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Ed Ray Out

250

Thank goodness. Go Beavs

Members of the Oregon State University community, 

I am writing to let you know that it is my intention to step down as president of Oregon State University on June 30, 2020, when my current five-year contract will be completed, and after almost 17 years since I had the great honor and joy to assume the presidency on July 31, 2003. I will continue to serve as president of Oregon State University until the new president assumes office. 

The timing for this transition is excellent. We have just adopted a new chapter in our strategic plan, SP4.0, and we are guided by our common statement of aspirations: Vision 2030. Furthermore, we have recently completed a comprehensive self-study as part of a seven-year accreditation process and we will welcome an external accreditation review team to OSU in the next few weeks. We also developed a 10-year business forecast and a 10-year capital planning model to help guide university fiscal decisions. Perhaps most importantly, I have never worked with a stronger leadership team in my 16 years of service as your president, including an excellent university board of trustees. 

Personally, my health is very good. Yet, I will be almost 76 years old when I step down as president, and I view my job as including my best effort to assist this wonderful university in transitioning to new leadership. Effective July 1, 2020, I will begin a sabbatical and transition to the College of Liberal Arts as a professor of economics. 

Please know that my affection for each of you, my passion and commitment to the mission, vision and values of this university have never been stronger. And, I remain certain that the best is yet to come for Oregon State University and those we serve. Our graduates are our greatest contribution to the future, and my colleagues will help all of us provide for a more inclusive future to meet the educational, economic and social needs and aspirations of all Oregonians and those beyond our state, through our teaching, research, creative work and service. 

Within the next few weeks, Rani Borkar, chair of OSU’s Board of Trustees, will provide further details regarding the process and timeline for bringing the 15th president to this wonderful university, including the role that each of you can play in contributing to a successful search for OSU’s next president.

Sincerely, 

Edward J. Ray

President

250 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve met Ed Ray multiple times. I can say he’s been good for the university. He’s done really well for the academic side. Raised over a billion dollars for the school.

  2. When George Washington stepped down from the presidency, he did not get back on the gray train. A professor of Economics at the age of 76? Insane.

    • Emeritus professors typically only work occasionally with grad/honors students working on research. Some will teach a class or two throughout the year if they really want to but it’s rare.

  3. Whoever he’s replaced by needs to be someone that will not accept mediocrity in any way or form for any of our sports. I want a president with ambition, who will not be afraid to make hard decisions, especially when it comes to hiring and firings.

    • I want one who will raise up the academic profile into the top 100 rankings. Continue to bring in research dollars, build up the bend campus to a legit 4 year school, continue to raise funds for the endowment funds when state support has declined, recruit the best students to the school, build up the entrepreneurship program.

      Sports are the lowest priority in a candidate.

  4. Ed Ray definitely helped OSU reach great heights in academics, and we didn’t have any major controversies under his direction, unlike other schools. I hope that the next President can use the clout we’ve built with academics, infuse life into the Athletic Department, and help OSU get somewhere on the field again.

    Thanks for everything, Ed, but it was time for you to go.

  5. The next president should freeze tuition, drastically reduce the number of administrators, and cut the number of liberal arts degrees. Then, make a policy where the university is willing to cosign student loans instead of parents. The quality of an OSU STEM degree will increase because professors are actually working with students to get a job.

    • Actually, despite the rag, research shows that liberal arts degrees are some of the most successful. It teaches you to think instead of just doing. More people need to know how to think these days.

      • Was there much thinking involved in racking up a ton of student debt with a degrees that have starting salaries around 45k and a saturated job market. But muh student debt :'(

        The assumption that STEM teaches you to “just do” instead of think is laughable.

        The liberal arts degrees are being pumped because of the higher drop out rates for STEM. The Universities want you there as long as possible, getting those federal student loan funds. Look at placement rates vs class sizes. Why are the STEM programs not keeping up with demand…STEMs are being hired their senior years months before graduation.

        The Universities are acting in their best short term interest, can’t fault them for that. Long term interest would involve putting out quality students in the fields that are demanded the most.

