Fresh Check Day, a mental health fair that combines fun activities with educational information about mental health and suicide awareness, will take place on Friday, March 23, from noon to 3 p.m., on the quiet side of the Bauccio Commons. Come join us for an afternoon filled with food trucks, zumba, meditation, fun games, and much more. Last year UP was the first school in Oregon to host a Fresh Check Day. For ADA accommodations, please contact Matt Connolly at connolle@up.edu.
03-19-2018
NUCL Keynote: “Does Literature Change Anything? Lessons from African American Writing,” March 24
Kenneth W. Warren will present will present “Does Literature Change Anything? Lessons from African American Writing,” the keynote address for the 2018 Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL), on Saturday, March 24, at 1:45 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons. His talk is free and open to all.
Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Professor in the English department at the University of Chicago. His most recent book is What Was African American Literature? (2011) and he is co-editor (with Adolph Reed Jr.) of Renewing Black Intellectual History: The Ideological and Material Foundations of African American Thought (2009).
NUCL is sponsored by the English department, the provost’s office, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the dean of admissions. For ADA accommodations or more information, contact the Department of English at x8031 or hiro@up.edu.
School of Education Summer Learning Program
Each year, the School of Education sponsors a tutoring program for later elementary, middle, and high school students in the summer. The program is held on campus and this year it will run July 2-August 2, Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Students entering grades 4-11 in 2018-19 will work with tutors who are master of arts in teaching (MAT) program candidates. The MAT students/tutors work with students on their learning needs in math, reading, writing, speaking, and other subjects. If you would like to register your child online, you may do so here. Please direct any questions to the School of Education (x7135 or soed@up.edu).
Software Request Time for Classrooms and Labs
Information services will begin creating the computer classroom and lab software builds for the 2018 summer and fall terms in early April. A software build is applied to all computers in a computer lab or classroom and contains a set of applications that the students require access to in order to complete their coursework. The computer classroom/lab software builds start from a “blank slate” which means that whatever software was available for the spring 2018 semester will not be available for the 2018 summer or fall semester unless it is specifically requested. Exceptions are Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher), standard browsers and anti-virus protection. Please fill out the request survey here.
If you are interested in requesting software for other locations that are not labs or classrooms, please contact the help desk (help@up.edu or x7000).
A note to School of Engineering faculty: This request process if for installations in rooms outside of Shiley Hall.
Funding for new software is the responsibility of the requesting department. The software build and deployment process is extremely labor intensive; therefore, software requests must be submitted no later than March 30 if you want the software to appear on the computer classroom/lab software build for the summer or fall 2018 semester.
Please call the help desk at extension x7000 if you have questions.
Welcome Reception for Playwright Emilio Williams, March 23
Faculty and staff are invited to a welcome reception for comedy playwright Emilio Williams on Friday, March 23, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the lobby of Mago Hunt Center. The reception is generously supported by the Beckman Humor Project. Williams is an international playwright who hails from Spain, calls Chicago home, and is a writing fellow pursuing a master of fine arts at the Art Institute of Chicago. Known for his plays Smartphones, Your Problem With Men, and Medea’s Got Some Issues, Williams is writing and teaching in residence at the University of Portland. This week he will teach a theater course and a fine arts course, record a podcast with Lora Looney, performing and fine arts, on teaching comedy, and will conduct an extensive script-writing workshop with sixteen students enrolled in the course Nation & Identity in Spanish Theater, 1788-1931, completely in Spanish.
Williams’ visit is supported by the College of Arts and Sciences, international languages and cultures, and performing and fine arts. Contact Looney, performing and fine arts, for more information at looney@up.edu or extension x7239.
Please Apply for Summer Tuition Remission by April 15
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 Sunday, April 15, according to Sandy Chung, human resources.
It is required that remission requests be 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 and graduate course work tuition remission. 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 W-2 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 this link for further details. If you have more questions and/or need more information contact Sandy Chung, human resources, at chung@up.edu.
2017 Tax Reform Legislation: Time to Double-Check Withholding
Tax reform legislation enacted in December, 2017 makes a number of changes for 2018 that affect individual taxpayers. The IRS has released the 2018 Form W-4, and has updated the IRS withholding calculator in order to assist taxpayers in determining the appropriate withholding allowances for the 2018 tax year.
The IRS specifically encourages taxpayers who fall into the following groups to double-check their withholding:
- Two-income families;
- Taxpayers with two or more jobs at the same time or who only work for part of the year;
- Taxpayers with children who claim credits such as the child tax credit;
- Taxpayers who itemized deductions in 2017; and/or
- High-income taxpayers and those with complex tax returns.
Below are links to the 2018 Form W-4 and IRS withholding calculator. While the IRS has stated that employees are not required to make any changes, they have strongly recommended that employees review their withholding to make sure it is accurate.
To access the IRS withholding calculator please use this link.
To view the 2018 Form W4 click on this link.
Please send new W-4 forms to the payroll department at least 10 days prior to the pay date you would like the change to take effect. If you have any questions please contact the payroll department at payroll@up.edu.
TLC Tip of the Week: Virtual Reality in the Classroom
Virtual reality is an emerging technology that allows students to create and learn in immersive environments. According to the American Library Association, this trend will grow in the near future as multimedia producers seek to create more engaging modes of visual storytelling. The Digital Lab currently offers a variety of titles including:
Visit the Digital Lab website for more information regarding Virtual Reality. Faculty are invited to schedule a consultation with lab coordinator José Velazco (velazco@up.edu) and collaborate on a multimedia assignment.