UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

2024-10-14

Social Justice Immersions (Oct. 31)

Moreau Center for Service and Justice Immersions

The Moreau Center would like to invite all students to apply to go on one of our four remaining Social Justice Immersions for the year. Over Winter Break, you can stay local and experience our Urban Immersion. Over Spring Break, you can stay local and experience our Indigenous Justice Immersion or travel to the U.S./Mexico Border and experience our Border Immersion. In early summer, travel with us to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on our inaugural Carceral Justice Immersion.

Learn more about each trip:

Explore Immersions

Submit your application at the link below:

Apply Here

The deadline to submit your application is October 31.  For more information, please email Erin Savoia.

Faculty & Staff Autumn Retreat (Nov. 8)

The Mission Committee, the Office of the Provost, and Human Resources invite all faculty and staff to attend a day-long spiritual retreat on Friday, November 8, 2024. The retreat will be held on campus from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and will highlight themes of Catholic Social Teaching. Retreat leaders are Dr. Jordan Skornik, Executive Director of the Borland Free Clinic & Adjunct Faculty in Theology and Fr. Peter Walsh, CSC, Co-Director of the Garaventa Center.

The goal of the retreat is to provide a time for individual and communal spiritual reflection and renewal, to deepen faculty and staff connections to one another and to the University’s Catholic, Holy Cross mission and identity, and to invite staff and faculty to reflect on and embrace their vital contributions to our shared mission.

For more information and the retreat schedule, visit the link below. 

AUTUMN RETREAT

Please note that participation in the day-retreat will be considered a regular workday for staff, per supervisory approval.

To sign up for the retreat, please send an RSVP to Shannon Mayer, Co-Director of the Garaventa Center, at mayers@up.edu. You can also contact Shannon with any questions about schedule, participation, accommodations, etc.

Student Wellness Highlights: Dating Violence Awareness Month

October is Dating Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) and Student Wellness is providing a month full of activities to promote Pilots Protecting Pilots in collaboration with our campus partners.

Here are some of our activities:

  • Survivors in the Media, a SASA Fall Week of Action collaboration panel discussion on social movements and survivorship through the lens of media and its impacts on 10/22.
  • Pilots After Dark Halloween Trivia, play ooky spooky Halloween trivia and learn a little about how to stay safe while you’re out having fun for Halloween and all year on 10/26. Green Dot Games!
  • We are collaborating with Women’s and Men’s Soccer to promote fun, healthy relationships and Pilots Protecting Pilots from dating violence on 10/26 against LMU and 10/30 against St Mary’s.

Check out our Events Calendar for a full list of wellness activities and don’t forget to wear your DVAM ribbon pin all month long. You can get a ribbon at all of our DVAM events and by stopping by at the Student Wellness Center in Lower Level Orrico. Send us a photo of you and your friends at our events to our Instagram (@wellnesscenterup) or our email wellness@up.edu for us to post to show your support for survivors!

PortLog: Fitness & Wellness Initiatives

Our campus has always offered many health and wellness opportunities for faculty and staff. Did you know that during the months of October and November, over 160 UP faculty and staff will participate in our 2nd annual Walktober initiative? Our students are equally active in spurring wellness activities and programs. One such student-initiated program—supported by University donors and ASUP—led to the installation of a 9-station outdoor fitness course around the campus in 1979. 

This month’s edition of PortLog features selections from our archives that highlight the history of staying fit at UP.  

Read More on PortLog

For more information contact Carolyn Connolly, museum coordinator, at museum@up.edu

Be UP’s Collegium Participant in June 2025! (Apply by Oct. 20)

Faculty of all disciplines are invited to be part of Collegium, an annual colloquy that integrates faith and intellectual life. Collegium will be held at St. John’s University (home of The Saint John’s Bible) June 6-13, 2025. All travel, accommodations, and fees are covered by UP’s annual dues.

The week combines plenaries on Catholic Social Teaching and imagination, readings, viewings and robust small group discussions on navigating one’s academic vocation in these fraught times, as well as spirituality sessions that reflect the breadth of Catholic expression. Recent UP Collegium alums are happy to share their experiences: Joane Moceri, Kala Mayer, Tshombé Brown, Anne Santiago, Rachel Hutcheson, just to name a few.

If you’d like to be included in this year’s cohort, please contact David Mengel (provost@up.edu) by October 20.

For a comprehensive look at Collegium activities, check out www.collegium.org or contact Director Karen Eifler (eifler@collegium.org).

OUTober Celebration and the NEW Center for Gender and Sexuality 

LGBTQ+ October History Month is a time to recognize and celebrate the rich history, contributions, and struggles of the LGBTQ+ community. It provides an opportunity to learn about the significant events, individuals, and movements that have shaped LGBTQ+ history and culture, and to honor the resilience and activism of LGBTQ+ people throughout time. For University of Portland’s Center for Gender and Sexuality (CGS) the observance and celebration is uniquely known as OUTober, a programming series presented by the Center and a variety of campus partners and organizations during LGBTQ+ History Month.  

ALL Students, Faculty and Staff are welcome at ALL programing! 

Schedule of Programming:

  • CGS Grand Opening and National Coming Out Day Celebration! All Welcome! – October 9, 3-5 p.m. – CGS (Orrico Hall, ground floor). Please join us for a celebration of our new space. Light refreshments will be served.
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil – October 9, 7:30 p.m. at the Bell Tower 
  • Healthy Relationships – October 10, 2-3:15 p.m. – Orrico Hall 
  • International Pronouns Day & UP Celebration – October 23, 2-4 p.m. – Library Courtyard 
  • Sexual Health and Wellness  – October 24, 5-6 p.m. – Orrico Hall 
  • Meditation with Mylea (Held in Orrico Hall) 
    • October 4 – 10-10:30 a.m.
    • October 25 – 3-3:30 p.m. 
    • October 30 – 9-9:30 a.m. 
  • Fiction, Faith and Sexuality  – October 29, 4-5 p.m.

Orrico Hall Film Screening Series:

  • Pride – Thursday October 10, 7 p.m. 

Gay and lesbian activists in the UK work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.  

  • Hocus Pocus – Thursday October 24, 7 p.m. 

After moving to Salem, Mass., teenager Max Dennison (Omri Katz) explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and their new friend, Allison (Vinessa Shaw). After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches’ book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.  

Questions? Email the Center for Gender and Sexuality (centergs@up.edu).

Introducing: Pilot Family Portal

We are excited to introduce the Pilot Family Portal, an online platform launching this month. This portal will replace the monthly UP Parent & Family Newsletter and will continue to provide valuable resources including campus updates, information on upcoming events, and other timely information to enhance the Pilot Family experience.

Faculty or staff members who wish to join the Pilot Family Portal are welcome to set up an account. 

Visit Pilot Family Portal