CAS News

CAS Dean

Spring 2014 Dean’s Welcome

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Dean AndrewsDear Friends of the College of Arts and Sciences,

Welcome to the Spring 2014 College A&S News Website!  On behalf of the faculty, students, staff, and alumni of the College: it is good to visit with you.

Springtime on the Bluff offers a deep and reverent sense of hope and resurrection.  Cherry blossoms burst along the Quad, and everywhere we see signs of the goodness of all creation.  As we enter the final months of the semester, I invite you to come to campus for one of our excellent symposia events and be inspired by the College’s academic pursuit of excellence that promotes a vision of the common good through engagement with the humanities, liberal arts, and the social and natural sciences.  Nothing quite says “College of Arts and Sciences” like listening to a first-rate academic lecture or watching a student-directed play or catching the University of Portland’s annual Ethics Bowl.

I invite you to check out the College’s many upcoming events for spring semester.  And while you are on campus, don’t forget to stop by the Dean’s Suite in Buckley 201 to introduce yourself.  We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you home.

The Catholic intellectual tradition promotes a habit of mind and heart that is reflective, contemplative, and integrative.  And so I invite you to let the University of Portland’s College of Arts and Sciences help renew you, body and spirit, during this special time of Lenten and Easter preparation.  For more information, check out the specific links on the College’s news website.  Some highlights of activities involving faculty and students in the College during Spring 2014 include:

  • The Ethics Bowl, scheduled for Saturday April 5 from 4-6pm in Mago Hunt.  This year’s second annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl Showcase will feature undergraduate students from the University’s nationally-acclaimed Speech and Debate Union.
  • Five CAS faculty members awarded Tenure and Promotion;
  • Sr. Angela Hoffman, OSB named the Oregon Academy of Science 2014 Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics;
  • Professor Alexandra Hill awarded the Graves Award in the Humanities;
  • Professor Susan Baillet Awarded the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising;
  • Graduation Weekend, May 3-4, with Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony beginning at 2pm on Sunday, May 4 in the Chiles Center.
  • World Conference on Science and Soccer, June 5-7, held for the first time in the U.S. For more information visit https://sites.up.edu/wcss2014usa/

Thank you for your loyal and continued support of the College of Arts and Sciences.  As you can imagine, the College of Arts and Sciences depends on your generous financial support to be able to offer and expand upon the many academic, social, religious, and public events that make us a unique and excellent Catholic university serving Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond.  We have great hopes to continue to build upon the strong foundations established by those who came before us.  Still, we need your help to ensure that our commitment to the humanities, the arts, and the social and natural sciences continues to grow and flourish.  Please choose to be a part of the conversation, a conversation that will help the College engage our nation and the world in striving to be the kind of place we want it to be for our children and our children’s children.  Any gift of financial support is deeply appreciated.  Please visit the “Support Us”  link, located here and on the main CAS News page.

Welcome to the College of Arts and Sciences!  Welcome to a whole new world!

Warm regards,

Michael F. Andrews, Ph.D.

Dean, College A&S
McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics

Class of 2017 Arrives!

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OrientationUniversity of Portland welcomed the Class of 2017 as freshmen moved into the dorms on Thursday, August 22. It is among the largest, most diverse, and academically gifted classes in school history. More than 100 incoming students arrived on campus earlier this week to volunteer in the local community as part of the University’s annual Service Plunge.“The University of Portland’s reputation continues to get stronger and stronger,” said dean of admissions Jason McDonald. “More applicants have allowed us to be more selective, and we’ve seen our academic profile and geographical diversity increase.”At approximately 830 students, the new freshmen class is among the largest in University history. The University’s total overall registered full-time undergraduate students is 100 more than last year at this time.Continuing a trend over the past decade, the University saw a marked increase in the number of students applying for admission with more than 9,500 completed applications, a new school record and a 10 percent increase over the previous record, set last year.The UP Class of 2017 is also highly academically accomplished, with an approximate average SAT score of 1187 and average high school GPA of 3.6.The Class of 2017 is diverse in geography – 52 percent of the class hails from outside Oregon and Washington and 10 percent from beyond the western United States – and in ethnicity, with 39 percent of the class identifying as minority.The students will be on campus all weekend preparing for the 2013-14 academic year to commence Monday, August 26 with the start of fall semester. Official enrollment figures will be confirmed two weeks into the academic year. [Read more…] about Class of 2017 Arrives!

Class of 2013 Day of Service

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The entire University of Portland freshmen class will volunteer on Saturday, Aug. 31 as part of the University’s “Building Community: Serving to Learn” program. All 830 students from the class of 2017 will participate in a daylong program, which marks their first full weekend as University of Portland students. The freshmen will be joined by current students, faculty, and staff, sending more than 1,000 UP volunteers into the community.

University of Portland began “Building Community: Serving to Learn” in 2005 as a way to unite all of its first-year students in a day of service. The service program aims to build community among new students in a non-traditional setting and to teach practices of sustainability and service in the surrounding area.

The students will be divided into smaller groups, and they will volunteer at 19 different sites throughout the Portland area, including Arbor Lodge, Baltimore Woods, Burnt Bridge Creek, Forest Park, Frenchman’s Bar, George Middle School, John’s Garden, Rebuilding Center, Roosevelt High School, Sauvie Island (Howell), Sitton, SLUG Garden, Terwilliger Parkway, Tyron Creek, Tyron State Park, University Park Baptist Church, Water Center, University of Portland Waterfront Property, and Fruits of Diversity Community Orchard.

The day of service will conclude with the class of 2017 gathering to reflect. The students will also hear from UP alumna Andriana Alexis ’13.

The program is organized by the University’s Shepard Freshman Resource Center and the Moreau Center for Service and Leadership. For more information, contact the Shepard Freshman Resource Center at (503) 943-7895.

