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A University is a cross-roads and intersection.  We mix intellectual disciplines in Schools of Business, Engineering, Nursing, Education, Arts and Sciences and hold to core competencies in the education of every student moving forward toward a University of Portland degree.  We also mix and meet a diversity of students.  The life-experiences and the family, geographic, national traditions encountered among the student body and faculty – in the people of our campus community – are diverse and enriching.

Implementing the University’s Vision 2020 Strategic Plan, a new academic unit was formed this summer, The Office of International Education, Diversity, and Inclusion.  One of its first initiatives, a new Diversity Center – a nurturing, inclusive, safe space for all members of the University Community – was dedicated in September 2018.

Enrollment analysis for the 206 students of 1918-19 records 2 Peruvian plus 8 international students drawn from Canada.  In 1938-39 the count is 117 non-Oregonians of a 795 total; in 1958-59 the 1434 students include 257 drawn from 8 countries beyond the United States (where Hawaii is still part of an outsider demographic in 1958).

Cultural diversity within the student body population has been part of UP for years.   And for years and years student clubs and organizations have sponsored programming on campus to introduce and celebrate awareness of our cultural differences.  From International Week (every November, from 1963), The Hawai’i Club’s annual Lu’au (in the spring, since 1974), to Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) was first organized on campus in 2005 by the students of UP’s Foreign Language House and Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish Honors Society).   The holiday expresses the Catholic holy days of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day from a particular cultural tradition.  Our students observe Día de los Muertos with the creation of a traditional altar display where personal objects, photographs, and food honor and remember deceased loved ones.   The day-long celebration also includes displays of artwork and a fiesta with food, music, and dancing. 

Click image to advance through the slide show

Videos of previous Día de los Muertos celebrations (from The Beacon)

2016 – http://www.upbeacon.com/multimedia/7459

2017 – http://www.upbeacon.com/multimedia/9814

In our earliest documents, when the University Catalogue describes the situation and advantages of the young University it hits grace notes that are still found in the words of the Alma Mater (Upon the Bluff, high over the Willamette. . ..)  The basic text from 1902 – alongside course offerings, program sequences, fees and tuition – is both stable and embellished over the years. By 1907-08 the campus is described in the Catalogue as a salubrious Shangri La-like health resort, “… the entire year the temperature varies little.  Excessive cold or heat is comparatively unknown”, and where no one is ever sick (not a single serious illness in the six years since the school’s founding!).

The 1907-1908 Catalogue was issued twice: in the second revised version, after the initial description of the situation and mission, there are the usual paragraphs detailing the wonderful classroom building (a one building school-house in 1907) and a supplement which offers a more exact description of the extensive grounds and the facilities available for student recreation (this paragraph, below, is repeated in each new edition of the Catalogue from 1907-1934).

Enrollment for the 1907-1908 school year stood at 159 students.  The University has grown from 1901-2018; from 25 acres to 150, and a current undergraduate and graduate community of 4,200 students.  The new Franz Campus developments bring vastly improved recreational facilities still offering that ample opportunity for physical exercise and outdoor sports so necessary to the developing student.  (1907-08 revised).  This balance of classroom and other activities acknowledges that the whole-person is central to the educational mission defined by Fr. Basil Moreau, C.S.C. (founder of The Congregation of Holy Cross), for all his schools: We shall always place education side by side with instruction, the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart.

Announcement on Franz Campus expansion plan

CURRENT BULLETIN: The University is situated on a bluff near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in one of the large metropolitan areas of the West.  Located in a residential section of the city of Portland, the 150-acre campus offers lawns, hundreds of trees, and beautiful buildings in a quiet, peaceful setting which is conducive to the learning process.

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.