• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

  • Home
  • Academics
  • Athletics
  • Campus Services
  • Events
  • Human Resources
  • University Relations

01-07-2019

UP Writing Center and Integrated Writing Program At Your Service

January 18, 2019

The Integrated Writing Program and the Writing Center are gearing up to serve the UP community in spring 2019, according to Molly Hiro, English. The Writing Center (BC 163) is a completely free resource, staffed with trained writing assistants who can help students at all levels, from all disciplines, at all stages of the writing process. The center opens for the semester on Sunday, January 20 (open daily except Saturdays). Please visit the Writing Center website to learn more and make appointments.

One of the best means of getting students to bring their work-in-progress to the Writing Center is for faculty themselves to encourage them to do so (some professors require at least one visit; some give extra credit to students for using our services). When talking to your students about the UP Writing Center, you might keep in mind the following:

  • Our goal is not just to inspire better papers, but create better writers. This means we don’t “fix” papers; we work with students to improve their overall writing skills for this and future tasks.
  • Writing assistance isn’t just for students with major grammar or mechanical problems. Instead, we focus on higher-order concepts such as argument, organization, development, and other areas. Even accomplished writers can make progress on their work in a half-hour session.
  • While our writing assistants represent most majors as well as the professional schools, they are trained in a semester-long course to work with students from any discipline.
  • When a student meets with a writing assistant to discuss a paper for your course, you’ll get a copy of the conference report—a brief summary of what the student and writing assistant worked on (This is an easy way of keeping track of who visited the WC for assigning extra credit, e.g.).
  • An effective way to familiarize your students with the Writing Center and to demonstrate your support for our services is to invite a writing assistant to visit your classroom with a 5-10 minute presentation during the first few weeks of the semester. Email our hotline at writing@up.edu with the day and time of the class you’d like a writing assistant to visit and we’ll get back to you shortly.
  • Lastly, all Moodle pages now have a link to the Writing Center—see the top left corner, under “Learning Resources.”

To foster student writing integrity at UP, consider using the Turnitin function through your class Moodle page. Instructions for using this paper-authentication software can be found here.

All of your students should possess The Pocket Cengage Handbook since it is required in their two writing-embedded courses. The handbook helps keep our campus on the same page when it comes to grammar, punctuation, citation styles, and basic expectations for essay writing across the University. If you need a desk copy of this reference, please contact the Writing Center director by the second week of the semester.

As the director of the Integrated Writing Program and the Writing Center, Hiro is happy to be a point of contact on all writing-related matters this semester. Need insight on crafting better writing prompts? Resources for integrating writing instruction into your class-time? Help with language to use when evaluating student writing? Please feel free to contact her at hiro@up.edu or x8031.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, 01-14-2019, 01-21-2019, Academics, Campus Services, English Tagged With: Integrated Writing Center, Molly Hiro

Faith & Intellectual Life Discussion Group Meeting Jan. 25

January 18, 2019

The next meeting of the Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group will be Friday, January 25, 3:30-5 p.m., in the Murphy Room. The group will be discussing “The Poison We Pick” by Andrew Sullivan, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” by Jean M. Twenge, and the poem “What We Want” by Linda Pastan. Readings can be found on the Garaventa Center website. All faculty and staff are welcome. Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Norah Martin, philosophy, at martinn@up.edu.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, 01-14-2019, 01-21-2019, 12-17-2018, Academics, Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group Tagged With: Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group, Norah Martin

Tri-Met Passes No Longer Available at Public Safety

January 11, 2019

For many years, the University has been able to sell Tri-Met bus and light rail passes through the Office of Public Safety, including subsidized monthly passes. Unfortunately, due to the imposition of new federal taxes on transportation discounts and changes in Tri-Met administrative processes, we can no longer offer this benefit to our students, faculty, or staff. There is a limited inventory of books of 10 individual tickets that public safety will sell until they are gone.

Tri-Met passes and tickets are still available at a variety of locations for those who wish to purchase them, and Tri-Met’s new Hop Fastpass system may be of interest to our community members (links below).  Questions about this change may be directed to Eric Barger, controller’s office, at barger@up.edu.

