Faculty

Longtime University of Portland political science professor Gary Malecha receives 2014 Spirit of Holy Cross Award

November 17, 2014 By casdept2

Gary Malecha, a longtime professor of political science at the University of Portland, has received a 2014 Spirit of Holy Cross Award. The award is given annually to lay collaborators of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers. The award recognizes lay collaborators who devotedly work to make Blessed Basil Moreau’s vision and mission to “make God known, loved, and served” a reality at the Congregation’s education, parish and mission apostolates.

Malecha was one of six award recipients announced on Sept. 15 by Rev. Thomas O’Hara, C.S.C., provincial superior of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers, to mark the Solemnity of Our Lady of Sorrows.

“On our Congregation’s feast day — the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows — we thank our lay collaborators who are living examples of stewardship to the Word of God and the embodiment of Our Lady’s love for all her children,” Fr. O’Hara said. “This year’s Spirit of Holy Cross recipients live their vocation through their work with Holy Cross. May God continue to bless them as they give of their time and talents.”

Malecha, who has been a professor at the University since 1992, served as chairman of the Department of Political Science for 13 years and currently serves as the NCAA faculty athletic representative for the University. He earned a bachelor’s of political science, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. (1976); a master’s of science in political science from Notre Dame (1978); and a doctorate in political science from Notre Dame (1987). He also has served as a lecturer, teaching assistant and assistant or associate professor at Purdue University North Central; Indiana University South Bend; Notre Dame; University of Northern Iowa; California Polytechnic State University; Trinity College; and Weber State University. He has been married to Linda Gammill, Ph.D., for 27 years.

Malecha was nominated by Rev. Jeffrey Allison, C.S.C., on behalf of the Holy Cross Community at the University of Portland. Fr. Allison said Malecha is supportive of the mission of Holy Cross and is deeply committed to students at the University.

“He is highly regarded by the faculty and students here,” Fr. Allison said, noting that Gary won the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising and the James Culligan Award, the highest award a UP faculty member can receive. “In many ways, Gary embodies the Spirit of Holy Cross. His concern for educating the whole person is evident in his genuine concern for his students both in and out of the classroom.”

The 2014 recipients are:

Melanie Chapleau, assistant to Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame
Lori Gorny, office and payroll manager, Provincial Administration Office (Notre Dame, Ind.)
Patti Schlarb, seamstress at the Basilica of Sacred Heart, Notre Dame
Gary Malecha, professor of political science, University of Portland
Edwin J. and Lea M. Zorn, parishioners, Sacred Heart Parish (Tri-Community Parish), Colorado Springs, Colo.

Holy Cross at University of Portland will formally honor Malecha at Mass and a dinner in January, 2015 as part of the celebrations of Blessed Moreau’s life (Father Moreau died on January 20, 1873 in Le Mans, France). Honorees will receive a proclamation of gratitude signed by Provincial Superior Fr. Tom O’Hara on behalf of the entire U.S. Province.

Vail Fletcher wins 2014 Outstanding Edited Book Award from National Communication Association

November 16, 2014 By casdept2

Vail Fletcher, a University of Portland communication studies professor, has received the 2014 Outstanding Edited Book Award from the National Communication Association. The book, Understanding Occupy from Wall Street to Portland, was co-edited by former University of Portland professor Renee Heath, now at the University of New Hampshire, and Ricardo Munoz, University of Colorado, Boulder.

The award, announced by the association’s Committee for the International and Intercultural Communication Division, will be presented at the NCA Annual Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Friday, November 21.

Understanding Occupy from Wall Street to Portland uses economic insights and contemporary theories of communication to better understand the Occupy Movement. The collection of articles focuses on global, local, and mediated perspectives. Contributors also examine social movement phenomena by stepping outside of social movement theory to analyze the macro- and micro-processes of the Occupy movement.

