News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
Faculty members are invited to serve as Honors Program mentors, according to director John Orr, assistant provost. Faculty mentors assist with selecting the incoming honors class and are assigned two incoming honors student mentees and are encouraged to meet with them on a regular basis during their first two years at the University.
Those who would like to learn more about being a mentor starting next fall are asked to contact Michele Leasor at 7857 or honors@up.edu.
In the spirit of Pope Francis’s new encyclical Laudato Si, John Nagle, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, will explore the challenges involved in the preservation and development of U.S. national parks when he delivers the 2015 Hesburgh Lecture on Tuesday, September 22, at 7:15 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Nagle is the author of Law’s Environment: How the Law Shapes the Places We Live, and co-author of casebooks on “The Practice and Policy of Environmental Law” and “The Law of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.” His writings have explored such topics as the relationship between environmental and cultural pollution, the role of religion in environmental law, and the scope of congressional power to protect endangered species. In addition to his teaching and scholarship at Notre Dame Law School as the John N. Matthews Chair in Law, Nagle has lectured on environmental, legislative, and property issues at numerous forums in the United States, Canada, China, Hungary, and Malaysia.
The event is co-sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of Portland and the Garaventa Center. For more information, contact Sarah Nuxoll, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or garaventa@up.edu.
The Kenna Women’s Leadership Forum is in its second year and is now open to the greater campus community, according to Molly Cullen, residence life. Faculty and staff are invited to join with students to hear a talk by Jeanne Haster, executive director of Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, on Thursday, September 24, at 7 p.m., in the Terrace Room in Bauccio Commons.
The Kenna Women’s Leadership Forum is an opportunity to hear the stories of women in leadership around the Portland community and engage in conversation around those stories and experiences of leadership.
For more information contact Cullen at 7569 or cullenm@up.edu.
For the 21st consecutive year, the University has received a top-ten ranking by U.S. News & World Report, which released its “2016 America’s Best Colleges” publication last week. The University is ranked 7th out of 118 institutions listed in the “Regional Universities – West” classification. The full rankings can be seen on U.S. News’ website at http://tinyurl.com/nevnny.
The “Regional Universities” category includes institutions that offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs. U.S. News’ methodology for this category includes peer assessment, student retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources earmarked for educational purposes, and alumni giving rate.
Additionally, UP ranked 12th out of 118 western regional universities in “Best Value Schools,” a listing of institutions that offer the best value as determined by a formula that relates a school’s academic quality to the net cost of attendance for a student receiving the average level of financial aid. The Shiley School of Engineering ranked 46th nationwide among schools whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s. The University of Portland also ranked 7th in the western region for “best colleges for veterans.”
For more information contact the marketing and communications office at 7202 or mktg@up.edu.
Accessible Education Services (AES), formerly the Office for Students with Disabilities, assists faculty and staff in meeting accommodation needs of students with disabilities in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences and the professional schools. Faculty are invited to plan ahead now for accommodations in order to ensure equal access for all. Because faculty are responsible for proctoring exam accommodations for extended time and/or alternative (distraction-reduced) settings, now is the best time to make an announcement to classes reminding students to discuss their accommodation needs privately with instructors. By anticipating exam proctoring needs now, including final exams, the University can effectively utilize available space and resources, and ensure all student accommodation needs are met.
Faculty can address proctoring needs by setting up a faculty proctoring cooperative within their departments or schools, working collaboratively to share proctoring resources, checking with your dean’s offices to plan ahead for space needs for proctoring exams, and more.
For exam proctoring questions or to reserve space for exam proctoring, faculty should contact their school or departmental administrative assistants. For general accommodation questions, contact Melanie Gangle at gangle@up.edu.
The next Music at Midweek performance will feature New York based violist and teacher Jessica Meyer, who will join with the music program for two weeks. In this week’s session, Jessica performs new compositions for solo viola. Her compositions use traditional and extended techniques inspired by her varied experiences as a contemporary and period instrumentalist.
Meyer’s performance begins at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16, in Mago Hunt Center recital hall, and is free and open to all. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.
The 2015 Zahm Lecture in American Catholic Education will take place on Thursday, September 17, at 7:15 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. Best-selling author Tim Egan, winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, will present “Francis and Francis: How a Pope and Saint Changed the World, One Heart at a Time.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
Egan, a resident of Seattle, is the Northwest correspondent for The New York Times and columnist for the NYT’s weekly “Opinionator.” In 2006, Egan won the National Book Award, considered the nation’s highest literary honor, for The Worst Hard Time, a history of people who lived through the Dust Bowl. In 2001, he won the Pulitzer Prize as part of a team of reporters who wrote the series “How Race Is Lived in America.”
The Zahm Lecture in American Catholic Education was established in 1999 to honor Fr. John Zahm, C.S.C., an eminent Holy Cross priest/scientist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Zahm, superior of the Holy Cross in America when the University was founded in 1901, contributed counsel, money, and Holy Cross men to the nascent University. The Zahm lecture honors both his memory and the legacy of Holy Cross priests and brothers on The Bluff by addressing important issues surrounding American Catholic education.
For more information, contact Sarah Nuxoll, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or garaventa@up.edu.
Tuesday, September 15 is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the patronal feast of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher at 5 p.m., and all are welcome to attend.
For more information contact Theresa McCreary, campus ministry, at 7131 or mccreary@up.edu.
Faculty who would like to incorporate new media technologies into their teaching, or are looking for ideas on how to create multimedia assignments in the classroom are invited to “Campus Media in the Classroom” on Tuesday, September 15, 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Clark Library Digital Lab.
Talks from faculty and staff will focus on campus resources, services, and support which are available for a wide variety of media-centered projects. Faculty can also tour the library’s Digital Lab and the video and audio production studios, learn how to build students’ multimedia skills through assignments that can be incorporated into every discipline, and more. Snacks and beverages will be provided.
Sponsored by the Clark Library, Academic Technology Services, and the Teaching and Learning Collaborative. For more information contact Maria Erb, information services, at 8841 or erb@up.edu.
A memorial Mass for University of Portland student Ian Andres will be offered on Wednesday, September 16, at 4:30 p.m., in the Chapel of Chris the Teacher. A rising sophomore and member of the Pilots cross country team, Ian passed away on Wednesday, August 26. University president Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., will preside at the Mass.
For more information contact Campus Ministry at 7131 or ministry@up.edu.