As students explore their interests and career goals, it is normal to change majors and minors during the undergraduate years. We advise you to speak with a program counselor throughout this process if you have any questions about your curriculum change, and to consult DegreeWorks to see the requirements for your desired major/minor, as well as your credit progress. (note: if you are incoming freshman and have not started at UP yet, contact the admissions office to change your curriculum).
International Languages & Cultures
How to Read your Schedule
Either you just received your first college schedule (YAY), or you are a college student with lingering questions on how to read your “student detail schedule” on SelfServe. Either way, we are here to help. Here are a few tips to help you read your schedule with ease and expertise:
Study Abroad Reflection: Sarah ’19
Sarah Ponce is a rising senior majoring in Biology and Spanish with a chemistry minor. Her career goal is to become a bilingual psychiatrist and obtain a Masters in Public Health. She is also First-Generation student and was the first of her family to travel outside of North America to study abroad in Granada, Spain. Read about how Sarah reflected on her personal identity throughout her study abroad experience and what she loved most about her travels.
Study Abroad Experience: Gaby 21′
Gaby (21’) is a rising junior studying Political Science and German Studies and minoring in Gender and Women’s studies. She returned about a month ago from studying in Salzburg, Austria for her sophomore year, and is originally from San Jose, California. She’ll be answering a few questions about her study abroad experience, and how that’s impacted her now that she’s back in Portland.
Congratulations to CAS in #PilotsGive!
Congratulations to the College of Arts and Sciences, which placed second in total donors in #PilotsGive! Thanks to your efforts, 128 donors made contributions to CAS, surpassing our minimum goal of 100 donors to unlock the $200,000 pledge from Kunal Nayyar! Great job, everyone! Together, we all add UP!
Kunal Nayyar ‘03 Challenge Gift for Performing Arts
Kunal Nayyar ’03, star from the Big Bang Theory, has pledged to give $200,000 to support the Performing Arts Department in the College of Arts and Sciences. Kunal hopes to inspire at least 100 donors to make a gift to any designation in the College of Arts and Sciences campaign. When this goal is reached, his gift will provide support for performing arts students and programs.
Join the challenge starting tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.! On April 4-5 from noon to noon, the UP community will come together for our first ever day of giving:#PilotsGive. With nearly $400,000 in challenge funds available, University of Portland has an ambitious goal of securing 1000 donors in one day! #PilotsGive is OUR chance to make UP stronger. pilotsgive.up.edu Together we all add UP!
Six Students Awarded Fulbright Grants
Six University of Portland students have been awarded prestigious Fulbright grants to work and study abroad. Four of the Fulbrights are for English teaching positions in Germany, one is for an English teaching position in Turkey, and the other is for an English teaching position in Mexico.
The University was ranked first nationally among its peers for Fulbright recipients in 2012- 13, 2011-12, 2010-11 and 2007-08, and second nationally in 2009-10, 2008-09 and 2006-07. Since 2001, 54 students from University of Portland have earned Fulbright grants. Recipients of the German teaching grants are Megan Lester, an English and German studies double-major from Veradale,Wash.; Erin Petersen, an organizational communication and German studies double-major from Sioux Falls, S.D.; Mikayla Posey, a communication and German studies double-major from Kingman, Ariz.; and Michelle Wilcox, a history and German studies double-major from Folsom, Calif. The recipient of the Turkish teaching grant is Rebecca Parks, an English major from Pittsburgh, Pa., and the recipient of the Mexican teaching grant is Megan Fitzgerald, an elementary education major from Hillsboro, Ore.
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 John Orr, assistant to the provost, at x7286 or orr@up.edu.
Sourced from UpBeat.
Lecture: Women and Transitional Justice in Guatemala
Human rights lawyer Gabriela Rivera will present “Women and Transitional Justice in Guatemala” on Thursday, April 16, from 4 to 5 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. Her talk is free and open to all. Rivera works with the Association of Women Transforming the World, part of the Alliance for Breaking the Silence and Ending Impunity. She has a long history of working with women survivors of sexual violence and other forms of deprivation of freedom for women.
Her talk is sponsored by the departments of international languages and cultures and philosophy. For more information contact Maria Echenique, international languages and cultures, at echeniq@up.edu.
Laura McLary Awarded Oregon Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation
Laura McLary, professor of German at the University of Portland, was named Oregon Professor of the Year by the national Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the international Council for the Advancement and Support of Education on Thursday, Nov. 19.
The award committee cited McLary’s innovation and dedication to teaching international languages, highlighting her leadership in growth of the University’s German language program.
University president Fr. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., noted, “This is a wonderful recognition of Professor McLary’s distinguished work as a scholar, teacher and promoter of global education. Laura has built a strong and thriving major that has continued to grow steadily at the University of Portland. She has also been instrumental in creating an effective mentoring program that has led to numerous Fulbright awards for UP students and graduates. We are so proud that Laura has been awarded Oregon Professor of the Year, and we look forward to celebrating this accomplishment with her.”
