Pat Bognar, performing and fine arts, will show a selection of her photographs, titled “Holga Adventures,” at 12×16 Gallery (8235 SE 13th Ave. No. 5) from June 5-29. There will be a First Friday reception on Friday, June 6 from 6 to 9 p.m., and an artists’ reception on Sunday, June 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. Pat’s love of working with film in a digital age is well known; she uses a plastic Holga camera to record scenes from daily life in Portland, taking it with her every time she leaves home. She makes her own prints as well. For more information contact Bognar at bognar@up.edu or go to www.12x16gallery.com.
Academics
Tapman Scholarship For UP Engineering Student
University of Portland engineering student Jarrett Okita has received the 2014 Samuel Fletcher Tapman American Society of Civil Engineering Student Chapter Scholarship, according to Mark Kennedy, engineering. Kennedy serves as the ASCE Student Chapter faaculty advisor. The $3,000 scholarship is highly competitive, according to Kennedy, and is limited to 12 undergraduate civil engineering students annually. The scholarship was established through the bequest of Samuel Fletcher Tapman, M.ASCE, in 1961, with the first awards in 1962-1963.
For more information contact Kennedy at 8070 or kennedy@up.edu.
2014 Faculty Awards
The University’s 2014 Faculty Awards were presented on Tuesday, May 6, at the Faculty Awards Dinner, with the following results:
- The James Culligan Award, established in 1953 in memory of a dedicated servant of the University and presented annually to a faculty member in recognition of distinguished service, was presented to Karen Eifler, co-director of the Garaventa Center and School of Education professor extraordinaire. Winners of the Culligan Award wear the medal with their academic regalia, as a sign of the University’s highest faculty honor.
- The Deans’ Award for Faculty Leadership, presented annually to a tenured faculty member who exemplifies, in an extraordinary way, the qualities of teaching and scholarship described in the University’s Articles of Administration for appointment, advancement in rank, and tenure, was presented to Elayne Shapiro, communication studies.
- The Outstanding Teaching Award, presented annually by the University’s Committee on Teaching and Scholarship to a faculty member who is a particular exemplar of the University’s commitment to superb teaching, was presented to Trudie Booth, international languages and cultures, to wild applause, of course.
- The Outstanding Scholarship Award, presented annually by the University’s Committee on Teaching and Scholarship to a faculty member who presents unusually significant and meritorious achievement in professional scholarship during the past two academic years, and whose work substantively enhances the effectiveness of his or her classroom teaching, was presented to Matthew Warshawsky, international languages and cultures.
For more information contact the provost’s office at 7105 or staten@up.edu.
Tom Nelson, 1934-2014
Thomas J. Nelson, who served as engineering dean for 19 years (1977 to 1996), passed away on May 6, 2014. A native of Budapest, Hungary, he was born Tamas Janos Neubauer; the family changed their last name to Nemenyi in 1939 to escape persecution by the Nazis, and changed that name to Nelson when they achieved U.S. citizenship in the 1950s. He earned bachelor and master of science degrees in electrical engineering from MIT and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1968. While working at RCA Laboratories he met and married Mary Baker in 1957. He taught at the University of Michigan before joining the UP engineering faculty in 1974. He began his tenure as dean on June 1, 1977, after being chosen from a field of 58 applicants.
Nelson was known as a tireless worker, and strove mightily to increase enrollment and excellence in the School of Engineering. On his watch the University chartered the Eta Kappa Nu national electrical engineering honor society; the Civil Engineering program was first accredited in 1980; an Engineering Management degree was inaugurated in 1983; a computer aided engineering laboratory was dedicated in Engineering (now Shiley) Hall in 1985; the University’s first fully endowed chair, the Edwin and Sharon Sweo Chair of Engineering, was established; and many other accomplishments. On his retirement ceremony in April 1996, University president Rev. David Tyson, C.S.C., said in part: “He provided stability, vision, and discipline to his school and so greatly advanced the University in the eyes of the city, state, and nation. He has also been an inspiring companion to many hundreds of members of this community, and we will remember him best as our friend Tom, who may stop being the Dean but will never stop being a memorable, diligent, and integral member of the University’s family.”
Survivors include his two sons, Peter and Theodore; Tom’s beloved Mary passed away in 2002. Services have been held. Our prayers and condolences to Tom’s family, friends, and colleagues.
Fall 2014 Shaping Up As Record Class Year
The University has received a record number of deposits – 1,145 for incoming freshmen – and the school is anticipating Fall 2014 to be the largest first-year class in its 113-year history. Jason McDonald, dean of admissions, anticipates the University’s incoming freshman class could be about 1,100, exceeding the previous record of 888. He notes that the numbers historically drop slightly as a small percentage of students change their decision over the summer months.