Fletcher teaches courses related to interpersonal and intergroup communication, international development, eco-feminism, gender, and social media and culture. Her research focuses on the intersections of culture, conflict, and identity with an emphasis on romantic and interpersonal relationships.

She recently completed a grant-funded project that explored the re-creation and disruption of identity among youth in a post-genocidal Rwanda. She has taught at West Virginia University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of New Mexico, and California State Polytechnic University.

For more information contact Fletcher at fletcher@up.edu.

Bob Butler Honored By Oregon Science Teachers Association

November 15, 2014 By casdept2

Bob Butler, environmental science, has been selected to receive the Fred Fox Distinguished Service to Science Education Award from the Oregon Science Teachers Association. The award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to mentoring and developing new teachers, and is based on career longevity, breadth of influence, enthusiasm for science and the profession of science education, and the demonstrated ability to motivate.

Butler has been a professor of geophysics at the University since 2004. He teaches Earth System Science, Natural Hazards, and Oceanography, but is probably best known as an expert in the field of earthquakes and earthquake preparedness. Butler is also the project director of Teachers on the Leading Edge (TOTLE), a K-12 Earth Science teacher professional development program featuring Pacific Northwest geology and geological hazards.

Butler was a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona from 1974 to 2001, and was recognized as Distinguished Professor of Geosciences there from 2001 to 2004. Among his many awards, Butler was named the Oregon Academy of Science 2013 Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics. This award will be presented during the annual Oregon Science Teachers Association conference on Friday, October 10, at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel (1919 NE 181st, Portland, OR 97230).

For more information contact the environmental science department at 8342 or inanb@up.edu.

Remembering Kate Regan

November 14, 2014 By casdept2

Dear Friends of the College of Arts and Sciences,

It is with tremendous sadness that we learned of the death of our friend and colleague, Dr. Kate Regan, on July 23 2014. As all who know and love her will attest, Kate was an outstanding teacher and scholar. Her boundless energy, enthusiastic leadership, and keen insight were tremendous gifts that benefited students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Portland for two decades. Her work with the Center for International Studies and Global Outreach (CISGO) has had a particularly strong and positive benefit for international competency in the University’s curriculum. From across the globe I have received numerous emails from many of Dr. Regan’s colleagues, expressing intense sadness at her untimely death and joy at having had Kate enrich their lives. I know that I speak for all of the CAS faculty and staff when I express my condolences to all of Dr. Regan’s students — present and former — who have lost, not only an excellent teacher, but a life-long friend and mentor. We in the College are diminished by our loss; yet we remain hopeful in our faith that Kate’s generosity and joy-filled spirit will continue bear much fruit.

Kate’s loss to the College of Arts and Sciences and in particular to the Department of International Languages and Cultures and her loss to each of us, personally, is without measure. On behalf of the faculty, students, and alumni of CAS, please know that I share your sorrow at our personal and collective loss. In talking with so many of Kate’s colleagues, it seems clear to me that our tears are not merely for losing Kate, but for realizing that we have lost a part of ourselves. There are no words to describe the joy and love and sheer energy by which Dr. Kate Regan has (and continues) to inspire us and all that we do here on The Bluff. As we in the College try to come to grips with Kate’s passing and our own personal and collective grief, let us commend her to God, trusting that Kate’s work continues to be our own.

May the angels lead her to paradise, and may Kate’s soul, and the souls of all our faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Vaya con Dios, nuestra amiga.

With warm regards, Michael F. Andrews, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Jeffery White: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (AFTFL)

September 1, 2014 By casdept2

Jeffrey White, German Instructor and LRC Director, will give two presentations at this year’s American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) conference on November 21 and 22 in San Antonio. The first presentation illustrates the applications of a humanistically oriented genre-based approach that integrates language and cultural studies content in an intermediate German class. Jeffrey’s second presentation delves in to the ongoing collaborative curricular planning efforts within UP’s German Studies program to develop a framework that integrates genre, the goals of advanced multiple literacies, and insights from Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics throughout the sequence of German courses.

