UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

College of Arts and Sciences

UP Science Takes Home The Prize!

First Place TrophyA group of 26 science faculty and students from the College of Arts and Sciences attended the annual M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Undergraduate Research conference on November 8-9 in Vancouver, WA. The annual conference drew hundreds of college students and science educators from across the Pacific Northwest. A number of UP students gave oral and poster presentations to colleagues from around the Pacific Northwest.  Students mentored by Laura Dyer (biology) and Eugene Urnezius (chemistry) took home poster prizes for outstanding posters in their sections: Pia Fornell won for “Identifying How Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Affects Cardiac Neural Crest Migration Following Fetal Alcohol Exposure” and Kailin Mooney won for “Physicochemical properties of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-quinones appended with phosphonato groups.”

Additional information about the conference is available on the Trust’s website.

Inaugural CAS Colleagues Mixer, Nov. 14

Jacqueline Van Hoomissen, BiologyThe first CAS Colleagues event will take place on Friday, November 15, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in Franz 120. All are welcome to come mingle, sip, and chat and get to know their campus colleagues. “At the heart of it, the thread that weaves us together is our intellectual curiosity; the drive of a hungry mind to reach out and explore the world.” Come learn more about your intellectually-curious colleagues, Nicole Leupp Hanig and Jeff Meiser.

For more information contact Jacqueline Van Hoomissen, biology, at vanhoomi@up.edu.

Help Kick Off The Public Research Fellows Program, Sept. 23

The College of Arts and Sciences and the Humanities Collaborative will present the inaugural Public Research Fellows Program on Monday, September 23, 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons board room. The program will feature an introduction and explanation of the 2019-2020 theme of the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Centennial; a talk by Christin Hancock, history; an interactive discussion; and food, drink, and conversation. A flyer for the event is available here.

For more information contact Laurie McLary, CAS, at mclary@up.edu.

Latest Murdock Grants Total $178,427

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust recently awarded three grants totaling $178,427 to the University of Portland to support scientific research. The three grants include the following:

  • One grant to the biology department to advance scientific understanding of how chemotherapy drugs affect immune system cells, potentially improving the ability of some of these cells to attack cancerous tumors.
  • A grant to the environmental studies program to shed light on how the physical topography and rock hardness of the Oregon coast is related to biodiversity and the overall ecosystem.
  • An award to the chemistry department to explore the immense diversity of a superfamily of enzymes’ functionality, which is important in many cell activities including DNA repair and creation of anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds.

This grant marks a total of $2.6 million awarded to the University of Portland by the Murdock Trust since 2011.

For more information, contact development at x7395 or giving@up.edu.

New Grants Signal Science Success

The College of Arts and Sciences Natural Sciences and Mathematics division is pleased to announce that four junior faculty in the departments of biology, chemistry, and environmental studies have each received external grants to support their research and K-12 outreach work in the local community. Collectively, these individual grants total almost $180,000, with an additional $50,000 in matching funds contributed by CAS. This success in funding is a demonstration of the commitment faculty have made to pushing the boundaries of science, while simultaneously engaging with undergraduate and local K-12 students in transformational educational endeavors. The first of these grants is funded by the Society for Developmental Biology and the latter three by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which has been a generous, key contributor to CAS for many years. All four projects will involve undergraduate students.

Laura Dyer, biology, received an SDB Education Grant, “Engaging elementary school students in developmental biology through brine shrimp lifecycle activities.” This grant will provide approximately $1,500 for dissecting microscopes and lab supplies in support of a developmental biology-related project for the fourth graders of Astor K-8 School.

Rachel Hutcheson, chemistry, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Spectroscopic, mechanistic, and structural investigations of uncharacterized radical S-adenosyl L-methionine enzymes.” Funding in the amount of $59,650 will support research on Radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) enzymes, using an anaerobic chamber (a chamber with no oxygen).

Kristin Sweeney, environmental studies, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Quantifying feedbacks between topography, rock properties, sediment, and ecology on rocky shore platforms of the Oregon Coast.” This grant will provide $58,777 in research funds to use combined measurements of topography, rock hardness, and biodiversity to quantify the extent to which topography influences ecosystem structure and vice versa. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration with Tara Prestholdt, biology, and is a great example of how UP’s close campus community can inspire fruitful cross-departmental partnerships.

Susan Murray, biology, received a Natural Sciences Grant, “Effect of SMAC (second mitochondrial activator of caspases) mimetics on human T cell activation and function.” This project is essentially about understanding the signals that determine T cell activation. $60,000 in funds will help drive research on an overall hypothesis that a new class of chemotherapy drugs called SMAC mimetics, which were developed for their ability to kill cancer cells, might have a very different effect on T cells—namely to relieve T cell negative regulation, and thus improve the ability of T cells to attack a patient’s tumor.

For more information contact the College of Arts and Sciences at x7221 or cas@up.edu. 

