Carolyn

Five Months in 1945

April 1, 2020 By Carolyn

During World War Two the UP enrollment numbers crashed. By 1945 we were working with an abbreviated calendar, reduced personnel, and an expanded break between terms.

The Commencement exercises of May 27, 1945 bestowed degrees on 32 graduates, of whom 23 were Nursing students, and included four others who received their diplomas in absentia because the new graduates were already undergoing military training. So while the front page of the final Beacon of the 1944-1945 school year begins with the Commencement announcement and those thirty-two names; the last two pages of the newspaper are the final installment of a massive project to list all UP alumni, faculty, and students on active military service. Thus, pages 3-4 give one hundred and fifty-five names, from Swanson to Zoeter (inclusive). A fraction of the whole.

Peace arrived during the summer. The first Beacon issue for the new year announces new hope and new conditions for the new school term. Already in October there is a surge in enrollment though the great majority of the American military had yet to be discharged and demobbed back to civilian life. Not that normalcy is restored overnight, or after five months. Still, turning a corner in the summer of 1945, which marks the beginning of a longed-for beginning begun.

Women’s First: Engineering

March 25, 2020 By Carolyn

Nun in black habit using surveying equipment — Sr. M. Hildegarde, O.S.B., 1957

One picturesque, often employed image used by the University Museum shows a nun in full habit posed behind surveying equipment, with the caption “First woman to enroll in the School of Engineering”.

The juxtaposition claims a viewer’s attention. Who is this nun? And what brought her to UP?

She is Sr. M. Hildegarde, O.S.B. (Order of St. Benedict), enrolled as a student in the School of Engineering from the Fall of 1956. Beacon reporter Linda Wright profiled Sr. M. Hildegarde for an article published April 5, 1957. Originally from New Zealand, Sr. Hildegarde obtained a master’s degree in history there and then went on. And on. Around the globe.

There is a list of places, but not of whens in this life-story: the article mentions that she studied at several universities, located in Canada, the United States, London, France. Her home convent is in Normandy, France, though she studied art and was trained as a teacher in Australia.

For a three-month period during World War II, Sr. Hildegarde was detained by German forces as an enemy alien on French soil. She was soon released because she carried an Australian passport.

After the war, appearing here in 1956; that is, sometime during those ten years Sr. Hildegarde made her way from her Normandy convent to the western United States, to Portland and her enrollment at UP, to pursue a degree in architecture which involved a surveying class (and the photo above!), as well as other coursework.

The picture is great; and likely too colorful and too perfect. Taken together with the backstory of a New Zealand, MA (History), French, Benedictine, Australian concentration-camp-survivor, art-teacher, engineer-architect nun, the whole story appears almost too good and too complicated to be true. The gaps in Hildegarde’s itinerary suggest how both the picture and the biography have been posed, partially staged for effect. But as a marketing photo-op—still irresistible!

Asked her own opinion about her possible publicity-function, Sr. Hildegard is nun-ishly modest, telling The Beacon how she “didn’t care for it because it distinguishes me from the others.” And yet, on the contrary, The Beacon reporter concludes: we think she is a remarkable credit and most interesting figure, deserving of recognition on our campus.

Taste of UP for Families

December 3, 2019 By Carolyn

Museum Display at Junior and Senior Family Dessert Social on November 1, 2019 — University Museum Display, Junior & Senior Family Weekend, Beauchamp Recreation Center, November 1, 2019 (click on image to enlarge)

Parents and students viewing the Museum display. — Parents and students viewing the Museum Display (click on image to enlarge)

The first (annual) Junior & Senior Parents Weekend was 1-3 November 2019. There was food, there was a soccer game, there were Q & A’s with the President and School Deans, there was a social flavor to the whole event. A new and old initiative by the office of Alumni & Parent Relations. In fact, celebrations sharing the campus and the students’ campus experience go way-back. Junior Parents’ Weekend became an institution running 25 years, from 1994 until expanding in 2019-20 into two separate events; Junior & Senior Family Weekend in November, First-Year & Sophomore Family Weekend in February.

The University Museum was invited, setting up at the Beauchamp Recreation & Wellness Center for the Welcome Social. Over 1,000 in attendance throughout the weekend – mixing, mingling, proud as Pilots.