English Professor Couple Awarded Fulbrights to India

March 27, 2014 By casdept1

Chosen over hundreds of scholars applying for a handful of highly competitive placements, English professors and married couple Lars Larson and Molly Hiro have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Scholar Teaching Grants to India.

They’ll be embarking to the southeast Asian country in August with their two daughters to teach comparative American literature courses and enjoy the international experience as a family.

It’s unusual for couples to be selected for Fulbright awards to the same country in the same year, and Hiro and Larson are honored and excited to spend five months of their sabbatical teaching together in India.

“We wanted the challenge,” Larson said. “We wanted to figure out what questions we were not asking in life. To step outside of the American bubble, and see what it means to be human outside of that definition.”

Only recently alerted of their successful applications, Hiro and Larson are making practical preparations as they await details on their placements. They hope to be assigned the same university in New Delhi, teaching courses in their respective areas of interest and allowing India to revitalize their intellectual and personal perspectives.

“One of the downsides of working in American literature is that you don’t have global interests,” Hiro said. “As a professor, I’m very excited to allow this to change my scholarship.”

It was Hiro’s wanderlust that inspired the couple to apply for Fulbrights. Neither she nor Larson studied abroad as undergraduates, so after attending a Fulbright workshop in summer 2012, Hiro saw a second chance for travel.

The couple chose India as their destination not because of research interests, but in hopes that the vast number of grants offered in that country would increase their chances of both being selected. And pragmatic considerations aside, they expect their experience in India to be a mix of work and vacation.

Last summer Hiro and Larson researched India through books, films and histories in order to craft intelligent application proposals, but they recognize there’s a limit to what they can prepare for.

They are swift to note the diverse challenges they’ll face: language barriers, infrastructure troubles, bureaucratic red tape, sickness from exposure to unfamiliar foods and microbes, the relentless heat, cultural misunderstandings and possibly adjusting their teaching styles.

Also their two children – soon to be 7 and 10 – have never left the country and may be five months without formal education. Since American and international schools in India have long waitlists, Hiro and Larson might prefer their daughters to learn by exploring the cultural and historical aspects day-to-day of India.

“We fully expect, from how different life in India is – how hot it is, how crowded, how conspicuous they’ll be – they won’t think it’s fun on a daily basis,” Hiro said. “But we hope and believe that they’ll look back with a kind of fondness and feel like they’ve learned a lot.”

Senior English major Cerice Keller, who worked as Hiro’s research assistant, said Larson and Hiro’s humility and self-awareness will help them adapt to life in India.

“They are so deserving of this,” Keller said. “I can’t wait to hear about their experiences when they get back.”

Hiro said the English department has been very supportive, despite how unusual it is to lose two professors to sabbatical at once. English professor Geneviève Brassard will replace Hiro as department chair July 1, and a one-year replacement with a doctorate will be hired as an adjunct to teach American and introductory literature courses. An additional adjunct will be brought on if necessary next fall.

Hiro and Larson plan to return to the States in early January, and spend the second half of their sabbatical researching and writing. They’re excited to discover how taking American literature abroad will reshape their viewpoints, and how a semester in a foreign country will bring them closer together as a family.

It’s that challenge of defamiliarization, according to Larson, that’s central to this Fulbright teaching experience.

“Portland, as everybody knows, is a comfortable town, it’s smug and self-conscious,” Larson said. “We want to get outside of this pristine zone and maybe bring back some things Portland may have forgotten.”

Sourced from Beacon

Sr. Angela Hoffman, O.S.B., Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics

March 13, 2014 By casdept1

Sr. Angela Hoffman, O.S.B., chemistry, has been named the Oregon Academy of Science 2014 Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics. Hoffman has helped undergraduate students with more than 150 projects involving the ingredient Paclitaxel and the anti-cancer drug Taxol (marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb). University of Portland environmental science professor Bob Butler was the recipient of the same award in 2013.

