Human Resources: Letter from the President
Employee Handbook
2009
Welcome to the University of Portland! Whether you are beginning your first days as an employee or have worked here for many years, I am pleased to share with you a mission as well as a work day, and I look forward to seeing you in the offices and on the pathways of the campus.
Our University is a rare and special place to work. Our students often refer to our community not as a college or university but as a family. And indeed it is, and all of us – you and me included – have a role in that family. The students’ role is to learn; our role is to teach. Whether you work in an office or on the grounds, whether you are a coach or a cook, during your time at the University you will teach our students every day by your words and by your example, as all family members do. That is a sacred calling.
The role of a teacher is difficult and requires hard work, and it takes great devotion and commitment to remain true to it. That is especially the case here at this University because we attempt to do what Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, challenged us to do more than 150 years ago: to seek a balance between heart and mind, between faith and knowledge. Sometimes that is not an easy task.
But if there ever was a time when this type of education was needed, it is now – when worldly values produce such confusion for the young, and when the needs of the world seem to overwhelm us. By joining us in our work here you have taken up a great calling and on behalf of our students, I thank you for that.
I am very pleased to have you as a member of our community, and I hope that your time at the University will be a rich and wonderful experience. Thank you for joining us in our great mission.
In Holy Cross,
Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C.
President
P.S. To learn more about our mission and about the Congregation of Holy Cross, in which our mission is rooted, please visit these two locations on our web site:
Answering the Call
Make God Known, Loved and Served
