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Susan Sygall

An Evening with Susan Sygall, Feb. 3: Please RSVP

January 17, 2020

The Dundon-Berchtold Institute will welcome Susan Sygall for an Ethics Week Conversation on Monday, February 3, at 7:15 p.m., in the Brian Doyle Auditorium. Sygall is a world-renowned disability rights and leadership advocate, a MacArthur Fellow, and an honorary doctorate recipient at the University’s May 2019 commencement.

While the event is free and open to all, the Dundon-Berchtold Institute asks that attendees please RSVP using this link.

Sygall is CEO and co-founder of Mobility International USA, a non-profit organization advancing disability rights and leadership globally. She has co-authored numerous publications and lectured throughout the world on a variety of topics related to inclusive international development, women’s leadership, and disability rights. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, and also received the President’s Award from President Bill Clinton at the White House for her active role throughout our country and the world in empowering people with disabilities.

For more information, contact Hannah Pick, Dundon-Berchtold Institute, at x7825 or pick@up.edu.

Filed Under: 01-13-2020, 01-20-2020, Academics, Campus Services, Dundon-Berchtold Institute Tagged With: Dundon-Berchtold Institute, Hannah Pick, Susan Sygall

University Announces 2019 Commencement Speaker, Honorees

February 1, 2019

The University of Portland has announced the speaker and honorees to be recognized during the 2019 Commencement ceremonies, to be held in the Chiles Center on Sunday, May 5. Commencement I begins at 10 a.m. and is for all graduates of the Pamplin School of Business, Shiley School of Engineering, and School of Nursing. Commencement II starts at 3 p.m. and is held for undergraduate and graduate students of the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education. 

Receiving the University’s highest honor, the Christus Magister Medal, is Sr. Alberta Dieker, O.S.B. As one of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel, Sr. Dieker has devoted her life to faith, scholarship, and service. She spent more than 45 years teaching history and other subjects, first as an elementary school teacher in Silverton and Mount Angel and then as a faculty member for Mount Angel College, Mount Angel Seminary, and Eastern Oregon University. She is also the author of A Tree Rooted in Faith: A History of Queen of Angels Monastery, published in 2007. Sr. Dieker is renowned for her leadership skills, having served as president of Mount Angel College, president and founding member of the Oregon Catholic Historical Society, and executive secretary of the American Benedictine Academy.  Sr. Dieker will receive her Medal in absentia at Commencement II.

Honorary doctorate recipients will be:

  • Mary Carlin Yates, Commencement I and II.Retired Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, the speaker for both ceremonies and an honorary doctorate recipient, is a North Portland native who served for 31 years as a career member of the United States Foreign Service. Her distinguished career, which began in 1980, included serving twice as U.S. Ambassador, to the Republic of Ghana from 2002 to 2005 and to the Republic of Burundi from 1999 to 2002. In Burundi, she worked extensively to bring stability and an end to hostility through a peace process led by the former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela. She also served as a political officer and public affairs counselor in Rwanda during the genocide crisis of the early 1990s. After her retirement, she served as the Charge d’Affaires in Sudan for the Department of State until 2012. Today, Ambassador Yates is director of the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Oregon State University Honors College Board of Regents.
  • Amy Dundon-Berchtold, Commencement I. Amy Dundon-Berchtold’s first real estate transaction was selling her own house. Her second was an apartment building, and the third was an industrial warehouse–an illustrious beginning to what would become a 40-year career as a real estate investor in Southern California. Dundon-Berchtold, a member of the University of Portland’s Board of Regents, and her husband, Jim Berchtold ’63, wanted to create a place where all UP students could engage in discussions around personal values and beliefs. In 2011, this vision was realized with the creation of the Dundon-Berchtold Institute for Moral Formation and Applied Ethics, offering classes, public events, and student-faculty research support. From the success of that endeavor, Jim and Amy provided the lead gift for the University’s first academic building in 25 years, which was named Dundon-Berchtold Hall in their honor and will open in summer 2019.
  • Susan Sygall, Commencement II. As CEO of Mobility International USA (MIUSA), Susan Sygall has spent more than 38 years advancing the rights of people with disabilities around the world. Sygall, who became disabled after a car accident, went to Australia as a Rotary Scholar and a wheelchair rider. The experience made her realize that people with disabilities were not only excluded from leadership programs, but were also unable to access services that could improve their health and education. Upon returning to the University of Oregon, she and another graduate student co-founded MIUSA in 1981 to promote international exchange for students with disabilities. In 1995, Sygall was the driving force behind Congress funding the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange, and that same year she led a delegation of 350 women with disabilities to the International Women’s Conference in Beijing, which is now seen as the start of the disabled women’s movement.
  • Mucki (Pei Ling) Tan ’80, Commencement I. After graduating with a degree in business in 1980 from the University of Portland, Mucki (Pei Ling) Tan returned to Jakarta, Indonesia, to become a manager with the Rodamas Group, a company his father founded in 1951. Together, Tan and his father expanded into a diverse portfolio of joint ventures worldwide, including the food industry, construction materials manufacturing, consumer goods, and real estate. Tan devotes particular attention to educational initiatives in Indonesia but has also supported his alma mater, with gifts toward such endeavors as Dundon-Berchtold Hall and the Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center.
  • Robert Watzke, M.D., Commencement II. Dr. Watzke is renowned for his dedication as a retina researcher and specialist¾ a career that has spanned six decades. He developed new and innovative examination techniques, pioneered the use of lasers to conduct complex retinal surgery, and mentored more than 350 retinal specialists. Dr. Watzke was also instrumental in the development of the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, where he focused on retina and vitreous disease. He is heralded for both his surgical skill and his commitment to national randomized trials, especially related to diabetic retinopathy and macular photocoagulation. In 2016, the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences department at that university created the Robert C. Watzke Endowment in his honor.

