UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

03-25-2019

Together We All Add UP!

Mark your calendar for April 3-4, noon to noon, and get ready for one of the biggest days of the year for the University of Portland!  #PilotsGive is a day of worldwide Pilot pride that raises critical support for scholarships, programs, innovative learning experiences, and student success. Will you help the University set a record with $1M in annual gifts in only 24 hours?

Last year over 2,000 Pilots made a gift and helped unlock challenge dollars that resulted in a total of $700,000 for programs and funds around campus. With #PilotsGive we can all continue creating positive change and amazing opportunities for students.

Together we all add UP!

For more information contact development at giving@up.edu  or x8003.

University of Portland Ranked 9th Nationally for Peace Corps Volunteers

University of Portland is ranked 9th nationally among peer institutions as a top producer of Peace Corps volunteers, according to a study released by the agency on March 20, 2019. UP currently has 12 alumni serving around the world. Since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, more than 220 University graduates have become Peace Corp volunteers.

The Peace Corps annually ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities based on the size of the school. UP’s size places it among the “small school” category and is one of four Oregon universities included in this year’s rankings. Nationally, the State of Oregon ranked 4th for having the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers per capita in 2018.

The complete 2019 list of rankings of all 25 top schools in each in each category is available here, and an interactive map of where alumni from each college and university are serving can be seen here.

Andre Hutchinson Farewell Gathering, March 29

After seven years at UP, physical plant director Andre Hutchinson is leaving for a new position as assistant vice president for facilities management at the University of San Diego. Andre’s colleagues will be gathering in the Pilot house on Friday, March 29, from 4 to 6 p.m., to thank him for his service on The Bluff and wish him well as he begins this new chapter. All are invited to attend.

For more information contact Jim Ravelli, University operations, at landtise@up.edu.

 

 

 

Time To Say Cheese, Please: March 26

Each month, the marketing office schedules a photographer to take a small number of head shots, available on a first-come, first-served basis, for our online directory. The next session is Tuesday, March 26, from 11 a.m. to noon. To schedule an appointment or for questions, please e-mail Suzanne Frey at freys@up.edu no later than 3 p.m. on Monday, March 25.

Photos will be taken in Clark Library’s Digital Lab, located on the second floor, Room 215. Only those with confirmed appointments may attend.  Please note: These appointments are limited to faculty and staff who currently do not have a professional headshot in the online directory.

New Grants Signal Science Success

The College of Arts and Sciences Natural Sciences and Mathematics division is pleased to announce that four junior faculty in the departments of biology, chemistry, and environmental studies have each received external grants to support their research and K-12 outreach work in the local community. Collectively, these individual grants total almost $180,000, with an additional $50,000 in matching funds contributed by CAS. This success in funding is a demonstration of the commitment faculty have made to pushing the boundaries of science, while simultaneously engaging with undergraduate and local K-12 students in transformational educational endeavors. The first of these grants is funded by the Society for Developmental Biology and the latter three by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which has been a generous, key contributor to CAS for many years. All four projects will involve undergraduate students.

Laura Dyer, biology, received an SDB Education Grant, “Engaging elementary school students in developmental biology through brine shrimp lifecycle activities.” This grant will provide approximately $1,500 for dissecting microscopes and lab supplies in support of a developmental biology-related project for the fourth graders of Astor K-8 School.

Rachel Hutcheson, chemistry, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Spectroscopic, mechanistic, and structural investigations of uncharacterized radical S-adenosyl L-methionine enzymes.” Funding in the amount of $59,650 will support research on Radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) enzymes, using an anaerobic chamber (a chamber with no oxygen).

Kristin Sweeney, environmental studies, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Quantifying feedbacks between topography, rock properties, sediment, and ecology on rocky shore platforms of the Oregon Coast.” This grant will provide $58,777 in research funds to use combined measurements of topography, rock hardness, and biodiversity to quantify the extent to which topography influences ecosystem structure and vice versa. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration with Tara Prestholdt, biology, and is a great example of how UP’s close campus community can inspire fruitful cross-departmental partnerships.

Susan Murray, biology, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Effect of SMAC (second mitochondrial activator of caspases) mimetics on human T cell activation and function.” This project is essentially about understanding the signals that determine T cell activation. $60,000 in funds will help drive research on an overall hypothesis that a new class of chemotherapy drugs called SMAC mimetics, which were developed for their ability to kill cancer cells, might have a very different effect on T cells—namely to relieve T cell negative regulation, and thus improve the ability of T cells to attack a patient’s tumor.

For more information contact the College of Arts and Sciences at x7221 or cas@up.edu. 

 

 

So What Is Eco-Action, Anyway?

Faculty and staff members have probably seen Eco-Action stickers put up by the College Ecology Club and ASUP Committee on Sustainability, located in the academic buildings and the Bauccio Commons hallways and bathrooms. If you find yourself wondering, “So what in the heck is Eco-Action, anyway?,” you can find out more in this article by Ruby Beauchamp in the Beacon Online.

 

 

 

“Turning a Pope’s Reputation Upside Down,” March 27

Mark Ruff, professor of history at Saint Louis University, will offer a lecture entitled “Turning a Pope’s Reputation Upside Down: Pope Pius XII and Nazi Germany” on Wednesday, March 27, at 7:15 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. The lecture is free and open to all.

In his talk, Ruff will examine how, after the death of Pope Pius XII, he went from being regarded as the “pope of peace” to the “pope who had been silent” in the face of the fascist threat and the Holocaust. What caused this dramatic turnaround and turned Pius XII into the target of culture wars that still rage today?

For ADA accommodations or more information contact the Garaventa Center at x7702 or up.edu/garaventa/events.

TIAA Representative on Campus March 26-28

A representative from TIAA, which administers the University’s retirement accounts, will be on campus on March 26-28, according to Laura Barnard, human resources. Financial counseling appointments with Rebecca Rohleder (pictured) are available during work hours on those days in the Career Center in Orrico Hall. Schedule your appointment today at www.tiaa-cref.org/schedulenow or by calling TIAA at 877.842.2028 (press 5 to schedule an appointment).

Please email benefits@up.edu with questions.

 

 

Music at Midweek: Voice Technique Master Class, March 27

The next Music at Midweek will feature a master class lecture on “Contemporary and Commercial Voice Technique” by Matthew Edwards on Wednesday, March 27, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Music at Midweek is free and open to all.

Edwards is one of the leading voice teachers for commercial and musical theatre styles in the United States. He serves as associate professor and coordinator of musical theatre voice at Shenandoah University, artistic director of the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute, and much more.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Faculty Development Day, May 7: Session Proposals Welcome

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is excited to announce this year’s Faculty Development Day theme, “Compassionate listening and responding: How to transform UP into a more diverse, supportive, and inclusive campus.” The morning keynote address and several late morning sessions will be centered around this theme. The remaining sessions, most of which will occur in the afternoon, are then open to a variety of topics, which may or may not relate to the overall theme.

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is now accepting proposals from faculty who would like to organize 45-minute sessions on a topic of their choice. Please send suggestions/requests to committee chair Hannah Highlander (tas@up.edu) no later than Friday, April 12. Please include a title and abstract, along with any other preferences or special needs. The committee will make every effort to accommodate requests.