UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

2024-08-05

The Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series Welcomes Viet Thanh Nguyen (Oct. 23)

The Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers series is delighted to welcome novelist and memoirist Viet Thanh Nguyen to our campus for a talk on Wednesday October 23 at 7:30 p.m. in BC. Auditorium.

Nguyen is the author of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer, which was adapted into an HBO miniseries, the short-story collection, The Refugees, and the memoir, A Man of Two Faces. The MacArthur-award winning author is a professor at the University of Southern California. As with all Schoenfeldt events, this lecture/reading will be free and open to the public.

Nguyen will be available for an open Q&A with our campus community prior to the event from 4:30-5:30 in Dundon-Berchtold 134—Be sure to bring your questions!

Visit the Schoenfeldt Series schedule page for more information or contact larson@up.edu.

All Schoenfeldt events are free and open to the public.

The English Department Reading & Lecture Series Welcomes UP Alumnus Mark Pomeroy (Oct. 30)

The English Department Reading & Lecture Series will be hosting UP alumnus Mark Pomeroy for a reading from his second novel, The Tigers of Lents. The event will take place on Wednesday Oct. 30, 5-6 p.m. in Brian Doyle Auditorium. The Tigers of Lents takes place in Southeast Portland and on The Bluff, as it details a family of sisters moving beyond their poverty-strained years of high school. 

Mark Pomeroy has led creative writing workshops in Portland schools for 28 years. His previous novel is The Brightwood Stillness from 2014. 

This event is free and open to the public.

For details contact larson@up.edu.

New Faculty/Staff Directory Photos (Sep. 10)

Are you a new or current faculty or staff member who has not yet had their professional headshot taken for the UP Directory?

The Department of Marketing and Communications has scheduled a professional photographer on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

These headshots will also be available to you for personal and professional use.

Please email Dhara Brown (brownd@up.edu) to schedule a five-minute headshot session.

*** If you know of any new staff or faculty members that will be arriving on campus, we encourage you to reach out and proactively schedule a time for them to take their Directory photo. ***

Moodle Course Archival (Aug. 6)

Additional changes are coming to Moodle along with the upcoming scheduled version upgrade. Courses and course content created before Fall 2020 will be backed up, archived, and removed from Moodle. These course pages are not being deleted; archived backups may be restored upon request by contacting the Help Desk. This change will take place on Tuesday, August 6.

Please contact the office of Academic Technology Services (atsi@up.edu) with any questions. 

Construction Notice: N. Willamette Blvd Paving Project (Aug. 9)

Starting Monday August 5, the city (PBOT) will be paving N. Willamette Blvd between N. Portsmouth and N. Carey (at the location of the railroad cut).

Willamette will be closed to vehicles through August 19, weather dependent. Work will be 6:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on weekdays.

For UP students and employees commuting to campus from the St. John’s bridge / St. John’s vicinity there will be detours in place which will likely increase travel time to/from campus. Please refer to the detour map below for routing information.

Additional information can be found at https://www.portland.gov/willametteblvd  or reach out to Jennie Cambier cambier@up.edu with any questions.

SAVE THE DATE(s)—Pre-semester Faculty Development Workshops from the Center for Teaching and Learning (Aug.14-16)

The Center for Teaching and Learning will host three workshops focused on supporting successful student outcomes in advance of the Fall 2024 semester. Subjects include workload stress, teach-induced distraction, and alternative grading.

About the Workshops:

From Burnout to Balance: Supporting Student and Faculty Success in the Classroom—Join us for an interactive workshop. We will examine sources of workload stress and explore strategies for promoting student success while trying to avoid burnout.

Wednesday, August 14, 10:30 am-12:00 pm, DB 234.

Reclaiming Focus: Strategies to Combat Tech-Induced Student Distraction—Personal and educational technology can be both a disruption and a tool for enhancing student learning. This workshop will not only explore the research on distractions and their impact on student learning, but also provide practical strategies to help students overcome technology-induced distractions. You will also have the chance to create a technology policy that can guide your discussions with students on the appropriate use of technology in your class.

Thursday, August 15, 1:00 pm-2:30 pm, DB 234.

Alternative Grading: Practical Strategies for Moving Beyond Theory—This hands-on workshop will help move faculty from the “thinking” to the “doing” stage of alternative grading. Participants will receive a stipend to develop alternative grading measures for a substantial assignment ($200) or entire course ($500). All participants will have use of and access to an experienced coach to help guide them in revising their grading policies in STEM, in writing, and in other courses as well. This workshop is funded by a grant to the University of Portland from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Inclusive Excellence Program.

Space for this workshop is limited; please indicate your interest by writing to CTL@up.edu or favero@up.edu.

Friday, August 16, 10:00 am-3:00 pm, DB 234.

If you have any questions or specific interests in any of these workshops, please email either CTL@up.edu or favero@up.edu.

NEW Updated Campus Maps

With the opening of Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation and major projects complete at Franz River Campus, UP has updated the two campus maps used for visitors, faculty, staff and students.

For a printer-friendly PDF map, please use https://www.up.edu/admissions/files/campus-map.pdf.

For an interactive map providing information and resources in greater detail, please use https://campusmap.up.edu/.

Any questions about these maps and content can be sent to mktg@up.edu

Ride the UP Bike Bus This Fall!

Do you commute regularly by bike to campus? Or maybe you’ve been thinking about it, but aren’t sure of a good route, or are looking for support from other riders? Consider joining the UP bike bus!

A bike bus is a group of students—but in this case, faculty/staff/students—biking to school together. Bike buses have been around for decades but have become increasingly popular in recent years, and workplace bike buses are beginning around town at places like Metro and the City of Portland.

If you’re interested in participating, please fill out this interest form by August 19

Bike Bus Interest Form

Questions? Email sweeneyk@up.edu 

July Zoom Update

July has been a busy month with holidays and vacations but Zoom keeps their product rolling through it all- here to finish off your month is our July 2024 Zoom Update! Come back each month for your update and stay tuned on Techtalk as the new school year comes for posts on other timely technology subjects!