UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

International Languages & Cultures

“Tales from the Vienna Woods,” Dec. 10

comedydramaLaura McLary and her German 408 students invite all faculty, staff, and students to attend a performance of Ödön von Horváth’s Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald (Tales from the Vienna Woods), on Saturday, December 10, at 7 p.m., in the Blair Studio in Mehling Hall. The performance is free and open to all.

Written in 1931, von Horváth’s play comes from the tradition of the Volksstück, a play for the common people that ends with a moral. As you watch von Horváth’s modern take on the Volksstück, observe how the play comes to terms with the role of the individual in the family and in male-female relationships and identifies the sources of social pressures and hypocrisy. What is the moral of this tale from the Vienna Woods? The play will be presented completely in German.

For more information contact McLary at x7255 or mclary@up.edu.

A Literary Meeting With Andres Neuman, Oct. 31

220px-neuman_andres-copyThe international languages and cultures department will present “Talking, traveling, reading, writing: A literary meeting with Andrés Neuman” on Monday, October 31, at 7:30 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons Terrace Room.

Neuman is a Spanish-Argentine writer, poet, translator, columnist, and blogger. His works include Traveler of the Century, Talking to Ourselves, and The Things We Don’t Do.

For more information contact Maria Echenique, ILC, at x7190 or echeniqu@up.edu.

French Studies Students Granted Teaching Assistantships

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Three French teaching assistantships were applied for and granted to University of Portland French studies graduates by the French government, according to Trudie Booth, international languages and cultures. Kealey Johnson ’16 will teach in Lyon, Douglas Blair ’15 will teach in Lille, and Clare Munger ’15 has declined her assistantship to pursue a teaching career in Portland, Ore.

The assistantships are sponsored by the French Ministry of Education and the Cultural Services office of the French Embassy and give eligible French majors the opportunity to teach English in French elementary and high schools.

The French Ministry of Education sets aside over 1,100 Teaching Assistantships for Americans every year, and recipients work in France for 7 months, teaching English to French students of all ages.

For more information contact Madame Booth at 7250 or booth@up.edu.

Manuel Jato Macias, 1929-2016

Macias Manuel 1995 L 11 Spanish retirement photo.JPGThe University mourns the passing of Spanish professor emeritus Manuel Jato Macias, who died on Sunday, March 19, just shy of his 87th birthday. A 1951 alumnus of the University, Manuel was a man of tremendous loyalty, influence, affability, scholarship, and love of language, easily one of the most beloved professors to teach on The Bluff. His funeral will be held on Monday, March 28, at 11 a.m., at Holy Cross Catholic Church, near the UP campus.

Macias began his tenure when the Engineering building was the newest structure on campus, and went on to a career that spanned 40 years. He served as department chair, president of the Faculty Association (where he famously announced “I now assume the presidency of the Faculty Association, and promise to raise it to new heights of mediocrity!”), and as advisor, mentor, friend, and confidante to countless students.

In 1963 Macias received the Culligan Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University on its faculty members, for outstanding teaching. In 1959-60 Macias traveled to England as a Fulbright exchange professor; he was given a Shell Grant Research Award in 1965; he was listed in the Directory of American Scholars; he was appointed a member of the Madrid Advisory Council of Central College in 1969; he served as president of the Oregon chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese from 1967 to 1969. Later in his career he was named Teacher of the Year by that association, in 1986 and 1987; in 1994 he received the Alexander Christie award from the University of Portland, and that same year he was named Outstanding Foreign Language Teacher by the Confederation of Oregon Foreign Language Teachers. He retired finally, a beloved, sometimes beleaguered language scholar, in 1995. Among his many gifts to the University he loved: nine full scholarships, named for his parents and brother and friends.

Our prayers and condolences to Manolo’s many friends, colleagues, and family.

Laura McLary Named Oregon Professor of the Year

mclary150Laura McLary, international languages and cultures, was named Oregon Professor of the Year by the national Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the international Council for the Advancement and Support of Education on Thursday, November 19.

