May 19, 2025

Academic Affairs is hosting a Faculty Retirement Reception. Campus colleagues are invited to celebrate and honor PSU’s retiring faculty for their dedication to the university and commitment to students. Refreshments will be provided. A list of the 2025 faculty retirees can be found at the event webpage.

Date: Wednesday, May 22
Time: 4 - 6 p.m. (drop in)
Location: SMSU 327/28/29

PSU faculty and staff are invited to attend open forums this week to meet and engage with the two finalists for the Dean of the Honors College. These sessions will be held in person and are an important part of the search process; your input is valued.

Each forum will include a brief presentation by the candidate, followed by an open Q&A session. Candidate name, CV and feedback form will be available 24 hours before each event.

The prompt provided for this open forum event is:

In a resource-constrained context, deans are tasked with leading decisions that have real human impact. How would you position the Honors College to collaborate with other units on campus to share resources and create synergies, particularly in a climate where departments may need to reduce their contributions to university-wide programs?

This Wednesday, May 21, PSU will conduct a test of the PSU Alert emergency notification system. This routine test ensures our system is ready to keep the campus community informed in the event of a real emergency. No action is required during the test, but it’s a great time to take 5 minutes to get prepared!

The PSU Smallwood Food Pantry is currently recruiting members to join their first ever Advisory Board. Please consider applying if you are looking for ways to get involved in fighting food insecurity at PSU. The pantry is seeking two (2) students and two (2) staff/faculty members. The Advisory Board will meet on a quarterly basis and will begin in September 2025. Applications are due by midnight on Friday, May 23.

As we reach the end of the academic year at PSU, there are many opportunities on campus this week to learn and be entertained. Here are some featured events:

In the Summer of 2024, PSU launched the Placematters Design Competition to invest in a long-term placemaking strategy for our downtown campus. But what makes a place matter? You’re invited to a gathering of placemakers past, present and future to celebrate what has already been done and help set the table for the future of planning and design at PSU. Bring your questions and curiosity, and RSVP now!

Date: Wednesday, May 21
Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: ASRC near the southwest corner of 5th and Montgomery St.

Agenda:

Plan to attend the Harold Vatter Memorial Lecture delivered by this year's esteemed guest and author, Jeffry Frieden, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University, and Professor of Government emeritus at Harvard University. He specializes in the politics of international economic relations. His topic is "Understanding the Backlash Against Globalization" exploring the growing hostility toward globalism, and toward the domestic and international political institutions that have supported it since World War II.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.

Date: Thursday, May 22
Time: 4 - 5:30 p.m.
Location: SMSU, Rm. 294

PSU Theater Arts concludes its 2024-2025 season with Caryl Churchill’s dazzling, humorous, haunting, lightning-fast play that explores what it means to be human in a world where information is abundant but understanding is scarce. The play's 57 rapid-fire vignettes feature over 100 characters increasingly seduced by technology, data, and the virtual world, as they grapple with love, knowledge, and the paradoxes of connection and isolation. Pay what you are able. Free for PSU students with ID.

Dates: May 22-31 - Opening night May 23
Location: Lincoln Hall Boiler Room Studio (LH 55)

Faculty and staff get free admission to 2025 International Night, an annual event hosted by the Organization of International Students to celebrate diverse cultures! Enjoy an unforgettable evening of culture, food and fun while celebrating diversity and global connection. Enjoy performances, try delicious international cuisine and make new friends from around the world. Everyone is welcome, so mark your calendars and bring your friends and family along!

Date: Friday, May 23
Time: 5 - 9 p.m.
Location: Viking Pavilion

Don’t miss what’s expected to be the largest group of PSU Chamber Choir alumni ever assembled to celebrate Dr. Ethan Sperry’s 15th year as the Director of Choral Activities at Portland State University! Alumni from the past 15 years will combine to sing favorites by Eric Whitacre, Samuel Barber, Moses Hogan and Ēriks Ešenvalds as well as perennial favorites like "Precious Lord" and Sperry’s arrangements of "Balleilakka" and "Hallelujah”. This event supports the Chamber Choir's 2025 tour to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Tickets: $25 general seating; $50 preferred; $100 reserved VIP.

