UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Academics

Faculty Development Day (May 11) Program is Available

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is pleased to announce that the virtual Faculty Development Day program is ready! We hope this helps you plan your schedule so you can get the most out of it and support your colleagues who are presenting.

The day begins at 8:45 a.m. with a welcome and keynote, followed by an array of excellent sessions to choose from, and closes with the Faculty Awards and Retirement Ceremony at 5:30 p.m. These are all Zoom-based and the ones that will be recorded are noted in the program. Those recordings will be made available later through the Faculty Development Day Moodle page.

This annual event was cancelled last year, so we are excited to bring it back in 2021! It’s a great opportunity for faculty to learn, share, connect, and appreciate each other! Please contact Diane Sotak, sotak@up.edu, with questions or requests for accommodations.  

2021 Writers Magazine Published Online

The English Department is proud to announce the publication of UP’s student-run creative writing journal Writers Magazine.  This year’s all-online 2021 edition is built around the theme of “Good Bones” and gathers the year’s best writing and images by students from across campus.  It’s now available here.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that beginning fall 2021, UP will offer a Writing minor.  This addition will give a broader spectrum of students on The Bluff the chance to exercise their creative and communicative powers.  (Students in the professional schools are especially encouraged!)  The Writing minor involves a combination of workshop-style courses (playwriting, news writing, nonfiction, poetry, fiction, screenwriting) and English electives.

For details in the fall, students can contact Fr. Pat Hannon, hannon@up.edu, John McDonald, mcdonald@up.edu, or English Chair Lars Larson, larson@up.edu.

An Important Message Regarding the University of Portland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for All Students and Employees

Dear University of Portland Community Members,

Approximately four months ago, the University of Portland established a COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force comprised of students, staff, and faculty and chaired by Dr. Casey Shillam, Dean of the School of Nursing. Among many other goals, the Task Force was asked to study whether UP community members should be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The Task Force took ample time to examine this issue closely. It considered important matters such as vaccine efficacy, equity in vaccine access, religious and/or medical exceptions to the COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and the impact that vaccination will have on the health and vibrancy of our campus community.

Ultimately, the Task Force concluded that widespread vaccination of students, staff, and faculty will advance the health of UP community members; promote the safety of our in-person, residential campus environment; and, contribute to the decline of the pandemic. The Task Force recommended that all UP community members be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. This recommendation was endorsed by the COVID-19 Steering Committee and approved by the President’s Leadership Cabinet.

Thus, we announce today that all University of Portland students, faculty, and staff will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Employees must submit proof of vaccination no later than August 1, 2021. Students must submit proof of vaccination no later than September 1, 2021. As with other vaccination requirements, medical and/or non-medical (e.g., religious) exemptions from this policy may be requested consistent with Oregon and federal law.

We announce this requirement well in advance of the compliance deadlines so that community members can make a plan to get vaccinated and consult their medical provider, if necessary. In the coming weeks, more information will be shared with the community. Instructions on submitting proof of vaccination and requesting an exemption from the vaccination requirement will be provided. Additionally, the University will work to assist our community members experiencing barriers to receiving vaccinations, including our international students who may not have access to FDA-authorized vaccines prior to their return to The Bluff. We recognize that not all areas of the country or the world have equity in access to vaccines, and we commit to providing assistance to our students and employees. We appreciate your patience as further resources are developed and made available to the community.

As we have stated from the start of the pandemic, the health and well-being of UP community members must be our collective priority. We have adopted several measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and, thanks to your extraordinary efforts, the University has achieved great success in keeping COVID-19 case numbers low. The vaccination requirement we announce today is just the latest step we must take in our journey to keep one another safe as we return to the cherished in-person campus community that is so essential to our mission.

Sincerely,

Father Mark Poorman, C.S.C.
President

Dr. Herbert Medina
Provost

Father John Donato, C.S.C.
Vice President for Student Affairs and COVID-19 Steering Committee Co-Chair

Dr. Elise Moentmann
Associate Provost and COVID-19 Steering Committee Co-Chair

Jim Ravelli
Vice President for University Operations and COVID-19 Steering Committee Co-Chair

Dr. Casey Shillam
School of Nursing Dean and COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force Chair

Pilot Venture Challenge 2021 Results

The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation once again hosted its annual venture pitch competition, Pilot Venture Challenge, as a live, virtual event due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, that didn’t seem to deter students from developing invention and venture ideas to pitch. This year there was a record number of sixteen entries in the finals.

The Invention Track, which highlights creativity, invention and innovation, was held on Saturday, April 17th. The Social Track, which encourages students to use entrepreneurial and business principles to organize, create and manage a sustainable enterprise that has a positive social impact, and the For-Profit Track were held on Saturday, April 24th.

Students, judges and guests joined online to hear and see 10-minute presentations by a total of 16 entrants. All entries were judged by expert panels of alumni and community business leaders. The winners are:

Invention

1st Place: Widget Tools, an essential multi-tool for board sport enthusiasts by Ben Messerly ’21 and Nick Robinson ’21.