Paclitaxel is found originally in the rare and rapidly vanishing Yew tree, native to the Pacific Northwest. Taxol is used to treat ovarian cancer, breast cancer, the AIDS-related cancer Kaposi’s sarcoma, and other conditions. Hoffman currently has four patents from 1997, 2003, 2006, and 2010, all pertaining to recovering taxanes (including Taxol) from soil around yew trees and other plants that are grown to produce Taxol.

This past November, several dozen yew trees were planted on the University’s River Campus. Known as “Sr. Angela’s Yew Garden,” the garden is home to more than 10 different varieties of the yew tree, which Hoffman and her students will use for their research.

Hoffman was recognized in 2012 as an American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow for her “outstanding achievements in and contributions to Science, the Profession, and the Society.” In 2007, Hoffman was chosen as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow in 2007.

The Oregon Academy of Science promotes scientific research and education in Oregon representing all areas of the natural sciences and social sciences. To see a video interview with Sr. Angela go to http://youtu.be/KbVC2xYcfVU. For more information, contact Steve Kolmes, environmental studies, at 7291 or kolmes@up.edu.

Sourced from UpBeat.

Assistant Professor of International Languages and Cultures has received Graves Award in Humanities

March 13, 2014 By casdept1

Assistant Professor of International Languages and Cultures, Alexandra Hill has been awarded an Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities. This competitive award, offered biennially, is “intended to encourage and to reward outstanding accomplishment in actual teaching in the humanities by younger faculty members.” The Graves Awards are administered by Pomona College under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. The award recognizes excellence in teaching, and the funding that accompanies it is designed to help with research-related expenses. This award will help Dr. Hill begin a new project investigating the museumification of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the months leading up to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an experience that will support her course Remembering Divided Germany, GRM 353.

Susan Baillet Awarded with the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising

March 13, 2014 By casdept1

Susan Baillet has been awarded the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising. Professor Baillet was honored at the CAS All-College Celebration February 26th.

Susan Baillet became a faculty member at the University of Portland in 1983. She received a B.S. with honors in Psychology from Trinity College, then her M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Denver. She is interested in the cognitive psychology, particularly human memory, forgetting, false memory, and language. Dr. Baillet is an Advisor and the Program Administrator for the Neuroscience Minor. In 2008 Dr. Baillet was honored with the Alexander Christie Award. She has served as an Advisor for Psychology majors and during her time has mentored hundreds of students interested in Psychological Sciences careers.

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

Larson, Hiro Receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grants for 2014-2015

March 12, 2014 By casdept1

University professors Lars Erik Larson and Molly Hiro have been selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Teaching Grants to India for the 2014-2015 academic year. Larson and Hiro are both English professors at the University, and a married couple as well. They joined the faculty in 2005. Larson and Hiro anticipate that they will serve for one semester at a university or set of universities in India, possibly New Delhi. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board will inform them of their destination at a later date.

Hiro was an award-winning teacher at UCLA before coming to UP, and currently serves as chair of the English department. Her academic areas of expertise include African-American writers, American women writers, multi-ethnic American literature, American literature and social change, nineteenth-century American literature, and American modernism.

Larson also taught at UCLA before coming to Portland, and his academic interests include twentieth-century American literature, nineteenth-century American literature, western American literature, literature and the visual arts, cultural geography, literature of the environment, and spatiality nonfiction. He received the University of Portland Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013.

Since 1996, there have been a total of 13 Faculty Fulbrights awarded to professors at the University of Portland, including business professor Arjun Chatrath in 2005; English professor John McDonald, education professor Blaine Ackley, and business professors Richard Gritta and Mark Meckler in 2007; and biology professor Katie O’Reilly in 2012.

The United States Fulbright program began in 1946 after World War II to “assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and other countries of the world” through the exchange of students, scholars and professionals. The program operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

For more information contact Molly Hiro, English, at hiro@up.edu.

Sourced from UpBeat.