The College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) recognized the University’s Learning Commons with International Tutor Training Program Certification – Level I. This recognition by the CRLA authorizes the Learning Commons to certify tutors as meeting CRLA-approved requirements for Level I certified tutors. To become certified, the Learning Commons trained tutors must complete 11 hours of training and 25 hours of active tutoring time. In addition, Learning Commons tutor trainer and administrator Jeffrey White, international languages and cultures, observes and debriefs trainees prior to certification. White will submit materials for the next stage of certification in November 2018.
Tutor training and certification are part of a larger continuous effort to improve peer assistance in the Learning Commons as it seeks to meet standards and guidelines for peer learning assistance programs as developed by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. After having completed a CAS Standards self-assessment with staff of the Shepard Academic Resource Center, the Learning Commons is in the process of drafting a CAS Standards report by the end of summer.
Research shows that students benefit from well-trained tutors, and the ITTPC certification is the national gold standard for tutor training certification. The Learning Commons’ trained tutors and peer assistants handle approximately 4,600 tutoring sessions for around 1,200 unique visitors per year. In the current academic year, the Learning Commons is on track to surpass the number of visits and visitors.
Students can access tutoring and peer assistance in areas of writing, math, physics, chemistry, biology, nursing, languages, speeches and presentations, group work, economics, accounting, finance, business law, and sophomore engineering courses.
For more information on how faculty can encourage their students to improve their learning and gain confidence in their course work, please contact Jeffrey White at white@up.edu, x7141, or follow us on Facebook.
Ronald “Ron” Smit, who retired from the mathematics faculty in May 2005, passed away on February 20, 2018, in Vancouver, Washington, at the age of 77. Please join the University community at his Memorial Mass on Thursday, March 22 at 4:30 p.m., in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. For questions, please contact campus ministry at x7131 or 
On the Tuesday following commencement, University faculty traditionally celebrate and reflect upon the joys and toils of our noble profession and of a year well spent on the Bluff. Faculty Development Day, taking place on May 8, 2018, is this very day. The theme of the day will be “Inclusive Excellence in the Student-Centered University,” which will be the subject of a morning keynote address and several mid-day sessions. Another University tradition is the offering of sessions by you and your peers on topics of interest to you and your peers. The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is accepting proposals from faculty who would like to organize 45-minute sessions for Faculty Development Day. Please send your suggestions to committee chair Matthew Kuhn (
The University of Portland Hawaii Club’s annual Lū’au will take place on Saturday, March 24, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., in the Chiles Center. Every year the University’s Hawaiian community offers authentic aloha hospitality with kalua pig, shoyu chicken, poi, and other Hawaiian delicacies plus traditional dancers and decor.
Over the weekend of March 23-25, a group of 37 students and 22 student leaders will be on the Encounter with Christ (EWC) Retreat. All faculty and staff are asked to consider writing a note (palanca) to students they may know on the attendance list. This is an opportunity to encourage students and express appreciation for them outside the classroom. Each retreatant will receive an envelope of surprise palanca. Please do not discuss this concept with students, which will help to keep it a surprise.
A representative from TIAA, which administers the University’s retirement accounts, will be on campus for appointments on Thursday, April 12, and Friday, April 13
Faculty members are encouraged to send the names of academically and experientially exceptional, ambitious rising seniors who would benefit from attending graduate school at Cambridge, Oxford, or one of the other premier UK institutions, to the Office of Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement, according to John Orr, assistant to the provost.
Gabriel Said Reynolds will present the annual Hesburgh Lecture, “Islam, the Catholic Church, and the Future of the World,” on Wednesday, March 21, at 7:15 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. The lecture is free and open to all. In his talk, Reynolds will examine how Islam challenges Christian beliefs, reflect on how the Catholic Church should respond to these challenges, and offer a vision of how Muslims and Christians might work together to counter religious extremism. Reynolds researches the Qur’ān and Muslim/Christian relations as professor of islamic studies and theology in the Department of Theology at Notre Dame. This event is co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Notre Dame Club of Portland. For ADA accommodations or more information, visit the 
The next meeting of the Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group will be on Friday, March 23, from 3:30-5 p.m., in the Murphy Room. The group will be discussing “Reflections on the Cosmic Perspective” excerpted from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s 2017 book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and the poem “The Brain is Wider Than the Sky” by Emily Dickinson. Readings are available on the 
The next Music at Midweek will feature student musical performances on Wednesday, March 21, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. The event is free and all are welcome. Performers will include Thomas Curran, baritone; Mike Cleary, bass; David Rodgers, bassoon; Alissa Henderson, soprano; and Nicolai Bajanov, piano.