Catholics believe in the Communion of Saints—the spiritual connection with those loved ones who have gone before us and the saints that lived as examples for us. Through the month of November we remember all of those who have gone before us in faith, especially our loved ones who have died.
Campus Ministry invites the UP community to remember in prayer loved ones who have died. Starting Wednesday, October 24, stations will be available in many offices around campus where anyone is welcome to inscribe the names of loved ones on a card and place it in the accompanying basket. The cards will be placed near the altar in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher during Mass for All Saints Day on Wednesday, November 1, and they will continue to be a focus of prayer throughout November, the month of remembrance.
We will also celebrate Mass on Sunday, November 12, at 10:30 a.m. with special intentions for the loved ones of our UP community who have died in the past year.
For more information contact Rev. James Gallagher, C.S.C., Campus Ministry, at x8011 or gallaghe@up.edu.
The UP Wellness Fair, which takes place in the Beauchamp Center on Wednesday, November 1, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will kick off the 2017 Open Enrollment for employee benefits. This year, the Open Enrollment period will run from November 1 through Friday, November 17, closing at 4:30 p.m. All benefited employees will be required to confirm or change their healthcare benefits during this time for coverage that will go into effect January 1, 2018. Healthcare options remain the same as 2017 with minimal changes to the plans. More details regarding the Open Enrollment process will be provided on the HR website as we get closer to November.
Donations from faculty and staff have been the backbone of the success of the annual silent auction fundraiser for the Moreau Center’s Nicaragua Immersion service program. All faculty, staff, students, and UP friends are welcome to participate in the silent auction, either as a donor of items or a bidder.
Faculty, staff, and neighborhood families are invited to participate in the annual HALLoween trick-or-treating night in selected UP dorms on Tuesday, October 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. Children through sixth grade can trick-or-treat, a great way to celebrate Halloween in a safe and controlled environment. All children wishing to participate in HALLoween must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. There will be one check-in location at the Chiles Center and parking in the main lot. Everyone must check in at this location to gain admittance to the residence halls. HALLoween is sponsored by the Campus Program Board and Office of Residence Life. For more information contact Tyler Zimmerman at 
Waldschmidt Hall will play host to a gaggle of young ghosts, goblins, ghouls, superheroes, and archvillians when the University’s daycare house denizens come trick-or-treating through offices on Tuesday, October 31, beginning at approximately 10 a.m. For more information contact Desiree Moan, Vermont Hills Family Life Centers, at 503.283.9688 or 
All University community members who identify as Latinx (Latino/Latina/Chicano/a/Hispanic, etc.) and work at UP in any capacity, including adjunct, faculty, staff, and administration, are invited to contact Yuri Hernández Osorio, who serves as diversity & inclusion program coordinator in students activities. Hernández Osorio hopes to form an informal group for Latinx employees. She hopes to create an email list so the group can stay in contact, organize events, and share trainings and resources. The overall mission is to gather and provide informal support to each other. To join the group or for more information contact Hernández Osorio at 
Faculty and staff who are covered under UP’s Kaiser health insurance will have an opportunity to receive a flu vaccination sponsored by the HR office on Friday, October 27
Join the Garaventa Center on Thursday, October 26, for a free lecture, “Santa Muerte: The Fastest Growing New Religious Movement in the Americas,” at 7:15 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. In his talk, Virginia Commonwealth University professor R. Andrew Chesnut will shine a light on the controversial Mexican folk saint of death and her skyrocketing popularity. Chesnut holds the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair and is professor of religious studies at VCU. He is a regular news commentator on religious affairs and writes a blog for The Huffington Post. For ADA accommodations or more information: x7702 or 
Faculty and staff are invited to attend a series of panels focused on the skills, values, and content of an excellent undergraduate education. The panels will support our review of the core curriculum. The first panel is a discussion with the UP deans on Tuesday, October 24, 6:30 to 8 pm. The second panel is on Wednesday, October 25, 6:30 to 8 p.m., and will consist of faculty members. Please RSVP 
Poet, memoirist, and Pacific Northwest culture scholar Alan Weltzien will hold a reading on campus on Tuesday, October 24, 7:30 p.m., in the Pilot House bookstore. Weltzien has published nine books, most recently Thinking Continental: Writing the Planet One Place at a Time, and Exceptional Mountains: A Cultural History of the Pacific Northwest Volcanoes, which explores the relationship between the region’s identity and the Cascade mountains amid the recent growth of outdoor recreation. He edited the Norman Maclean Reader, the poetry collection To Kilimanjaro and Back, and the Puget Sound memoir A Father and an Island: Reflections on Loss.