UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Information Services

Kate Regan Short Film Festival, March 26, Bauccio Commons

Staff and faculty portraitsThe second annual Kate Regan Short Film Festival will take place on Thursday, March 26, from 5 to 7 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons board room. The festival will feature works from UP students, faculty, and staff in five categories: Narrative, Humor, International, Documentary, or Animation. Join with the campus community for a celebration of UP storytellers and filmmakers, and of course the late Kate Regan. The film screenings and awards ceremony will include free popcorn and refreshments, a photo booth, and raffle prizes for the audience. The festival is free and open to all. For updates visit: https://sites.up.edu/KReganSFF/.

The Kate Regan Short Film Festical is sponsored by academic technology services, the Garaventa Center, and the International Studies and Global Outreach Collaborative (CISGO).

Need A Haircut? Help Childhood Cancer Research, March 20

baldyThe UP men’s soccer team will sponsor their annual St. Baldrick’s head-shaving event in support of childhood cancer research on Friday, March 20, according to Jacob Caniparoli, information services. All faculty and staff are welcome to participate.

There are two ways to aid this fundraising effort. The first is to join the Faculty/Staff team and be a shavee. The other is to donate to the team. Last year the Faculty/Staff team raised over $1,000 with only 7 shaved heads, and this year the team hopes to do ever better. Use this link for both options.

The team will meet 3 p.m. on March 20 and get their heads shaved together. If that time doesn’t work, they will be shaving heads in front of Buckley Center throughout the day.

The St. Baldricks Foundation is the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants in the country. Last year alone, St Baldrick’s raised over $38 million. For more information contact Caniparoli at 8633 or caniparo@up.edu, or check the St. Baldrick’s website at http://tinyurl.com/lqgqxo5.

Dial “6” To Get Out, Starting March 18

hOn Wednesday, March 18, the University will change the number to dial for an outside phone line from 9 to 6. After that date, callers will no longer be able to get an outside line by dialing 9. This change is being enacted in an effort to reduce inadvertent 911 calls.

For any questions or concerns, please contact public safety at 7161 or publicsafety@up.edu, or the information services help desk at 7000 or help@up.edu.

Faculty Speakers Series: Jennette Lovejoy, Feb. 26

University of Portland, upThe next guest of the Faculty Speaker Series will be Jennette Lovejoy, communication studies, who will present “Social Networking in the Classroom” on Thursday, February 26, at 3 p.m., in the Clark Library classroom. Lovejoy will give a talk about an innovative project she piloted recently using Cel.ly. She challenged her students to communicate solely with the social networking tool for group projects and assignments to mimic work conditions faced by global teams. She will share insights about the project and feedback from students.

Lovejoy’s talk is part of the Faculty Speaker Series sponsored by academic technology services. Light refreshments will be served. For more information contact the help desk at 7000 or help@up.edu.

WordPress Wednesdays Start Feb. 18

wordpress-logo copyAcademic technology services will offer a new weekly lab to to help UP community members work on their WordPress sites. Starting Wednesday, Feb 18, come by the information services training lab in Franz Hall room 010 to get help with websites or blogs. Technicians will cover posts, pages, menus, widgets, headers, themes, and anything else needed to manage UP-hosted WordPress sites. On request specific topics (such as particular themes or plugins) can be covered in detail. Drop-ins are welcome but please register, as seating is limited and priority will go to registered attendees.

To register visit the Virtual Learning Center at vlc.up.edu and login with UP username and password. Click “Workshops” on the navigation menu, and find the next upcoming WordPress Wednesday lab and click “Register.”

For any questions or additional information, please contact Ben Kahn at kahn@up.edu.

Tech Talk Podcast: Transcontinental Tutoring

U of PThe University recently expanded its study-abroad options for engineering majors from a short week during the summer term to a full spring semester in Salzburg, Austria. Engineering students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture and language of Austria while staying on track to graduate with their classmates by taking advantage of courses offered at the Upper Austrian University in Wels, Austria. They can do so thanks largely to the use of web conferencing software that enables UP faculty to offer tutoring and support to engineering majors half a world away. Engineering instructor Niki Schulz recently spoke about her experiences using state-of-the-art web conferencing software to provide tutoring to students in Austria, and a podcast and transcript are available on the Tech Talk Podcast at http://tinyurl.com/otc88od.

For more information or to be a guest podcaster contact Sam Williams, information services, at williasa@up.edu.

Energy Trust Rewards UP For Upgrades, Sustainability Efforts

energy-trust-of-oregonAs part of information services efforts to centralize infrastructure management and lower costs, technical services has successfully virtualized a majority of campus servers and desktop infrastructure. This results in a more easily maintained environment with significantly lower energy usage in UP’s data center and at the desktop, a major step in the right direction for UP sustainability efforts. Matthew Moss, technical services, was able to meet Energy Trust of Oregon incentive requirements to receive funds back for the University’s efforts. By recycling old equipment at E&G Metals of Hillsboro, UP received a check from the Energy Trust for $10,190.

Energy Trust of Oregon is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging lower energy usage and clean, renewable power in Oregon. For more information contact Moss at 8681 or mossm@up.edu.

ATS Workshop: Introduction to the Moodle Grade Book

staff & faculty portraitsAcademic technology services will offer face-to-face training workshops in the dedicated training lab located in Franz Hall. The first of these will be a Moodle workshop covering the basics of the Moodle grade book on Monday, January 26, from 11 a.m. to noon, in Franz Hall room 010. Many faculty members are busy getting their grade books in order, and now is the best time to learn what to do and what not to do to prevent headaches down the road (and confused students). Classes will cover setting up grade categories, adding grade items, overview of grade weighting methods and which you should use, how to enter grades, do’s and don’ts, and other tips and tricks.

Space for this workshop will be very limited. Faculty can fill out a registration form at http://tinyurl.com/krx7dq9. For more information contact Tony Box (pictured), information services, at 8774 or box@up.edu.

New Media Services Policy

hDue to a steady increase of campus events occurring outside of the hours of operation for media services, a change in service policy will begin on January 31. After that date, all labor services provided by media services outside of core hours will incur a $20 per man-hour labor charge with a two-hour minimum. Equipment rental will remain free of charge for on-campus groups, faculty, and staff. All events, regardless of booking date, that occur on or after February 1, 2015 will have labor charges if the event occurs outside of media services core hours of operation. Events are defined as activities or functions that are sponsored by a group within or outside of the University community and in or outside of the scope of support of in-class academics.

Core hours are defined as follows:

  • Fall/Spring Semester hours: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Holidays, breaks, and summer hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Please feel free to contact Dan Sandaal, media services, at sandaal@up.edu with any questions or concerns in regard to this policy change.

Locked Out? Fix It Yourself!

man's hands typing at computer dreamstime_l_14874063 .jpgInformation services has launched a new self-service password reset application. All users must enroll in order to use this new tool, which will require updating their security profile by adding an alternate e-mail contact and setting up security questions. This takes just a few minutes to complete. The new app offers a convenient way to reset a forgotten network password from any web browser on any device. Instructions on how to enroll and details about University password requirements are available on the Virtual Service Center at http://tinyurl.com/o397wrx.

For more information contact information services at help@up.edu.