Carolyn

The fashions and rituals of the First Day of School at UP have repeatedly changed through the years since 1901 when Fr. Edward Murphy, our first president, uttered the auspicious and memorable phrase, ‘I guess we should start. Ring the bell.’  (https://sites.up.edu/upbeat/from-our-past-first-first-day-of-school-sept-2-1901/); see James Covert, A Point of Pride: The University of Portland Story: p. 34 for the story of the very first day of classes).

The 2018 Orientation weekend concludes Sunday evening with a double-bill of Women’s and Men’s soccer games at Merlo Field.  Before that there are meetings with Deans and Advisors, Residence Hall leaders, Health and Wellness coordinators, Financial Aid counselors, and a Meet & Greet with Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., the 20th President of the University.  Also social mixers, the Orientation and Welcoming Mass, and the Bell Tower Ceremony.

As the 1983 invitation explains, the goal of Orientation is to welcome the new and guide their transition in order to bring students from diverse and different formations and background home together as members (and not just residents) participating in the University community.  In 1983 when we were building the Chiles Center, did Casino Night help ease fears that college might be a gamble?

The emphases hit different notes in different decades.  The 1965 Orientation Brochure highlights college as a period of forming new bonds, as in the post-lunch Friday afternoon Frosh-Soph Tug-O-War (followed by sports & games) and Saturday night Hootenanny, a poorly remembered 60s activity involving bon-fire, guitars, and rapturous sing-along).  Also note in passing, a subtle underlining of the residence hall decorum of curfews and locked front-doors; declining from 1 a.m., to midnight, to 11 p.m. as the weekend progresses because classes start early on Monday morning.

In the 1990s the program programmed a moment for separation-anxiety, with Parent Departures fixed for Saturday afternoon.  But seemingly not exactly an over-indulgent pause when The Long Goodbye and the first meeting of Freshmen Seminar are scheduled for the same hour.  That first Seminar meeting was a weekend feature from 1991-2000, so that freshmen actually started classes at Orientation.  An echo of Fr. Murphy’s ethic, that we all might as well get right down to work to make a good beginning.

Previous Orientation posts from the Museum & Archives:
Pilots Choose their Own Course

Orientation at the UP Campus

Registering Prerequisites

Summers in the city of Portland have temperate temperatures and sporadic spats of rain, or not.  Yet regardless of the weather, for over a century June in the City of Portland means the Rose Festival, highlighted by the Grand Floral Parade.  For the 50th anniversary, the 1958 Rose Parade called for the featured floats to express the Rose Festival theme of “50 Golden Years”, with each float representing a different year.   The University of Portland entry “Golden Jubilee” remembered our own 50th anniversary in 1951, a year which marked the beginnings of our AFROTC program and the opening of campus to women students in all educational programs and (surprise!) as on-campus residents.

The Engineering Club constructed a boat-float as our entry; at the helm rode an AFROTC cadet standing sentry and Doreen Voeller, ’61, Military Ball princess.  (The University was ahead of the AFROTC by twenty years, it is not until 1971 that women were accepted into the AFROTC program on-campus.)

Video footage of the 1958 Rose Festival Parade is found at this link, with UP’s Float entry at the 4:25 mark.
(video with permission by Thomas Matlock, owner)

Bill Reed, Director of University Events, will retire this summer after years of service to his alma mater.

Bill is rooted on the Bluff.  Rooted.  Hooked.  A fixture.  From the simple beginning of coming to UP for college, and then after the usual it-seemed-like-no-time-at-all-flash, graduated in 1972 with a B.A. in Education.  And teach he did, serving 9 years in local Catholic elementary schools, then as Director for Camp Howard/CYO 1981-84.   

He came home as Executive Director of the Alumni Association in 1985.  He’s still here 33 years later, changing job titles becoming the Director of Special Events (now University Events) in 1990.

