Phil Bettens

Thanks to a gift from supportive alum Phil Bettens, '52, journalism and communication students will have access to the latest video technology.

Just as the sound of the typewriter has vanished from journalism schools, so, too, will the whir of the videotape editing machine winding forward and back in search of the perfect shot.

The $51,000 gift from Bettens, a longtime Aerojet manager, provides the School's Carolyn S. Chambers Electronic Media Center with a nonlinear video editing bay.

"This gift is a major step forward in our efforts to give students the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment," said Dean Tim Gleason. "Expanding our nonlinear editing capability is a high priority, and Phil Bettens' generosity helps us meet that goal.

"One of Phil's concerns is the current state of journalism ethics. In accepting this gift, we are affirming our longstanding commitment to teaching students not only technical skills, but also the highest ethical standards," said Gleason.

In the digital age, video images can be manipulated as easily as text in a word-processing program. Computer users take for granted the ability to store text, move paragraphs, and fix spelling and grammar errors. The realm of video has moved in the same direction, offering unprecedented options for visual communicators.

Videotaped images can be put into the computer, edited into a polished piece, and recorded back onto a videotape.

"Expanding our nonlinear editing capability is a high priority ,and Phil Bettens' generosity is helping us meet that goal." -- Tim Gleason

"Phil Bettens' gift transforms our electronic media sequence. As students master the use of these state-of-the-art tools they will become more proficient and competitive as future broadcast journalists, documentarians and video creators," said professor Denise Matthews. Bettens transferred from Sacramento Junior College and graduated from UO in 1952 with a B.A. in journalism. He discovered the starting salary for reporters and decided he needed more education.

Bettens got his master's in history from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954. He spent two years in the U.S. Army working as editor of the Fort Watchuga Scout. In 1956, the nation was at the height of the Cold War. Bettens quickly found someone interested in his writing and editing skills: Aerojet.

The Pentagon contracted with Aerojet to build an intercontinental missile in two years. Bettens aided this all-out effort by writing and editing technical manuals for the Titan, the first missile capable of striking halfway around the world from American soil.

Writing these manuals proved no easy task. Most information was top secret and engineers guarded it with their lives. Bettens' perseverance paid off, leading to a 37-year career with the company.

Before retiring five years ago, he managed the computer department's data communications section. In his last two years, he oversaw installation of a data communications network that he designed to link all the Aerojet buildings with fiber-optic cables and Ethernet connections for about 2,000 employees.

Bettens attributes part of his success to his two years at UO.

"I have a profound respect and love for Oregon. My years at the University were two of the most satisfying and rewarding years in my life. I really wanted to give something back for the wonderful experience and education the UO gave me," he said.

Bettens encourages other alumni to consider gifts of stock, thus making it possible to give a large gift without a sizable cost. The donor avoids the taxes associated with cashing in stocks and bonds because the money goes directly to UO.