The event was billed by the late John Hulteng's grandchildren as a party for their grandfather. On September 19th, Hulteng's family gathered with former colleagues, faculty and students to honor him and to dedicate the John L.Hulteng Student Services Center in Allen Hall.

The center occupies approximately 1,800 square feet of the west wing of the ground floor renovation project and will quadruple the amount of space available for student services functions, such as undergraduate advising, peer advising, and student records management.

"Centralizing undergraduate advising with the peer advisors and student records will simplify life for the staff and enable us to provide better and more efficient services to students in the School," said Greg Kerber, assistant dean for student services. "We're all extremely grateful for the generosity of the Hulteng family's gift."

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Hulteng's wife, Elizabeth "B.J." Hulteng of Spokane, Wash., along with sons Richard and Robert; daughter Karen Enich and her husband Peter; and grandchildren MacKenzie, Kelton and Ryley Enich.

"It was beautiful, we had fun, and it was nice to see some familiar faces," B. J. Hulteng said. "We're very fond of Eugene, because it is where my children have their fondest memories of their dad. They also remember Allen Hall distinctly -- even that old printing press was
still in the hallway."

B.J. Hulteng said that funding the $150,000 student services center seemed like the most natural thing to do for many reasons. "Allen Hall was brand new when we first came to the University of Oregon in 1955, so it was neat to have the last part (of the west wing renovation) completed in John's name.

"Because he felt so strongly about having one-on-one contact with his students, it seemed natural to build a student services center. I was interested in doing something now, when people who knew him are still living -- memorials so often happen later. And we were grateful that Duncan [McDonald] and Tim [Gleason] could make it possible now."

Last year, when the University's Printing Services department moved from Allen Hall to The Register-Guard building in downtown Eugene, the garden-level space became available to house a facility for student services in addition to the new electronic media center.

Hulteng, an acclaimed authority on ethics and media responsibility, joined the School's faculty in 1955 and served as dean twice, from 1962-1969 and from 1975-1977. He later moved to Stanford, where he taught for nearly 10 years before retiring in 1986. Hulteng died on March 11, 1996, at the age of 74.