The award committee cited McLary’s innovation and dedication to teaching international languages, highlighting her leadership in growth of the University’s German language program. Most of McLary’s students participate in the University’s study-abroad program in Salzburg, Austria, where she studied as an undergraduate student.

McLary has taught German at UP since 1999 and served as chair of the international languages and cultures department from 2004-07. Prior to coming to UP, she was a professor of German at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., for three years. She earned both a Ph.D. and master’s degree in German language and literature from University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in German and international studies from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Previous UP professors who have been recognized by the national organization include Kate Regan, who was named National Professor of the Year; Becky Houck, Terry Favero and Karen Eifler, who were all named Oregon Professor of the Year.

For more information contact marketing and communications at x7202 or mktg@up.edu.

Visiting Fulbright Scholar Lectures By Lyubov Mincheva

Mincheva_Lyubov.jpgThe Department of Political Science invites all faculty, staff, and students to join to two lectures by Fulbright visiting scholar Lyubov Mincheva, professor of political science at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria.

On Monday, September 14, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., in the Terrace Room, Mincheva will share her experiences on political transitions in the Balkans since the end of the Cold War in Anne Santiago’s Democratization and Its Challenges course.

On Tuesday, September 15, she will lecture on “Factors Shaping the Scope and Dynamics of Illicit Regional Markets” at 7 p.m. in Shiley Hall room 101. Refreshments will be provided.

Mincheva earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2000, and has served as principal-, and/or co-investigator on a number of conflict and security related projects. She has published extensively, including three books on ethnopolitics, spillover crisis, peacekeeping, crime, and terrorism. She is also a member of the governing board of the European International Studies Association.

For more information contact Santiago at 8889 or santiago@up.edu.

Students Awarded Teaching Assistantships in France

booth copyThree French studies students (Britta Geisler, Rubama Nasir, and Julia Maynard) have been granted teaching assistantships in France, according to Trudie Booth, international languages and cultures. The assistantships are sponsored by the French Ministry of Education and the Cultural Services office of the French Embassy and give eligible French majors the opportunity to teach English in French elementary and high schools.

For more information contact Madame Booth at 7250 or booth@up.edu.

Gabriela Rivera Lecture, April 16

rivera copyHuman rights lawyer Gabriela Rivera will present “Women and Transitional Justice in Guatemala” on Thursday, April 16, from 4 to 5 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. Her talk is free and open to all. Rivera works with the Association of Women Transforming the World, part of the Alliance for Breaking the Silence and Ending Impunity. She has a long history of working with women survivors of sexual violence and other forms of deprivation of freedom for women. Her talk is sponsored by the departments of international languages and cultures and philosophy.

For more information contact Maria Echenique, international languages and cultures, at echeniq@up.edu.

Invitation: CISGO Reading Group

mclary copyThe Collaborative for International Studies and Global Outreach (CISGO) invites all members of the campus community to join a reading and study group dedicated to learning more about international and global education. The reading group will help to develop a common vocabulary and support the development of learning outcomes as a part of the campus initiative to create a framework for meaningful, intentional, and rigorous international and global learning. Kimberly Ilosvay, education, and Jeffrey White, international languages and cultures, will lead the discussion.

The first reading is available via Moodle at this link. Enter the password “culture” to enroll. The first meeting takes place on Wednesday, April 8, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m., in Franz Hall room 210. Refreshments will be served.

For more information contact CISGO chair Laura McLary, international languages and cultures, at mclary@up.edu.

Faculty Candidate Lecture, Feb. 9

giannina-reyes-giardiello-web2.previewThe Department of International Languages and Cultures invites all faculty, staff, and students to attend a talk by Spanish faculty candidate Giannina Reyes Giardiello on Monday, February 9. at 4:30 p.m., in the Holy Cross Lounge on the third floor of Franz Hall. She will present “Of Other Spaces and Other Men: Mexican Masculinities and the Post-Revolutionary State.” Reyes Giardiello’s scholarship focuses on the relationship between national discourse and masculine representation in Mexico. For more information, contact Maria Echenique, international languages and cultures, at 7190 or echeniq@up.edu.