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In this public address, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley will focus on housing as a key component to reviving the economy. “Four years ago, the U.S. government acted quickly and boldly to rescue major financial institutions. However, we have not done nearly enough for American families who are struggling with the downturn in the housing market,” Merkley said. “There are millions of Americans trapped in high-interest mortgages, and that’s not just bad for them, it’s bad for neighborhoods hit by foreclosures and it’s a huge anchor on our economy. A bold solution to help these families refinance is the fastest way to get our economy back on track.”

Andrew C. Revkin is one of the most respected and influential journalists covering climate change and other global environmental issues. Building on a quarter-century of prize-winning print work, he now writes The New York Times’ Dot Earth blog, a forum where hundreds of thousands of readers “meet” each month to evaluate and discuss population, climate, biodiversity, and related subjects. After fifteen years at the Times, Revkin recently left his staff position to become the senior fellow for environmental understanding at Pace University’s Academy for Applied Environmental Studies. He has reported on the science and politics of global warming from the North Pole to the White House and the tumultuous treaty talks in Copenhagen. He is the author of books on the Amazon, global warming, and the changing Arctic in addition to countless newspaper and magazine articles. Revkin has received journalism awards from numerous organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Columbia University, and has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Pace and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in the Hudson Valley, where, in spare moments, he is a performing songwriter and member of the roots band Uncle Wade.

Appiah discusses the work of the PEN American Center, a writer-centered organization whose goal is to defend literacy and human rights around the globe. PEN’s programs reach out to the world and into diverse communities within this country. They promote writing and literature at every level and are founded on the belief that free expression is an essential component of every healthy society.

The $33.6 million, 60,000-square-foot facility is expected to set a new standard for alumni centers nationwide. It features an interpretive center filled with touch-screens and UO lore, and an energy-efficient design expected to result in LEED Gold certification. It offers office and meeting room space for the UO Foundation and the university’s alumni association, student orientation services and development department. The Ford Alumni Center is adjacent to Matthew Knight Arena and completes the new east campus gateway. It is expected to become the primary place to welcome alumni back to campus and also to greet prospective UO students. The university expects to host more than 17,000 visitors at approximately 600 recruitment and information sessions in the coming year.

“The Physics of Vaudeville,” was organized by University of Oregon Physics Instructor Stan Micklavzina and hosted by The American Association of Physics Teachers on July 20, 2010. The show promoted the use of Performance Art to display the principles of Physics and also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the LASER. The show was held at the Newmark Theater inside Antoinette Hartfield Hall, Portland Center for Performing Arts, Portland, OR. Featured Performers include Jugglemania’s Rhys Thomas, aerialist Kyoko Uchida, and balance performer Brittany Walsh from Circus Artemis, music by Shoehorn, also acts by Curtis Carlyle, Rob Brown, and a laser show from Laseronics. The show was sponsored by Vernier Software. Lasers sponsored by American Physical Society LASERFEST project. Special thanks to the AAPT and The University of Oregon Dept. of Physics. Enjoy the show and perhaps we can pique your interest in physics!

In spring 1941, the cusp of the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor, a 28 year old, unemployed Dust Bowl balladeer, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie took a one month, temporary job with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on the Columbia River. The BPA needed a folksinger to promote the benefits of building dams to produce cheap electricity. Guthrie, and his wife and 3 kids needed the paycheck. He wrote 26 songs in 30 days – classics like Roll on Columbia and Pastures of Plenty. This documentary is the story of the most prolific moment in Guthrie’s extraordinary career.

David Wiley, a nationally recognized expert on open education, spoke in Knight Library’s Browsing Room on May 17 2012. The free public lecture was presented as part of the Philip H. Knight Dean of Libraries Distinguished Speaker Series. In his talk “Open Education, Open Access, and Challenges to Higher Ed,” Wiley discussed how traditional degree-granting institutions might respond to technological, social and political trends that have created new market forces, putting them in steep competition with a new wave of “edupreneurs,” for-profit education initiatives such as Udacity and open education prototypes such as MITx. Wiley, an associate professor of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University, directs the Open Education Group, which conducts research that focuses on how openness can dramatically increase access and enhance the affordability of education while improving student success. He is senior advisor to Flat World Knowledge, the largest publisher of open college textbooks for students worldwide.

The University of Oregon celebrated spring commencement on Monday, June 18, with 5,015 graduates receiving 5,233 degrees. The spring celebration of UO graduates began with an academic parade, called Duck Walk, followed by our University Graduation in Matthew Knight Arena. Following the University Graduation ceremony, each student attended a special ceremony dependent upon the graduate’s major.