Campus Picnic from 1934 — Campus Picnic 1934
(click image to enlarge)

Old Time Picnic, 1934
Junior & Senior Family Weekend Invitation, November 2019

See the entire schedule of Events & Activities planned by the Dads and the Mothers Clubs in 1936 in the Clark Library Digital Collections: https://up.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16472coll10/id/312/rec/39

Prophecy and Visions

November 18, 2019 By Carolyn

University of Portland Bulletin, Fall 1949 (click to enlarge)

In the 1940s and 1950s many Humanities majors harbored Law School ASPIRATIONS. Liberal Arts universities can suffer out-sized ambitions too. In the years immediately following World War II, as response and answer to the needs of returned Veterans, surging enrollment had the University of Portland dreaming big dreams. The 1949 State of the University Address promised both a Law School and a School of Engineering. Fr. Bob Sweeney, C.S.C., who in the next year was to become the 12th University President, proposed how it would only cost $5 million to right-size the campus. Taking that 70-year old Five-Year Plan as a Wish-List / Check-List, there is still no Law School.

The Engineering Building did in fact open in 1949 (it was already under construction as these promises were made); and we got the free-standing library in 1959– no football program though. More recently, the ‘Aged Building’ housing Engineering received a 2009 face-lift, and today in 2019, the University of Portland Shiley School of Engineering is ranked 26th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The University of Portland keeping the promise and the vision by providing innovative programs and facilities to meet the needs and challenge the minds of the current 4000+ student body (a total larger than the 1950 alumni mailing list!)

Engineering Building, 1948
Shiley Hall, 2009

Additional links:
UP Press Release, September 10, 2019

The Quadrant, 1949 – Engineering Building Dedication Issue

Museum blog post: End of Football

The Bells Are Ringing

September 18, 2019 By Carolyn

Bell Tower Dedication with Archbishop Vlazny, September 2009 — **Bell Tower Dedication with Archbishop Vlazny, September 18, 2009**

The classic timepiece with hour and minute-hand worn around the wrist has all but disappeared. Replaced by multi-function cell phones, activity trackers, and smart watches that not only tell time but record steps, spent calories, heart-rate, and more. And while subjective-time differs according to setting and activity (crushing a weight machine in the Beauchamp or walking the mind through a series of axioms in Calculus), on the UP campus, standard, objective, shared time is announced by the digital reader board at the corner of the Chiles Center, by the six-foot clock adorning the new Dundon-Berchtold Hall, and the resonant notes of the Bell Tower carillon standing proud beside the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. With fourteen bells — each named and baptized and with its own distinct musical voice– The Bell Tower chimes the hour and quarter-hours from 9 to 9 and sounds a call to prayer for Sunday and the daily noon Masses. Observing a ten-year anniversary, dedicated September 18, 2009, the Bell Tower is our tallest structure at 106 ft.; a landmark at a crossroads where faith, academics, and student life intersect.

Also, Clark Library Digital Collections

In Memory: Rev. Claude A. Pomerleau, C.S.C., August 16, 1938 – July 21, 2019

August 8, 2019 By Carolyn

United Nations Peace Medal given to Rev. Joseph Powers, C.S.C. by the United Nations for his efforts in establishing and promoting the Peace Studies Program at UP. (University Museum)

Peace studies began at the University of Portland in 1975. Fr. Joseph Powers, C.S.C., the then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, acting as impresario. This program of Interdisciplinary Studies was at first an academic concentration terminating in a certificate, it continues today as the Social Justice Minor, a program of undergraduate study.

Dr. Loretta Zimmerman (History) was the first director; then Dr. Matthew Baasten (Theology), and from 1993-2008 Rev. Claude Pomerleau, C.S.C., (PhD., Political Science) headed Peace Studies, and (later) Social Justice Studies. Fr. Pomerleau died July 21, 2019. He served at the University of Portland until his retirement in 2014 — and of course was still teaching post-retirement, leading students in classroom instruction and discussion through Spring 2019. Retired, but not retiring.

Rev. Claude Pomerleau, C.S.C., 1998 Presidents Report

International Relations was his academic box; but of course Fr. Pomerleau’s reflex was to escape pigeonholes and boxes. From his arrival on campus in 1991, his courses were cross-listed with the Peace Studies Program. When he became chair of the Department of History and Political Science he was already Director of Peace Studies (he was chair of Political Science and Director of Peace Studies simultaneously, 1994-2000). He was still Director of Peace Studies when the program was renamed in 2003 and then reimagined in 2006 to incorporate service internships into the curriculum. Fr. Pomerleau continued in the director’s role through 2008. Plus, somehow, while on sabbatical in 2003, he also served as the founding director of “The Department of Diplomacy and International Studies” at Uganda Martyrs University (Kampala); and also also, as visiting professor of International Studies at the University of Chile (IEI) since 1991. Many-sided, Claude preferred international football (Futbol = soccer) to the American game. Yes, Pilots’ Soccer first of all. Many-many-sided. Priest. Teacher. Scholar. Pastoral Resident. Prison Chaplain. Musician. Friend. In every role, an encourager cheering and inspiring others onward.