Previous UP professors who have been recognized by the national organization include Kate Regan, who was named National Professor of the Year; Becky Houck, Terry Favero and Karen Eifler, who were all named Oregon Professor of the Year.
“Teaching for me always starts with my students,” says McLary. “My German program’s flexible framework allows for a rich diversity of content topics and student interests, in tandem with a scaffold approach to supporting students’ development of language and cultural proficiency.”
McLary says her role as an effective professor is highly valued at UP, where “our primary focus as teachers is always student learning and formation.”
“I am very happy teaching in an environment that puts students first. And working with our students is a daily joy for me.”
Most of McLary’s students participate in the University’s study-abroad program in Salzburg, Austria, where she studied as an undergraduate student.
“I have allowed the strong connection to Salzburg to serve as a cultural underpinning in my courses, tapping into students’ experiences abroad and anticipating the experiences of students before they depart,” she says.
Scott Knackstedt is among the many UP alumni who were encouraged by McLary to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship. He was one of only 18, and the only American, to be offered a Fulbright in Austria in 2006-07. The experience opened up new opportunities for Knackstedt, who has worked as a consultant in international governmental affairs since 2009.
“I would not be in the position I am in today without Dr. McLary’s support,” Knackstedt said. “Dr. Laura McLary is someone who continues to reach out to her students, witness their potential, and bring out the best in each of them.”
Katy Caldwell, another former student, said “Dr. McLary has the rare ability to make her students feel comfortable and challenged at the same time. She accomplishes this by making every student feel valued as an individual learner.”
“Dr. McLary is an extraordinary German professor, but her University-wide leadership regarding global and intercultural competency is also widely recognized and greatly appreciated,” stated Thomas Greene, University provost. “She leads a collaborative group of faculty and staff who collectively are advancing opportunities for students to develop and hone the skills and attitudes for global competence. Her boundless energy and contagious passion are among the many attributes making her a great colleague.”
McLary expressed her gratitude for her current and former students who “inspire me on a daily basis.” She adds that she is indebted to her UP colleagues “who are a constant source of support.”
“Professionally, I am glad that this award will bring attention to the strong culture of teaching we cultivate here at the University of Portland,” she said. “I am especially delighted that it will bring attention to the way those of us in German studies in the USA bring creativity to our teaching, making it a fully relevant area of study for university students to support their development as literate and articulate global citizens.”
McLary has taught German at UP since 1999 and served as the chair of the International Languages and Cultures program from 2004-07. Prior to coming to UP, she was a professor of German at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., for three years. She earned both a Ph.D. and master’s degree in German language and literature from University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in German and international studies from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
As a high school student in Ohio, she decided to study German because she wanted to “gain access to the rest of the world.” Her passion for German studies developed as an undergraduate in college, studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria.
“I fell in love with the ambiguities of the culture, especially its strong literary and arts tradition.”
***
The University of Portland is an independently governed Catholic university guided by the Congregation of Holy Cross. U.S. News & World Report ranks the institution as one of the top ten regional universities in the American West. It is the only school in Oregon to offer a College of Arts & Sciences, a graduate school, and nationally accredited programs in the schools of business, education, engineering, and nursing.
— Story from University of Portland Media Relations by: John Furey
Trudie Booth Wins 2015 Becky Houck Award
Excerpts from comments made by Dean Andrews:
Over the past several years the College of Arts and Sciences has honored a deeply deserving faculty member for his or her outstanding service to students in the field of mentoring and advising through the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising. In significant ways, the Becky Houck Award speaks clearly and graciously to the highest values of the College’s commitment to cura personalis — “care of the whole person.” Trudie Booth, our 2015 award recipient, is a one-woman show who advises 26 majors and 17 minors, though that number of 43 advisees is certain to increase by the end of the academic year.
Indeed, one might say that Madame Booth not only encourages her students to become global citizens: she inspires them and models for them what global citizenship actually entails. A francophile who inspires her students to embrace their UP education in order to lead and effect positive change in an ever-increasing global world, Trudie exemplifies what is meant by having that certain je ne sais qua that makes her such a deeply valued colleague and friend to all of us in the College. Madame Booth is solely responsible for the French Studies major. As a Lecturer she regularly offers Directed Studies to help some majors get the courses they need and the credit hours necessary when schedules are tight. In order to serve her advisees and help them create a schedule of study that is consistent with their educational goals and which reinforces their language and cultural mastery in French, Trudie maintains close contact with faculty in many other departments — such as History, Philosophy, and Political Science — in order to assist her students schedule the most advanced level courses available. In effect, Trudie single handedly creates opportunities through cross-curricular programming that exemplifies the lived value of global competency.
Her mentoring of undergraduates is only surpassed by her amazing contact with alumni who come back to visit and share their experiences with students and faculty in the French Studies Program. Trudie exemplifies the principles that inform the College’s Holy Cross mission in education. She teaches hearts, minds, and actions in the world. Because of her generosity, our French Studies students receive the blessings of having a rich and meaningful education that continues to enrich their lives and their families and communities long after they leave the Bluff.
Congratulations, Trudie!