  • Where to buy link here.
  • Hopcard link here.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, 01-14-2019, Campus Services, Controller, Public Safety Tagged With: Controller's Office, Eric Barger, public safety

University of Portland Institutional Biosafety Committee

January 11, 2019

The Provost’s Office is pleased to announce the formation of an Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC.) The IBC is charged with reviewing and approving research, classroom and laboratory educational activities that require the use of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules technology, infectious or potentially infectious agents, and/or involve human tissue or body fluids, or animals that may carry zoonotic disease caused by infections that are shared between animals and people.

For further information on projects requiring IBC review and approval, please visit the IBC website at www.up.edu/ibc.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, 01-14-2019, Academics Tagged With: Institutional Biosafety Committee

2018 Staff Awards: Congratulations!

January 4, 2019

Staff awards for 2018 were presented at the annual Staff Christmas Luncheon on Monday, December 17. The winners are:

  • Charles Miltner, C.S.C., Award – Mike Murphy, housekeeping
  • Hooyboer Outstanding Professional Staff Award – Aimee Davidse
  • Margaret W. Henzi Award for Outstanding Office Support – Kelly Margheim
  • Ted Deiss/Joyce and Virgil Dodson Outstanding Physical Plant Employee Award – Maria Esther Andrade
  • President’s Citation – Daniel McGinty
  • President’s Team Award – University Relations

Employees were also honored for milestone years of service to the University:

  • Five years: Maria Erb, Ben Kahn, Nancy Nofziger, Karina Handeland, Alison Knoedler, Dan Seabeck, Pasha Spencer-Levitan, Belgin Inan, Dave Houglum, Connie Ozyjowski, Jared Rees, Ann Harris, Curt Pederson, David Bachman, Bret Sorg, Brian Tatro, Yodit Derese, Peterson Luksh, Julia Marquez, Susan Rudolph, Carmen Ruiz, Emina Haurdic, Roland Hutabarat, Molly Cullen, Abby McMahon, Tyler Hale, Jessica Wode, Colin Dunn, Andrew Ridenour, Michele Sunderland.
  • Ten years: David Taylor, Eric Barger, Kim Nguyen, Anne Rassmussen, Allen Hansen, Janet Turner, Kelly Margheim, Melissa Peterson, Maria Vega, Jim Ravelli, Daniel Kabele.
  • 15 years: Jason Brough, Melissa McCarthy, Bryce Strang, Manu Jauregui, Jeromy Koffler, Sheila Smith, Rev. Edwin Obermiller, C.S.C.
  • 20 years: Jason McDonald, Marty Williams, Karen Lee, Aimee Davidse, Jamie Strohecker, Sharon Haner, Catherine Coulter, Thomas Greene, Brenda Greiner.
  • 25 years: Deborah MacKinnon, Beth Rumely.
  • Over 35 years: Connie Tamashiro
  • 40 years: Vicky Hamilton.

For more information contact HR at hr@up.edu or x8981.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Campus Services, Human Resources Tagged With: 2018 Employee Awards

Scheduling Library and Digital Lab Sessions

January 4, 2019

Happy New Year from the Clark Library! As spring semester approaches, now is a great time to schedule instructional sessions before the calendar fills up. The Clark Library offers instruction in two areas: information literacy and multimedia skills.

For information literacy, librarians collaborate with faculty to tailor sessions to course content and students’ research needs. The Digital Lab coordinator provides assistance with creating assignments and instructs classes that have multimedia projects such as creating videos, digital posters, digital photography, and websites.

To request an information literacy session for your class, please email preferred dates and times to Stephanie Michel at michel@up.edu. To arrange multimedia instruction, please email José Velazco at velazco@up.edu.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Academics, Library Tagged With: Clark Library, Jose Velazco, Stephanie Michel

Title IX Brown Bag Lunch Session: Jan. 11

January 4, 2019

There will be a brown bag lunch session on Title IX open to all employees on Friday, January 11, from noon to 1 p.m., in the quiet side of Bauccio Commons, according to Meg Farra, human resources. Please come if you have questions or would like to learn more about the University’s efforts to address Title IX requirements.

Please RSVP to Farra at farra@up.edu.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Human Resources Tagged With: Human Resources, Meg Farra, TItle IX

New Flexible Spending Account Provider for 2019

January 4, 2019

With the start of 2019, employees are reminded to use the new Allegiance debit cards that should have been received in late December for all 2019 Flexible Spending Account expenditures. Flexible Spending Accounts are set up with Allegiance at this time. You can access your online profile with the following steps:

  1. Go to www.askallegiance.com.
  2. Select the Health/Reimbursement Login.
  3. Click on Register a New User.
  4. You will then be prompted to enter in some personal identifiers – including your SSN# and the zip code of your primary residence.
  5. Click Submit

If you have any trouble accessing the account online, please email benefits@up.edu for assistance.