        EDIT- if someone get’s a liberal arts degree because they are passionate about the field, more power to them. Just don’t come complaining about the student debt afterwards; that’s poor planning. They should know what they are getting into beforehand.

        • Wait… adjusting foe inflation, a starting job of 45k is both respectable and easily paid for student debt when I was in school. Hell, if I knew I was guaranteed that salary straight out of school in the early 90’s, I wouldn’t have worked several part-time jobs.

          These days, it looks like getting three part-time jobs is also a standard beyond what most grads can expect, let alone a student.

    • This is spot on. The liberal arts degrees have exploded at OSU. The reason is short term money for the University and not job placement for the student. Little meat bags that can transfer federal student loans to the college coffers then live their best years in debt. Not just an OSU problem.

  6. Sounds like football will have a new Nike uniform reveal happening on April 20th, but only season ticket holders will be allowed to attend the unveiling.

    Of course, as always with these things, somebody will leak images before April 20th actually arrives. We’ve already seen pics of new gloves with rings painted on them that look like rings from a sawed tree.

    • Every time they need a hit, Malone is right there to kill the rally. He has really been struggling. Fucking unbelievable he is in the 4 spot the way he has been swinging. Should be:
      1-Jones
      2-Mcgarry
      3-Mendazona
      4-Rutschman
      5-Philip
      6-Ober
      7-Malone
      8-Armstrong
      9-Does it matter?

  7. Terrible play by Preston to let a guy tag up and and advance from first on a fly ball. Don’t remember the last time I’ve seen that.

    • Gotta disagree. Base runner was very smart, got back to make the tag at first faster than many, and then showed good speed.
      Preston may not have made a spectacular play but certainly not “terrible”. JMHO

      • From the stands, I’d say it wasn’t a terrible play but very lackadaisical, a mental mistake for sure and this team isn’t good enough to overcome these sorts of blunders

  8. Now, if you want to criticize Preston, he could have beaten out that close play in the ninth. Spent too much effort watching the ball he hit rather than running. Head was turned toward third for two or three steps out of the box.
    Again, JMHO

  9. Armstrong, Taylor, Jones, and Malone were all pretty good last year and can’t hit for shit this year. Been a while since the hitting has been this bad.

  10. Remember when I said the hitting was going to suck and we’d be pretty bad, miss Casey, etc, and everyone laughed at me and said we’d be fine and we’re in good hands? Yeah.

    • Reality is…anytime you have to turnover virtually your entire position player’s roster, there is going to be some inconsistent offensive production. I recall when Michael Gretler was a Freshman and Sophomore, he couldn’t hit a lick. We finally saw major improvement in his senior year. The point is, the team has a lot of new players, some that have never played D1/FBS baseball before where the pitching in the Pac-12 is tremendously competitive. Hell, even Adley was a great hitter as a freshman. In fact, I think he was hitting somewhere around a buck 98 for much of the early part of the season and by season’s end he was hitting just under .250. As great as of a hitter he is, he had to learn how to hit in the Pac-12. Just like Adley, these new players such as Beau, etc., have to figure it out and that’s kind of where this team is right now….trying to figure it out offensively. Until that happens, and there’s no guarantee that it will, they are going to struggle with consistency. It’s kind of the nature of the beast. Personally, I’ll take a down year or two while still making the playoffs, in exchange for an occasional national championship. Of course, we’d like to see them win it all again this year, but anyone that thought that was going to happen was and is delusional. It took the Beavs what 12 years since their last title to win it all again and in the interim, the Beavs have had some very, very good players and great teams. So, hang in their Beaver Nation, this season is far from over and there is bound to me some offensive improvement later this season. For now, most of these guys are still trying to figure it out. Hopefully, that happens sooner than later.

      • P.S. Our worst years in baseball will easily surpass the best years the little ducksters can ever hope to accomplish in Eugene.

        • Understood what you meant, you make good points.
          But, Beavskis above listed 4 guys who’ve seen enough PAC12 pitching by now that they should be coming around.

