UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Provost's Office

Spring 2018 Provost’s Initiative for Undergraduate Research Recipients

The Provost’s office is pleased to announce recipients of the Spring 2018 Provost’s Initiative for Undergraduate Research awards. These faculty members have been selected to collaborate with and mentor an undergraduate on a co-designed research experience during the 2018 spring semester:

  • Ruth Dittrich, Economics: “Salmon recovery efforts in the Willamette River Basin. Will they withstand climate change?” with Clay Bozeman
  • Andrew Downs, Psychological Sciences: “The Relationship Between Different Types of Stressors and Mental Health Symptoms in College Students” with Paige Reohr & Kimberly Hubbard
  • Laura Dyer, Biology: “Evaluation of shear stress in the developing coronary arteries” with Kate Carpenter, Cole Malibiran, & Allegra VanderWilde
  • Louisa Egan Brad, Psychological Sciences: “Power, Privilege, and Defensiveness in Light of Psychology and Sociology” with Terese Foster
  • Christy Ivler, Mechanical Engineering: “System Identification Methods for a Hexacopter Unmanned Aerial System” with James Martin & Elizabeth Rowe
  • Laurie McLary, German Studies: “Second-Language Pedagogy in German Applied to a Course Revision to Include More Diverse Perspectives” with Emma Scheve
  • Jeff Meiser, Political Science: “Strategic Theory is Neither Strategic nor A Theory” with Sitara Nath
  • Martin Monto, Sociology: “The True Cost of College: Student Loan Debt and its Relationship to Depression, Anxiety, and Academic Performance” with Lauren Jones
  • Laura Mood, Nursing: “Enhancing educational capacity at Tipitaka Eye Hospital in rural Myanmar” with Henry Liang & Kaitlin Yap
  • Josh Swidzinski, English: “Abraham Cowley’s Pindarique Odes: A Digital Critical Edition” with Caroline Holyoak
  • Buck Taylor, Chemistry: “Computational Modeling of Olefin Metathesis Catalysts” with Sarah Zalucha, Christopher Elkhal, & Mitchell Law.

A reminder to faculty: applications for Summer 2018 Provost’s Initiative for Undergraduate Research awards are available now in the Undergraduate Research section here. Application for Summer 2018 are due February 28, 2018, at noon.

Final Core Curriculum Panel, Nov. 28

Please join us for our final panel focused on the skills, values, and content of an excellent undergraduate education. The Core Curriculum Panel takes place on Tuesday, November 28, 6:30-8 p.m., and includes University leaders from across the country. Please RSVP here.

For more information, contact Lauretta Frederking, associate provost, at x7848 or frederki@up.edu.

 

Scholarly Activity Portal Always Ready For Faculty Input

The Scholarly Activity Portal is always ready for faculty input on PilotsUP under the “Academics” tab. Faculty members are encouraged to update their scholarly activity as it occurs; the portal offers a one-stop opportunity to update recent activity.

Faculty members will download the report for their school and send the PDF copy of the report to their respective deans as a part of the annual self-evaluation, and they can also use the data entered to develop their personal curriculum vitae. The data obtained via the portal are also used to populate A Community of Scholars, published annually by the Provost’s office, and for the Clark Library’s annual celebration of UP authors.

For any questions about uses of the portal, please contact John Orr (orr@up.edu); for questions about how to use the tool, please contact Michele Leasor (leasor@up.edu).

Undergraduate Research Protocol

The Provost’s office would like to remind all faculty members conducting collaborative research with undergraduates fall semester that the Deans Council approved a uniform, University-wide protocol for all undergraduate research projects. A list of the items required each semester as part of the protocol can always be found in the Undergraduate Research section of the PilotsUP Forms page. The same information is listed below. Any student receiving a stipend or credit for an undergraduate research project at UP is expected to complete the protocol, and faculty members are responsible for informing students of this expectation.

Undergraduate Research Protocol

Learning Agreement – This form is completed by both the faculty member and student. The faculty member must complete their portion of this online form first.

Responsible Conduct in Research Training – New users will need to create a CITI account and affiliate with University of Portland during the registration process to access the course. After creating an account the user must select the appropriate Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR) course from the UP course selection menu. Both faculty members and students must complete CITI’s RCR course, if they have not done so at a previous time.

Pre-Experience Survey for Students– To be completed by the student during the first week of the project each semester.

Post-Experience Survey for Students – To be completed by the student during the last week of the project each semester.

Post-Experience Evaluation – To be completed by the faculty member at the conclusion of the project each semester.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact John Orr (orr@up.edu) in the Office of Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement.

34 New Faculty Members Join UP

The University of Portland welcomes 34 new faculty members to The Bluff as they began new faculty orientation on Tuesday, August 22. The day-long orientation introduced the new faculty to the University’s resources, traditions, and culture with sessions on teaching and learning, scholarship, faith and formation, and service and leadership. Get to know our new faculty members and join us in welcoming them to UP! See the new faculty directory at this link. 

 

Please Load Scholarly Activity On The Portal

Faculty members are reminded to load their scholarly activity on the portal in PilotsUP. Data obtained through the portal will be used to populate A Community of Scholars, published by the provost’s office. That data will also be used for the Clark Library’s annual celebration of UP authors. Faculty members use their school’s report on the home tab of the Scholarly Activity Portal to send the data to their respective deans as a part of annual self-evaluation.

For any questions about uses of the portal, please contact John Orr (orr@up.edu); for questions about how to use the tool, please contact Michele Leasor (leasor@up.edu).

Retiring Faculty Ceremony, April 19

The following faculty members have announced their retirement at the conclusion of the spring 2017 semester, according to Kathleen Staten, provost’s office:

  • Matthew Baasten, associate provost, dean of the Graduate School, theology faculty
  • Carol Craig, nursing
  • Wayne Lu, engineering
  • James Male, engineering
  • Zia Yamayee, engineering

The late Fr. Ronald Wasowski, C.S.C., who would have retired this year, will also be honored.

A ceremony and reception for all 2017 retirees will take place on Wednesday, April 19, at 3:30 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons board room. For more information contact Staten at x7105 or staten@up.edu.

 

 

Founders’ Day: Tuesday, April 11

The University’s annual Founders’ Day celebration will take place on Tuesday, April 11. Four sessions of student presentations will be held in place of regularly scheduled classes, and all students and faculty are encouraged take part in the day’s events, featuring senior presentations, undergraduate research, panel discussions, recitals, and more. Classes scheduled to begin after 4 p.m. will be held as usual.

Founders’ Day was first celebrated at the University in 1902, when University founder Most Rev. Alexander Christie visited the school he had established on The Bluff the summer before. For more information, including a schedule of the day’s events, go to https://www1.up.edu/foundersday/.

Bulletin Updates Due March 20

Faculty and staff members who are tasked with updating their departmental and office information in the 2017-2018 University Bulletin need to submit changes to reviewers by Monday, March 20, according to Tom Greene, provost. Course changes and descriptions are handled by the registrar’s office; this deadline is for narrative sections of the Bulletin, for example, program descriptions and requirements. The Smartcatalog tool used to update information can be accessed by going to this link. Access is limited to designated users who have been issued usernames and passwords.

A list of deadlines for Bulletin updates is available at this link.

For assistance with usernames, passwords, or new accounts, contact Marc Covert, marketing and communications, at x8132 or mcovert@up.edu.