The CAS Dean’s office is delighted to announce that Dr. Hannah Highlander has accepted a 5-year appointment as Associate Dean for Students. Dr. Highlander has been a faculty member at UP in the Department of Mathematics since 2009, and was promoted to Professor last year. She has published work on Mathematical Modelling, Undergraduate Research, as well as in Mathematical Biology Educational Research. Dr. Highlander has been a strong supporter, advisor, and mentor of students from the earliest days of her time on the Bluff. For several years she was a CAS advisor for struggling students and has made it her mission to help students find their own voice and identify tools to become better learners. She has been recognized multiple times for her teaching and advising work, including the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016, the Outstanding Mentor in Undergraduate Research in 2020, and the College’s Outstanding Advisement of Student Internships award this year. Dr. Highlander has also served as a leadership coach and has participated in the SURE program, publishing multiple papers with undergraduates. She has an unwavering commitment to supporting a diverse student population and will be a strong advocate in helping the college be more equitable and inclusive in how we advise and support CAS students. Please help us welcome her to this new role in the Dean’s office and the College.
Hannah Highlander
2019-2020 Butine Spring Cycle Recipients
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship (TAS) has determined award recipients for the 2019-2020 Butine Faculty Development Fund Spring cycle, according to committee chair Hannah Highlander, mathematics. Butine award recipients are:
- Alexa Dare, $2000, “Streams Transformative Environmental Humanities Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, August 5-8, 2020.”
- Vail Fletcher, $1890, “North American Association for Critical Animal Studies Conference (NAACAS), University of British Columbia, Kelowna, May 27-29th, 2020”
- Eli Goldwyn, $1990, “18th Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease meeting in Montpellier, France. June 14-17.”
- Amber Vermeesch, $2000, “American College of Medicine’s 67th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, May 26-30, 2020.”
- Cara Hersh, $616, “New Chaucer Society 2020 Congress, Durham, UK, July 12-17, 2020”
- Jakob Kotas, $2000, “Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Pacific Northwest Section Annual Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, June 25-27, 2020”
- Deirdre Katz, $1350, “International Mind, Brain, and Education Society Biennial Conference Montreal, Canada, May 18-20, 2020”
- Ian Parkman, $2000, “Design Management Institute (DMI)‚ AI Academic Design Management Conference 2020, Toronto, CA, Aug, 5-6, 2020”
- Angela Hoffman, $1330, “Natural product research for spring 2020 sabbatical”
- Kathleen Bieryla, $2000, “2020 ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Annual Conference & Exposition, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 21-24, 2020”
- Simon Aihiokhai, $2000, “Catholic Theological society of America, Baltimore, MD June 11-14, 2020”
- Tara Prestholdt, $1800, “The effects of EÑSO (El Niño Southern Oscillations) on marine bio diversity and abundance”
For more information, contact Highlander at x7162 or tas@up.edu.
Faculty Development Day, May 5: Session Proposals Welcome
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is excited to announce this year’s Faculty Development Day theme, “A Globalized Curriculum: Frameworks for Respectful Engagement with People from Diverse Religious and Secular Traditions.” See below for a detailed description of the day’s theme. The morning keynote address and several late morning sessions will be centered around this theme. The remaining sessions, most of which will occur in the afternoon, are then open to a variety of topics, which may or may relate to the overall theme.
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is now accepting proposals from faculty who would like to organize 45-minute sessions on a topic of your choice. Please send your suggestions/requests to committee chair Hannah Highlander (tas@up.edu) no later than Friday, March 27. In your request, please include a title and abstract. If you have any other preferences or special needs, please include those as well. The committee will make every effort to accommodate requests.
More information about the theme for the day:
As faculty members at the University of Portland prepare students to respond to the needs of an interconnected world, it is essential to navigate the terrain of increasingly globalized and diverse identities. Students come from a wide array of backgrounds and intersectional identities while faculty members, many of whom still are part of dominant groups, are faced with the opportunity to learn about their students, de-colonize their curricula, and teach in culturally responsive/relevant ways. Inclusion matters, and more work can be done on campus in exploring multiple faith-based and secular traditions. Given that our student, staff, and faculty populations identify with the breadth of religious and secular traditions, it is imperative for us to begin to incorporate religious and secular worldviews in our inclusion work. Our students, and indeed our faculty and staff, need to learn to communicate with those whose identities are embedded within different political, cultural, and religious or secular worldviews. Engagement with multiple perspectives is the hallmark of an educated person, and understanding how both religious and secular beliefs influence culture, domestic and foreign policy, and our own disciplinary perspectives is a critical undertaking. The keynote and workshops are designed to begin the dialogue that is necessary for better understanding our various systems of belief and how they influence our worldviews and our actions on and off campus.
This FDD theme seeks to build on that strength and uphold the core mission by exploring two essential intersecting realities that universities face today in the area of encountering those of different belief systems and worldviews. One is the issue of globalization and diversities, whether in the context of religion, secular belief, or culture, and the second has to do with how a globalized classroom functions today that brings to bear religious, secular, and cultural diversities in the formulation and delivery of the curriculum.
