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