Lisa Andrus-Rivera

Lisa Andrus-Rivera is indeed a heroine, both to the hundreds of students she has taught in the Portland State Art Department, and to her colleagues and friends, at the University, the Portland Art Museum, and in the larger community.

Born in New York City, Lisa grew up in the shadow of Columbia University where her father, Otis Fellows, was a professor of French. In 1967 she graduated from Barnard College with honors in Art History; in 1969 she earned her M.A. and in 1967 her PhD, also in Art History. Her dissertation, Measure and Design in American Painting, was selected for publication in the Garland Outstanding Dissertation series and she has continued to publish and lecture on American art.

Upon graduation, Lisa and her husband, sculptor and architect Moulton Andrus, moved to Portland. Moulton Andrus died in 1983, and in 1994 Lisa married Carlos Rivera, who is, like herself, actively involved in the city’s cultural life.

Any list of Lisa’s community service must start with the Portland Art Museum where she has been a trustee, and served on, often chairing, a variety of committees and task forces: the Museum Committee, the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Museum Task Force, and the Film Center Task Force. She also chaired the Search Committee that brought the present director to the Museum. She is a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Center on Ethics in Health Care at OHSU and a lay minister and chair of the Program Committee on Spiritual Development at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Lisa taught for twenty-three years at Portland State, and to her students and colleagues in the Art Department, she was above all a wonderful and dedicated teacher. When a course needed to be taught in which she was not a specialist, she became a specialist. During budget crises, she sometimes taught overloads without compensation. Concerned for the quality of the foundation program, she taught the introductory survey every year until her retirement. In an effort to upgrade student writing skills, she always required research papers and gave essay exams, all of which she graded herself.

Student evaluations reflect the response to Lisa’s efforts, noting her depth of knowledge, her enthusiasm, and her clarity, but the word that recurs again and again is “great.” “She does a great job,” “Great class,” “Great,” “GREAT.”

Perhaps the key to Lisa’s success as a teacher is found in her own response to the question, “Why teach?” “Why teach? Because you have to! You love to learn and you must share what you have learned. The compensation for low pay and the lack of professional security is your relationship with your students, the bond that comes from sharing the excitement of learning.”