News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
Zoom has released its new updates for the month of June including a number of bug and security fixes. For more information on the newest features and how to ensure that your Zoom client has the most recent updates, visit ATSI’s monthly Zoom article on the Techtalk Blog.
Questions about using Zoom? Contact ATSI
The opening session of Faculty Development Day is now available as a video that anyone can view. After some introductory remarks, the highlight is the keynote by Loretta J. Ross, Smith College, and Simon Aihiokhai, University of Portland, titled “Building Trust and Finding Encounters: Frameworks for Respectful Engagement with Our Students and with Each Other.” It includes presentations from the speakers followed by an engaging Q&A.
Start your summer with some new skills! Sign up for the Clark Library’s introductory Zoom workshops covering iMovie, Podcasting, Graphic Design, Canva, Microsoft Sway, and Lightworks. Workshops run from June 14 through June 25 and are free and open to current students, faculty, and staff. Visit the Digital Lab’s site to see the full schedule and registration links.
The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce that the 2021-2022 online University Bulletin is now available. You may access the current Bulletin on the registrar’s website, or directly at University Bulletin. Smartphone users can also access the Bulletin using its mobile site.
For more information contact Jericho Knight, associate provost’s office, at knight@up.edu.
The University Singers have been invited to participate in a combined collegiate choir that will perform at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Conference in Spokane in March of 2022, according to David De Lyser, performing & fine arts. UP is one of seven college and university choirs chosen from the six-state Northwest region (AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY). Up to 20 UP singers will work with internationally-renowned composer and National Medal of Arts winner Morten Lauridsen, and conductor Edith Copley. The combined choir, along with professional orchestra, will perform Lauridsen’s masterwork “Lux Aeterna” on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center.
The UP Board of Regents has chosen Provost Dr. Herbert A. Medina as Acting President effective July 1, succeeding Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., who announced in February that he would conclude his tenure at UP after 10 years on campus – the last seven as UP’s 20th president.
Consistent with University bylaws, the appointment of Provost Medina as Acting President reaches within UP’s internal ranks while plans are developed for a national search to hire a permanent successor to Fr. Poorman.
“We are grateful that Dr. Medina has accepted this acting presidency as enthusiastically prepare to resume an active campus life and a normal academic year this fall,” said Tom Arndorfer, Board of Regents chair. “Dr. Medina is an exemplary scholar, teacher, administrator and chief academic officer for our UP community. He will be a superb leader of the UP mission.”
“I am humbled and excited that the Board trusts me to lead the University in this crucial transition phase,” said Dr. Medina. “I will continue to listen to our community and follow our Catholic and Holy Cross mission. There’s much work to do as we come out of the pandemic, and I am looking forward to collaborating with students, staff, faculty, university leadership and Board members to make sure we emerge a stronger institution from these very challenging times.”
Dr. Medina’s appointment as Provost began July 1, 2020, after serving as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) and as Professor of Mathematics since 2018. His leadership of CAS was driven by a devotion to student wellbeing and success; dedication to faculty support and development; and unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. These same attributes have also become foundational underpinnings to Dr. Medina’s service as provost and chief academic officer. In addition to guiding UP’s Academic Division through the pandemic ensuring that students are able to thrive and graduate in a modified academic environment, he has been a champion of continued experiential learning opportunities, and has played an important role in ensuring that issues of diversity, equity and inclusion are front and center in faculty and staff searches at the University.
An exemplary teacher-scholar, Dr. Medina has earned widespread recognition for his research in functional analysis, wavelets, and polynomial approximations as well as his work in diversifying and broadening access in STEM. He is deeply committed to the University’s Catholic and Holy Cross mission and its call for community members to be engaged in the work of social justice, radical hospitality, and advancement of the Catholic intellectual tradition. As an academic leader and a colleague, Dr. Medina’s style is communicative, transparent, collaborative, compassionate, passionate and humbly confident.
Prior to joining UP, Dr. Medina enjoyed a highly successful 26-year career as a professor and administrative leader at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He was Associate Dean of LMU’s Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering before his appointment as CAS Dean at UP. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Medina was born in El Salvador; came to the United States at the age of eight along with his family; and is a proud first-generation college student. He is passionate about increasing higher education participation among underrepresented groups. Among his many accomplishments and awards, Dr. Medina was recognized by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science with the 2014 Distinguished Undergraduate Institution Mentor Award.
Introducing the “New to The Bluff” section of UPbeat! Send over information about your new hires to upbeat@up.edu to introduce your new teammate to the University community.
In your “New to The Bluff” email, please include information:
Questions? Send an email to upbeat@up.edu.
All departments that will be sponsoring students to arrive on campus prior to the standard move-in dates (August 17 for sophomores, August 19 for first-year/new students, and August 21 for returning students) are asked to complete a Department Early Arrival Request, according to Ezequiel Delgado-Cervantes, housing coordinator for residence life. For departments who need an excel template to submit their request, please email Ezequiel at delgadoc@up.edu. Departments will be billed $55 per person per night unless it is specified that the students’ accounts should be charged.
For more information, contact Ezequiel at delgadoc@up.edu.
Academic Technology Services and Innovation (ATSI), in partnership with Accessible Education Services (AES), invites faculty to participate in a June 9 webinar focused on digital accessibility in higher education, and presented through a collaboration of the Orbis Cascade Alliance and Northwest Academic Computing Consortium.
Faculty are invited to join this webinar presented by Kathryn (Kathy) Oleson, Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Psychology at Reed College.
The Creating Inclusive Classroom Spaces in Which Students Thrive Webinar will be held on Wednesday, June 9 at 11 a.m. via Zoom. This webinar focuses on ways to support faculty and students’ classroom experiences in higher education. Dr. Oleson considers students’ backgrounds, including class, race, disability, and gender, and center primary needs (competence, autonomy, belonging) and concerns (e.g., self doubt about ability, impostor feelings, and stereotype threat) that students bring to the classroom. She then draws on universally-designed learning in combination with educational design rooted in social justice and multiculturalism to describe ways to design in-person and online spaces in which students flourish academically. Dr. Oleson encourages webinar participants to reflect on their own approaches and think through how these ideas are most productively applied to their institutions.
Register now for the Zoom webinar.
Please visit the NW HEAT website for additional information about the NW Higher Education Technology Group.
This interactive experience will engage participants in conversations about personal values and strengths, focusing on the habits and behaviors that guide us through the challenges of ethical decision making in the workplace.
Register at this link for this Zoom session.