A roundup of Pacific University news from 2011-2012.
Baseball Team Brings Home Conference Title
The Pacific University baseball team took its first Northwest Conference title since 1979, sharing the title with Whitworth College. Ten players earned places on the 2012 All-NWC Baseball Team. Pitcher Rob Dittrick was one of two players named to first-team honors, and he also spent the summer playing for the West Coast League summer wood bat league, where fan votes placed him in the All-Star Game. Follow all Boxer athletics at goboxers.com.
Chemistry Department Acquires New NMR
The Pacific University Chemistry Department has acquired a new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrument, replacing the 18-year-old instrument previously used by students. The instrument contains a superconducting magnet and allows students to study the structure of molecules. Organic chemistry students may use it to learn to interpret different molecules, while research students may use it “to identify if they made what they meant to,” explained Dr. Kevin Johnson, associate dean of the School of Natural Sciences. The old 200-megahertz instrument was decommissioned this summer, making way for the new, 300-MHz instrument.
Football Program Gets First League Win
Pacific University’s NCAA Division III football program has completed two seasons since its return to campus, and the team earned its first win, at Homecoming 2011, when it defeated the University of Puget Sound Loggers 44-25. In its sophomore year, the football program also found a place on ESPN SportsCenter for a rare 100-yard defensive two-point conversion. Follow all Boxer athletics at goboxers.com.
MFA Faculty Win Guggenheim Fellowships
Two authors serving as faculty in Pacific’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing program have received prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships. Kwame Dawes and Joseph Millar each earned the recognition in the field of poetry. They are among 181 scholars to receive the honor out of nearly 3,000 nominated. Learn more about Pacific’s writing program at pacificu.edu/mfa.
New Centers Focus on Mission, Vision
Pacific University recently opened two new centers devoted to building community partnerships and enhancing academic opportunities for students.
The Center for a Sustainable Society, under the direction of Dr. John Hayes, works to coordinate, support and expand the efforts of various campus groups working to promote environmental and economic sustainability throughout all facets of University life and business.
The Center for Peace and Spirituality, under the direction of Dr. Dave Boersema, provides a welcoming environment for students and the University committee to explore beliefs, understand others and work for peace and justice, personally and socially.
Learn more about Pacific’s centers at pacificu.edu/centers.
New Programs Diversify Student Opportunities
For the first time in several years, the College of Arts & Sciences is launching new undergraduate majors and minors. Majors in applied theatre, art history, dance, environmental studies—policy, culture and society, and public health, as well as a self-designed major, opened in Fall 2012. Arts & Sciences also is offering new minors in editing and publishing, indigenous studies and outdoor leadership.
Meanwhile, the College of Health Professions opened its doctorate degree in audiology and a master’s certificate in healthcare compliance this fall and is preparing to open a master’s program in athletic training in 2013. In August, Health Professions also started accepting doctorate level occupational therapy students, as it transitions from a master’s to doctorate program.
The College of Education this fall launched its master’s program in speech-language pathology, which is accompanied by an undergraduate minor in communication sciences and disorders.
Pacific Establishes Full Scholarship for Jefferson Middle College Grad
Pacific University has established an annual full scholarship for a graduate of Jefferson High School’s Middle College for Advanced Studies. The scholarship includes tuition, room, board and books for one student from Jefferson’s partnership program with PCC Cascade. Jefferson High School in Portland serves a predominantly low-income, diverse group of students who traditionally do not attend college. Since the “middle college” partnership with PCC Cascade started, a significant number of the school’s students have started earning college credits during high school. Scholarships like Pacific’s full-ride plus room and board, give more students the opportunity to reach the goal of a college education.
Pacific EyeClinic Cares for African Children
Faculty members and student interns from the Pacific University College of Optometry provided free disease screenings and eye care to 20 children from Burundi in June. The children were members of Asante Choir and had been sponsored by Americans who pay for them to attend school and otherwise access food and care in their impoverished home country. One had been identified as victim to a bacterial infection that, left untreated, could cause significant vision loss. Learn more at pacificu.edu/optometry.