For more information contact the president’s office at x7107 or leadem@up.edu.

 

Filed Under: 02-04-2019, Academics Tagged With: 2019 Commencement, Amy Dundon-Berchtold, Christus Magister Medal, Mary Carlin Yates, Mucki Tan, Robert Watzke M.D., Sr. Alberta Dieker OSB, Susan Sygall

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Hannah Pick, Dundon-Berchtold Institute, published a review of Yuval Levin’s A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus: How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream through the journal of Christian Higher Education (22 January, 2021; DOI: 10.1080/15363759.2020.1865123).

Natalie Nelson-Marsh, communication studies, was featured in the Portland Business Journal magazine February 26 edition for her participation in the panel discussion on “Organizational Transformation – The Impact of COVID on the Future of Work.”

Katie Danielson, education, published “Enacting content-rich curriculum in early childhood: The role of teacher knowledge and pedagogy.” Early Education and Development, 32(3), 443-458. doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1753463

Alice Gates, social work, presented on March 3, 2021 as part of the University of Minnesota School of Social Work 2021 Research Colloquium Series.  Her paper was titled “Engaging equity and critical race perspectives in community-based research.”

Jordy Wolfand, Shiley School of Engineering, published Assessing resilience of a dual drainage urban system to redevelopment and climate change. Journal of Hydrology. 2021. 596. 126101.

Stephanie Salomone, mathematics, was an invited participant at Envisioning and Enacting an Inclusive and Diverse STEM Professoriate: Aligning the Recruitment and Retention of Diverse STEM Faculty, an APLU Think Tank, virtual.

Jeffrey White, International Languages & Cultures, presented MS Teams And Office Integrations During Covid (2.0). Roundtable presentation and discussion at the 2021 National College Learning Center Association Virtual Winter Conference.

Hillary Gaudio and Randy Hetherington, education, presented Inequity in the classroom: Improving teacher training by listening to completer voice. Virtual paper presented at the Oregon Association of Teacher Educators (ORATE) conference.

Randy Hetherington, education, co-presented Training transformative leaders: Valuing teacher wellness in complex change. Virtual paper presentation at the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges of Teacher Education (AILACTE) conference.

Jacqueline Waggoner, Randy Hetherington, Hillary Gaudio, Bruce Weitzel, James Carroll, education, presented Inequity and the reality of teacher preparation: Hearing the voices of completers. Virtual paper presentation at the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges of Teacher Education (AILACTE) conference.

Bruce Weitzel, Hillary Gaudio, Jacqueline Waggoner, James Carroll, Randy Hetherington, education, presented The completer voice: Inequity revealed. Virtual paper presentation at the Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) conference.

James Carroll, Randy Hetherington, Jacqueline Waggoner, Hillary Gaudio, Bruce Weitzel, education, presented Educator preparation in traumatic stress. Virtual paper presentation at the Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) conference.

Randy Hetherington, education, co-presented Interrelated leadership: Valuing teacher impact in a complex school. Virtual paper presentation at the Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) conference.

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UPbeat is a newsletter for University of Portland faculty and staff published through the marketing & communications office; submit information to Marc Covert, upbeat editor, at 8132 or upbeat@up.edu. Submission deadline is noon the Thursday prior to publication. Submissions may be edited for clarity, consistency, brevity, or style.

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