The meeting January 8, 1992 of the University Assembly was called to order at 3:36 P.M., in Columbia 150 by President Myles Brand. The minutes of the Þ>Mr. Gary Martin, Music, was recognized to present a memorial for Professor Emeritus Francis Bittner. Mr. Bittner was a member of the School of Music faculty from 1946 until his retirement in 1976. You will find the memorial at the end of these minutes.
President Brand, in addressing the continuing question about Measure 5 and the University of Oregon as well as all of the state system and state services, stated that the UO would not cut vertically again and this has been understood by the Chancellor. Each institution will have to decide independently on how any cuts required in the future will be handled. The President, however, remains optimistic that the taxpayers of Oregon will not allow state services and higher education to deteriorate so that the State will suffer permanent harm. The best scenario is that a vote will be held sometime in late spring or during the summer with some type of replacement tax or taxes on the ballot. The budgets for the next biennium of all parts of state government cannot be commenced until some decisions have been made on future taxes. A negative vote could spell disaster for the State of Oregon and its future.
Mr. Simonds moved that the University Assembly approve the Report of the Committee on th Curriculum as amended by the University Senate.
The preliminary report contains certain policy statements that are either a reiteration of established policy that needs reinforcement or further understanding on the part of Departments/Schools/Colleges. In addition State Law has mandated statewide common course numbers and the Report contains the move toward these common course numbers. Further, the Committee is announcing that it will be working to find possible solutions to some of the problems that interferes with the Committee in doing its work efficiently and effectively.
Mr. Leland Roth, Art History, rose to move to amend the report: "I move to amend the Report to eliminate the Program of American Studies from the University curriculum." Mr. Roth stated that on page 3 the courses for American Studies are dropped, and on page 42 it is stated that the program will be "discontinued." Mr. Roth's motion would cut the program cleanly from the curriculum and bring it to an end. The Assembly approved of the amendment.
When the Biology entry in the Report came onto the floor a proposed new course "BI 402 Supervised College Teaching (1 6R) only. R for Maximum of 9 credits." questions were raised about letting undergraduates teach classes. The explanation was that the teaching would be in laboratories, that the supervisor would be a GTF, and that very high standards would have to be met by each of the undergrduates to qualify for the course. In reality, the students would not be "teaching." With this understanding the Assembly voted to accept the course.
With the shifting of courses and the closing of the Department of Speech, several courses are being moved to English and Journalism. Several of the courses previously entitled Telecommunication and film are being taken over by English. A question concerning a new course "ENG 411/511 Dramatic Screenwriting (3) Writing of dramatic screenplays for film and television. Prereq: Eng 260." focused attention on the course. Was English the proper home for this course. Mr. Richard Stein, English, stated that this was previously a 300 level course, and that it was being upgraded to a 411/511 course because of a desire to change the content and to make it more demanding. This satisfied the questioner and the Assembly voted to accept the English (old TCF) entries.
Mr. Fred Andrews, Mathematics, questioned if "ARE 687 The Thinking Machine(3)" was truly a course that Art Education should be offering and that its description sounded like something that should be in Computer and Information Science. Ms. Linda Ettinger, Art Education, stated that the course had been offered through Continuing Education in Portland for three years, and that it was not really a computer course as Mr. Andrews suggested. The Assembly decided that the course title and description should be re thought so that the title and the description are in sync. The final date for this revision to be submitted to the Curriculum Committee is January 22, 1992.
A continuation of the change of TCF courses came back onto the floor as Journalism's entries were now on the floor. Initially the discussion centered on the old offering of TCF 241, 242, 243 a Social Science satisfying cluster and a vital part of the cluster offerings as it has a large enrollment. Now that the courses will be J210, 211, 212, will it still be a Social Science cluster, was the question asked. Mr. Duncan McDonald, Journalism, stated that it would for the next academic year, but that no guarantee could be made for the long term.
Mr. George Rowe, English, stated that the cluster was very important and needed to be available for a longer term than just next year. Problems of very large proportions would result if the cluster were allowed to be dropped and the College of Arts and Sciences would be hard put to find the funds to increase other cluster offerings to replace this particular offering. The undergraduate had to be thought of in this situation and the curriculum offerings had to such that the student would have a reasonable opportunity to complete clusters once started or to select clusters of interest. Mr. Rowe emphasized that this was a very important cluster to the Social Science general education requirement that the Assembly has established through its votes previously. The Journalism offerings were approved by a voice vote of the Assembly.
The dropping of the minor in "Aquatics Leadership" was questioned by Ms. Becky Sisley, Physical Education and Human Movement. Ms. Sisley stated that several students are now in the pipeline to finish this minor and that it would leave them stranded if the minor were to be killed in 1992. She moved to amend the Report to have the minor remain in the curriculum through Spring 1993. The Assembly approved of this amendment.
The Assembly voted to accept the Report of the Committee on the Curriculum as amended.
The business having concluded the Assembly adjourned at 4:53 p.m. Keith Richard Secretary
Professor Bittner was born in 1911 in Portland, Oregon, where he received his early musical training. After attending Reed College for two years, and a year of piano study in Seattle, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree there in 1936.
It was during the time of his undergraduate piano studies that he began to lose the use of this right hand, from an affliction which was never clearly diagnosed. Rather than abandon piano playing, he chose to focus special attention on the skills involved in playing repertoire arrange or composed for the left hand alone. During his senior year he won first place in piano competition, using only his left hand. He was once encouraged, by the famed conductor Dmitri Mitropolous, to seek a career as a left handed pianist, but he chose to move more in the direction of composition and teaching.
Bittner continued his musical studies in New York City, where he earned a Master of Arts degree from New York University in 1942, continuing his piano studies with Alfred Mirovitch, and composition with Marion Bauer. He pursed further graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
During World War II Bittner served two years in the U. S. Army Air Corps and also worked in the Portland shipyards.
It was in 1942 that Francis married Constance Baxter, also a pianist, who has been an active piano teacher in Eugene for many years. Together they raised two sons who have given them three grandchildren.
In 1946 Bittner accepted a position here at the University of Oregon. He taught at our School of Music for thirty years until his retirement in 1976. While most of his teaching was in piano and music theory, he also taught introduction to Music Literature, Music History, Keyboard Harmony, and Piano Pedagogy.
In later years, Bittner became increasingly active as a composer, writing music for piano and for ensembles. Among his compositions are ÃÃEvolution and Scherzo for piano, ÃÃSpeak to Us of ÃÃChildren for soprano voice, a string quartet, and ÃÃThe Creatures Speak for Piano with accompanying poems also written by Bittner. He made arrangements of several works of standard two handed piano repertoire, enabling them to be played by the left hand alone. Such arrangements are the Chromatic Fantasy by J. S. Bach, and two works by Frederic Chopin: the Nocturne in C Sharp Minor and two middle movements of the Sonata in B Minor , Op. 58. He also became very active in the Oregon Music Teachers Association, for time serving as its president. In 1982 the OMTA named him composer of the year.
His success as a piano teacher became well known all around the northwest. Many of his students went on to successful careers as musicians and music teachers. He was much in demand as an adjudicator, evaluating piano students throughout the region.
Fran Bittner was appreciated and respected, by students and faculty alike, for his personal warmth and compassion, his sensitive and artistic musical insights, his helpful and supportive attitude, and his wisdom.
Gary Martin Acting Dean Professor of Music