2021 Highlights

UP was among the first Pacific Northwest colleges and universities to announce a return to in-person instruction and on-campus work for the start of the 2021 fall semester. By requiring students, faculty and staff be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and comply with health and safety protocols, the University experienced no significant outbreaks of COVID-19 during the 2021 fall semester.

The University of Portland Board of Regents announced Provost Dr. Herbert A. Medina as Acting President effective July 1, 2021, succeeding Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C. 

While Dr. Medina serves as Acting President and Provost for the 2021-22 academic year, a national search is underway to hire a permanent successor to Fr. Poorman. 

University of Portland

• UP was ranked 3^rd in the Western Region in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report of Best Colleges and Universities, the 27^th consecutive year the University has achieved a Top 10 placement.

Pamplin School of Business

• Pamplin School of Business received top rankings from U.S. News & World Report, CEO Magazine, Princeton Review and Best Value Schools.
• UP named Michael DeVaughn as Dean of the Pamplin School of Business effective July 1.

• UP was ranked #1 in the nation as top producer of Fulbright U.S. students among master’s level institutions.
• Jordy Wolfand, civil engineering professor in the Shiley School of Engineering, won a National Science Foundation grant to focus on the microplastic cycle across the Columbia River Basin to the ocean.
• Nicole Ralston in the College of Education and Tim Doughty in the Shiley School of Engineering are partners in a four-year grant award related to the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network, whose aim is to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Through a Cambia Health Foundation grant, Andra Davis in the School of Nursing will lead development of a regional education model to strengthen the nursing workforce in the care of patients and families living with serious illness.
• The Department of Biology in UP’s College of Arts and Sciences won a M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Faculty Start-Up grant to hire a teacher-scholar with expertise in cellular and molecular biology.

• Faculty scholarship and achievement was on display as the University honored its faculty award winners for the 2020-21 academic year.

UP announced plans for a virtual commencement ceremony honoring the graduating Class of 2021. Sister Marilyn Lacey, R.S.M., executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, received the University’s highest honor – the Christus Magister Medal.

The weekly award-winning Helping Pilots Prevent newsletter kept UP students, faculty, staff, and parents informed about news and safety protocols to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the 2021 highlights:

• Back to Campus and Back Together Again – UP staff returned in early August to prepare for the first semester of in-person learning in more than a year.
• Scenes and Stories from Fall Orientation and Move-In Festivities – students enjoyed happy reunions and made new connections in mid-August return to campus.
• UP Nursing Students Gain Real World Experience Despite the Limitations of COVID – including new clinical opportunities in population health and telehealth.

Team

• Pilot men’s basketball hired former Eastern Washington head coach Shantay Legans, the Big Sky Coach of the Year who led his EWU squad to the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• A year after qualifying for the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Pilot women’s basketball played its first postseason tournament in 11 years, earning second place in the 2021 Women’s Basketball Invitational.
• Men’s soccer made the NCAA Tournament for the 17^th time, hosting and winning their first-round matchup against Seattle University. They finished the year ranked 25^th by TopDrawerSoccer.

Individual

• Anna Pataki won the WCC Cross Country Championship individual title and helped the women’s team qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
• Sofia Castiglioni won the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 award at the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships, given to a student-athlete who has reached the pinnacle of competition while also achieving the highest academic standard.

Alumni

• Portland was well represented at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with three former UP soccer players competing: Megan Rapinoe (USA – bronze medal), and Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt (Canada – gold medal). Former UP long-distance runner Woody Kincaid and former UP men’s basketball player Hugh Watanabe also competed in the Summer Games.
• Sinclair was awarded by FIFA The Best – FIFA Special Award, a lifetime achievement award in honor of her breaking the women’s international football goal-scoring record.