Pacific Gets Indoor Field of Dreams
In September 2011, the Pacific University fieldhouse received a new flooring of state-of-the-art FieldTurf. The installation makes Pacific the only NCAA Division III program in the West—and one of just a handful in the nation—to have an indoor artificial surface.
The new flooring allows athletes in Pacific’s 21 varsity-level sports programs the opportunity to practice indoors, particularly in the rainy season, in a setting similar to outdoor fields.
With the upgrade, the fieldhouse also is seeing more use by students, both in varsity sports and in Pacific’s many intramural athletic programs and casual recreationalists.
The new surface cost more than $86,000, and of that, nearly $54,000 was a result of a special fundraising appeal at the 2011 Legends Golf Classic hosted by Pacific Trustee Tommy Thayer.
Pacific Librarian Leads Scholarly Journal
The Pacific University Library’s Isaac Gilman is co-editor of a new peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to exploring the expanding role of libraries in the creation and dissemination of original scholarship. The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarship Communication (JLSC), co-edited by Marisa Ramirez of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and published by the Pacific University Library, made its debut this spring. Gilman, an assistant professor and scholarly communications and research services librarian at Pacific, also recently was elected vice president/president-elect of the Oregon chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Pacific Philharmonic Performs with Kansas
The Pacific Philharmonic orchestra took the stage in April alongside the classic rock band Kansas. The band played its hits, accompanied by the orchestra that features about 60 students and 20 community members. It was part of Kansas’ Symphony Rocks tour around the United States.
Pacific student Justin Redona was selected to perform a solo during the band’s legendary classic, Dust in the Wind. Though Redona said he didn’t know the song before being selected for the solo, the whole experience expanded his musical repertoire. “It’s a learning process, the whole experience,” he said. “It’s broadened the way I play.”
Meanwhile, Pacific Philharmonic conductor Bryce Seliger said the concert is an example of what she believes is a critical link between rock and classical music. “I don’t think Beethoven has gone out of style,“ she said.“I think we just forgot how to market it.”
Pharmacy Grant Supports Research
Deepa Rao and Jeff Fortner, assistant professors of pharmacy at Pacific University, received a $10,000 grant from the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) Foundation. The pair is researching compounding medications, in which pharmacists prepare medications on site rather than depending an manufactured products. The compounding process, somewhat out of practice in the current pharmacy field, allows pharmacists to provide personalized doses to meet individual patient needs. Rao and Fortner are studying a specific thyroid hormone to determine the shelf life of compounded medications.
Science, Math Professionals Become Teachers
The College of Education conferred master of arts in teaching degrees on the first six students in its Woodburn-based STEM pilot program. The program targets professionals in math and science who want to earn teaching degrees to become science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers in middle and high schools. The pilot program is embedded in the Woodburn (Ore.) School District, which is one of the most diverse districts in the state.
Tribal Leaders Speak on Campus
Pacific University hosted a popular five-part series of tribal leader lectures in late 2011, featuring representatives of local American Indian tribes and key issues, such as tribal law, treaty rights, tribal renaissance and gambling, tribal jurisdiction and environmental issues. A collaboration between Pacific’s Office of Diversity, Center for Gender Equity and Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation, each session drew 30 to 40 participants. The series concluded with a Ceremony of Hope featuring tribal music and dance.
Women’s Tennis Has Shining Star, New Coach
Cathlene Goya ’12 became the first player in the history of Pacific’s women’s tennis program to earn four first-team All-NWC nods. She and partner Megan Yoshimoto ’12, named to the All-NWC second team for a fourth consecutive year, led Pacific to a 7-10 record and a fifth-place finish in the NWC standings at 6-6.
The women’s tennis team looks to do even better next year, after Brian Jackson assumes leadership. Jackson has engineered a turnaround of the men’s tennis team over the last five years and now will serve as head coach of both the men’s and women’s team in his new position as director of tennis. Follow all Boxer athletics at goboxers.com.