in the life of the city.
About a year ago, the four foundation directors asked executive director Charles Rooks to develop a list of organizations that could use a grant to create a substantial and ongoing benefit for the community.
Rooks cast a wide net, talking with influential and knowledgeable people in business, education, arts, and nonprofits. When the list was ready, each of the directors worked independently to rank the 20 or so candidates. Then they came together to discuss their choices. They might have faced a tense meeting, except that independently all four had ranked the same entity among their top three: Portland State University.
The directors asked PSU where the funds could have the most impact. University officials presented them with many options for the grant, and together, they decided that PSU's expertise, strategic direction, and possibilities for increased stature lay in sustainability.
The result is a 10-year, $25 million challenge grant. PSU receives $2.5 million each year and raises an equal amount, for a total financial boost of $50 million for sustainability.
Much thought has gone into what sustainability means at Portland State. The consensus is a straightforward definition: meeting the economic, social, and environmental needs of the present without compromising similar needs of future generations. Faculty and students are already researching sustainable food systems, economies, green technology, water management, transportation systems, renewable energy, business practices, and urban development. The PSU Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices is a clearinghouse for efforts across campus.
IN CHOOSING PORTLAND STATE for the grant, the directors considered it a vote of confidence in the University's ability to make a difference in Portland.
"Our gift was in part a gift to the city of Portland," says director Charles Putney, who graduated from PSU in 1962 with a degree in business. "The vibrancy of the city is critical to the state, and it has a huge impact for the students who will attend this urban University in Portland."
As a Portland State College student, Putney worked part time and took five-and-a-half years to earn his degree. "I still remember almost all of my professors' names. It was that meaningful to me."
Today, Putney is an executive with UBS, a global giant in investment banking and securities. Blyth & Co., the investment bank where Putney and the late James "Jimmy" Miller—then-president and the foundation's namesake—met, is a predecessor firm of UBS.
"Jimmy was a very, very bright man," says Putney. "Not formally educated, but bright and well read. He strongly believed that if you were going to have success in the world, you had to have an education."
That same conviction in the value of an education is shared by Miller director Charles Walker, retired president of Linfield College and father of a current PSU student.
"The University began as a service organization for veterans who had trouble getting into a college or university elsewhere. That beginning and PSU's subsequent major progress were key points for me."
As a former vice-chairman of the Ford Family Foundation, Walker got to know Ford student scholars at PSU.
"I was impressed with the delivery of services to these students," says Walker, "as well as to nontraditional students and to the community at large."
Director Alice McCartor, who was with the Meyer Memorial Trust before joining the Miller Foundation, saw the University's connection to the city as a key.
"PSU touches so many families in the metropolitan area from all walks of life," says McCartor. "Certainly it serves the student who lives at home, is working his way through school, and cannot afford a 'campus-bound' experience. Also, it links with our high-tech and business communities for ongoing training, and serves nontraditional students, including people returning to school after time in the work world.
"Our family is an example. Our daughter finished her undergraduate degree at PSU while raising a family. Our son is returning to the pre-nursing program after 10 years in another career, and from time to time I take art classes to hone skills in my avocation."
PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT to the directors, says William Blount, one of the foundation's original directors, is the fact that Miller would be proud of their choice. Blount, also an executive at UBS, knew Miller for nearly a half century.
"I think Mr. Miller would be immensely proud of what we're doing with his money," says Blount. "Portland State attracts a high grade of student and is doing a lot of positive things. We're giving it a push, and it will be up to the rest of the community to see if they want to match that."
"Great cities need great universities," agrees Charles Rooks, who has stepped down as executive director and is now a foundation director. "We were very aware of how development of Portland State would affect the development of Portland, and it is an ideal time to have a catalytic influence. Portland State is so much further along than people realize. Not only is Portland State ready to move to a higher level, it is a time in the nation when it can move into the forefront in the area of sustainability."
Melissa Steineger, a Portland freelance writer, wrote the article "From the Lab to the World" for the fall 2008 Portland State Magazine.
Behind the Miller name
BORN IN OREGON IN 1905 to parents of modest means, the late James F. "Jimmy" Miller lived a classic rags-to-riches story. Starting work at 16 as an office errand runner, he rose to become president of Blyth & Co. (a predecessor to UBS, the Swiss banking giant).
A hard worker, Miller was also savvy. As a stockbroker in Portland during the Great Depression, he wrote down the names of 50 wealthy Oregonians all considered to be "tough sells." One by one, he called on each and offered to review their portfolios for free, telling them, "All you're risking is some time." A few grudgingly agreed, and Miller prepared detailed recommendations on each stock. Some of the people he approached were impressed enough to agree with his recommendations, and Miller's income grew from $200 a month to $800.
"People with whom I deal know that my word's good," Miller told Chet Orloff, adjunct faculty in PSU's School of Urban Studies and Planning, for an oral history Orloff was conducting. "I've never had a written contract with anybody, ever. It's all been a verbal contract, a handshake, and all those deals have worked out 100 percent just the way we started them."
When Blyth & Co. transferred Miller to New York in 1956, Miller and his wife, Marion, continued their lifelong involvement in the arts—attending and funding various arts programs in both New York and Portland. The high point of his philanthropy came in 2002, when he founded the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation to support arts and education in Oregon.
Even in his 90s, Miller spoke regretfully of having to leave college after one year because of finances. And the arts were a lifelong love. By creating the foundation, Miller told Orloff, he realized he could not help all who needed help, but he hoped to lead by example.