      • Pretty much sums up my thoughts too. Missing Abel has left the margin for error a little thinner than if he were starting Fridays, and the hot start to the season against average competition was fool’s gold.
        Bottom line, when you turnover the majority of a roster, while also having your Coach step away, it would be a miracle to produce similar results to the prior year. I’m actually surprised the record is as good as it is currently. It will get worse before it gets better.
        Maybe seeing them struggle will encourage Casey to come back sooner than later.

  11. Lundeberg tweets:
    “Pat Bailey said the Beavers simply must be more competitive at the plate. He was visibly frustrated after the game”
    Ya think?

  12. And it’s the experienced guys who are all slumping together or have never got it together this year, like Malone and Taylor that’s hurting the team. They were expected to shoulder the load while new guys come along. Not happening. Teams are going to keep pitching around Adley until they start making the opponent pay.

    • I remember seeing a blurb about him not being on the team, didn’t realize it was this bizarre. Interesting that a “non-witness” can end one’s education and possible career. Sort of like the amateur judge and juries who decided to end Heimlich’s career.

        • Well it was easy for you to conclude they couldn’t hit after watching/analyzing 6 whole innings against New Mexico. All of us knew the bats would struggle this year, BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED — they lost every good hitter, except for one, from arguably the best hitting club we’ll see ever. So what you say is no surprise to anybody. Bailey is not making the necessary lineup adjustments from game to game, that is the most frustrating part.

        • Bailey has also missed on opportunities to play small ball. Last nights game and the West Virginia game where they hit into 5 or 6 double plays come to mind. I pin those two losses on him.

        • The lack of hitting was always going to be there, again the Bailey factor, or lack thereof is surprising to me. So far he is a huge step down from Casey.

    • “…unless Casey comes back next year…”
      Warts and all!

      The kinds of mental lapses and general lack of fire/focus we’ve seen recently have to be killing Pat Casey; and, I think, making it more likely that he announces his return before that June 10 deadline.

      As said before, I wonder if Bailey is too accepting of sub-par effort, too much of a nice guy. Not at all certain of this, maybe he is just different than PC. Sample is small, but getting larger.

        • Now watch Bailey try to flip the switch to becoming a demanding boss, that kind of overreaction makes players play scared…….and less effectively.
          Hope I’m wrong, but Lundeberg’s remark above makes me wonder.

          • It’s going to be like the Ralph Miller transition. Bailey sucks. If Casey doesn’t come back the program is done until we find another Casey 50 years from now (still searching for our Ralph Miller replacement 30 years later).

          • Angry, that’s an apt comparison (Casey/Miller-Bailey/Andersen) It’s interesting to me that Jimmy Andersen is a beloved figure with the alums, when it could be argued that he started the descent into hell for the basketball program. I certainly hope the reality is different this time…….but……Luck O’ the Beavs often prevails.

  13. WBB: a team that has lost 4 of the last 9 games and cannot blame a change at the HC spot for their problems. A team that hasn’t shown a “step on their throat” mentality all year.

    2:30 today on ESPN2 or 3. A step down in competition compared to the last nine games, but Pivec can’t do it all. Fifteen days since the last game, let’s see what has been accomplished in the interim.

    Home floor gonna take away the nerves, lets hope for a 15pt+ win to set up another next Monday.

  14. Does anybody have any insights on Rani Borkar, chair of OSU’s Board of Trustees, and how well this board might approach this transition?

    • Paying a search firm entirely too much money, then not using their recommendations. Followed by hiring a spinless yes man with no original ideas. Basically a guy collecting a paycheck. And for some reason that pay will be twice the rate of other pac12 schools.
      *this is just one of infinitely ridiculous possibilities, but one of these things will be true.

  15. I don’t question Bailey’s competitiveness or abilities, I do wonder if he’s spread too thin or the assistants aren’t getting the job done.

