International Languages & Cultures
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.”
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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!
Newly Tenured & Promoted Faculty Members
Congratulations to the following CAS faculty members who were recently notified of tenure and promotion to associate professor, effective July 1, 2015:
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Hannah Callender, Mathematics |
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David De Lyser, Performing & Fine Arts |
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Vail Fletcher, Communication Studies |
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Alexandra Hill, International Languages & Cultures |
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Valerie Peterson, Mathematics |
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Bryan Rookey, Sociology & Social Work |
Remembering Kate Regan
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)
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.
Student Wins Cultural Exchange Scholarship
Environmental studies and German studies double major Sarah Letendre (pictured) has been awarded a Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship for Young Professionals and will spend a year in Germany starting in July, according to Laurie McLary, international languages and cultures. Letendre participated in the studies abroad program in Salzburg and recently traveled with the entrepreneur scholars program to China. She has begun a business creating handbags from recycled fabrics and will be pursuing study and an internship in eco-fashion in Germany with the grant.
The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Congress. Each year it provides 75 American and 75 German young professionals the opportunity to spend a year in each others’ countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program. Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/c2kjbrq, or contact McLary at 7255 or mclary@up.edu.
Sourced from UpBeat.