UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

04-20-2020

Finalists For University Provost: Please Participate in Virtual Forums

University president Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., has announced the final stages of the search for the next provost. From a field of over 300 interested individuals, the Provost Search Committee has worked diligently to select the following three finalists for the provost position:

  • Herbert A. Medina, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Portland
  • Elizabeth A. Throop, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs at Frostburg State University
  • Brian D. Till, Ph.D., former dean of the College of Business Administration at Marquette University

Due to travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines, in-person interaction with finalists cannot take place. The Search Committee and Fr. Poorman have determined that thetask of selecting UP’s next provost can, and should, continue.

All members of the University community are invited to participate in a series of virtual forums with our finalists using the Zoom platform. During these forums, participants will hear directly from our finalists and will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in dialogue. The following schedule has been established for  community member forums:

  • Monday, May 4 (Elizabeth A. Throop)
    • Forum for Students: 12 PM to 1 PM
    • Forum for Non-Academic Staff: 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM
    • Forum for Faculty and Academic Staff: 4 PM to 5:30 PM
  • Monday, May 11 (Herbert A. Medina)
    • Forum for Students: 12 PM to 1 PM
    • Forum for Non-Academic Staff: 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM
    • Forum for Faculty and Academic Staff: 4 PM to 5:30 PM
  • Thursday, May 14 (Brian D. Till)
    • Forum for Students: 12 PM to 1 PM
    • Forum for Non-Academic Staff: 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM
    • Forum for Faculty and Academic Staff: 4 PM to 5:30 PM

These forums will be recorded for later viewing. Videos of each forum will be posted to the Provost Search Portal (discussed below). In addition to these open forums, each finalist will participate in a series of interviews with smaller groups of students, faculty, and staff.

Finally, the University has created a comprehensive Provost Search Portal on PilotsUP. All students, faculty, and staff have access to the Portal, which contains:

  • Links to the finalists’ CVs;
  • Zoom links for each of the Community Member Forums noted above;
  • A form enabling you to share questions you would like our finalists to answer during their respective forums;
  • The University’s Equal Opportunity Statement, which all are asked to read prior to taking part in forums; and,
  • Finalist Evaluation Forms allowing you to provide feedback on our finalists.

For more information contact the president’s office at x7101 or simek@up.edu.

10 UP Students Named Fulbright Finalists

John Orr of the undergraduate scholarly engagement office is pleased to report that 10 UP students from the Class of 2020 were named as Fulbright U.S. Student Program Finalists and offered awards to teach English abroad. It is hoped that Fulbright recipients will be able to travel to their programs in fall 2020; the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has instituted a temporary pause of all Bureau of ECA-funded international exchange programs, including Fulbright.

UP finalists include:

  • Erick Berrelleza, Mexico
  • Travis Bigelow, Mexico
  • Joshua Bode, Mexico
  • Isabel Cortens, Argentina
  • Autumn Fluetsch, Luxembourg
  • Athena Hills, Germany
  • Surabhi Joglekar, Taiwan
  • Preston Korst, Bulgaria
  • Amanda Mosler, Colombia
  • Joanne Tran, Taiwan

The United States Fulbright program began in 1946 after World War II to “assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and other countries of the world” through the exchange of students, scholars and professionals. The program operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

For more information contact Orr at orr@up.edu.

 

UP Financial Self-Care Week: All Welcome!

All faculty and staff are invited to take part in the UP Financial Self-Care Week, starting Saturday, April 18 and concluding on Friday, April 24, according to Chris Dunnaville, business. Please use this link to register. The link takes those interested to the UP Cash Flow Club website, where there is a complete schedule along with program/session and speaker information and a registration form. Upon registering, the club will screen all the forms received and then approve them and forward a Zoom URL and password for the desired sessions. The club is set up to include as many as 500 persons per session for the webinars and 300 for the Friday Job and Internship Meeting with breakout rooms.

All speakers are confirmed and the club is ready to provide the innovative online sessions to our community during National Financial Literacy month. The students that worked on this are amazing and look forward to putting on the series.

Most of the sessions will be recorded and placed on the Cash Flow Club’s website at the conclusion of the program. For more information contact Dunnaville at dunnavil@up.edu.

Clark Library: Summer Instruction Sessions and Course Reserves

Beginning to think about summer? The Clark Library can assist you by providing virtual library instruction for classes and by providing students with online access to readings through the course reserves system. To schedule a class meeting with a librarian, please email preferred dates and times to reference@up.edu. To arrange multimedia instruction through the Digital Lab, please email José Velazco at velazco@up.edu. For course readings, if you plan to reuse items that were previously on reserve, let us know and we can find that list in our archive. For new items, email a list of citations to library@up.edu. Please include the course name, course number and section(s), and instructor name(s). Questions? Email library@up.edu.

