UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

04-01-2013

Nominate Maloney Scholars

Each year, the Maloney Family Foundation Endowed Scholarship invites University faculty and staff to nominate current full-time undergraduate students who meet the following criteria as established by the donor:

  • Academic achievement
  • Outstanding contribution to the University
  • Outstanding contribution to the community.

Nominations should provide information about a students’ activities, involvement with campus projects, community service/ volunteer efforts off-campus, and any awards or special recognition. Preference will be given to seniors who plan to graduate in May or August of 2014. Please forward nominations in writing or by e-mail to Denise Stack at stack@up.edu by Friday, April 26.

Mock Trial Championships

The University of Portland sent two competing squads to the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) Opening Round Champion­ships on March 22-24 in Memphis, Tenn., the first time the University sent two squads with winning records to this national tournament. One squad placed 13th out of 24, and the other placed 22nd out of 24. Neither squad advanced to the final tournament in Washington, D.C., but senior UP student Brenna Twohy was recognized as an outstanding attorney with a score of 17 out of a possible 20, and sophomore Nicolas Barradas was recognized as an outstanding attorney with a perfect 20/20 score. For more information contact coach Aaron Johnson, political science department, at johnsocu@up.edu.

Pilot Kids Day Camps

Pilot Kids Camp has begun taking registrations for this summer. There are three sessions this year on June 17-21, June 24-28, Aug 5-9. Children entering grades 1-6 are eligible and University of Portland staff get a reduced rate. Camp is limited to 50 children each session. Counselors are University of Portland students. Check the website at www.up.edu/recservices for more information or call Brian Dezzani at 7177.

TIAA-CREF Counseling Sessions

University employees have a new TIAA-CREF investment counselor, Yasemin Under, and there will be an increased number of dates and times for individual financial counseling sessions on campus. Spring 2013 dates will include Tuesday, April 16; Wednesday, April 17; and Thursday, April 18. To see available times and sign up, go to the HR website at http://www.up.edu/hr/ or go to www.tiaa-cref.org/ScheduleNow, or call TIAA CREF at 866-928-4221 (press 0) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information contact Andy Sherwood, human resources, at 8981 or sherwood@up.edu.

Faith & Intellectual Life Discussion Group

The final gathering of the Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group will be Friday, April 5, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., in the Franz Hall Murphy conference room. The group will discuss three pieces: “Losing Our Religion” by Katherine Ozment, “Awe and the Religious Life: a Naturalistic Perspective” by Howard Wettstein, and Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Meaning.” All faculty and staff are welcome to attend; refreshments will be served. The readings are available as online reserves under the names Norah Martin or Karen Eifler. For more information contact Karen Eifler at eifler@up.edu.

Peer Review Strategies Workshop

The Writing Resource Center and Teaching and Learning Collaborative invite all faculty to a workshop, “Using Peer Review Strategies to Improve Student Writing and Learning,” on Wednesday, April 17, from 4-5 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 319, according to Karen Eifler, education. This will be a hands-on session, with input from panelists Lars Larson, Elayne Shapiro, Lisa Reed, and Karen Eifler, and time for questions, discussion, and practice. Light refreshments will be served. For more information contact Larson at larson@up.edu or Eifler at eifler@up.edu.

Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise”

The performing and fine arts department will present Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (“Winter’s Journey”) on Sunday, April 7, at 3 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The concert is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. Schubert’s masterwork will be performed by acclaimed pianist John Wustman, who will join faculty member Nicole Leupp Hanig in performing the set of twenty-four songs with texts by German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. Wustman’s musical career began in the 1950s with Robert Shaw and went on to include lengthy associations with singers such as Birgit Nilsson, Christa Ludwig, Carlo Bergonzi, and Luciano Pavarotti. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Summer Tuition Remission

Eligible employees who intend to use their tuition remission benefit during the summer semester are encouraged to apply using the online request tool no later than Friday, April 5, according to Bryn Sopko, human resources. It is required that remission requests are approved at least 2 weeks before the first class, or late charges may be applied to an employee’s account.

There are separate application forms for undergraduate (http://tinyurl.com/42haqs2) and graduate course work tuition remission (http://tinyurl.com/7sx5zs8). Any graduate level tuition remission benefit will be taxable to the employee on the value above $5,250 for attempted credits and subject to applicable withholdings and will be reflected on the W2 of the tax year the remission was applied. Time away from an employee’s regular work day must be approved in advance by the supervisor. Tuition exchange at other universities is not available to employees. See the Tuition Remission Policy Summary at http://tinyurl.com/czyvnrb for further details.

Campus Security Tips

Public safety director Gerald Gregg and physical plant director André Hutchinson have asked campus personnel to keep a few tips in mind to improve overall campus security:

  • Master keys should be kept inside a locked office or secure area and should never be taken home or removed from campus.
  • University issued building keys should be kept on a generic key ring without any attachments identifying a UP connection.
  • UP ID cards should never be clipped or attached to key rings.
  • University issued building keys should never be swapped or transferred among faculty or staff, even within the same department.
  • All keys are issued to specific individuals; any changes/transfers should be coordinated through the locksmith shop.

For more information contact public safety at 7161.

Changes To UP Zipcar Program

Over the next few months, the University will be making changes to the UP Zipcar program. As of April 1, 2013, no new members will be added to the University account, and any user who has not used the Zipcar 4-hours personal use program over the past eight months will be removed from the account. All University-provided memberships will be closed as of June 30.

The University continues to encourage use of alternative transportation options to reduce single occupancy vehicle travel to campus. Employees can create personal Zipcar accounts and continue to have access to both on- and off-campus Zipcars. All new members signing up for a personal account will be offered a free first year membership. Zipcar Business members who intend to continue to use Zipcar for business use will need to open a new personal account with Zipcar when their University-provided membership expires on June 30. Employees with approval to use Zipcar for business travel will be asked to attach a University P-card to their Zipcar account for billing. Zipcar use for business travel will be subject to approval by an employee’s supervisor.

Personal Zipcar accounts can be set up online at www.zipcar.com/uportland, or over the phone by calling member services at 1-866-4ZIPCAR.