Date: Sunday, May 25
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St.

If you would like to have a campus event featured in Currently, please see the submission guidelines.

Don't forget to register for Campus Rec's annual Faculty/Staff Kickball Tournament! Show off your kickball skills, make new friends and have some fun in the sun! All equipment is provided, no experience is necessary. Free and open to all PSU faculty and staff; no Campus Rec membership required. All participants will receive an exclusive Campus Rec Pride t-shirt! There is only room for 4 teams, so the first teams to register eight players will be included in the tournament. DON'T WAIT! Tournament is from 4-6 pm on Thursday, May 29, but register as a team or a free agent by 5pm on Tuesday, May 27.

Celebrate PSU Pride month with a spirited game of giant pink volleyball! All orientations and skill levels are encouraged to play. The ball is GIANT - 4 feet in diameter! Free for Campus Rec members. Members may bring guests at the daily rate of $7 per person. All participants will receive an exclusive Campus Rec Pride t-shirt to celebrate PSU Pride Month! Play in the tournament on Wednesday, May 28 from 7-10 p.m. Register as a team or free agent by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 26.

Greg Townley, professor of psychology and co-founder of PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, discussed Portland Street Response and police response to unhoused individuals with Capital B News; George Colligan, associate professor of Music and Theater, shared his thoughts on music and life with Whitehot Magazine; and April Dodson Ferris, director of PSU’s Community Counseling Clinic, talked with KPTV about how the clinic is serving the community.

All week

Through Our Lens Exhibition

Monday, May 19

Biology Seminar Series: Hydrodynamic Interactions of Microscopic Sessile suspension Feeders with their Environment

Screening of “A Shameful Story” - Documentary on Italian Diaspora

Tuesday, May 20

PRIDE Spikeball Tournament

Dismantling the Cheating Industrial Complex Part 2: In-Person Lab

Wednesday, May 21

PSU Place Matters: Placemaking Convening

Breaking Barriers: Supporting First-Generation College Students Workshop for Staff and Faculty

“Novel Promises: Toni Morrison and the Art of Fiction” with Autumn Womack

PRIDE Climb Night!

Thursday, May 22

PSU Day at the Capitol

2025 PSU Student Employment Celebration

Noon Concert Series: Music Education Area Recital

Show & Tell Design Lecture Series Presents Dot Dodd

PRIDE Ride

Harold Vatter Memorial Lecture: Understanding the Backlash Against Globalization

Institute for Asian Studies Lecture: Street Food Recipes for Everyday Life Politics in Global Korea

The Princess Bari Myth: On Death, Ritual, Han, and Language in Korean Culture

It’s Tough Being a Film Studio: Consumption, Tora-San, and Bubble Economy Productions

Matthias Kemeny Design Lecture Series Presents Breanne Trammell

Wind Symphony Spring Concert

Love and Information: Preview Night

Friday, May 23

Memorial Day Weekend Rental Special

Fridays @1 Design Features: Design Strategies Developing to Serve a World in Flux

International Night 2025!

Love and Information

Saturday, May 24

Love and Information

Sunday, May 25

David Jimerson Memorial Recital

Love and Information

PSU Choirs: Weaving Past and Present'

Find more events at: PSU Events, OAI Events, Viks Athletics

People
Christina Luther, June Ryu

Published/Exhibited
Alida Cantor, Nancee Hunter, Piman Limpaphayom, Lauren Vega O’Neil

Grants
Marisa Westbrook

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CURRENTLY is a weekly newsletter for the employees of Portland State University, published by University Communications. News items, events and accolades should be sent to currently@pdx.edu. Deadline is noon, the Tuesday before publication. See the Currently website for submission guidelines and schedule.