UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

03-29-2021

Public Humanities at UP: Imagining PRF’s Future, April 8

What are the “Public Humanities”? How have UP faculty and students participated in Public Humanities work? And how might the Public Humanities enable or inspire your own thinking, learning, and teaching—and be mutually enriching for you and for the public? The organizers of the Public Research Fellows program invite you to join a discussion of these questions and more on Thursday, April 8 from 4-5:15 p.m. at this Zoom link. We’ll be sharing some pillars of the public humanities, giving an overview of how the PRF program has enacted these, and inviting input from participants about other ways of envisioning Public Humanities work at UP and beyond. Whether you’ve been involved in this work before, have been merely curious about it, or are even skeptical about the need for anything called “public humanities,” we’d love to hear your insights.

All members of the UP community–faculty, staff, and students–are welcome.

Public Humanities at UP Flyer.

New Director for Office of Alumni and Parent Relations: Gina Amato Yazzolino

Gina Amato Yazzolino ’96 has been named director of alumni and parent relations effective April 12.  Yazzolino succeeds Craig Swinyard, Ph.D. ’98, who stepped away from the position last December to resume teaching as an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics.

“Our University of Portland community will benefit from Gina’s strong non-profit experience and her zeal for relationship-building,” said Bryce Strang, vice president for University relations.  “At a time when we are hopeful to return to some sense of normalcy, Gina joins a collaborative, University–wide effort to connect and provide meaningful engagement opportunities with our alumni and parent population.”

Yazzolino comes to UP from the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oregon where she was development manager since 2015 with a special focus on major gifts and planned giving.  Her career also features other successful nonprofit assignments, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Archbishop Howard School at St. Rose.

“It is an honor and privilege to be joining the University of Portland community as director of alumni and parent telations,” said Yazzolino.  “As a proud alumna returning to The Bluff, I look forward to strengthening connections and engagement with the alumni and parent communities through service, leadership, advocacy and faith rooted in our Holy Cross education.” 

Reminder: Proctorio Available for Campus Wide Use

As we approach finals, the ATSI team would like to remind you that Proctorio, an online proctoring solution, is available for use with exams given via Moodle. This solution will allow you to flag certain behaviors for observation by the plugin, which will submit reports to you following your exam to review any questionable activity which it observes based on criteria you set. Use of this program makes proctoring and administering of online exams more flexible since you do not need to sit online with your students to observe via Zoom or Teams.

More information on using the Proctorio online proctoring option can be found on the ATSI Online Testing and Proctoring page on PilotsUP.

Visio Divina With The Saint John’s Bible: The Crucifixion

As the Church enters its Holy Week, you’re invited to take some time—about 15 minutes—wherever you are, to enter imaginatively into the illumination of The Crucifixion from The Saint John’s Bible and hear the story of Jesus’s path to the death that would set the world free. This is Visio Divina—sacred seeing—an ancient form of contemplative prayer that requires only your presence. Allow yourself some quiet space to relax into gentle music, sacred words and lustrous image in this guided video experience.

Clark Library: UP Student Newspapers Digital Archive

The Clark Library is pleased to announce the launch of an online UP Student Newspapers Collection. In October 2019, the library received an Oregon Heritage Grant to digitize and preserve UP’s student newspapers: The Columbiad and The Beacon. It took a year and a half to digitize the print newspapers which are housed in the University Archives. Now, eleven decades (1902-2016) consisting of 2,242 issues and over 26,000 pages are accessible through the Clark Library’s Digital Collections portal. Anyone with an Internet connection can browse the newspapers, try the keyword searching feature to look up specific people and events, or see a selection of highlighted issues including the popular April Fool’s “The Bacon” issues.

For more information, contact Philip Vue, Clark Library, at vue@up.edu.

So You Want an Internship? Workshop, March 30

Do you know students who are looking for an internship? This workshop will help them create an Internship Search Action Plan, and orient them to the resources that will help them along the process! If your students are thinking about gaining professional experience over the summer, but don’t know where to start or feel stuck: this workshop is for them!

The next workshop will be offered on Tuesday, March 30 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. RSVP in Handshake to access the Zoom Link.

For questions or accommodations, contact Audrey Fancher, Career Center, at fancher@up.edu.

New Men’s Basketball Coach: Shantay Legans

The University of Portland has hired Shantay Legans as men’s basketball head coach, Vice President for Athletics Scott Leykam announced last Monday.

Legans comes to The Bluff after 12 years at Eastern Washington University where he helped lead the Eagles to five of its seven all-time postseason appearances. In his four years as head coach in Cheney, he compiled the best overall (.605) and conference (.726) winning percentages in school history. As head coach, he also guided the Eagles to an NCAA Tournament appearance, Big Sky Coach of the Year honor and two conference championships. Legans was also serves on the NCAA Rules Committee and CollegeInsider.com’s Eracism Committee for promoting equality and inclusion in collegiate athletics.

