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Cascade’s technology building to be renamed in honor of Margaret Carter
Photos and story by Abe Proctor
The Cascade Campus (705 N. Killingsworth St.) will kick off PCC’s 50th anniversary celebration with equal parts style and substance when it officially renames and dedicates the Technology Education Building in honor of former state Sen. Margaret Carter. The event, which is set for 2 to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21, will mark the first time in PCC’s history that one of its buildings has been named for a woman.
Sen. Carter’s successful stint as a counselor and instructor with the college as well as her growing stature in the community, led the Louisiana native to seek public office.
The festivities will begin with a program in Cascade’s Moriarty Auditorium with a slate of guest speakers that includes Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber; U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer; former Margaret Carter Skill Center student Tamiko Phillips (who is now attending the University of Nevada at Las Vegas on a scholarship); Oregon Historical Society Director Kerry Tymchuk; and Sen. Carter herself.
After the formal program concludes, the audience will proceed across the campus to the newly-christened Senator Margaret Carter Technology Education Building (565 N. Killingsworth St.), where the building will be officially dedicated and its new permanent nameplate unveiled.
“It is our great honor to name one of our buildings for Senator Carter,” said Cascade Campus President Algie Gatewood. “She has spent her adult life working and advocating for the people of North and Northeast Portland. I don’t think one can find a more committed proponent of education, nor a more dedicated champion for members of traditionally underrepresented communities.”
Senator Carter’s personal and professional association with the college dates back some five decades, when she began taking classes at the Cascade Campus to support her baccalaureate studies.
“Portland Community College has been the access and success to the renewal of my life,” said Senator Carter. “I began my renewing journey with PCC as a student in the fall of 1968. After completing my master’s degree, I interned as a student in the spring of 1973. The rest is history.”
Carter credits the forward thinking of PCC’s faculty and administration – particularly Dr. Amo DeBernardis, PCC’s first president – for giving her the opportunity to go to work for the college.
PCC will rename and dedicate the Technology Education Building in honor of former state Sen. Margaret Carter. The event, which is set for 2 to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21, will mark the first time in PCC’s history that one of its buildings has been named for a woman.
“Because of the opportunity thinking of Amo DeBernardis, I began my work as a member of the counseling faculty in September of 1973,” Carter said.
Sen. Carter’s successful stint as a counselor and instructor with the college as well as her growing stature in the community, led the Louisiana native to seek public office. She ran successfully for the Oregon House of Representatives in 1984, becoming the first African American woman to be elected to the Oregon Legislature. She followed this with a successful bid for the state Senate in 2000, where she eventually served as President Pro Tempore and co-chair of the Joint Ways & Means Committee and co-chair of the Joint Ways & Means Committee. She capped her public career as Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services.
While in Salem, Sen. Carter continued as a vocal advocate for higher education in general, and for community colleges and PCC in particular. In 1989, she was instrumental in establishing the Cascade Campus Skill Center, which was renamed in her honor in 2007.
“Sen. Carter’s history with the college and the campus is deep and abiding,” said Gatewood, “and it’s only fitting that we name a building in her honor.”
Carter was delighted that her name will be forever associated with PCC.
“I came to PCC and moved on,” she said. “My children came to PCC and moved on. My grandchildren came to PCC and moved on. And with 15 great-grandchildren, I am sure that PCC will help generate educational opportunities for a third generation of my family. Kudos to PCC and its ‘opportunity thinking.’ ”