    Malone, Taylor and Armstrong were all above .260 hitters in conference games last year and the expectations were they would be better this year. Small sample but so far they’re a combined 0 for the conference and all below the Mendoza line for the year.

    Do agree though that Malone needs to drop in the order and Mendazona needs to be following Adley in the lineup

  16. This is the first season under Rueck that the team has regressed by season’s end. They peaked against Oregon at Gill, and it’s been downhill since.

  17. Remember when I said the Final 4 team vs CT was the best we’d ever do, and people laughed and gave all kinds of reasons we’d be back? Yeah…

    • I haven’t watched much WBB this year, she is extremely nonathletic, can’t even finish at point blank consistently. Is there an upgrade coming?

      • Yes we have 3 highly rated bigs for next year. And we have Aquino who was I think the #9 recruit in the nation who red shirted this year. We are losing Macwilliams and Grimeck so we should be just fine next year.

    • I think she made a good difference in one or two games when ball was fed to her and she reached up to score. I don’t know if there’s an award for not being able to hang onto the ball but she might well have won that trophy.

      Maddie Washington did really well in the first part of the game and then didn’t play much.

      Eighteen turnovers the last I heard.

      • Hands of stone, seems to be common for bigs under Rueck. Both Ruth and Marie were that way early in their careers, Jo doesn’t have time to rectify that as they did.

        Washington has had some good games, especially earlier in the season. She used to be a PersFoul machine but is a bit better lately.

  18. Was Ron Callan the radio guy today?
    If so, can he take Parker’s spot for games? I like his more even tempered call of the game. Parker is too dramatic for me.

    • Yes. I’m a big fan of Ron, an interesting guy. You probably know he has sung the national anthem of both Germany and Poland on senior day lately. He does some work for the Seahawks as well, along with sideline for Beavs FB.
      I’ve never heard him do p-b-p for baseball and with the overlap with WBB probably won’t.

      He often posts on twitter, videos of post-game interviews with WBB players.

    • Thanks for the link. It’s Parker doing the play by play. Shit, Beavs already down 2-0 bottom of 3. Parker just babbles on and on. Give it some space, dude.

      • Parker did say that he has invited Ron Callan to stop by the baseball broadcast and discuss the WBB “escape” today.

        And if you didn’t hear, Adley is calling pitches today. At least for the beginning innings……….yup, he called the successful pitch out. All this due to Nate’s expulsion for today.

  19. How ’bout this: phighting pheathered phils whip ASU in 12 innings despite having only 6 hits to go with 2 E’s; left 15 on base! Of course 3 HBP’s, but all the runs were earned.

    • After the latest incident there is no question the Conference was far more concerned about covering this up and finding the source of the info, rather than dealing with Woodie.

      Ha!

      That doesn’t sound like anyone we know.

      Ha!

      So dumb.

  20. Anyone else getting audio only on PAC12 TV?
    (for baseball broadcast)

    BTW, if you’ve been locked out by JetPack, wait awhile and try again. Worked for me.

  21. Don’t know how good today’s Cal pitcher is, but the Beaver bats are coming alive so far. 5 runs in the 1st, 6 hits total. 5-0 B2nd.

  22. Chamberlain comes in to relieve Gambrell and Cal gets 3 runs in the T7th to make it 9-5, heading to the B7th. Chamberlain hasn’t looked as good in his last couple appearances as he did prior.

    • OTOH, Verburg looking good, comes back from 3-0 to K the final Cal batter in the t8.
      9-5 Beavs, only need three more outs, and may not have to face Vaughn again (although Vaughn hasn’t done a lot of damage so far this series).

  23. With Louisville losing their series to Georgia Tech, look for Vandy, OSU, and NCState all to move up a slot in the D1Baseball poll. The coaches poll may have the Beavs slide a spot or two, but look for them to remain in the top 10 — I don’t see anybody else, outside of Vandy, getting enough momentum to supplant them. Texas, LSU, and Florida will drop 2 or 3 spots each.

    • Nope, gotta hand it to D1 Baseball and their undying love for SEC and Texas. They leapfrogged Vanderbilt over us so we stayed put at #7.

