The equipment and materials at Portland State are generally sufficient in quantity and quality to achieve educational goals and objectives. Suitable equipment (including computing and laboratory equipment) is available at on- and off-campus sites to meet educational and administrative requirements.
Computing equipment is provided and overseen by the Office of Information Technology (OIT). Computer equipment is provided to classrooms, computer labs, and staff/faculty offices to meet a minimum university standard. Academic or administrative departments may choose to buy additional computing equipment to meet specific needs. Funding for these departmental purchases is provided through department budgets. Minimum equipment standards are upgraded annually, and any computers then eligible for replacement can be traded in for a new unit. An inventory of campus computing equipment is kept for conducting upgrades, supporting computer users, and planning and computing needs.
Larger computing and technology equipment purchases, such as servers and networking hardware, are made on an as-needed basis by OIT. Equipment of this kind is kept up-to-date, monitored and maintained by IT professionals.
The purchase, provision, inventory, and maintenance of audiovisual equipment are provided by the Center for Audio-Visual Services (CAVS). A number of classrooms throughout campus are provided with built-in audiovisual equipment such as video monitors and computer projectors. All classrooms are provided with basic audiovisual equipment such as overhead projectors and screens. The audiovisual capacity of many classrooms is gradually being improved so that most have new equipment.
CAVS also maintains equipment for video and distance learning. Classrooms in the Distance Learning Center, for example, are equipped with interactive video that can be used to connect with similar remote classrooms, such as those at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Specialized audiovisual and other technical equipment for music performance is located at, and controlled by, Lincoln Performance Hall. This equipment is provided to instructors, classes, and students for scheduled classes or events in the performance hall. A production coordinator is responsible for the acquisition, provision, and maintenance of the equipment, and schedules replacements or upgrades.
The acquisition and inventory of all other general equipment and materials on campus is carried out by the Business Affairs Office, which maintains a complete system of property control.
The use, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials related to some technical equipment are conducted in accordance with well documented and prescribed procedures. The management and operation of hazardous materials handling and disposal procedures are coordinated through Portland State Occupational Health and Safety/Environmental Services, as described in Standard 8A.
As in other areas of physical resources at Portland State, acquiring equipment and materials for a rapidly expanding base of students and staff in the face of limited budgets, has been a major accomplishment. Portland State has maintained the basic equipment needed to carry out its mission, and in many areas has substantially improved available equipment in the past 10 years.
Computing and audiovisual equipment, particularly in classrooms and labs, have been one major area of improvement. The number, size and quality of student computing labs have improved substantially. A wireless network is now in place that covers much of the campus, providing convenient Internet access. A major effort has been made to equip more classrooms each year with video projection systems and network connections.
Scientific equipment has also been the focus of major upgrades and expansions. Good examples are the advanced electron microscopy equipment acquired as part of a multimillion dollar research initiative in nanotechnology, and the development of the interdisciplinary, multi-user Trace Element Analytical Laboratory (TEAL) with the acquisition of a top-quality ICP-MS (via a local corporate donation) and ion chromatograph to accompany existing atomic absorption spectroscopy equipment. Strategic investments in research equipment have been made throughout the science and engineering programs.
Principal challenges with respect to equipment and materials center on (a) the ability to keep the quantity and quality of the equipment congruent with the rapid growth in the number of users, and (b) the ability to maintain current equipment for both instruction and research.
Although Portland State has pursued an aggressive program of acquiring, upgrading, and replacing computing equipment, the need for such equipment has grown dramatically. Careful scheduling of courses, and in some cases, caps on course enrollments have kept supply and demand of technical equipment in reasonable balance, but this comes at a cost in convenience and flexibility for students and instructors.
Fiscal constraints also result in problems of deferred or inadequate maintenance. The rapid turnover in technology, and the use of service contracts, have minimized this problem for computing, but other types of equipment for instructional labs and research facilities are not always kept in optimal condition or replaced on a regular basis. Increasingly, lab and research equipment acquisition and replacement rely upon external grant funding or student lab fees.
The base of advanced research equipment has expanded greatly in the past decade, but appropriate mechanisms must be implemented to maintain it for future use. Shared user facilities, such as TEAL, impose a system of user fees to cover maintenance, but the fee structure needs to also allow for exploratory research that may have little or no external funding.
Certain specialized resources exist on campus that are difficult or excessively costly to move, which can hinder effective space utilization. The sculpture foundry in Neuberger Hall, for example, could not be moved at an acceptable cost when the Art Department moved from Neuberger Hall to the renovated Art Building. This resulted in an inefficient use of space in the reconfigured area of Neuberger Hall, and presented an obvious problem to art students occupying the new art building two blocks away from the foundry. The situation led to resource conflicts between foundry users and adjacent offices, which are no longer associated with the use of the foundry.
Another example of fixed equipment is the Seismic Testing and Research (STAR) laboratory in Science Building 2, associated with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. When the CEE Department moves to the new Engineering Building in 2006, the STAR lab will be left behind in a building that will be dedicated to nonengineering science uses. The new engineering building cannot accommodate the STAR lab, so alternative spaces must be considered. The cost of moving the large seismic testing equipment, as was the case with the foundry, would be substantial.
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