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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/

First Year students arrive on campus and from day-one leap into classes and studies.   The first day of term is the first day of classes with no padding or delay jumping right into work.  The assignment of desks, classrooms, instructors are locked in over the summer at the same time as enrollment is processed– and with 1000+ entering students, there is barely a desk to spare!  Students and schedules are matched before the first class day.  Thus new students are spared the familiar tradition of standing in long lines carrying various permission slips while seeking computer punch card registration tickets.

True, some students express shock and surprise over their 8:10 class or the prescribed lab assignment- quick seeking transfers and adjustments after the first speed-date class meeting- there are still rather more options for the disappointed today than, say, for new students entering and wrestling with assigned schedules and the more limited one-size-fits-all university curriculum from past years.

Here we have the model First Year schedules required in each of the colleges for 1967 [click and enlarge, above left].  Also, for the sake of context: the 1967-68 Campus Map, with slightly more generous parking options.  And, as further proof how times have changed, the cheerful advisory concerning Campus Social Life as found in the 1967 Bulletin.

A volunteer army of alumni and friends worked together to create the University of Portland’s entry “Becoming” for the 79th Annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade.  Volunteers labored around the clock from May 31 until Parade Day June 6 to produce an award winner, the 1987 UP float earning the prized Queen’s Trophy. 

So what does it take to create a float?

• One float skeleton
• Over 300 dozen colorful flowers
• Over 1,700 hours of labor from over 200 alumni and friends
• Ironing corn husks
• Scraping bark (so the glue will stick)
• Plucking flower petals
• Gluing petal by petal
• Shaking seeds from bulbs
• Gluing seeds
• and many, many more tedious tasks

A beautiful, colorful float viewed by a crowd of over 350,000 on the parade route in Portland and by many, many more on television.

(Gallery of Photos from the University Archives, click to enlarge image)

The 1987 Queen’s Trophy and float photos are on display in the first floor display case in Buckley Center.

At the end of the 2016-17 academic year, five 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 number 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. Matthew Baasten, Theology; Associate Provost and Graduate School Dean (from 2012), at UP since 1981
Dr. Carol Craig, Nursing, at UP since 2008
Dr. Wayne Lu, Engineering, at UP since 1988
Dr. James Male, Engineering, Sweo Endowed Chair (from 1997), at UP since 1997
Dr. Zia Yamayee, Engineering, at UP since 1996

(Photos from the University Archives; Click on image to enlarge)