Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State University Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved the key terms of a proposed lease with Samaritan Health Services as part of a Corvallis campus wellness clinic that will provide expanded wellness and health care services to OSU students, faculty and staff as well as Benton County community members.

The board also unanimously approved $5 million to update the Hatfield Marine Science Center seawater system that supports fish and animals used for research, education and outreach programs, such as aquariums and display tanks within the visitor center at HMSC in Newport.

The Board of Trustees approved construction of the wellness clinic on May 21, 2021, as part of a $153 million investment to complete Reser Stadium. The four-story clinic will serve as the new home for Student Health Services and will be located in a new building at the stadium’s southeast corner.

The wellness clinic will offer year-round primary and walk-in/same-day care services. Student Health Services will relocate from Plageman Hall to serve OSU students from the third and fourth floors of the new wellness clinic. It is planned that Samaritan will serve OSU employees and community members from the second floor, with Student Health Services and Samaritan sharing spaces and services on the first floor. OSU students would be able to access the Samaritan clinic at times when the student health center is closed.

“This clinic offers an exciting opportunity to expand health care services for OSU Corvallis campus students, and in collaboration with Samaritan Health Services offer readily available services for university faculty and staff and community members,” said Jenny Haubenreiser, associate vice provost for student affairs and executive director of Student Health Services.

The new medical building will be approximately 32,000 square feet with Samaritan seeking to lease about 9,000 square feet beginning July 1, 2023, for 20 years with an option to extend the lease to 30 years.

The trustees’ vote Tuesday authorizes OSU Interim President Becky Johnson to negotiate and sign a lease agreement with Samaritan consistent with the approved term sheet, which calls for starting rent to be paid by Samaritan at $3.25 per square foot per month. Annual rent increases would be tied to the consumer price index but would be no higher than 4% and no lower than 1%.

The authorization and proposed lease terms were approved unanimously by the board with Trustee Julie Manning, an executive with Samaritan Health Services, abstaining from the vote and discussion of the lease terms.

In addition to the clinic, the completing Reser project includes a full renovation of the west side of the football stadium and a new student welcome center to be built within the southwest corner of the stadium.

The board’s vote regarding the HMSC enables the first major upgrade of the science center’s seawater system that was installed in the 1970s. Seawater is used for multiple research and educational purposes at the Hatfield Marine Science Center and is run through a sophisticated but aging distribution system that supplies seawater throughout the HMSC campus and returns it to Yaquina Bay.

The system has exceeded its life expectancy and is beginning to experience failures. As part of the $5 million renovation, the causeway and pump portions of the system that take seawater from Yaquina Bay in Newport will be replaced. HMSC Director Bob Cowen said upgrading the seawater system is essential for HMSC to have sufficient, reliable and high-quality seawater.

“This seawater system puts OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center on the map nationally and globally and draws research faculty, staff, students and members of the public to what we do here,” he said.

The board also approved a new Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in contemporary music industry, an interdisciplinary program designed to prepare graduates for work as composers, performers, music journalists and managers, and film and game music consultants. The College of Liberal Arts program would be offered through Ecampus and would be the first contemporary music industry degree offered by colleges or universities in the Pacific Northwest.

The degree program aims to foster connections and welcome transfer students from community colleges; serve those already working in the music industry and seeking a four-year music degree; and enroll underserved students who often come from oral traditions of music learning rather than from reading music and music theory-based precollege programs. The program aims to grow to enroll approximately 170 students over the next four years. The program would be effective in winter 2022, pending the support of the statewide provost’s council and the approval of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.  

Additionally, trustees approved a proposal by the College of Liberal Arts to divide its School of Arts & Communication into a School of Communication and a School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts. The college proposed the reconfiguration to strengthen research and curriculum development, use its administrative capacity more effectively and align with student and faculty desires to advance the schools’ programs and mission.

The trustees also approved a recommendation from Johnson to submit the names of Gayle Fitzpatrick and Maria Teresa Chávez-Haroldson to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in the pool of candidates to be considered for anticipated vacancies on the Board of Trustees.

Chávez-Haroldson lives in Corvallis and works at the Willamette Education Service District and as founder of EDI Consulting. She has worked nationally and globally for more than two decades in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, government and community organizations.  She has a doctorate in leadership and change.

Fitzpatrick is an OSU graduate in business administration and has worked in the technology industry for more than 40 years. A resident of Lake Oswego, she has been engaged in the OSU College of Business and Greek Life programs, and served as a member of the OSU Foundation Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2020. She has master’s degree in computer science.