“It is an honor to welcome Shantay to the University of Portland family,” Leykam said. “In the interview process, we shared the strong belief that the University of Portland very much has the potential to be successful in men’s basketball and we’re excited to realize that potential together. We were especially impressed with his ability to install a strong team culture, emphasize the importance of academic success and develop his student-athletes both on and off the floor. We’re extremely glad he is on board and look forward to working with him to provide the program with the resources needed to take the important next steps.”

“My family and I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity at the University of Portland,” Legans said. “Through the process, I had a chance to get to know Scott, Jason and Father Mark, as well as members of the Board of Regents, and get a feel for their vision for the future of the UP men’s basketball program. Not only did our philosophies and values align, but I could feel the university’s support and commitment to winning in every conversation. That made my family and I feel very comfortable, and it became very clear to us how special a place Portland is, both the university and the community as a whole. This place has massive potential, and I am so incredibly honored and humbled to have been chosen to lead the Pilots into the next chapter. We are going to win here, and I can’t wait to get to Portland and get to work!”

At Eastern Washington, Legans was a very impressive 75-49 (.605) overall and 53-20 in the Big Sky Conference (.726). Legans’ .726 conference winning percentage is the best in the Big Sky in the last 30 years and second best all-time among coaches with at least four years in the league. Including Big Sky Conference Tournament games (7-2), Legans is 60-22 versus Big Sky Conference competition for a .732 winning percentage.

The Eagles won 12 or more conference games and finished in third place or higher in each of his four seasons. His four-year total of 53 wins is the best all-time at EWU in 34 seasons in the league, as Eastern has won at least 10 league games for the eighth-straight season. That only happened six times before in EWU’s first 26 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I.

In his final season at Eastern Washington, Legans piloted the Eagles to their third NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. The Eagles reached the NCAAs after reeling off three convincing victories in the Big Sky Tournament by an average of almost 15 points per game. At the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles led third seeded Kansas by double digits in the second half before falling 93-84. The Eagles, who won 13 of their last 15 games, finished their magical season with a 16-8 record, including a 12-3 mark and second place finish in the Big Sky. Four of the Eagles eight losses came against Power 5 opposition, including one possession defeats at Arizona and Washington State. The Eagles dominated Big Sky postseason honors with Tanner Groves being named Player of the Year, Kim Aiken Jr. Defensive Player of the Year and Tyler Robertson Big Sky Reserve of the Year.

Read more about Legans on the Portland Pilots site.

Apply For Sabbaticals by June 15

Applications for sabbaticals for the 2022-2023 academic year are due along with faculty development plans to faculty members’ respective deans by June 15, 2021. All materials including letter from the Dean to the Provost are due to the Provost by September 1, 2021. Faculty eligible to apply for a sabbatical must have completed seven years of full-time teaching at the University of Portland, or have completed at a minimum an additional seven years of full-time teaching since a previously funded University of Portland sabbatical.

Sabbatical requests are coordinated with departmental planning as well as the individual faculty member’s annual development plan. With careful planning the academic units have been able to take into consideration the needs of both the individual faculty member and the department or school. Additional information about sabbatical leaves can be found on page 44 of the Faculty Handbook.

For more information, please contact the provost’s office at x7105 or staten@up.edu.

Easter Sunday Mass on the Quad, April 4

Join us for our Easter Sunday Mass happening outside on the main academic quad.  We are limited in the number of people who can gather safely in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher for liturgy in person, yet larger religious gatherings outdoors are permissible and attend to the safety of all present.  In an effort to allow for as many people as possible to attend the Easter Sunday Mass we will have it outside at 10:30 a.m. Mass on April 4 in the academic quad facing Franz Hall. University of Portland faculty, staff and students are welcome to join.  Please bring your own blanket or lawn chair for seating on the grass.  Please also fill out this form to indicate your intention to come as it will help us to track numbers as well as communicate any information if inclement weather causes us to adjust our plans.   The Mass will also be streamed on the Campus Ministry YouTube Channel.

Contact Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (gallaghe@up.edu) or Fr. Tim Weed, C.S.C. (weed@up.edu) with any questions.

Title IX Advisory Meeting, March 29

All members of the UP community are invited to join the Title IX Advisory Committee and attend our meetings on Mondays at 11 a.m. this Spring.

Title IX Advisory Committee Meetings for Spring will take place at the following times on Zoom (https://uportland.zoom.us/j/97562343235). Our remaining meetings are on:

  • Monday, March 29 at 11 a.m.
  • Monday, April 26 at 11 a.m.

If you aren’t able to make the Monday morning meetings you can stay up in the loop about meeting discussion topics by checking out the meeting minutes available on the Title IX website.

Regardless of your ability to attend the Monday morning meetings, you’re invited to join a subcommittee to work toward positive change. Subcommittees focus on a particular need identified for our community and work towards their goals and meet outside of the main Title IX Advisory Committee meeting.

  • Cultural Change and Education Committee
  • Student Advocacy Program Committee
  • Non-UP Confidential Resource Program Committee

Please email titleix@up.edu if you are interested in joining a subcommittee.