UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Teaching & Scholarship

Faculty Development Day Proposals Welcome

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is calling for interested faculty to submit proposals for panels and presentations as a part of Faculty Development Day on Tuesday, May 9. Proposals on a wide variety of topics are welcome including those which support the theme for Faculty Development Day.

This year’s theme is “Building Bridges of Dialogue: Making Sense of Our Catholicity in a Globalized World.”  At the heart of a Catholic university’s mission is its commitment to building bridges of dialogue. What strategies and practices can the University’s different disciplines employ to further this bridge building to meet the demands of a globalized world, where diverse cultures, religions, and peoples intersect?

Please send panel proposals to committee chair Aaron Wootton, (tas@up.edu) by Friday, April 21.

Butine Faculty Development Fund Spring Cycle Winners

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship (TAS) has determined award recipients for the 2016-2017 Butine Faculty Development Fund Spring cycle, according to committee chair Aaron Wootton, mathematics. This spring’s Butine award recipients are:

  • Vail Fletcher, Conference Funding: International Environmental Communication Association Conference; $1,997
  • Ted Eckmann, Conference Funding:  Joint Meeting of the Japan Geoscience Union and American Geophysical Union, $2,000
  • Tara Prestholdt, Research Project: The effects of EÑSO on nudibranch diversity and abundance in Oregon, $1,500
  • Nicole Hanig, Research Project: Social Justice Issues in Art Song Repertoire, $650
  • Joseph Jefferson, Conference Funding: Texas Music Educators Conference and the International Trombone Festival, $2,000
  • David Taylor, Conference Funding: International Botanical Congress, $2,000
  • David De Lyser , Conference Funding: National Conducting Symposium, $1,200
  • Ami Ahern-Rindell, Conference Funding: World Symposium on Lysosomal Storage Disorders, $1,500
  • Deanna Julka, Conference Funding: Summer Institute for Educators, $2,000
  • Allie Hill, Conference Funding: Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, $871.29
  • Jakob Kotas, Conference Funding: SIAM Conference on Optimization and the MAA Pacific Northwest Section Meeting, $2,000
  • Lindsay Benes, Research Project: Validation of Bag Valve Mask Rate and Volume,           $600
  • Amber Vermeesch, Conference Funding: Western Institute of Nursing’s 50th Annual Communicating Nursing Research Conference, $1,764
  • Andrew Nuxoll, Conference Funding: Artificial General Intelligence Conference, $1,600

For more information contact Wootton at tas@up.edu.

Submit Butine Proposals Through Moodle

wootton-copy-1The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship cordially invites all regular faculty to submit proposals to receive funding from the Arthur Butine Faculty Development Fund. Faculty can download Butine application materials, review selection criteria, and consult the timeline for applications through the Teaching and Scholarship Moodle site. Submission of post-Butine reports, new Butine applications, and all supporting letters are also through the Moodle site. The committee’s deadline for submission through Moodle and the applicants’ respective department chairs (if CAS) and deans is no later than noon on Friday, February 10 (it is the applicant’s responsibility to be aware of any different internal department or school deadlines). Please note also that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans prior to submitting applications for consideration.

Please contact Aaron Wootton (TAS@up.edu) for further information.

TLC Tip Of The Week: Accessible Word Docs Made Easy

cafe.jpgThis week’s teaching tip from the Teaching & Learning Collaborative (TLC) is a brief introduction to creating accessible Microsoft Office documents. Whether or not you have jumped on board with the new Office 365 system, chances are extremely high that you are using Word and PowerPoint to deliver learning materials. And just as surely, even if you have never taught a student with an ADA accommodation, you have heard a lot about the critical need for accessible content in higher education. So with that in mind, head on over to the Teaching and Learning Collaborative blog for this week’s TLC tip of the week. In the time it takes to drink a cup of hot, delicious coffee, you can get practical tips for creating accessible documents. This week’s tip is available as a short video screencast or as a straightforward how-to article with annotated screenshots.

