UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Lars Larson

The Fall Edition of Writers Magazine is Available 

The fall edition of UP’s student-run creative writing journal Writers can be accessed at this link. Undergraduates from across campus have contributed their written and visual work to this edition, built around the theme of Eroticism. Writers magazine comes out every semester, with an online edition in fall and a print edition in spring (launched on Founders’ Day). Students interested in finding out about the magazine and submitting to the spring edition can follow this link. Additionally, if your students are interested in cultivating their practice of writing, a Writing minor is an excellent option. The minor was added last year as a way for non-English majors to have a chance to improve their technique through practice. Students in professional schools could especially benefit from this five-course addition, as precise writing becomes a badge of distinction. For details, contact English chair Lars Erik Larson, larson@up.edu. 

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye at UP (Sept. 13)

Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye isUP’s fall 2022 Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer. On Tuesday, September 13, Nye will be available for an informal Q&A hour (4 p.m.–5 p.m. in Franz 214) where students, staff, and faculty can engage her in questions about poetry and the writing life. Then at 7 p.m. she’ll give a poetry reading in Buckley Center Auditorium. Attendance is free and open to the public. For details see the Schoenfeldt site or contact English chair Lars Larson larson@up.edu.

“Reading opens us up so we can live everywhere.” -Naomi Shihab Nye in Bill Moyers’ series The Language of Life

TLC From The TLC: Literary Thoughts for Covidian Times

As the distanced Fall 2020 semester enters its eleventh week, the spirits of UP professors may be low. For this week’s Teaching and Learning Collaborative post, Lars Larson offers this link of quotations drawn from literature for reflecting on our aims and our selves.

For more information contact Larson at larson@up.edu.

2020 “Writers” Magazine: Ready For Readers

The 2020 volume of our campus’s student-made creative writing journal, Writers magazine,  made it into print just before campus shut down, according to Lars Larson, English. This year’s edition explores the theme of “Where I’m From,” beginning with a poem by Owen Klinger, and moving through stories, illustrations, verse, essays, and photographs that articulate where we find ourselves.  You can find the electronic version here. Additionally, Larson would be happy to send paper copies (“we have many”) to anyone interested. Email the proper campus (or home) address to larson@up.edu.

TLC From The TLC: Brown Bag Session on Feb. 12

In the fog of the semester, we all can use some small teaching interventions to refresh our work with students. Join Lars Larson and Jeffrey White at this TLC brown bag event on Wednesday, February 12, 11:30-12:15, in the Murphy Room as they present ten suggestions for intentional teaching drawn from a variety of practitioners and researchers in teaching and learning.

For more information contact Karen Eifler, Garaventa Center, at eifler@up.edu.

TLC Brownbag Session: “Ten Suggestions to Re-Vitalize Your Mid-Semester Teaching”

In the fog of the current semester, we all can use some small teaching interventions to refresh our work with students. Join Lars Larson and Jeffrey White at this TLC brown bag event on Wednesday, February 12, 11:30-12:15 p.m., in the Murphy Room as they present ten suggestions for intentional teaching drawn from a variety of practitioners and researchers in teaching and learning.

Schoenfeldt Writer Luis Alberto Urrea, Nov. 7

Luis Alberto UrreaAuthor Luis Alberto Urrea joins our campus as the fall 2019 Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer on Thursday, November 7, in Buckley Center Auditorium at 7 p.m.  He will also join us from 4-5 p.m. that day in BC 120 for an informal Q & A session, so bring your questions!

A member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Urrea is the critically acclaimed, best-selling author of 17 books, and has won numerous awards for his poetry, essays, and fiction (The Hummingbird’s Daughter, The Water Museum, Into the Beautiful North).  The Devil’s Highway, Urrea’s 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest novel, The House of Broken Angels, set in San Diego, is a tragic-comic meditation by one sprawling family on the borderlands between life and death. He is a distinguished professor of creative writing at the U. of Illinois-Chicago.

The events are free and open to the public.  For details and questions contact English chair Lars Erik Larson at larson@up.edu.

Schoenfeldt Writer Luis Alberto Urrea to Visit, Nov. 7

Author Luis Alberto Urrea joins our campus as the fall 2019 Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Buckley Center Auditorium at 7pm.  He will also join us from 4-5pm that day in BC 120 for an informal Q&A: bring your questions!  A member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Urrea is the critically acclaimed, best-selling author of 17 books, winning numerous awards for his poetry, essays, and fiction (The Hummingbird’s Daughter, The Water Museum, Into the Beautiful North).  The Devil’s Highway, Urrea’s 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest novel The House of Broken Angels, set in San Diego, is a tragic-comic meditation by one sprawling family on the borderlands between life and death. He is a distinguished professor of creative writing at the U. of Illinois-Chicago.  The events are free and open to the public.  For details and questions contact English chair Lars Erik Larson at larson@up.edu.

Poet and Musician Trevino Brings Plenty, Oct. 29

Join Lakota poet and musician Trevino L. Brings Plenty for a reading at the UP Bookstore on Tuesday Oct. 29 at 7:30pm.  A longtime resident of the Portland area, he has two poetry collections Wakpá Wanáǧi, Ghost River (2015) and Real Indian Junk Jewelry (2005), and was featured in the recent anthology New Poets of Native Nations (2018).  A handout of five of his poems can be found under his listing here under “Works by Trevino Brings Plenty.”  The event is free and open to the public.  For details and questions contact English Chair Lars Erik Larson larson@up.edu.

TLC from The TLC: Cultivating World Citizenship

UP aims to cultivate world-citizenship in its students; are faculty up to the task?  In this week’s Teaching & Learning submission, Lars Larson reviews the book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things are Better Than you Think that can help orient our global imaginations more accurately.

For more information contact Larson at larson@up.edu.