A model where what is received is handed on with value-added (see, listen, act); what the Holy Cross religious tradition refers to as an Educator in the Faith.

Campus Archaeology: On the Shoulders of Giants

May 30, 2019 By Carolyn

Bath House, stone and mortar foundation, Viewed from Waldschmidt Hall stairwell, May 21, 2019 (University Archives photo)

At the completion of Dundon-Berchtold Hall landscaping is one of the final phases, squaring off the green-space-quad joining Dundon-Berchtold, Romanaggi, Swindells, and Waldschmidt Halls. While scraping away gravel and going some inches below the top layer of grass and soil when dressing what has been the construction-workers’ staging site, the excavators excavated an unexpected find. An archaeological puzzle. The machines uncovered a tracery of foundation-walls, disclosing the remains of a structure outlined in the field north of Waldschmidt Hall.

Obstruction extracted, Bath House site, May 21, 2019 (University Museum photo)

A slight embarrassment and inconvenience when the University had not warned the workers against the presence of buried concrete. But gosh, a great question, because no one was aware that there had ever been a structure there.

A detective story! To the Archives! The excavators had uncovered a piece of UP sports culture; the cement and stone remains of a locker room out-building, fitted out to complement our show-piece all-weather out-door roof-covered-state-of-the-art Track & Field facility (1903). The changing room and shower was heated, too!

And the Solution? Starting with only the location, we turn for clues to the database list: Buildings, Past, Present & Demolished. Searching there for any conjectural entries; for example, The Bath House, a generic name with no given location and obelized (uncertain) dates, but the listing nestled among the early buildings. Provisionally pairing an unknown ruin with an unspecified building name, and a hint for possible further investigation.
Next, seek witnesses. There were four pioneer Holy Cross Religious, including the first Holy Cross president, Father Michael A. Quinlan, C.S.C. (1902-1906), who arrived here in 1902. Among them, Brother Wilfred Schreiber, C.S.C.- our most valuable witness– who served here the longest (1902-1933) and whose care was maintenance, fire-stoker, gardener, campus security officer and fixer, and a ministry cheering students. [Pioneer Four]

Colosseum Interior, 1904 (University Archives)

Bro. Wilfred recorded this ‘clue’ via a 1944 oral history project: “The old bath house was built by Fr. Quinlan at the time the Colosseum was built and it served as a shower room and dressing room for the athletes; also a lavatory for the students. It was built about half-way between the Main Building and the Colosseum.” (When the new gymnasium was finished it became a shop and was not moved from there until about 1937. Then all the shops and out buildings were transferred down below the steam plant. Ed’s note.) **

From Bro. Wilfred’s account we now have a name, function, and approximate date and location. The next step is the search for contemporary documentary evidence. Such as are found in the School Notes printed in the early campus publication, The Columbiad. This blurb from 1906 provides a precise beginning date, and, by giving the dimensions, adds a specific, checkable data-point:

The new bath house has been nearly completed. When finished it will afford the students splendid accommodations for dressing rooms, lockers and shower baths, which occupy a floor space 14 x 58 feet. The whole structure is much larger, containing in addition to what has been mentioned above two apartments for toilets and a room for the hot water plant. If the weather permits, the work should be completed by the first of March. By that time the old bath room will be converted into a carpenter shop. The Columbiad, Feb. 1906, p. 77.

The work was completed on-schedule in March, and heat was added to the out-building in 1909. The circumstantial case for identification complete. Probably.

The last question is the date of demolition. The only notice about the removal of buildings and the realignment of sidewalks and paths in the area behind West (Waldschmidt) Hall is found the The Beacon of September 19, 1936, prior to the opening of a new academic building. The student newspaper gives a progress report on campus changes, telling how during the summer two structures and several trees were removed in order to create a green-space of lawn between West, Howard, and the new Science (Romanaggi) Halls.

