University of Porltand First-Year and transfer students and their families gathered at a welcoming presentation on August 20, 2021. Acting President and Provost Herbert A. Medina addressed these new students and their families.
President's Welcome Remarks
Thank you very much, and good morning to all of you!
It’s my great privilege to welcome you, our newest students and families, to the University of Portland. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you already this week, and I hope that I will meet even more of you soon.
Before I begin my remarks, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to members of the President’s Leadership Cabinet and Provost’s Council. These senior leaders are responsible for shaping academic and administrative priorities at UP. They care so much about the success of each and every student here on The Bluff, and they are so excited to have you on campus. Don’t worry—not all of these individuals will be speaking this morning! And if you would, please kindly hold your applause until the end of these introductions. With us today are:
Would you please join me in thanking them for their service and leadership to UP?
As I noted earlier, it’s truly a privilege for me to be among the first to welcome you to UP.
In so many ways, nearly everyone here is embarking on an exciting new journey. Students, you are about to begin a transformative four-years on The Bluff. For many of you, the classes you begin next week will be the first in-person academic experiences you’ve had in eighteen months!
I remember when I was in your shoes, just beginning college. That happened a long time ago in California, but I still remember my nervousness, excitement, and awe realizing that I was about to be a college student.
I imagine that so many questions are crossing your mind. What will it be like to attend in-person courses again? I’ve never taken philosophy, am I going to understand and like the material? Will I understand calculus? How will I fit in? Will I get along with my roommates? Will I miss my parents?
But it’s not just our first-year students who are experiencing something new. Parents and family members, you will soon entrust your students to UP. You will make way for them to grow in so many ways—academically, personally, vocationally, and spiritually. You have placed so much faith in our community to be a wonderful guide to your son or daughter. We take this responsibility seriously.
I, myself, am also embarking on a new journey, as I begin this academic year as the UP’s Acting President. It’s a service that I am humbled and excited to take on!
And finally, our entire University community is experiencing something exciting: the restoration of our in-person community on The Bluff.
With so much new energy and fresh perspective, now is a truly remarkable time to join UP. But it’s OK to feel hesitant; to be nervous or unsettled. These emotions are completely natural, and they’re all the more valid given the current state of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is still very much with us, and it affects so much of what we do on a daily basis these days. Leaving the familiar territory of home for something new can be daunting in the best of times, and it’s even harder given the challenges that we are facing today.
What I’d like to do this morning, though, is offer a few thoughts on why this place—the University of Portland—is uniquely positioned to welcome our newest first-year students, make them feel connected and part of something greater, and help them on their journey to figuring out who they are and who they want to become. What are the things that set us apart, and how will they help the members of the Class of 2025 to succeed?
It starts with our sacred mission and our community of care. As a Catholic, Holy Cross institution, we hold tightly to the belief that each and every student matters. Our scale; our beautiful campus on The Bluff; our emphasis on face-to-face interaction and residency; our committed faculty and our compassionate staff—these things allow us to build a beloved community that ensures that all students grow, and no student gets left behind.
From the time that the University of Portland was founded in 1901, the Congregation of Holy Cross has had a mission to build a Catholic university with both superb academic training and strong personal formation. That spirit still animates UP today—in the classroom, in the residence halls, in the relationships that are built and sustained here.
We’re guided by what we call the “Big Three” that inform and inspire all that we do and that make our community truly unique: Teaching and Learning, Faith and Formation, and Service and Leadership.
Teaching and Learning focus on the mind. Your talented professors are committed to providing you with a rich academic experience, both in and out of the classroom. We place an emphasis on hiring the most gifted teaching faculty who also excel in their academic discipline. They will be your mentors and partners as you wrestle with the most difficult challenges of the day, and as you take on the task of forming your thoughts, your life, and your character. They are passionate about helping you to develop into academically excellent, ethical, and reflective leaders in the arts and sciences, business, engineering, health care, and education.