Call for Spring Butine Proposals: Deadline Feb. 7
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship invites all eligible faculty to submit proposals to receive funding from the Arthur Butine Faculty Development Fund. We are excited to announce that, in efforts to improve accessibility, clarity, and efficiency, we have created new and improved online application forms, along with screen reader friendly Word versions of the applications. Faculty are welcome to use either version. There is also a new Instructions for Butine Applications document to help ensure complete applications.
The deadline for submission and to the applicant’s dean and chair (if CAS), is no later than noon on Friday, February 7, 2020. Please note that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans (and chairs, for CAS applicants) prior to submitting applications for consideration. Please contact Hannah Highlander (TAS@up.edu) with questions or for further information.
Fall 2019 Butine Awards Announced
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship (TAS) has determined award recipients for the 2019-2020 Butine Faculty Development Fund Fall cycle, according to committee chair Hannah Highlander, mathematics. Butine award recipients are:
- Lauren Alfrey, American Sociological Association Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA August 8-11, 2020 ($1,755)
- Michael Cameron, Annual Joint Meeting, American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, San Diego, CA, November 23-26, 2019 ($1,000); Annual Meeting, North American Patristic Society, Chicago, IL, May 24-26, 2020 ($1,000)
- Heather Carpenter, Examining the effects of horse users on shellfish populations in Ngarunui Beach, Whaingaroa, New Zealand ($1,460)
- Heather Dillon (with Jeff Kerssen-Griep), “Peer Observation of Teaching Paradoxes” ($3,000)
- Laura Dyer, “Probing the effects of shear stress on coronary artery development to determine how developmental defects arise” ($5,000)
- Maria Echenique, Pacific Ancient and Modern Languages Association PAMLA San Diego, CA – Nov. 14 – 18, 2019 ($400)
- Benjamin Gallegos, “Developing Virtual Rehearsal Scenarios for Educational Teaching and Learning Practices: Utilizing Mixed-Reality Simulation for Teachers and Students” ($4,850.50)
- Nicole Hanig, Sabbatical Activities ($4,700)
- Randy Hetherington, American Educational Research Association 2018 Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA.
April 17-21, 2020 ($2,000) - Christina Ivler, “Flight Testing of Obstacle Avoidance for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)” ($5,000)
- Jakob Kotas, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Conference on Optimization, Hong Kong, May 26-29, 2020 ($2,000)
- Paddy McShane, Workshop in Normative Ethics, Tucson, AZ, January 16-18, 2020 ($1350); Summer research grant ($3,000)
- Hillary Merk Gaudino, Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii Jan 4-7, 2020 ($500)
- Gregory Pulver, Playwriting ($5,000)
- Isabelle Soule, Rwanda Site Visit ($3,900)
- Dave Taylor, “Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Reproductive Isolation in the Taiwanese endemic species of Mussaenda (family Rubiaceae)” ($5,000)
- Ben Tribelhorn, Predicting the onset of chaos in Lorenz systems using deep learning ($3,000)
- Blair Woodard, “Protests, Posters, and the Visual Diplomacy of Cuban-Vietnamese Relations, 1959-Present” ($4,920)
- Aaron Wootton, Summer Research Trip to Europe ($5,000)
- David Wynne, “Investigating the function of a protein that regulates cell division using C. elegans” ($5,000)
- Halina Wyss with Amber Vermeesch, “Building resilience, health, and wellness for nursing students beyond the parameters of Title IX and early alert programs” ($5,000)
For more information contact Highlander at tas@up.edu.