Please be aware that Discovery Benefits debit cards expired mid-December 2018 and therefore issued new cards around the same time the Allegiance cards were sent out. Please note, both cards have the same activation phone number on them and look identical until you peel the white activation label off the cards, you will see that one set is for Discovery Benefits (2018 provider) and one for Allegiance (2019 provider). The Discovery Benefits cards should no longer be used now that 2018 has passed.

Reimbursements and receipts for any 2018 expenditures will still need to be submitted to Discovery Benefits and not the new provider Allegiance. You have until March 30, 2019 to submit reimbursement requests for 2018 with Discovery Benefits.

As noted previously, any unused 2018 medical flex spending balances between $20 and $500 will rollover to Allegiance in late April, 2019, and will be available for 2019 expenditures at that time. You did not have to elect a 2019 Allegiance medical FSA account for the rollover to occur.

Also, copays for self-referral massages through Kaiser CHP Program are not eligible for medical Flexible Spending accounts. Only massages that are prescribed by a doctor for a diagnosed medical condition will be eligible for medical FSA expenditures in 2019.

You can find all forms needed for both vendors in PilotsUP here.

For more information contact human resources at hr@up.edu.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Human Resources Tagged With: Flexible Spending Plan, Human Resources

Pilots Basketball, Kids Dance Clinic

January 4, 2019

Join the Pilots in the Chiles Center this Saturday, January 12, at 7 p.m. as our men’s basketball team opens their WCC home schedule versus Pacific. For all Pilot Kids Club members, there will be a free pregame pizza party starting at 6:15. This event will feature free pizza, drinks, inflatables, and a special appearance from Wally Pilot.

Also be sure to mark your calendars for the annual Kids Dance Clinic happening on the 26th of January, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., for kids aged 5-12 years. The women’s basketball team takes on USF starting at 2 p.m., and $25 per dancer includes game ticket, pom poms, and pizza lunch. Register here!

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Athletics Tagged With: Athletics, Kids Dance Clinic

Time To Review Your W-2

January 4, 2019

The payroll office is in the process of producing W-2 forms, and to ensure accurate information appears on their forms, employees are encouraged to carefully review their information, such as legal names, W-2 mailing addresses, social security numbers, and withholding W-4 allowances. Please submit any changes to the payroll office by January 14, 2019.

For faster service of the 2018 tax forms, please sign up for electronic delivery of W-2 forms. Please visit Self-Serve, Employee, Tax Forms, Electronic W-2 Consent (link). This remains in effect each year so you only must sign up once. The W-2’s will be available by January 31, 2019.

Filed Under: 01-07-2019, Campus Services, Payroll Tagged With: Payroll Office, W2 updates

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • YouTube

News Categories

UpDate

Natalie Nelson-Marsh, communication studies, participated as a panelist at the BizWomen Coalition Thought Leader Forum on January 26. Nelson-Marsh was invited as an expert to participate in the discussion of “Organizational Transformation – The Impact of COVID on the Future of Work.” Nelson-Marsh also attended a Western States Communication Association (WSCA) Teaching Workshop about “Preparing Students to Self-Advocate and Articulate the Value of Communication to Future Employers.”

Cara (CJ) Poor, Shiley School of Engineering, coauthored “Stormwater Treatment Effectiveness of Established Lined Bioretention Facilities in Portland Oregon.” Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, 7: 05021002.

Rebecca Smith and Nicole Ralston, education, presented “Developing teacher researchers: Pedagogical approaches for supporting teacher learning in assessment, evaluation, and research.” Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) annual meeting, Virtual Conference.

Toyin Olukotun, nursing, coauthored “African American Women’s Maternal Healthcare Experiences: A Critical Race Theory Perspective.” Health Communication. 2021 Feb 20:1-2.

Update Archive

About

UPbeat is a newsletter for University of Portland faculty and staff published through the marketing & communications office; submit information to Marc Covert, upbeat editor, at 8132 or upbeat@up.edu. Submission deadline is noon the Thursday prior to publication. Submissions may be edited for clarity, consistency, brevity, or style.

Copyright © 2021 · University of Portland