Message From the CAS Dean, Summer 2013

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CAS Dean Michael Andrews

Dear Friends and Alumni of the College,

As commencement festivities for the Class of 2013 draw to a close, we are all reminded of the cycle of endings and beginnings that mark the academic year.  Students have left for home or work or travel; faculty have fled after completing their task of grading papers and submitting final grades; even administrators are hard to find as classrooms get cleaned, offices get painted, and the new library renovation moves into its final phase.
Please enjoy reading about some of the highlights of the past Spring Semester here in the College.  My wishes that this summer is a time of blessing and enjoyment for you and your family, whether you are staying close to home or traveling to an exotic far-away land.  Summer reminds us that the earth is filled with God’s abundant grace.  There are a number of important gatherings on campus this summer, from conferences to alumni reunions to concerts and plays. I hope you will have a chance to visit the Bluff sometime over the summer.  In any event, I wish you and your family God’s blessings in anticipation of the great feasts of Memorial Day and Independence Day.  I pray that this summer be a time of joy and reflection of the earth’s good gifts and God’s abundant love in your life.

Academic Year 2013 Concludes

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The College of Arts and Sciences celebrated the conclusion of the 2012-13 academic year with graduation ceremonies on Sunday, May 5 in the Chiles Center.  We wish a hearty congratulations to the Class of 2013!

CAS NEWS encourages you to browse through the news of the past year by examining the stories listed above under Highlights.  You may also wish to check out any of the other categories, as your interests may lead you.  You can search based on Department, Category, or time of the year.

CAS NEWS will be on hiatus for the summer, and will return in September!

Elise Moentmann appointed CAS Associate Dean for Students

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University of Portland’s College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of Elise Moentmann as associate dean for students, effective July 1, 2013.  Dr. Moentmann is associate professor of History and has been teaching at UP since August 1998.  She has served as Chair of the Department of History since Fall 2009 and teaches courses covering Europe broadly from 1600 as well as more focused studies of modern France, East Asia, especially Japan, and global urban history.

Moentmann holds the Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Arts (History) degrees from Louisiana Tech University. She received her Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1998.  Her research and scholarship examine the relationship between national identity and cultural production (especially cinema and theater) in interwar Alsace and Moselle.

Moentmann has served as director of the Summer Salzburg Session, Chair of the Committee on Committees, member of the Academic Senate and the Senate Executive Committee, member of the CAS Curriculum Committee, and Faculty Advisor to the Phi Alpha Theta National Honors Society in History since 2000.  She brings academic excellence, creative leadership, and a strong commitment to formation of the whole person, as exemplified by the Holy Cross mission to educate head, heart, and hands.  Moentmann will succeed Dr. James Stemler, interim associate dean for students, who returned to his former position from retirement for Academic Year 2012-13.

 

Inaugural McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl

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The first annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl will be held on Saturday, April 20, from 1-4 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 301.  The event is sponsored by College of Arts and Sciences Dean, Michael F. Andrews, who also serves as the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics, with additional support from the Dundon-Berchtold Ethics Grant. The event is free and open to the public.

Two UP teams will take part: one team of graduate students from the Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. School of Business Administration, and a second team of undergraduate students from the Speech and Debate Union.

Unlike other ethics bowl competitions, the McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl will reflect a particular University of Portland emphasis on ethical formation and the study and articulation of ethical theory and practice. The purpose is to expose graduate and undergraduate students to a philosophical style of reflective, ethical thinking that allows them to apply an understanding of ethics to a particular situation or issue.

For more information contact Dr. Andrews at 503-943-7760 or andrews@up.edu .

CAS Colleagues

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The Spring edition of “Colleagues” took place Thursday, March 7, from 3:30-5:00pm in BC 163. Faculty gathered to listen to Christi Hancock from the History department present, “Thinking about the Past through Story-Telling and Women’s Lives” as well as Andrew Guest from the Social and Behavioral Sciences department discuss, “The social science of sports: Explorations during one (long) sabbatical at three (very different) universities.”

 

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David Alexander wins Becky Houck Award

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David Alexander has been awarded the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising.  The Professor Alexander was honored at the CAS All-College Celebration February 27.

David Alexander has been a member of the faculty at the University of Portland since 1995. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from Texas A&M University. After completing postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin and at Texas A&M, Dr. Alexander worked as a research microbiologist at Oregon Health Sciences University and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, where he helped design and evaluate new classes of antimicrobial agents. He is interested in the physiological ecology of bacteria, focusing particularly on symbiotic interactions of bacteria with other organisms. Dr. Alexander teaches Microbiology, and in 2005 was honored as Teacher of the Year by the University of Portland Air Force ROTC detachment. He has served as the Health Professions Advisor for 16 years, and during that time has mentored hundreds of students interested in careers in health care.

The All-College Celebration is held annually to recognize achievements by faculty and departments within the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Spring 2013 Promotions and Tenure Announcement

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 Please join me in congratulating the following faculty who were recently awarded tenure and promotion, effective July 1, 2013:

Dr. Warren Wood

Dr. Warren J. Wood, Chemistry, tenured and promoted to associate professor;

 

Dr. William Curtis

Dr. William M. Curtis, Political Science, tenured and promoted to associate professor;

 

Dr. Edward Valente

Dr. Edward J. Valente, Chemistry, tenured (already serving at the rank of full professor).

 

 

 

My gratitude, also, to the members of the University Rank and Tenure Committee and to all our colleagues who supported these faculty for tenure along the way.  There is no more sacred duty of a college or university than the tenuring of its faculty.  The College is stronger for having them among us.

Warm regards,

Dr. Michael F. Andrews
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics
and Professor of Philosophy
The University of Portland