 

 

Call for Participants: CAS Fellows Program Pilot Initiative

Are you interested in developing innovative undergraduate research projects in a supported environment? Have you considered connecting your teaching and scholarship with the wider public but haven’t been sure where to start? The Humanities Collaborative invites faculty from across all disciplines to an informational meeting on Thursday, March 14, at 8:30 a.m., in the Clark Library conference room (no. 222). Attendees will find out more about the CAS Fellows Program, a pilot initiative for the 2019-2020 academic year that aims to build a replicable, scalable model for undergraduate research around an annual theme and innovative public-facing projects at UP. The inaugural theme will be “The U.S. Suffrage Centennial.”

A full description of the CAS Fellows program can be found at this link.

For more information contact Laura McLary, academic associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, at mclary@up.edu.

Humanities Collaborative Discussions, 2018-2019

The College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Collaborative invites you to participate in a lively lunch-time discussion about topics relevant for the humanities and interdisciplinary connections to the humanities. Please RSVP to Laura McLary at mclary@up.edu. Each lunch is limited to the first 12 participants who reply. All members of the UP community are welcome. This initiative is supported by College of Arts and Sciences dean Herbert Medina.

  • Oct. 30: Discussion led by Anne Santiago and Nina Henrichs-Tarasenko, article “The Coddling of the American Mind” (Atlantic Monthly), Teske Dining Room, noon-1:30pm
  • November 30: Discussion led by Gregory Pulver, “Creativity vs. innovation in the arts and sciences,” place and time TBA
  • January 23: Discussion led by Allie Hill, “The neo-liberal academ,” place and time TBA
  • March 12: Discussion led by Lora Looney, “Teaching for understanding,” place and time TBA
  • April 10: Discussion led by Cheri Buck-Perry and Josh Swidzinski, topic, place, time TBA.

 

CAS Humanities Collaborative Presentations, Oct. 4

The CAS Humanities Collaborative will be highlighting the scholarship of three humanities professors in its first event of the academic year on Thursday, October 4, at 4 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons board room. Simon Aihiokhai, theology; Tina Astorga, theology; and Josh Swidzinski, English, will be presenting on research projects they conducted over the past summer. Participants will also get a first glimpse at the Humanities Collaborative manifesto, created with input from faculty during Faculty Development Day in May. Refreshments will be served courtesy of College of Arts and Sciences dean Herbert Medina. All members of the UP community are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The CAS Humanities Collaborative is dedicated to joining forces with our colleagues in the humanities to promote the enduring relevance of the humanities as a vital part of guiding students in their development as empowered, engaged critical thinkers and participants in a world of unscripted problems. We promote collaboration as a means of providing a strong base for strategic planning and to seek out opportunities to publicize and support the professional development of our colleagues teaching and researching in the humanities.

Please contact the Humanities Collaborative leadership team for more details: Carol Dempsey (theology, dempsey@up.edu), Molly Hiro (English, hiro@up.edu), Laurie McLary (CAS and ILC, mclary@up.edu).

 

 

New CAS Dean Announced: Herbert A. Medina

Herbert A. Medina has been appointed as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2018. Medina, who will join the University in mid-July, will oversee the College’s core curriculum education program in the liberal arts for all students at the University, as well as 15 departments offering 28 majors and 25 minors.

Medina was born in El Salvador and was brought by his parents to Los Angeles, California, where he has lived most of his life. Prior to his appointment at the University of Portland, he served since 2015 as associate dean for faculty/staff development and student success at the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University.

He earned his B.S. in mathematics and computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985. In 1987, he earned an M.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, then completed his Ph.D., also at UC Berkeley, in 1992. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Medina has published mathematical research in functional analysis, wavelets, and polynomial approximations (collaboratively with undergraduates). He also has written articles and delivered several professional presentations addressing issues of under-representation in mathematics and other challenges facing the U.S. mathematics community.

Medina follows former dean Michael Andrews, who departed in 2017 to become director of the John Felice Rome Center, a campus of Loyola University Chicago located in Rome, Italy. Gary Malecha, political science, has served as the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since July 1, 2017.

Gary Malecha To Serve as Interim Dean of CAS

Gary Malecha, professor of political science, will serve as the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.   Malecha, who has been at the University since 1992, has served on numerous committees at the University of Portland, having recently led the University Ad Hoc Committee on Mental Health. He provided leadership as chair of the Political Science Department for many years, currently serves as the faculty athletics representative to the NCAA, and he has served in many more leadership roles throughout his time at UP.  His excellence in the classroom is well known and he is an accomplished scholar.  He was awarded the University’s highest honor for faculty, the James Culligan Award, in 1999.

Malecha has agreed to serve the University in this capacity for one year to allow for a national search for the new dean of CAS, and he has requested that he not be a candidate for the permanent position. Dean Michael Andrews has resigned from his position at the University of Portland to accept a position as director of the John Felice Rome Center, a campus of Loyola University Chicago located in Rome, Italy.

For more information contact the president’s office at 7101 or simek@up.edu.