      Of course Florida (10 losses), Texas (10 losses), Mississippi (8 losses), and LSU (7 losses) all remain safely in the poll despite losing their weekend series and leading all poll participants in the L column.

      • Not sure what you are looking at. Both Florida and Texas slid, which they should – although Texas should be in the 20-25 range. Like I said, not surprised Vandy overtook the Beavs with a very impressive sweep of Florida.

  24. Leg humpers were a 9 seed. The 8/9 winner matches up with the 1/16 seed winner. Ducks were a 12 seed, UCI a 13. Both teams upset the higher seeded team 4/5. Therefore, they played each other.

    The Ducks will next play 1 seed Virginia. A team that plays very good defense. I don’t expect it will go well for them.

    Edit: meant as a response to jockitch

    • Virginia always underachieves in the tourney. Let’s hope this year is different, but I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if the quackers win. I’d be more surprised if Virginia wins.

    • Just strange to me that conference winner Wash gets the name brand power matchup in N Carolina. Oregon gets hot for a couple of weeks and gets a better more winnable bracket. KSU respectable, but not a N Carolina.

  25. Baseball needed that win yesterday. A bit surprised Abel didn’t get in for an inning.

    Pretty big series with UW. If they want to stay in the title race, they’ll need to take 2 of 3.

    And beavs will need to make quick work of Portland in the weekday game. Can’t get into a marathon like vs Oregon and use up valuable arms.

  26. Mcwilliams 22 minutes, 0 for 5 from field with 1 rebound. Washington 13 minutes 6 points and 5 rebounds. Mcwilliams has something on Rueck because she is a liability for the beavs

    • I’m sorry… I usually don’t take the bait but you have no clue. There were plenty of adjustments especially on the defensive end. May be difficult for the average fan to see but there were some really solid adjustments in that game that Rueck made. Just because another team plays well and makes plays doesn’t mean the coach is not making adjustments. Rueck is an incredible coach with a track record of making adjustments. This team has some talent on the perimeter but it’s a credit to the coaching staff to have this team in the Sweet 16 for the 4 year in a row without a post presence.

  27. Would have been fun, but frustrating to watch in person…Rueck deferring to McWilliams because she’s a senior? Washington sounds like she had a great, efficient game?

  28. Macwilliams 28 minutes 2 rebounds and 2 points, 0 assists, 0 steals. she has did nothing for the last month. And she is not playing because of her defense because she was trailing her man all night. We are so much better when she is not on the floor.

  29. I am very confused as to why Rueck continues to play Macwilliams. Just look at her stat line for the last 10 games it’s awful. She is not playing because of her defense because she was trailing her man all night tonight. We are so much better when Washington is on the floor. Take a look at Macwilliams stat line tonight, 28 minutes 2 points 2 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals.

    • This is a much higher level of play — anybody can win, and the seeding seemed right. Just glad they advanced to survive another day.

    • “No excuses for these close games.”

      Does this apply to the Duke men’s team?

      This sniping at the WBB program is really precious.

  30. Buffs won tonight to make the NIT quarterfinals. They’ll play next at Texas with the winner going to New York for the semifinals.

    • Holy cow, should have listened to your warning. That’s one of the worst breaks I’ve ever seen. What’s up with the ref kicking his broken leg?

    • First thing I thought to myself was good thing he was wearing tall socks. If that was seen bare skin it would prob be worst sports break I’ve ever seen. Several friends of mien were at the game in attendance close enough to hear the snap…

      Blazers Center curse lives on. So brutal.

  31. Tabloid news of the day. Stormy Daniel’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti was charged with wire fraud and attempted extortion of Nike today, where it sounds like the guy had dirt on Nike regarding pay for play and was holding it over Nike in an attempt to get paid to withhold the story.

    The narrative has shifted towards Avenatti being a shady dude who is trying to screw over Nike, bit the funny thing is, nobody is talking about what the story could possibly be that would be worthy of attempting to extort some $20 odd million out of Nike. Where there’s smoke?

