CAS News

Faculty

Bob Butler is among principal investigators for $625,000 NSF grant

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University of Portland is part of a consortium of Northwest universities that has received a $625,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant includes training educators in Oregon and Washington coastal communities on the region’s earthquake and tsunami hazards and conveying this knowledge to students and visitors to parks and museums.

University of Portland environmental studies professor Robert Butler is one of four principal investigators of the grant. Since 2004, Butler has led a program called Teachers on the Leading Edge (TOTLE). TOTLE is a professional development program for Pacific Northwest earth science teachers. The TOTLE web site offers K-12 teachers an introduction to the active continental margin geology of the Pacific Northwest. Teaching resources that are provided include animations, video lectures, slide shows, virtual field experiences, and lesson plans that feature plate tectonics and geologic hazards of the Pacific Northwest.

[Read more…] about Bob Butler is among principal investigators for $625,000 NSF grant

Bob Butler: A teacher of teachers

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From THE BEACON
Nastacia Voisin, Staff Writer

Bob Butler

Amid the clutter of books and papers in Robert Butler’s office, large geological maps catch the eye – just as they are meant to. “Earth science is a powerfully visual science,” Butler said. “If you see it, you can better understand it.”

Butler, more commonly known as Coach Bob, is an earth science professor. As a geophysicist who’s been researching geological hazards for decades, Butler’s spent the past six years developing animations of seismological models that help teachers explain earth science in visual terms.

It’s a scholarly hobby that earned him the Oregon Academy of Science 2013 Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics, an annual award recognizing exceptional scientists and researchers dedicated to education.

Butler is honored to have received the award, but remains humble about the recognition. “I think the key is that I don’t feel special about how I teach science classes here at UP or elsewhere,” he said. [Read more…] about Bob Butler: A teacher of teachers

Andrea Stolowitz wins Oregon Book Awards Drama Prize

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Drama Adjunct Instructor Andrea Stolowitz won the Oregon Book Awards Drama Prize for her play Antarktitos. The play just finished a successful run in Pittsburgh. Stolowitz was recognized on Monday, April 8, 2013, and will be published this summer in Theatre Forum Magazine.

Stolowitz has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Portland for five years, during which time she has taught playwriting and screenwriting. Her latest play, Ithaka, is a commissioned play by Artists Repertory Theatre. It premieres May 28th, and will run throughout June.

For more information contact Stolowitz at stolowit@up.edu.

Science and Religion Lecture

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From UPBEAT

Shannon Mayer, Physics, and Rev.Thomas Hosinski, C.S.C., Theology, will discuss the possibilities surrounding the integration of science and faith with their presentation of “Science and Religion” on Wednesday, April 10, at 4 pm, in Buckley Center room 163.

Their talk, sponsored by the Garaventa Center, is free and open to all. Mayer will provide examples of how faith and science are integrated in the life of a professional scientist. Hosinski will reflect on how religion and science complement each other, so that together they give us a deeper understanding of reality.

The lecture will be preceded by a brief ceremony presenting the annual Garaventa High School essay contest awards, beginning at 4 pm. For more information contact the Garaventa Center at ext. 7702 or powell@up.edu.

Rev. Thomas Hosinski
Shannon Mayer

Peer Review Workshop Coming Soon

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Looking for ways to cut some of the work involved in grading student papers? The Writing Center and Teaching & Learning Collaborative are hosting a workshop on that very topic April 17, 4-5 pm in Shiley 319. Click here to see a 90-second overview of this session. Questions? Lars E. Larson (larson@up.edu) or Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu).

John Orr Lecture

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From UPBEAT

John Orr will present a lecture,“Scenes of Reading, Sites of Contest: Listening to Henry Adams’s Marginalia,” as part of the Communication Studies Colloquium Series, on Wednesday, March 27, from noon to 1 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 206. His talk is free and open faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Orr’s scholarly interests reside in late 19th and early 20th-century American literature and culture, including ongoing work on Henry Adams, several women writers of the era and, most recently, the early Native American writer, Mourning Dove. His talk will describe his work combing through Henry Adams’s personal library at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, in search of marginal comments Adams wrote in his books. Light snacks will be served and attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

For more information contact C.Vail Fletcher, communication studies, at 503-943-7351 or fletcher@up.edu.

Matthew Baasten appointed to Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

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Matthew Baasten

University of Portland president Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., has appointed Matthew Baasten to the position of associate provost and dean of the Graduate School.

Baasten has served the University in a variety of roles:  associate professor of theology, Theology Department chair, director of MAPM (master of arts in pastoral ministry) and College of Arts and Sciences associate dean for students.  He most recently served as the interim associate provost and dean of the Graduate School.

Baasten came to the University in 1981. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, a master of divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in Ethics and Patristics from the University of Notre Dame. He was awarded the Culligan Award in 2011, and he also holds the Burlington Teaching Award, and twice was awarded the Al Guisti Outstanding Faculty Member Award.  He also holds the Al Guisti Award for Service to Students.

Brian Simmons Presentation

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Brian Simmons (Communication Studies) delivered a presentation to the annual conference of the National Christian Schools Association titled “Falling Away From Religious Faith: What’s Happening, What Helps, and What Doesn’t in the Retention of Young Adults.” The presentation was based on his book Wandering in the Wilderness: Changes and Challenges in Emerging Adults’ Christian Faith.

 

Click here to order Brian’s book.

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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Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship Award Winners Share Their Work

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From UPBEAT

The winners of two prestigious University of Portland faculty awards are scheduled to present their work on Friday, April 5, from 3 to 4 p.m., in Franz Hall Room 034.

Outstanding Teaching Award winner Laura McLary, International Languages and Cultures, will present “Communities, Cultures, Connections: Making Second-Language Learning Relevant.”

Outstanding Scholarship Award winner Lauretta Frederking, Political Science,  will follow with “Exclusion and Inclusion of Muslim Americans after September 11, 2001: From Religious Identity to Political Interests.”

Light snacks will be served. For more information, contact Aziz Inan, Engineering, at ext. 7429 or ainan@up.edu.

Laura McLary
Lauretta Frederking