UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Will Meek

Farewell Gathering for Will Meek, March 3

The Division of Student Affairs invites all faculty and staff to come to the Pilot House and wish Will Meek a warm farewell on Friday, March 3, from 4–6 p.m.  Meek will be leaving his position as assistant director of counseling in the Health and Counseling Center at spring break.  He will become the director of counseling and psychological services at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Let’s thank Will for his tireless efforts to care for our students, his work with Active Minds, a student club dedicated to mental health on campus, and for innovations in maximizing mental health resources for students, including oversight of the expansion of psychological services through a new counselor-interns program.

For more information contact Kristin Nielsen, student affairs, at x8532 or nielsenk@up.edu.

2016 Faculty Development Day Schedule

wootton copyThe 2016 Faculty Development Day will take place on Tuesday, May 3, according to Aaron Wootton, Teaching and Scholarship Committee chair. The day’s schedule can be downloaded at this link.

Faculty will meet in Buckley Center Auditorium for a continental breakfast from 8:30 to 8:55 a.m., followed by a welcome from University provost Thomas Greene. A keynote address on student mental health by Andrew Downs, psychological sciences, and Will Meek, health center, will follow. Parallel sessions, a luncheon, and more parallel sessions will follow.

For more information contact the provost’s office at 7105 or staten@up.edu.

Student Threats And Faculty Responsibilities

U of P

At the May 2015 Faculty Development Day session on responding to student mental health problems, several questions were posed by faculty concerning how they must respond to student threats of self-harm. Specifically, there were questions about whether such self-disclosure on students’ parts should be kept confidential, or are faculty members mandated reporters of such things, even if the student asks that the professor not say anything? Are faculty liable when students follow through on threats to hurt or kill themselves?

Facilitators Will Meek and Karen Eifler recorded the questions and brought them to the University’s general counsel, Danielle Hermanny (pictured). The document available at this link provides fairly succinct yet detailed answers to those questions. The document has been vetted by outside legal counsel as well, but Hermanny cautions that this serves only as general guide, and every case is unique. If faculty have specific questions about responsibility or liability where student disclosures of intent to harm themselves are concerned, Hermanny invites them to contact her at hermannd@up.edu or x8715. For more information contact Karen Eifler at eifler@up.edu.