QED. The Bath House, March 1906-Summer 1936. Name, function, location, and dates. Probably. The ruin certainly of the building shown here, which is incidentally included (bottom-left) in this image of West (Waldschmidt) and Christie Halls (reproduced in The Columbiad, June 1926).

Columbia University, pre-Howard Hall. **The Columbiad**, June 1926, p. 277 “West Hall, Bath House indicated” (University Archives)

**Recollections of Columbia University of Portland Oregon; preserved and edited, Rev. Michael Early, C.S.C., (1944, p. 44), thanks also to those who organized and compiled the databases consulted: Bro. David Martin,C.S.C., first UP Archivist; Frs. Barry Hagan, C.S.C. and Robert Antonelli, C.S.C.; and Cora Miller and Martha Wachsmuth, long-time Archives associates. Fr. Early’s credentials for editing the Recollections are impeccable, he was himself a graduate of Columbia University (High School) in 1912, and before 1944 he had served as Vice President and President of Columbia U. 1933-36, 1935-1940, respectively. So, a qualified witness in his own right.

Additional Resources
1914 Aerial Campus

Connelly, A Century of Teaching, Faith, and Service

Covert, A Point of Pride

Covert, A Point of Pride, with pixs

2019 Retiring Faculty

April 15, 2019 By Carolyn

At the end of the 2018-19 academic year, four members of the University of Portland faculty will retire after many years of service to this institution and making a difference in the lives of untold numbers of students. The University gives thanks to our retiring faculty for their dedication and commitment to teaching and learning and wishes them all the best.

Dr. Russell Butkus, Theology & Environmental Studies, at UP since 1985
Marcela Cinta, International Languages and Cultures, at UP since 2007
Susan Hinken, Library, at UP since 1980
Dr. Mead Hunter, Performing and Fine Arts, at UP since 2012

(Photos from the University Archives, Clark Library, Marketing & Communications, Performing and Fine Arts, International Languages and Cultures; Click on image to enlarge)

Additional photos on display in the Buckley Center first floor display case across from the Studies Abroad office.

Brushes with Fame: Buzz Aldrin

March 28, 2019 By Carolyn

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon, July 1969 (NASA photo)

Fifty years ago during the summer of 1969 human-space flight reached, and humans walked on, the surface of the moon. The next year we scored the SECOND person to walk the lunar trail as UP commencement speaker. Not Neil Armstrong, but Buzz Aldrin spoke to the 1970 graduation class, commissioned the new AFROTC cadets, and left us inspired. Astronaut Edwin Aldrin served as Mission Specialist on the Apollo Eleven craft that landed on the moon 20 July 1969.

University President Rev. Paul Waldschmidt, C.S.C. and 1970 Commencement Speaker, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Alumni Bulletin, July 1970

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Alumni Bulletin, July 1970

Commencement Speech by Buzz Aldrin, Alumni Bulletin, July 1970

Buckley Center at 50

February 5, 2019 By Carolyn

Buckley Center is fifty years old, dedicated February 7, 1969.

When new, Buckley Center met a major need on the UP campus for faculty office space, general-use classrooms, and nursing and communications labs.

The Alumni Bulletin (January 1969) touted the advantages of the new faculty and classroom building, “a modern facility in every sense of the word“, including fresh features like:

AIR-CONDITIONED 400 seat auditorium …
the newest audio-visual equipment…
the most up-to-date nursing apparatus…
three psychology instruction rooms equipped with two-way mirror glass…
the language laboratories, the radio and TV laboratories…
and study rooms and seminar rooms look more like a board room…. and [where] students and professors may study Shakespeare or Buber, whatever the class may be, around polished tables, surrounded by formal arm chairs, or colorful posture chairs. … Variety abounds!
… a total of 92,1187 square feet. It’s big!”

Plastic-molded desk chairs will always have disputed chiropractic effects, but The School of Nursing’s Learning Resource Center, has continued to grow in space and clinical sophistication, and Buckley has come to house student services such as The Shepard Academic Resource Center and The Learning Commons. As a result of changing with the times and adapting to student needs, even at age fifty Buckley Center remains a positive contributing factor in the University receiving high national and regional rankings for the quality and value of the student experience in our community.

Marked location for Buckley Center, 1967

Architect Sketch of Buckley Center, 1967

Buckley Center Construction from the north, 1968

Northwest Corner of Buckley Center, 1980

For more photos and memorabilia associated with Buckley Center, visit our display case on the first floor of Buckley Center across from the Studies Abroad Office.

Also, Clark Library Digital Collections