UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

11-17-2014

ReadUP Community Reading Initiative: You’re Invited!

9781250058324 copyAuthor and Johns Hopkins humanities professor Alice McDermott will be on campus on February 26, 2015, as a guest of the University’s Schoenfeldt Visiting Writers Series. In preparation for her arrival, the provost’s office has announced the annual ReadUP community reading initiative. All University community members—students, faculty, staff—are invited to read McDermott’s novel, Charming Billy, which won the National Book Award in 1999. The Barnes and Noble Bookstore in the Pilot House will have an array of McDermott’s books for sale at the Schoenfeldt Series book signing on February 26.

All community members will be invited to book discussions facilitated by Fr. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C., Garaventa Center, in the Clark Library conference room:

  • Wednesday, February 11, 3:30 to 5 p.m.
  • Thursday, February 19, noon to 1:30 p.m.
  • Tuesday, February 24, noon to 1:30 p.m.

Schoenfeldt Series events will include an author’s reception on Thursday, February 26, from 5 to 6 p.m.; a public lecture by McDermott that night in Buckley Center Auditorium at 7 p.m.; and a book signing immediately following the lecture. ReadUP is sponsored by the provost’s office, the Garaventa Center, the Clark Library, student affairs, residence life, and University relations.

Visit the ReadUp WordPress site at sites.up.edu/readup for information and starter questions for the book discussions.

Open Enrollment Concludes Tuesday, Dec. 2

hThe open enrollment period for UP employees started on Monday, November 3, and will conclude on Tuesday, December 2. This will be your opportunity to make changes to your plan choices, review the dependents you have covered, and sign up for a medical or dependent care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for 2015. Please login to the Open Enrollment Tool to either change or confirm your coverage.

Specific enrollment materials were sent to employees electronically on Monday, November 3. Please note that FSA requires re-enrollment every year. To enroll in FSA for 2015 please go to www.flex-plan.com. Online enrollment instructions for FSA can be found here.

For more information contact Andy Sherwood, Human Resources, at sherwood@up.edu.

 

Save The Date For Staff Holiday Luncheon: December 18

Christmas candle Christmas decorations dreamstime_m_21419330.jpgIn the spirit of the holidays as well as planning ahead, the human resources office has finalized the date of Thursday, December 18, for the 2014 Staff Christmas Luncheon. All staff members will be treated to a delicious meal, raffle prizes, employee awards, and more. For more information contact HR at 8981 or hr@up.edu.

 

Fall 2014 Butine Awards

FrederkingDec2The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship (TAS) has determined award recipients for the 2014-2015 Butine Faculty Development Fund fall cycle, according to committee chair Lauretta Frederking, political science. This fall’s Butine award recipients are:

  • Ellyn Arwood, education: Collaboration, Advancement, and Translations in Mind, Brain and Education; and Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, $1,500
  • Richard Askay, philosophy: The Role of ‘The Nothing’ and the Body in a Holistic Theory of Meaning, $4,510
  • Hannah Callender, mathematics: Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases on Networks, $5,000
  • Rev. Jeffrey Cooper, C.S.C., theology: The World of St. Francis of Assisi, $1,500
  • Tanya Crenshaw and Heather Dillon, engineering: Long Term Usage Data for LED Lighting Products, $3,414
  • Alexa Dare, communication studies, Working Hard or Hardly Working? Laboring to Build Transnational Alliances, $3,000
  • Valerie Francisco, sociology and social work: Families of Global Migration: How Transnational Families Care for Each Other From Afar, $3,000
  • Brad Franco, history: Summer Stipend for Organizing an International Conference, $3,000
  • Alice Gates, sociology and social work: Qualitative research on undocumented immigrant women’s engagement in the policy process, $3,590
  • Christin Hancock, history: The World of St. Francis of Assisi, $1,500
  • Lorretta Krautscheid, nursing: Applied Ethics Formation: Educating the head, heart, and hands of baccalaureate nursing students, $2,000
  • Cecilia Lin, business administration: Accounting Conservatism and Debt Covenants, $3,888
  • Valerie Peterson, mathematics: Summer Support to Pursue a Transition Into Math Education Research, $4,450
  • Elinor Sullivan, biology: The Impact of Maternal Diet on Offspring Behavioral Regulation, $1,166
  • Amber Vermeesch, nursing: Workplace Related Quality of Life: Effect of Available Recreation Facilities, $2,888
  • Shazib Vijlee, engineering: Laminar, Premixed Flat Flame Burner, $5,000

For more information, contact Frederking at 8076 or tas@up.edu.