  32. Maybe it’s a good thing WBB wasn’t a #3 seed as 3 of these teams lost last night at home. Meanwhile, 3 of the #4 seeds won.

    • Angie Machado was on JBS today, proclaiming that the decision to by-pass McMaryon several years ago was one of the most questionable decisions in recent OSU coaching history, but then opined that Luton, seemingly on the basis of seniority, should be the presumed starter until beaten out.

  33. Jake Pfennigs on the mount tonight. The lineup seems to be settling in with quite a few younger guys getting more and more at bats, which I think is good. I think we’ll swing the bats well by the end of the season. Here’s the lineup.

    1 ss 4 Philip, Beau
    2 3b 13 Mendazona, George
    3 1b 35 Rutschman, Adley
    4 lf 44 McGarry, Alex
    5 2b 18 Ober, Ryan
    6 dh 3 Gretler, Matthew
    7 rf 7 Malone, Tyler
    8 c 17 Claunch, Troy
    9 cf 33 Jones, Preston

    10 p 19 Pfennigs, Jake

    http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=248086

      • You know it’s a new era when describing the team you lose to as “not terrible” is acceptable. We’re Oregon State. We just won the college world series. An opponent not being terrible isn’t acceptable.

        • I would say an era of being “Elite” or known to always be a challenge is over, but we have Elite talent on the roster. PC knew exactly how to get his players to play to their full potential. I honestly believe PC will be back if this season continues this way because he does not want to leave OSU in a downward spiral.

  34. From Lundeberg’s tweeter:

    “Pat Bailey after the game: “Our lack of competitiveness started in the first inning on the mound. It’s just sad … somebody on that team has to take leadership and get our guys to start battling. It’s ridiculous, it’s very frustrating.””

      • Agree, they are in trouble. They will get rolled in Seattle with that kind of performance. But then again, this is baseball….there’s no crying in baseball.

    • He really said “that team”? Odd language, almost like he’s washing his hands of them. Umm…it’s his team, he’s the manager.

      • “That team” is simply a way of differentiating this group from Beaver teams of the past. You know, teams led by PC.

        Oh, and D1 awards the Beavs “Upset of the Day”, saying,

        “There were a lot of upsets in college baseball on Tuesday, but none bigger than the Pilots knocking off the Beavers, 5-1 “

  35. The sky isn’t falling yet but there’s the reason why Bailey is the interim coach.

    Plenty of very successful guys out there who will want the job if PC doesn’t unretire. Tcu coach is one guy to go after.

    Mitch Canham is a guy to take a long look at.

    Brosius left the mariners so he may be a possibility again.

    • Those seem like two good candidates. I still expect PC back though.

      Lundeberg tweets that Beavs went back to “daily doubles” today; practiced this morning and tonight. He notes the problems with the lights lately, and with Friday’s game set for 7pm that makes some sense.
      Is Bailey making a smart move? Doing a 180 to become a taskmaster? Desperate or simply frustrated at the apparent lack of leadership within this team?

    • Graves has a great resume, could be a candidate. Does he have any strong ties to Eugene? Of course, nikegon should have little trouble if it becomes a bidding war.

      OTOH, Rueck is an alumn, a father of young kids, a man of faith. I doubt a job with the expectations of Tennessee, even in the “Bible Belt” would be attractive to him. Of course if it did become a bidding war it is hard to see OSU prevailing.

      A choice to forever live in the shadow of Pat Summitt or to continue to build a dynasty at his alma mater and live close to his own parents would seem, to me, to be a simple one.

    • Not defending Scott but it was a one sided deal giving ESPN all the power. They lowballed the league assuming they were desperate.

      Basically the deal would mean all pac12 games would be 7pm kickoffs and basketball playing on all sorts of odd days. For 20 years!!

  36. Don’t know if it has been mentioned here, but Joe Casey will be out for a couple weeks due to a broken index finger suffered in bunting practice last week. Bailey says he’ll likely be DH before returning to the outfield.

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