First Name | Last Name | Title | Amount to Fund |
Lauren | Alfrey | American Sociological Association Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA August 8-11, 2020 | $1,755.00 |
Michael | Cameron | Annual Joint Meeting, American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, San Diego, CA, November 23-26, 2019 | $1,000.00 |
Michael | Cameron | Annual Meeting, North American Patristic Society, Chicago, IL, May 24-26, 2020 | $1,000.00 |
Heather | Carpenter | Examining the effects of horse users on shellfish populations in Ngarunui Beach, Whaingaroa, New Zealand | $1,460.00 |
Heather & Jeff | Dillon & Kerssen-Griep | Peer Observation of Teaching Paradoxes | $3,000.00 |
Laura | Dyer | Probing the effects of shear stress on coronary artery development to determine how developmental defects arise | $5,000.00 |
Maria | Echenique | Pacific Ancient and Modern Languages Association PAMLA San Diego, CA – Nov. 14 – 18, 2019. | $400.00 |
Benjamin | Gallegos | Developing Virtual Rehearsal Scenarios for Educational Teaching and Learning Practices: Utilizing Mixed-Reality Simulation for Teachers and Students | $4,850.50 |
Nicole | Hanig | Sabbatical activities | $4,700.00 |
Randy | Hetherington | American Educational Research Association 2018 Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA. April 17-21, 2020 |
$2,000.00 |
Christina | Ivler | Flight Testing of Obstacle Avoidance for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) | $5,000.00 |
Jakob | Kotas | Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Conference on Optimization, Hong Kong, May 26-29, 2020 | $2,000.00 |
Paddy | McShane | Workshop in Normative Ethics Tucson, AZ January 16-18, 2020 |
$1,350.00 |
Paddy | McShane | Summer research grant | $3,000.00 |
Hillary | Merk Gaudio | Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii Jan 4-7, 2020 | $500.00 |
Gregory | Pulver | Playwriting | $5,000.00 |
Isabelle | Soule | Rwanda Site Visit | $3,900.00 |
Dave | Taylor | Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Reproductive Isolation in the Taiwanese endemic species of Mussaenda (family Rubiaceae) | $5,000.00 |
Ben | Tribelhorn | Predicting the onset of chaos in Lorenz systems using deep learning. | $3,000.00 |
Blair | Woodard | Protests, Posters, and the Visual Diplomacy of Cuban-Vietnamese Relations, 1959-Present | $4,920.00 |
Aaron | Wootton | Summer Research Trip to Europe | $5,000.00 |
David | Wynne | Investigating the function of a protein that regulates cell division using C. elegans | $5,000.00 |
Halina & Amber | Wyss & Vermeesch | Building resilience, health, and wellness for nursing students beyond the parameters of Title IX and early alert programs | $5,000.00 |
2019-2020 Teaching Award, Scholarship Award: Nominate Now
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is now accepting faculty nominations for the 2019-2020 Teaching Award and Scholarship Award. These awards are an opportunity for the University community to recognize and celebrate two of its own for outstanding achievements in teaching and scholarship. The committee will accept nominations until noon on Friday, January 24.
Nominations should be submitted to the Committee’s Moodle site. Submission of supporting materials by nominees will be due by noon on Friday, March 13. Visit the Academic Senate resources pages for information regarding the nomination process, award criteria, and supporting materials that will be needed by the committee. Contact Hannah Highlander at tas@up.edu for more information.
2020 Faculty Development Day Proposals Welcome
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship welcomes proposals to lead sessions on Faculty Development Day, May 5, 2020, 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 may 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 January 31. Contact Hannah Highlander at tas@up.edu for more information.
Submit Butine Proposals and Reports through Moodle
The 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 this link. Submissions 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 to the applicant’s dean and chair (if CAS), is no later than noon on Friday, October 4, 2019. Please note that applicants must discuss their Butine proposals with their respective deans (and chairs, for CAS applicants) prior to submitting applications for consideration.
The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship will host two workshops to provide more information on the application process: Wednesday, Sept. 4, 10 -11 a.m. and Friday, Sept. 6, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Both workshops will take place in BC 215.
A final reminder: All interim or completed project reports for previously funded proposals are due to the Teaching and Scholarship Committee through Moodle, as well as the appropriate Dean, no later than October 1. Report forms can be downloaded from the Moodle site listed above.
Please contact Hannah Highlander (TAS@up.edu) for further information.
Sigma XI Outstanding Researcher Award for Hannah Highlander
Hannah Highlander, mathematics, has been awarded the 11th Annual Sigma Xi Outstanding Researcher Award, given annually by the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi, the international scientific research honorary society. She will be honored at a ceremony on May 28. College of Arts and Science dean and mathematics faculty member Herbert Medina points out that this is the second consecutive year that a UP mathematics faculty member has won the award (with Aaron Wootton winning kin 2018).
Highlander’s current scholarship lies in the area of mathematical biology. She has 22 peer reviewed scholarly articles spanning a career of 12 years, a rate which rivals those of some of the most productive mathematicians in the United States– while at the same time teaching three classes per semester. Five of these publications include undergraduate authors – almost one quarter of her published articles include collaboration with undergraduates.
Highlander’s work is tied to topics of deep importance to the UP community, including work on mathematical modeling of the Green Dot Bystander Intervention data to prevent sexual assault. Her summer 2019 undergraduate research project, Mathematical Modeling of Suicide Risk and Assessment of Preventative Measures could add considerably to the literature on risk factors of suicide among a vulnerable population. She is also a key contributor to the new Applied Mathematics program (and B.S. in Applied Mathematics major) at UP.
Please join the mathematics department in offering congratulations to Dr. Highlander. For more information contact Stephanie Salomone, mathematics, at salomone@up.edu.
May 7 Faculty Development Day Program Ready Now
The program for Faculty Development Day, scheduled for Tuesday, May 7, is now available through the Committee on Teaching and Scholarship. To save paper, the committee encourages faculty to download a copy of the program in advance so they can use it to orient themselves between sessions using their mobile devices. A limited number of paper copies of the program will be available on the day of the program.
- Faculty Development Day program can be found here.
For more information contact Hannah Highlander, TAS chair, at highland@up.edu.