Mass of Remembrance, Nov. 18

up_stained_glass-37 2150Through the month of November, campus ministry invites the UP community to remember loved ones who have died. All are welcome to inscribe the names of loved ones on a card and place it in the accompanying basket to be placed near the altar in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher during a special Mass on Tuesday, November 18, at 4:45 p.m., and they will continue to be a focus of prayer throughout November.

For more information contact campus ministry at 7131 or ministry@up.edu.

“Pro-life Relational Apologetics,” Nov. 17

handshakeThe University’s student-led Voice for Life club will host a talk, “Pro-life Relational Apologetics,” on Monday, November 17, at 7 p.m., in St. Mary’s Student Center lounge. The talk will focus on cultivating friendships and encouraging dialogue about human rights injustices. The event features Josh Brahm and Deanna Unyk, who met online and sparked a friendship over 13 months, 127 e-mails, and more than 20 hours on Skype.

Brahm describes himself as a straight, Christian, pro-life advocate from California; Unyk as a gay atheist from Canada. The pair formed an unlikely friendship that led to Deanna’s pro-life conversion. They will meet face-to-face for the first time at this event and will speak about the things that make their friendship work and how to cultivate friendships with people of different faiths and political backgrounds. The event will be followed by a Q&A session.

This event is sponsored by the University’s Voice for Life club, with funding from the Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture, the Dundon-Berchtold Institute for Moral Formation & Applied Ethics, and Campus Ministry. Student leaders Margaret Persing and Julia Anderson brought the speakers on campus through the Garaventa Center’s Student Leadership Development Initiative. The fund aims to develop students’ capacities to write fundable grants, develop entrepreneurial orientations and expand programming that furthers the status of Catholic intellectual life on campus and in the region.

For more information regarding the event, contact the Voice for Life Club at voiceforlifeup@gmail.com.

Ideas Welcome For 2015 Pollentia Expedition, Nov. 20

rutherford copyThose who missed the October presentation on the summer 2014 Pollentia expedition are invited to attend a presentation on the recent and future expeditions on Thursday, November 20, at 7:30 p.m., in Franz Hall Holy Cross Lounge. Expedition members Ray and Ronda Bard, Fr. Ron Wasowski, C.S.C., and Fr. Richard Rutherford, C.S.C, will share experiences from the recent expedition, which was spent excavating an early Christian cemetery in the ancient Roman city of Polllentia in Mallorca, Spain. Those who attend are invited to suggest ways to send future faculty and student research teams to Polllentia, beginning in summer 2015. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the provost, the Garaventa Center, and the Pollentia 2014 team.

For more information contact Fr. Rutherford at ruther@up.edu; RSVPs are requested.

Bike Commute Workshop, Nov. 20

1bikes150The Presidential Advisory Committee on Sustainability (PACOS) will welcome the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) to campus for a Bike Commute Workshop on Thursday, November 20, from noon to 1 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. All UP community members are welcome to attend. This is a brown bag event, so please feel free to bring and eat your lunch during the workshop. Topics covered at the workshop will include:

  • Basics of riding: laws, traffic signals and signs, how to handle bike lanes, bike boxes, tracks, and sidewalks
  • Skills: hand signals, turning, sharing the lane, and changing lanes
  • Choosing gear: bikes, helmets, lights, locks, accessories, cold and rain gear, carrying kids and cargo
  • Route planning: resources and taking bicycles on transit
  • Q&A: answers to questions from new or experienced riders.

For more information contact Russell Seidelman, financial aid, at russell@up.edu or PACOS chair Gregory Hill, mathematics, at hillg@up.edu.

Spring 2015 Book Orders: Get ‘em In Now

books-20747367 copySpring 2015 book orders were due by October 31, according to Erin Bright, bookstore manager. It is not too late to submit spring book orders, but they must be placed as soon as possible to bright@up.edu or sent in using the bookstore website at https://www.facultyenlight.com/. For more information contact Bright at 7125 or schumach@up.edu.