As Events Director, Bill has had a hand in seemingly every internal and external campus event / happening / celebration / jubilation during the past three decades, utilizing every building and space on campus at one time or another.  And still teaching in the UP way.   Welcoming, helping, easing, and always smiling.  He cannot stay in the office.  With his signature white shirt and UP lanyard around his neck, Bill is ever crisscrossing campus, hoofing it with a smile of greeting for all those he encounters along the path.  Bill’s hospitality, professionalism, and genuine smile conceal the ease with which he manages events to achieve operational specifications and program success.  His calm generates calm, guiding events large and small — from visiting dignitaries and speakers from around the world, to academic scholars and conferences, athletes and athletic contests, commencements (high school through college) as well as behind-the-scenes support and advice and back-up double-checking for student sponsored events from Welcome Weekend to Weekend on the Bluff.

Theological handbooks mention that God is ubiquitous in power and ever unseen.  We sometimes catch a glimpse of William O. Reed, III, BA ’72.  And it has been a pleasure.  And he will be missed.  No one deserves retirement, the commendation of a job-well-done, and our blessings and gratitude in quite the same way as this hidden worker and indispensable friend.

Thought experiment:  If an activity tracker / pedometer recommends 10,000 daily steps;  calculating Bill’s  average at 25,000 steps per day (conservatively); then the total is 255,500,000 footsteps accumulated these 28 years as campus host!

Bill Reed, Alumni Relations Director, 1985

Bro. Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C., Rev. Gary Chamberland, C.S.C., Bill Reed, November 2013 Beacon

Bill Reed, UP Graduation Photo, 1972

Bill and Suzanne Reed with their children, Ryan and Meghan, 2012

Bill Reed, 1972 Log

Decorating UP’s Rose Festival Float, 1988

Bill Reed, 1990

Susan Etzel, Bill Reed, Sean Ducey in back; Christina Salisbury, Sarah Espinosa, in front, 2016

Alan Timmins, Bill Reed, 2016

Bill Reed, University Events Director, April 2000

At the end of the 2017-18 academic year, nine 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. Karen Cameron, Nursing, at UP since 2003
Dr. Richard Christen, Education, at UP since 1998
Dr. Michael Connolly, Performing and Fine Arts, at UP since 1988
Dr. Khalid Khan, Engineering, at UP since 1979
Dr. Mallie Kozy, Nursing, at UP since 2016
Dr. Joane Moceri, Dean of the School of Nursing, at UP since 2012
Dr. Patricia Morrell, Education, at UP since 1996
Dr. Susan Stillwell, Nursing, at UP since 2012
Dr. Peter Thacker, Education, at UP since 2004

(Photos from the University Archives, Clark Library, Marketing & Communications, School of Nursing, School of Education; Click on image to enlarge)

There is a legend in the Admissions Office about Frs. John and Con Hooyboer, C.S.C., The Dutch Masters, on-the-road and sleeping in the car for two weeks each spring on the West Coast High School recruiting circuit.  Taking a break on one such tour, they attended a Lawrence Welk concert and ran into the Governor of Hawaii.  Brochures were exchanged; the advantages of UP promoted.   A LEGENDARY incident, since happily ever after UP has had an active presence of students from the fiftieth state, with this year marking the Hawaii Club’s 41st annual Lu’au.

Mr. Welk received an honorary degree in 1956, and the University of Portland Medal in 1983.  In 1982, Milton Berle was the headliner at the University Homecoming celebrations.  The UP Hollywood connection going way-back, with Jack Benny as the headliner for the dedication of Mehling Hall in 1964, and the Shipstad Ice Follies funding the 1967 residence hall.

But perhaps all of these names, even in their time, are reflective of the taste of the University administration more so than of the students themselves.  For example, Bob Newhart appeared at the Presidential Endowed Scholarship Fund dinner in 1994; and most fundraisers skew toward an older crowd.