Reunion 2020 Canceled: UP Community Is Always Here For You

The alumni and parent relations office has reached the difficult decision to cancel Alumni Reunion Weekend for 2020. While current reports from the CDC suggest that June 25–28 may be safe for large gatherings, we asked ourselves, “What is the best way to serve our alumni in the coming months?” Our decision to cancel this weekend was made not only out of concern for everyone’s health and safety, but also because we recognize that, for many of you, large milestones are currently being celebrated or mourned through screens and phone calls rather than in-person gatherings: weddings, births, passing of loved ones, anniversaries, retirements, and graduations.

This cancellation is assuredly an acknowledgement of the important opportunity for this summer to be one where you can reconnect with your friends, your family, your neighbors, and your local community. We appreciate that financial uncertainty may be weighing on you as well.

Your UP community is always here for you. And we look forward, now more than ever, to bringing everyone together for an exuberant celebration of Pilots at Reunion 2021. Our gathering as a community will be that much sweeter.

For more information contact alumni and parent relations at alumni@up.edu.

Patron Saints For The Current Condition: Did You Know?

Patron Saints in Catholicism are venerable women and men from throughout history who are heavenly advocates for places, professions, and people. In these unprecedented times, we’ll share some especially relevant patron saints to intercede for us all.

St. Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of televisions and computer screens, believe it or not. An early follower of St. Francis, Clare founded The Order of Poor Ladies, which eventually became known as the Poor Clares. Late in her life, she fell too ill to attend church, and one day the images and sounds of the entire Mass appeared in full on the wall of her room. This story would have been well-known to Italian native Pope Pius XII, who in 1957 named her the patroness of this new invention—television—that, in his words, “is a wonderful instrument… which can be the source of very great wealth, but also of deep troubles.” This may be why he chose a saint steeped in humility, poverty, and love of God as its patroness. St. Clare is also the patron saint of sore eyes and embroidery, so let us invoke her prayers on our behalf as we learn to teach and work online and perhaps cultivate new hobbies as we shelter in place. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us!

“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPbeat that reveals the wondrous and occasionally peculiar world of Catholicism. We will close out this academic year with information on patron saints for the current condition. Direct questions or ideas to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C., or Karen Eifler.

Flexible Spending Changes Due To CARES Act

There are a number of changes to employees’ 2020 Medical Flexible Spending account due to passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, according to Laura Barnard, human resources.

The rules for reimbursement of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and medicines have been changed. The CARES Act now allows employees to use their medical FSA funds for over the counter (OTC) medical products without a prescription from a physician.  Click here to see OTC list. Please note, Allegiance is working on modifying the debit card system to allow acceptance of these purchases but it is not currently available. At this time, reimbursement requests will need to be manually submitted with copy of receipts of OTC purchases. Notification will be sent by Allegiance once the debit card system has been updated to approve these over the counter purchases.

Please see the UP FSA Plan Document with Amendment Jan 2020(1) Plan Summary Document, final page.

Also, if you have enrolled in a 2020 Dependent Childcare Spending Account and your expenditures in childcare due to parental work status, such as working from home, or due to a dependent care facility initiated change has occurred, you can submit a change request form to modify the amount being withdrawn from paychecks. A form could be submitted again upon return to normalcy. Here is a link to the form: 2020 Flexible Spending Enrollment/Change Form. Please select Enrollment Type as Change of Status with the effective date the change was made. You will then select ‘Yes’ to making change to childcare account which will take you to a page in which you can elect a new election amount for 2020. This amount can not be less than the total amount of deductions taken from January through March payroll deductions. For changes that went into effect in March, the form would need to be submitted by April 24, 2020.  

You can find these forms and documents on our Pilots UP FSA Benefits page. Please email benefits@up.edu if you have any questions in regards to the above.

Lift Your Spirits With David Haas Concert Recording

Continuing in the joy of Easter, we invite you to enjoy this feel-good podcast from the Garaventa Center vault: A Concert of Songs for Worship with renowned liturgical musician David Haas, composer of “We are Called,” “You are Mine,” “Blest are They,” and many more beloved hymns.

For other uplifting and stimulating presentations, we invite you to check out some of our greatest hits from the last 5 years, or browse our complete archive of podcasts. The Garaventa Center will be featuring some of our favorite podcasts here weekly through the end of the term; contact Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu) with questions or requests.

Nurses are Superheroes!

Today’s news stories often include the faces and images of those on the front lines fighting this virus: medical personnel are right there, front and center. UP has assisted and contributed to the nursing profession–and calling–for 85 years. Not that the credit is ours, but we are proud to share and honor their commitment, and to recognize all nurses, EMTs, doctors, and first-line responders, the superheroes who work tirelessly and unselfishly fighting the current pandemic emergency.
Follow our new blog post using this link. For more information, contact Carolyn Connolly, museum coordinator, at piatz@up.edu.