Plageman as it appeared in 1936.

OSU Alum Chris Russell wrote this lovely piece for us on the 80th anniversary of the construction of Plageman Hall. For those of you who aren’t from here, didn’t go to school here, or just don’t mind the names of the buildings, this building might be more familiar as “Student Health.”

Erna Plageman

Everyone is familiar with the saying that you can’t value your health fully until you lose it, and it’s also true that you can’t value something like the Student Health Services until you truly need it. Today students automatically head to Plageman building whenever they have a health problem or concern, and students have done thus for years ever since Plageman was constructed in 1936. Plageman was actually constructed during a slow building period in OSU history when only one other building was raised during a 15-year span. Constructed as a Public Works Administration project, Plageman was built with a $20,000 grant and a $80,000 loan.

Plageman building under construction in 1936.

The building was originally just called the Student Health Services building or frequently referred to simply as the infirmary. Prior to the name being placed on a building, it is likely that many students would have recognized the name as OSU’s assistant director of Health Services, Erna Plageman, who served in that post from 1950-1964. Even before that position, Plageman had helped create the Student Health Services organization in 1929 after moving to Oregon from Michigan where she worked at the University of Michigan as a Staff Nurse and later as a member of the Michigan Health Service Staff. Plageman served as a supervising nurse for OSU from 1929-1942/43, following that she became the general supervisor for Student Health Services until 1950.

The infirmary didn’t have a true name until the year of 1969/70 when it adopted the name of it’s former assistant director, a name that it has held to this day. This year marks the 80th year since Student Health Services had their building constructed and 80 years of assisting students. From 1936 to 2016 Plageman has stood as the place where students can turn to for help; with 42, 684 student encounters in the year of 2013-2014 alone, the scale and scope of Student Health Services and Plageman has grown tremendously and seems a fitting homage to a woman who served the university and helped students for over 30 years.

Sources Used:

• http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/omeka/items/show/7201
• http://www.osualum.com/s/359/file_lib/1/48/56end_classnotes_201404_635319645170180928.pdf
• http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/sites/studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/files/main/docs/annual_report_2013_2014.pdf
• http://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df70d298w
• http://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df70d2995
• Oregon State Yearbooks: 1937
• Oregon State Monthly: July, 1929
• Oregon State General Catalog: 1930-1931, 1942-1943, 1943-1944, 1949-1950, 1950-1951, 1951-1952, 1962-1963, 1967-1968, 1969-1970.