The eerie intersection is between Bob Newhart and UP alumnus Kunal Nayyar, ’03, who together hit the sweet-spot of popular culture old-school and new.  Mr. Newhart received his one and only Emmy Award for a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory television show.  Mr. Nayyar is a co-star principal on that show.  Newhart was on-campus 9 years before Kunal graduated, and Kunal graduated 10 years before they worked together (the episode was broadcast in May 2013 – UP commencement ceremonies are held on the first weekend of May!  Spooky?).   Six degrees of separation?  Random coincidence?  Or perhaps Brushes-with-Greatness are just playful accidents of graciousness adding color to our world.

Returning to the Bluff as women’s soccer head coach, Michelle French, BA ’00 was a Pilot student-athlete from 1995-1999, a 4-year starter for women’s soccer and First Team All-American senior year.  Post graduation, French picked up a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic games.  She became head coach of the Seattle Sounders Women in 2012.  French also served on the coaching crew for the U.S.A. National Team during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2016 Olympics.   In 2010 she was inducted into the University of Portland Athletic Hall of Fame.

Links on UP Athletics page
Hall of Fame: Michelle French
UP Athletics Announcement: New Women’s Soccer Head Coach

(University Archives photos, click to enlarge)

Michelle French, 1998

Michelle French, Beacon 1995

Michelle French, 1998

Each Veterans Day Air Force and Army ROTC cadets from the University of Portland keep a 24-hour vigil at the Praying Hands/Broken Wall Memorial near Christie and Kenna Halls.  The Memorial Circle remembers those from Columbia Preparatory School, Columbia University, and the University of Portland who gave their lives in war-time.  In this post we remember one of those men, Second Lieutenant David R. Kingsley, Columbia Prep student from 1933-1936, who fought and died in World War II.

David Kingsley knew about sacrifice from the early age of 10 or 11 after his father died from an automobile accident while helping a neighbor, AND after putting aside his own need for medical treatment insisting that his passenger be seen first.   And again, when David’s mother was paralyzed from cancer, and he assumed the role of father and mother to care for his seven younger brothers and sisters, giving up sports and study at Columbia Prep one year short of his graduation.

But the sacrifice which cost the young lieutenant his life came when Kingsley’s crippled plane was under attack over Romanian oil fields during World War II in June 1944.   When crew members were hit by enemy fire, Kingsley tended to the wounded on board.  Under orders to bail out of the badly damaged plane, Kingsley placed parachutes on the injured, but when too few were found, he removed his own parachute in favor of an injured soldier and released him to safety.  Without a chute for himself, Kingsley perished with the plane — four days before his 26th birthday.

The Congressional Medal of Honor was posthumously awarded to 2nd Lieutenant David R. Kingsley on April 9, 1945.  (Full citation)  In 2004, the David R. Kingsley Memorial was erected on the crash site in Romania. 

Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Klamath Falls, OR is named to honor his valor.

For related posts on the Broken Wall and Veterans Day Observance:
https://sites.up.edu/museum/veterans-day-observance/

https://sites.up.edu/museum/broken-wall-memorial-1990-2015/

https://sites.up.edu/museum/broken-wall-memorial-is-broken/

Sources:
“The Making of a Hero” by Christopher Boehme, Portland magazine, Summer 1989;
Wikipedia; United States Army Center of Military History

The president of the Alumni Association reports that a ‘treasure box of papers and relics’ was sealed into the cornerstone and foundation of Howard Hall in 1927.  And in fact during the 2017 demolition of Howard, a time capsule was recovered.

Unfortunately, the ‘capsule’ was neither a capsule nor airtight, nor much of a success as a preservation-device and carrier of news across the divide of years.   The box measures  6.5″ H x 7.5″ W x 5.5″ D.  Adorned with a patina of mold when recovered.

The content of the box is two identifiable items, and also a pile of mush-like paper pulp.  The two intact survivors are (1) a copy of the Thursday, November 17, 1927 The Catholic Sentinel.  This seems appropriate, as Archbishop Howard presided at the cornerstone ceremony for his namesake building on Sunday the 20th at the University’s Homecoming Football Game.  Second (2), the roster of enrolled students typed on Registrar stationery.  Item three is a matter of conjecture, but the fragments (3) that remain do suggest a candidate:  the University monthly magazine of student and alumni news, The Columbiad.

