UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Events

River Campus Tours

Faculty and staff are invited to take a walking tour of the River Campus to see recently completed shoreline work and new plantings, according to Jim Kuffner, community relations. Tours will last about one hour and will start and finish at the overlook near the corner of N. Portsmouth and McCosh. Please select one of the following tours and e-mail your choice to kuffner@up.edu:

  • Monday, 3/4/13, 10:30 to 11:3o.
  • Monday, 3/4/13, 2 to 3 p.m.
  • Wednesday, 3/6/13, 10 to 11 a.m.
  • Wednesday, 3/6/13, 1 to 2 p.m.

Appropriate footwear is recommended. For more info contact Kuffner at 7331 or kuffner@up.edu.

Elayne Shapiro Lecture

Elayne ShapiroElayne Shapiro, communication studies, will present “Conflict in the Bible: the Communication-Conflict Lens” as part of the Spring 2013 Communication Studies Colloquium Series on Wednesday, February 27, noon to 1 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. Her talk is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

In addition to her teaching and administrative duties, Shapiro conducts research in computer-mediated communication and health communication. Her research appears in several book chapters, the Journal of the Northwest Communication Association, the Journal of American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the Journal of College Teaching, and the Journal of Religious Education. Orbis Press recently published Reading the Bible: Transforming Conflict, coauthored with Sr. Carol Dempsey, theology.

Light snacks will be served, and all are welcome to bring their lunch. For more information contact C. Vail Fletcher, communication studies, at 7351 or fletcher@up.edu.

2013 Mazzocco Lecture

Debra SatzThe annual William James Mazzocco Lecture in Distributive Justice will take place on Wednesday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. Debra Satz (pictured left), the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society at Stanford University, will present “Should Everything Be For Sale?” The lecture is free and open to all. Satz will explore the controversies around diverse goods (human organs, votes, sex, credit derivatives, etc.) and whether they should be treated as marketable commodities. She will draw much of her argument from her 2010 book, Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets. Other works by Satz include Toward A More Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin (2009) and Occupy the Future (2013). Her areas of academic specialty include the place of equality in a just society and theories of rational choice, and she is currently leading a multi-year research project which aims to clarify plausible interpretations of equality of educational opportunity and their implications for public policy.

The William James Mazzocco Memorial Lecture in Distributive Justice was established in 2006; Mazzocco earned his economics degree on The Bluff in 1937. A lifelong world traveler, Mazzocco had a long, distinguished career which included military intelligence assignments during World War II, diplomatic posts in Paris, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, and Abidjan, and significant contributions to the Marshall Plan. He credited his years at the University of Portland with giving him a solid moral foundation that would guide his life and work for the remainder of his 89 years, most notably his steadfast belief in distributive justice—the principles of equitable and fair distribution of wealth.

For more information contact Gary Malecha, political science, at 7452 or malecha@up.edu.

Freedom Fighters Exhibit

A group of freshman students from Roosevelt High School have created a museum-quality traveling exhibit and publication featuring the stories of sixteen local individuals who have taken part in historic social justice movements. The Freedom Fighters Exhibit will be on display on Tuesday, February 19 and Wednesday, February 20, in the Franz Hall foyer, and is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Fourteen University of Portland students in Rich Christen’s social studies methods course assisted ninety Roosevelt students in a freshman humanities course as they interviewed local community leaders who have taken a stand for social justice, working to advance the civil rights of various races, cultures, and religions. The resulting exhibit has been traveling alongside a national Frederick Douglass exhibit throughout Portland and Multnomah County during the month of February 2013.

For more information contact Kathleen Staten, education, at 7135 or staten@up.edu.

John Martin Fischer Lecture

John Martin Fischer, distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, will present a lecture, “Would You Choose to Live Forever?,” on Thursday, February 28, at 4 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. His talk is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Fischer serves as president of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, and is also project leader for The Immortality Project, an interdisciplinary research effort on various aspects of belief in immortality, backed by a $5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

For more information contact Andrew Eshleman, philosophy, at 7317 or eshleman@up.edu.

Cap & Gown Ordering Time

Faculty who are planning to process and students who are planning to graduate in May 2013 may order their caps, gowns, and personalized graduate announcements at the Jostens Ordering Event in the Pilot House Lounge, February 12, 13 and 14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to Billy McWood, university events. Orders may also be submitted at the events office at 6605 N. Portsmouth, from February 12 through March 22. Please note that any orders received after March 22 will incur a special handling fee of $15.

Order forms for personalized graduation announcements are now available in the events office. Students may also order online at www.shop.jostens.com or by calling 1-800-353-5299. For more information contact McWood at 8434 or mcwood@up.edu.

William Stafford Birthday Party

The English department’s annual William Stafford Birthday Poetry Celebration will take place on Thursday, January 24, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. The celebration is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. The party commemorates the 98th birthday of Oregon’s late Poet Laureate, who died in 1993. Guests and poets will include Friends of William Stafford representative William Howe, Oregonian poetry editor Kirsten Rian, Judith Arcana, Erin Ergenbright, Sara Guest, and UP’s Lars Erik Larson and Herman Asarnow. For more information contact Asarnow at asarnow@up.edu or 7244.