Scandinavian History at PSU - Scandinavian Languages - Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at PSU

The History of Scandinavian courses taught at PSU

Scandinavian courses have been taught at Portland State University since 1958 actually already at the Vanport Extension Center on the 1940s courses were taught about Scandinavian literature. Since then courses have been taught in Scandinavian subjects in various departments for example the departments of English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Geography, History and Philosophy.

From the late 1970s till today the Scandinavian languages have been taught continuously at PSU. Since 1993 the instructors of these courses have hosted the annual Scandinavian Sampler, a workshop of Scandinavian events past and present.

The Finnish Room

The Finnish room [Cramer Hall 124] at PSU was originally proposed to the Portland Finlandia Foundation by Dr. John Cramer, the president of Portland State College in 1954. A working committee was formed in 1957 under the guidance of national Finlandia Foundation Vice President Vaino Hoover. He put John Virtanen, Portland Finlandia Foundation Chapter President, in charge of the committee and in 1959 the room was completed at the cost of $20,000.00. The room was built to capture the "essence of Finland" with all of its materials imported from Finland. Its completion was marked by a two-day formal dedication ceremony.

Today and since 1978 the Finnish room has continuously been used as a classroom housing the study of the Scandinavian languages, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish, and related subjects as well as by the Scandinavian organizations in the Portland area.

The Scandinavian Sampler

The Scandinavian Sampler which started in 1993 is a workshop combining Scandinavian current events, history, literature, art, music and geography with introductions to the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish languages.

The name was selected to serve as an invitation to students and the general public to come to check out what we Scandinavians are doing at the university. At the same time we wanted to give an overview of events in Scandinavia, past and present. Last but not least it provides an opportunity to "try out" the various languages and literatures in a relaxed atmosphere.

The event generally takes place at PSU in the spring of the year.