UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Academics

Online Registration for “The Making of a T1 University” Open Now

Online registration for The Making of a T1 University (Take II) is now open, according to Stephanie Salomone, mathematics. On Saturday, October 31 from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Pacific Time, we welcome you to join faculty and administrators to share your personal innovations in student-centered teaching. Topics will include evidence-based instructional practices, formative assessment, teaching with technology, equity and diversity, and creativity and cognitive demand. You can contribute to concurrent sessions that will be 10, 20, or 40 minutes long.

The conference is free and virtual via Zoom. Registration closes on October 9.

Questions? Email Salomone (salomone@up.edu) or Tara Prestholdt (holdt@up.edu). Also see more information at this link.

Your teaching matters. Make it matter more. 

2020 Zahm Lecture Available to View

For anyone who missed last week’s Zahm Lecture, or would like to see it again or share with their classes, the video is available at this link. Gintaras Duda of Creighton University offered a tour de force of art, Star Trek, theology, and particle physics in his talk entitled “From The Big Bang to The Saint John’s Bible: The Role of Astonishment in a Scientist’s Journey to Integrate Faith and Reason.”

For more information contact the Garaventa Center at garaventa@up.edu.

Tuition Exchange Benefit Information: Fall 2021

Faculty and staff who would like to use the University’s tuition exchange benefit (TES or CCCTE) for dependent children for the fall 2021 semester need to visit the HR website and fill out a request for approval, according to Jason McDonald, Dean of Admissions. The deadline is December 1.

For more information contact Jason at x7751 or mcdonaja@up.edu.

Academic Mental Health Network: Join Now!

All faculty and staff members are invited to join the Academic Mental Health Network (AMHN), which strives to provide faculty and staff with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to recognize, approach, and refer students and colleagues in crisis to mental health support services, according to Sarina Saturn, psychological sciences.

On October 2, from 3:15-4:30 p..m, the Health and Counseling Center is offering a QPR suicide prevention workshop to navigate ways to help others in crisis during these challenging times of remote instruction and advising. Whether you have already been a part of the AMHN or hope to become a new member, please click this link to fill out avery brief survey to indicate your interest in joining this school year and/or to sign up for a QPR training.

If you have any questions, please email saturns@up.edu.

TLC Tip of the Week: The Mindset of the Class of 2024

This is not so much a teaching tip as a snapshot of our incoming first year students. For years, Beloit College published a list of things first-year students had ALWAYS and NEVER known, to provide instructors with historical touchstones, and help us avoid making embarrassingly out-of-date pop culture references in class. The operation moved to Marist College last year and is now known as the Marist Mindset. Some highlights of this year’s list:

  • The Class of 2024 will explore race relations beyond Black Lives Matter, to grasp how Whiteness has shaped bias and influence in American culture today
  • The Harry Potter series has been banned somewhere in the US their entire lifetime
  • The necessity of personal protective equipment (PPE) will inform fashion trends for the next couple of seasons
  • They are keenly aware of major threats to the health of our society created by a global pandemic and global climate crisis, but the value and veracity of science in our national dialogue is increasingly questioned.

For this year’s full Marist Mindset list, click this link.

Zahm Lecture This Week: “The Role of Astonishment in a Scientist’s Journey”

Please join the Garaventa Center this Wednesday, September 16, at 5 p.m., for the 2020 Zahm Lecture: “From the Big Bang to The Saint John’s Bible: The Role of Astonishment in a Scientist’s Journey to Integrate Faith and Reason,” presented by Gintaras Duda, Catholic cosmologist and chair of physics at Creighton University. Here’s the Zoom webinar link to join the live event, which is free and open to the public.

In his talk, Duda will ask: how can we reconcile science with belief in a personal Christian God? Astonishment and wonder offer one route for this fundamental reconciliation. Duda will stress the fundamental need for theological and philosophical perspectives on some of the biggest questions in cosmology today. In addition to astro-particle physics/cosmology, Duda is also involved heavily in physics education research and is deeply interested in questions of science and religion. He was named the 2013 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Outstanding Master’s Universities and Colleges National Professor of the Year.

The annual Zahm Lecture was established in 1999 with a permanently endowed gift to the University’s Defining Moment Campaign by Ray and Milann Siegfried of Oklahoma. The Zahm Lecture, which launches the academic year, addresses important issues surrounding American Catholic education and honors Fr. John Zahm, C.S.C., an eminent Holy Cross priest and scientist of the late 19th and early 20th century.

For ADA accommodations or further information, please contact the Garaventa Center at: garaventa@up.edu or 503-943-7702.

Image credit: To the Ends of the Earth, Donald Jackson with contributions from Andrew Jamieson and Sally Mae Joseph, Copyright 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Nicole Ralston Named Engineering Unleashed Fellow

Nicole Ralston, education, has been named as a 2020 Engineering Unleashed Fellow by the Kern Family Foundation. According to the foundation, “The designation as Engineering Unleashed Fellow recognizes leadership in education. Dr. Ralston is truly an ambassador of excellence for the University of Portland and is distinguished both through a Fellows Project and through interactions with the greater Engineering Unleashed community.”

Engineering Unleashed is a community of 3,100 faculty members from 160 institutions of higher education, powered by KEEN, a 50-partner collaborative that shares a mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset who are equipped to create societal, personal, and economic value.

The Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development workshops are elements of the multi-institutional activities. Ralston’s workshop, “Innovating Curriculum With Entrepreneurial Mindset,” presented  August 12-15, 2019 (Milwaukee, WI), impressed her peer coaches and they nominated her as an Unleashed Fellow. This select group of fellows represents approximately one in ten of all faculty development attendees.

For more information contact the School of Education at 503-943-7135 or soed@up.edu.

Call for Fall Butine Proposals: Application Deadline is Oct. 16

The Commitee on Teaching and Scholarship (TAS) invites all eligible faculty to submit proposals for funding from the Arthur Butine Faculty Development Fund. The deadline is Friday, October 16. Information about the fund, instructions, and application materials are available on the Butine Moodle site.

Application forms are available in two formats: online as Dynamic Forms or as Word documents. Choose the format that works best for you. Please note that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans (and chairs, for CAS applicants) before submitting an application.

TAS will host two Q&A sessions in Zoom about the application process on Wednesday, September 16, 9-10 a.m. and Friday, September 18, 3-4 p.m. You can also contact Diane Sotak, tas@up.edu, with questions.

TLC From The TLC: Teaching Tip Of The Week

The Teaching and Learning Collaborative (TLC) would like to share a teaching tip of the week with a video reflection on “What is the Core of a UP education?” (as a follow-up on the Core curriculum revitalization). For past TLC teaching tips of the week see the Teaching and Learning Hub, which also has a list of other brief teaching related videos from UP faculty for anyone looking for collegial ideas and inspiration.

Learning Labs Series: “Leaving a Lasting Impression on a Daily Basis,” Sept. 23

The Pamplin School of Business’s Learning Labs Series continues with “Leaving a Lasting Impression on a Daily Basis” with Rich Cardona on September 23. Learn why creating content on LinkedIn is so important and why it must be done quickly before saturation. Register using this link.

According to Cardona, while technology and business landscapes change faster than most can keep up with, having an online presence for your business and/or professional reputation are a requisite. He is a first generation American and retired Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot whose company, Rich Cardona Media, helps executives and entrepreneurs become more visible by using video to create content and social media strategies.

For more information contact Lilia Grundy, business, at grundy@up.edu.