There is an additional puzzle beyond the identity of the pulped pages.  The box is very much bigger than the physical exhibits; that is, the papers don’t fill the available space, leaving room to expand as if anticipating a larger history to come.

The three time capsule exhibits, and Howard Hall itself, are messages of faith, promise, and commitment.  The Sentinel newspaper represents the University’s catholic mission and identity, the Registrar’s list specifies the school’s current vitality, and the Homecoming Day dedication ceremony brings together the continuing community of students and alumni.   The exhibits don’t quite fill the interior of the box; and that was the point of constructing Howard Hall in the first place. 

The University built Howard expressing a determination to grow.  The promise and hopes of those sealing the time-capsule in cement in 1927 have come out more than true within these ninety years of life on The Bluff.

Notes: The Catholic Sentinel is still in publication, and back-issues (even to 1927) can be found in a digital archive.  The roster of enrolled students is reprinted in the University Catalogue for the year 1927-28, and also in the big book of the University of Portland Alumni Directory 1901-1912 (with both alphabetical and class year lists).  And as to the pulped Columbiad: the Archives has the complete series of the university magazine, and several well-preserved individual copies of the November 1927 issue.

And Also:  The metal time capsule box has been displayed in The Clark Library Gallery in conjunction with the Remembering Howard Hall photo exhibit.

Sources: The Columbiad Christmas, 1927, for the expansion of campus, pp.86-87 (included here, below); for the Alumni Association letter, pp. 90-92; the Homecoming Banquet, p. 94; and an account of the rainy Sunday football game and cornerstone ceremony, p. 117.  See also, University of Portland Alumni Directory 1901-2012, and The Catholic Sentinel Archives, www.catholicsentinel.org

The dedication of Howard Hall was celebrated on 19 February 1928 with a student assembly, speeches, swim-races, dinner and dancing, basketball and orchestral entertainment: the several and wildly different activities all hosted in Howard Hall to showcase the diversity of design and purpose for the new building.  The cornerstone was laid previously on Homecoming Game Day, 20 November 1927.  That allows a four-month construction for a building serving 90 years of UP campus life.

And Howard Hall rendered much service through the years from Commencement Ceremonies to Academic Convocations, to student-centered activities from fund-raisers (talent shows, boxing, wrestling, dances), theater & drama production, to athletic competition hosting Conference Games and intramural sports.  It was also the student-union, with a commuter-student lunch cafeteria located in Howard, as also the offices of Student Government, The Beacon, The Log, and KDUP through the years.

As an athletic facility, Howard Hall survived Fire & Flood, Ice & Earthquake, each time repaired and reoccupied as The Home of the Pilots whether cheering basketball, chilling between classes, or running literal treadmills.  For nearly a century, the intersection of campus life.

(Slide show of photos from the University Archives. Position cursor on each photo to view the caption.)

The metal time capsule box recovered from the Howard Hall cornerstone has been displayed in The Clark Library Gallery in conjunction with the “Remembering Howard Hall” photo exhibit.

From the Beacon

http://www.upbeacon.com/article/2017/04/goodbye-to-howard-hall

More about Howard Hall on the Museum blog:

Howard Hall Fire: https://sites.up.edu/museum/march-19-1949-howard-hall-fire/

First Cove: https://sites.up.edu/museum/lunch-room-to-night-spot/

Basketball in Howard Hall: https://sites.up.edu/museum/hearty-congrats/

Nelson Rockefeller Campaign visit: https://sites.up.edu/museum/campaign-trail-nelson-rockefeller-1964/

John F. Kennedy Campaign visit: https://sites.up.edu/museum/campaign-trail-john-f-kennedy-1960/

Howard Hall Swimming Pool: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-swimming/

Trampoline in Howard Hall: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-trampoline/

Weight Room: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-weightlifting/

Boxing: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-boxing/

Fencing: https://sites.up.edu/museum/fencing/