2nd Place: rePLA, a bio-degradable filament for 3D printers by Melissa Tran ’23, Evangeline Muyano ’21, Rachel Hu ’21, Addie Zhao ’21, and Brytney Young ’22.

3rd Place: LuxShowers, an eco-friendly shower head to control water and energy consumption by Jessica Yoshioka ‘23.

The 1st and 2nd Place winners move on to represent UP at the statewide InventOR Semi-Final Competition April 23-25 and hopefully the Finals on June 24-25.

Social Venture

1st Place: RedemptionTech, a subsidized tech-rental service that provides ex-convicts access to technology to help connect them to jobs and resources as they re-enter society, by Olivia Brimhall ‘21, Justine Phan ‘21, Batara Siahaan ’22 and Georgia Sutjiadi ’22.

2nd Place: Scion Enterprise, a website to help educate and inform young people on financial and investing concepts by Trenton Sewell ’22 and Kenny Hiraoka ’21.

3rd Place: PolitiSquare, an online social platform for people to respectfully engage in civil discourse by Kevin Cochran ‘22.

For-Profit Venture

1st Place: Willamette Wick, an Oregon-based, small business that produces hand-poured, soy-wax, scented candles by Chelsea Power ’22 and Nicole Shea ‘22

2nd Place: Vino de Alma, an interactive, social wine making experience for individuals, small groups and special occasions by Jarrett Tapella ’21, Quinn Anderson ’21, Lisa Brown ’21 and Riley Farrell ’22.

3rd Place: Benson’s Lifestyle, a website/social media/app-based program to help people obtain their goals of a healthy mind and body by Kayla Benson ’21 and Daniel Rodriguez-Pena ‘22

For more information contact the Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation at franzcenter@up.edu.

Laura McLary: Thank You and Congratulations!

After 22 years of service at University of Portland, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Laura McLary has accepted the position of Nora Kizer Bell Provost at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, effective July 1. According to Herbert Medina, provost, “This announcement is both joyful and somewhat unhappy for all of us at UP, especially those who have had the privilege of working with Laurie throughout the years. While we are saddened by her departure, we offer her our heartfelt congratulations as she takes on this new and exciting leadership position.”
A prolific scholar of Austrian literature and culture and celebrated professor of German, Laurie has achieved many successes at UP. She established the German studies program; mentored dozens of students as they prepared Fulbright dossiers; was recognized in 2015 as Oregon Professor of the Year by the national Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; engaged in numerous service roles including the Collaborative for International Studies & Global Outreach (CISGO) and the Strategic Planning Committee; served as academic associate dean; and most recently served as interim dean of CAS. 
Medina will appoint a new interim dean for CAS and, as planned, we will continue a national search for a permanent dean in the fall.

UP Branded Virtual Backgrounds: Add Some Zip to Your Zoom

UP branded virtual backgrounds are available for download in ShareUP, according to Chris Long, marketing and communications. The virtual backgrounds create an appealing, brand-focused backdrop that you may use in virtual meetings on Zoom (or for other virtual platforms). To navigate to the virtual background files please visit ShareUP using this link, then select “ShareUP Login.” On the home page, select “Brand” then “Virtual Backgrounds.”

Directions on downloading the files and enabling the assets in Zoom are available on the virtual backgrounds page in ShareUP. Please reach out to Long (longc@up.edu) with any questions or technical issues.

 

2021 Public Research Fellows Showcase, April 29

The Public Research Fellows will host a showcase of the program’s 20-21 work, and all members of the UP community and the general public are invited to attend. The interactive showcase will happen at this Zoom link on Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m. Student and faculty fellows will unveil their projects and be on hand to guide attendees through a variety of lenses for thinking about our theme, Displacement and Justice. From a podcast that explores displacement through the experience of first-generation students, to an interactive map that uses Portland African American literature to tell local stories of displacement, to a virtual performance that thinks through displacement with music—the PRF teams have created a range of exciting projects that use innovative, accessible forms to expand our ideas of what research can look like. Join us for this interactive event to get inspired about the possibilities in your own work and learn more about how displacement manifests in local contexts and beyond.

For more information, please go to the Public Research Fellows site.

2021 Retiring Faculty: Thank You for Decades of Service!

The following long-serving faculty members have announced their retirement at the conclusion of the spring 2021 semester, according to Kathleen Staten, provost’s office:

  • Ellyn Arwood, Professor of Education
  • Ronda Bard, Lecturer of Chemistry
  • Elena Bernard, Associate Professor of Business
  • Barbara Braband, Associate Professor of Nursing
  • Todd Easton, Associate Professor of Business
  • Gary Malecha, Interim Dean of Business, Professor of Political Science
  • Dann Pierce, Associate Professor of Communication Studies
  • Peter Osterberg, Associate Professor of Engineering

This year’s retirees will be formally celebrated in the online Faculty Gala Ceremony to take place the afternoon of Tuesday, May 11. A Zoom link and more information will be coming soon from the Provost’s Office.

For further information contact Staten, staten@up.edu.