Anyone can contribute to the TLC. If you have a teaching resource (article, video, podcast) you’d like to share with the broader UP faculty, or a teaching conundrum on which you’d like some help, please contact Karen Eifler at eifler@up.edu.

Submit Butine Proposals Through Moodle

wootton copyThe Committee on Teaching and Scholarship cordially invites all regular faculty to submit proposals to receive funding from the Arthur Butine Faculty Development Fund. Faculty can download Butine application materials, review selection criteria, and consult the timeline for applications using this link.

Submission of post-Butine reports, new Butine applications, and all supporting letters are now through the Teaching and Scholarship Moodle site. The deadline for submission through Moodle and the applicants’ respective department chairs (if CAS) and deans is no later than noon on Friday, February 5. Please note also that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans prior to submitting applications for consideration.

For more information contact TAS chair Aaron Wootton, mathematics, at tas@up.edu.

Faculty Development Day 2016

wootton copyGiven the success of previous year’s concentrations around specific themes, the Committee on Teaching and Scholarship welcomes proposals to lead Faculty Development Day on May 3, 2016, around a particular theme. Interested faculty should submit a 1-2 page proposal identifying the keynote speaker and breakout panels for session one of Faculty Development Day. Sessions later in the day will remain open as opportunities for various and distinct panels proposed by faculty across campus.

If you are interested in putting forward a central theme for the keynote and session one, please send your proposal to tas@up.edu by Friday, January 29.

Contact Aaron Wootton, chair, for more information at tas@up.edu.

How We Learn: a Quick Summary

ben carey copyAccording to recent research, students learn best through distraction, ignorance, interruption, and frequent quitting. This may sound like nonsense on stilts. But according to New York Times science writer Benedict Carey (pictured), successful pedagogy will benefit from such counter-intuitive wisdom. Have a peek at this two-page summation of Carey’s book How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens, provided on the website of the Teaching and Learning Collaborative. The site offers an array of tips on classroom technology, podcasts on active learning, and other quick ideas for amplifying the impact of teaching: https://sites.up.edu/tl/.

For more information contact Lars Erik Larson, English, at larson@up.edu.

Nominate Colleagues for Teaching, Scholarship Awards

wootton copyThe Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is accepting faculty nominations for the 2015-2016 Teaching Award and Scholarship Award, according to committee chair Aaron Wootton, mathematics. These awards are an opportunity for the University community to celebrate publicly two of its own for outstanding achievements in teaching and scholarship. The committee will accept nominations until noon on Friday, January 29, by e-mail to tas@up.edu. Submission of supporting materials by nominees will be due by noon on Friday, March 18. Visit the Teaching and Scholarship website for information regarding the nomination process and materials that will be needed.

Contact Wootton at tas@up.edu for more information.

Submit Butine Proposals Through Moodle

wootton copyThe Committee on Teaching and Scholarship invites all regular faculty to submit proposals to receive funding from the Arthur Butine Faculty Development Fund. Faculty can download Butine application materials, review selection criteria, and consult the timeline for applications by visiting https://www.up.edu/academicsenate/tas/.

Submission of post-Butine reports, new Butine applications, and all supporting letters are now done through the Teaching and Scholarship Moodle site at this link. The deadline for submission through Moodle and the applicants’ respective department chairs (if CAS) and deans is no later than noon on Friday, October 2, 2015. Please note also that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans prior to submitting applications for consideration.

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship will host two workshops to review the Butine application process on Monday, September 7, 4-5 p.m., and Thursday, September 10, 11 a.m.-noon, both in the Engineering Conference Room (Shiley 232).

A final reminder: All interim or completed project reports of previously funded proposals are due to the Teaching and Scholarship Committee through Moodle, as well as the appropriate deans, no later than Thursday, October 1. Report forms can be downloaded from the website listed above.

Please contact Aaron Wootton, TAS chair, at tas@up.edu for further information.