If Teaching and Learning focus on the education of your minds, the education of your hearts is captured by our focus on Faith and Formation. The founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Blessed Basil Moreau, once wrote that “the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart.” We practice this each and every day on The Bluff. We encourage all students, Catholic or not, whether they practice a religion or they are still trying to figure it all out, to develop their beliefs in the transcendental though discussion, outreach, and prayer. If your experiences at UP helped you to grow intellectually but ignored your spiritual growth, we believe that something would be missing. Thus, we offer ample opportunity for our students, staff and faculty to explore that aspect of their lives. Sometimes, folks say, “Oh, even though you’re a Catholic institution, you offer opportunities for students of other faiths or of no espoused faith to explore spirituality.” I remind them that it is because we are a Catholic institution that we welcome and embrace and offer opportunities for spiritual growth for members of our community regardless of their own faith tradition.
And finally, Service and Leadership. We want you to graduate from the University of Portland having served your fellow community members, and prepared to lead in whatever vocation you choose. We offer so many opportunities for you to do just that, through our Moreau Center for Service & Justice, our courses on leadership and entrepreneurship, and all of the opportunities you have to lead and serve your fellow students.
So Teaching and Learning, Faith and Formation, and Service and Leadership. These are the things we have been doing well at UP for 120 years, and we will spare no effort in doing them well during your years on The Bluff.
I also want to comment on our commitment to your health, safety, and well-being. We recognize that starting your undergraduate career during a pandemic can be stressful. I want you to know just how focused we are on creating a safe and sustainable campus experience for our community. As you know, we’ve required vaccinations not just for students but also for staff and faculty, and we re-instituted our indoor masking requirement as we start the semester. We do these things not just to keep our community members safe and to help build a successful academic year, but also to do our part to bring the pandemic to an end. At the same time, we recognize the importance of creating a vibrant, in-person campus experience this semester. Community life on The Bluff is so important to our students’ success and happiness, and we will focus on building a fun, activity-filled atmosphere on campus in the academic year ahead while keeping everyone safe.
Let me also mention a few other of our community’s resources. In any new and uncertain time, it’s important to lean on others. There are so many people here on campus who are here to help you stay safe, healthy and succeed. From the Shepard Academic Resource Center; to the Health & Counseling Center; to the Career Education Center; to the Office of International Education, Diversity and Inclusion; to your pastoral residents, professors, Associate Deans, residence hall staff, and many others. If you have questions, if you need support, if you just want someone to talk to, we are here for you.
These are a few of the qualities that make UP a wonderful place for your college education, especially amid the unusual times in which we currently find ourselves.
Indeed, there are a lot of excellent schools out there where you could go and earn a college degree without giving much thought to the rest of the world or how you were being formed and transformed as a person. But there is a reason that you chose UP. You wanted a school that would help you grow as a person; a school that would nurture and develop your gifts, and inspire you to use those gifts to benefit the global community. You wanted a school that not just expand your mind, but enrich your heart. You wanted a school that would help you lead a life of meaning and purpose and fulfillment. UP is just the school to do this.
And for as much as you will gain from being a Pilot, our University will be enriched by your presence. The Class of 2025 features some of the very finest students in the world, in my biased option. They are smart, accomplished, resilient, creative, and fun. Right there in your midst are:
One first-year student founded their own sustainable fashion company. Another has designed a way to take energy from deep ocean currents and turn it into electricity. There are SCUBA divers and race car drivers and canoers and horseback riders. And this barely scratches the surface. To a person, the members of the Class of 2025 are brilliant, creative, passionate, and committed. You will contribute so much to our University community and to the world, and we’re so blessed to have you with us.
In conclusion, to the parents and families, even though you will soon return to your homes, you are as much a part of the University community as your students. You have a critical role to play. If we are going to be successful, you will be involved, too. Everyone here – including me – has an email address and phone number and is just a few keystrokes away. We encourage your calls, we welcome your contact, and we are grateful for your partnership. Thank you for trusting us with the greatest treasure of your lives – your sons and daughters. We promise to do everything we can to live up to that trust.
And to our students: there is so much that awaits you during the next four years. There are timeless things to learn; deep mysteries of humanity to explore; exciting opportunities and challenges to be engaged; new horizons in faith, hope, and love to be opened. Today makes the start of your next great adventure. It is an extraordinarily privilege for our University community that you’ve chosen to embark on that adventure with us.
Thank you, God bless you, welcome home, and Go Pilots!
University of Portland
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