Continuing a trend of the past decade, the University saw a marked increase in the number of students applying for admission with more than 11,000 completed applications, a new school record, and a nearly 16 percent increase over the previous record of 9,500. McDonald says the growth is in all academic areas, adding that a higher percentage of students are coming from outside of Oregon, with about 75 percent from out of state, which speaks to the University’s expanding reputation nationwide. The incoming class will be one of the University’s most academically talented and diverse.
University of Portland is Oregon’s only comprehensive university to feature schools of business, education, engineering, nursing, a College of Arts and Sciences and a graduate school. For more information contact the admissions office at 7147 or admissions@up.edu.
UP Welcomes iUrban Teen Tech STEM+Arts Summit, May 17
The University of Portland will host the iUrban Teen Tech STEM+Arts Summit on Saturday, May 17, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in Shiley Hall, the Bauccio Commons, and Franz Hall. The event, which is being organized by Deena Pierott of Mosaic Blueprint, is free and open to a target audience of African American, Latino, and Native American youth; however, the program is inclusive of all youth who fall within the Non-Traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Learners category. Teens who would like to attend should sign up as soon as possible at http://tinyurl.com/jwsbp87. Parents are welcome to attend as well, and a parents roundtable is scheduled for 10 a.m. Lunch and snacks will be provided free of charge.
The iUrban Teen Tech Summit brings together underserved and underrepresented teens in an all-day, immersive technology event that shares opportunities in a myriad of technical careers. The goal is to expose youth to cutting-edge technology and inspire them to become tomorrow’s technology leaders. Attendees will have the opportunity to increase awareness and knowledge of local, regional, and global technology trends and issues; and much more. Teens will experience a hands-on, fun filled day of workshops, thought-provoking discussions, and interaction with new people. The summit is an opportunity to network with industry professionals and have a great time exploring the fields of STEM and the arts, like gaming or animation.
The program received national recognition last year as a Rockefeller Innovation Award nominee, and was selected as a White House Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion in August 2013. The iUrban Teen organization is also aligned with President Barack Obama’s new “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. Since 2011, iUrban Teen has had more than 1,250 youth participate in programs in Portland, OR, and Vancouver, Kirkland, and Seattle, WA. Portland iUrban Teen Tech Summit sponsors include the Portland Development Commission, Microsoft, US Fish and Wildlife, University of Portland, Multnomah County, Knowledge Universe, Hitachi, and Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare.
For more information go to http://iurbanteen.org; for registration go to http://tinyurl.com/jwsbp87.
Fall Registration, Schedule Changes Closed May 12-18
Fall 2014 registration will be closed to students and faculty/staff during the week of May 12 for fall room assignments. This closure will not affect summer registration changes. Registration will re-open on Monday, May 19. Additionally, the registar’s office will not be processing any schedule changes for the Fall 2014 semester during this week. Any schedule changes submitted during the week of May 12 will be taken in to consideration and faculty will be notified of any changes processed during the week of May 19. For more information contact the provost’s office at 7105 or staten@up.edu.
Learning Assistance For Summer Session No. 1
During the initial weeks of the first summer session, the Learning Assistance Program will offer individual consults on time management, test taking, note taking, reading strategies, reduction of test anxiety, and memory skill development. Individual appointments may be made with Bro. Thomas Giumenta, C.S.C., at this link: http://tinyurl.com/kqm9ffn.
Beacon Staffers Off To Nationals
The Society of Professional Journalists has named its 2013 Mark of Excellence Awards winners from Region 10, which encompasses Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The awards honor the best of collegiate journalism from each calendar year. Honorees received award certificates the weekend of May 2 at the Region 10 Spring Conference in Portland.
Olivia Alsept-Ellis (pictured) and Kelsey Thomas of The Beacon won first place in General News Reporting (Small) for their story, “Cyber confessions become cyberbullying.” Peter Gallagher, Katie Dunn, and Kelsey Thomas were finalists for Best Sports Writing for their Beacon article, “Selfless, tough, compassionate.” The Beacon was also a finalist for the Best All-Around Non Daily Student Newspaper award. First-place winners will move on to the national MOE competition among category winners from all regions. National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism 2014 conference in Nashville, Tenn., September 4 to 6.
For more information contact Nancy Copic, student activities, at 7470 or copic@up.edu.
Dr. Ahern-Rindell and Ms. Leffler Go To Washington
Ami Ahern-Rindell, biology, accompanied 2014 biology graduate Kylie Leffler to Washington, DC, to participate in “Posters on the Hill,” a highly selective competition sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research. They traveled to the competition from April 27-30. The collaborative research conducted by Leffler and Ahern-Rindell, who served as her research mentor, was outlined in a poster entitled “Sequence Analysis of Exons 13 and 14 of the PPBG gene from Normal and GM1-Gangliosidosis Affected Sheep.” Kylie and Ahern-Rindell also arranged meetings with Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Earl Blumenauer to impress upon them the importance of funding for undergraduate research. They had an opportunity to attend a panel discussion conducted by presidential staff members in the White House. For more information contact Ahern-Rindell at ahernrin@up.edu.