06-29-2015

Fall Course Packs Due July 31

July 24, 2015

All faculty and instructors must turn in their course pack materials for fall semester to the printing services office by July 31, according to Mary Scroggins, printing services. The lead time is needed so printing services staff can obtain copyright permissions and organize the packs for production before the start of the fall 2015 semester. Some copyright requests take up to six weeks to obtain—please keep this in mind so staff are better able to serve everyone’s needs prior to the start of school.

For more information contact Kassie Hansen at 8101 or hansenk@up.edu.

Opening Mass Regalia Information

July 17, 2015

The fall 2015 semester’s Opening Mass will be held in the Chiles Center on Saturday, August 29, at 4:30 p.m., and all faculty participating will process in regalia. Faculty who plan to process and need regalia are asked to visit the Josten’s site at this link.

All orders must be submitted by Monday, July 20 to avoid the late fee. Faculty members’ deans will decide if faculty are responsible for payment or if their departments will pay for the rental.

Faculty robing for Mass will be in the north lobby of the Chiles Center; those processing should arrive no later than 4 p.m. to prepare for the procession, which will begin at 4:15 p.m. A representative from Jostens will be available to assist and answer any questions with regard to regalia. For more information contact University Events at 7523 or events@up.edu.

New Hire In Human Resources Office

July 2, 2015

The human recourses office has hired Pili Kaaihue to serve as staffing specialist. Kaaihue has extensive recruiting experience and is a graduate of Montana State University. He worked most recently as an HR recruiter for Stimson Lumber in Portland, and in his native state of Hawaii he served on the Leeward Haleakala Restoration Partnership removing invasive weeds and species, planting native trees, and other land management duties. Please stop by the HR offices on the fifth floor of Waldschmidt Hall to say hello.

For more information contact HR at 8981 or hr@up.edu.

$100,000 For Beauchamp Recreation & Wellness Center

June 26, 2015

The development office has announced a $100,000 gift from NBC television executive Dick Ebersol (pictured) to help fund the Beauchamp Recreation & Wellness Center, currently under construction and named in recognition of President Emeritus Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C. The Beauchamp Center, with an estimated cost of $23.7 million, is near completion and will be open to students and the campus community this fall. The Center is being constructed entirely from donor-supported funding and has a wide variety of support from a number of constituents, including the University’s board of regents, whose members have committed several million dollars to the project.

In 2009, Dick Ebersol was the keynote speaker for a 75th anniversary celebration of the Pamplin School of Business Administration. Ebersol is a senior adviser for NBC University Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts.

The Beauchamp Center was designed by HOK and Soderstrom Architects and is being built by SKANSKA. Dan Danielson is partner-in-charge and a founding principal of Soderstrom Architects.

For more information contact development at hanna@up.edu.

Helping STEM Students Shine

June 26, 2015

University of Portland business professor Gary Mitchell and his wife, Veronica, coached a team of 13 Lake Oswego students who recently became robotics world champions. The students, ranging from grades eight through eleven, won the Control Award (for Robot Intelligence) at the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championship, held April 22-25, 2015 in St. Louis, Missouri. Team Axis is a self-funded neighborhood robotics team that just finished its second year of FTC competition.

Only 128 of 4,500 teams from around the world qualified for the annual World Championship. The Mitchells started coaching the team last year when they learned their local high school had no space or budget to support a robotics team. Their son, Colin, is a member of the team as well.

In order to make it to the World Championship, the team had to advance through four levels of competition, including the Oregon State Championship and the West Super-Regional Championship (72 teams from 13 western states). The top 2.9% of teams from around the world competed at the World Championship, including teams from the U.S., China, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, Canada, Australia, Romania, India, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands.

According to the Mitchells, the primary mission of Team Axis is to provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) opportunities for kids who do not have access to similar programs through their school.

Team Axis has social media pages at twitter.com/teamaxisftc and www.facebook.com/TeamAxis7187. Additional information on the FIRST FTC program can be found at www.usfirst.org/ftc and information about FTC in Oregon can be found at http://www.ortop.org/ftc/.

Tuition Remission Application Deadline: July 1

June 26, 2015

Faculty and staff applications for tuition remission for Fall 2015 are due by Wednesday, July 1. Forms can be accessed through the human resources website at www.up.edu/hr/. Since deadlines need to match those in student account, employees are ask to please keep the following dates in mind:

Fall term: July 1
Spring term: November 15
Summer term: April 5.

Please note that there are separate tuition remission application forms for undergraduate and graduate course work, and that any graduate level tuition remission benefits 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 form of the tax year the remission was applied. A summary on tuition remission and links to the online forms are available at http://tinyurl.com/qcbxx3a.

For more information contact human resources at 8981 or hr@up.edu.

Happy Independence Day!

June 26, 2015

The Independence Day holiday will be observed for University employees on Friday, July 3, according to the 2015 University holiday schedule (http://tinyurl.com/kjtkqdj). All University offices will be closed. For more information, contact human resources at 8981 or hr@up.edu. Classes will also not be held. Contact the provost’s office at 7105 or staten@up.edu for more information regarding classes.

2015-2016 Bulletin Online

June 26, 2015

The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce that the 2015-2016 interactive University Bulletin is now available. Please access the document by opening the “Academics” menu on the University’s home page and clicking on “University Catalog: The Bulletin.” Smartphone users can access the Bulletin using its mobile site.

For more information contact Matt Baasten, provost’s office, at 7160 or baasten@up.edu; or contact Marc Covert, marketing and communications, at 8132 or mcovert@up.edu.

Temporary Mail Receptacle In Buckley Center

June 26, 2015

A temporary mail receptacle is now located outside the mailbox area in Buckley Center, according to Mary Scroggins, mailing and printing services. Signage is in place for the mail drop. Please deposit all outgoing mail into this unit, and it will be sorted upon arrival at mailing services in Tyson Hall.

For more information contact Scroggins at scroggin@up.edu.

Summer Learning Assistance

June 26, 2015

As in years past, learning assistance services will be offered for students attending summer school. The learning assistance counselor, Bro. Thomas Giumenta, C.S.C., will be available in room 120 of Franz Hall beginning with the second summer session. Students who would like to talk about improving their grades should call for an appointment at 8716 or stop by when convenient. All professors’ referrals will be gladly received.

For more information contact Bro. Giumenta at 8716 or giumenta@up.edu.