Campus and Community

The University of Oregon will begin an eight-week course on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for faculty, staff and others on Oct. 7.

The course will run from through Nov. 25, with classes each Monday at 6:30 p.m., in the UO Baker Downtown Center. Participants are being asked to attend a mandatory orientation session Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. and a full-day workshop Nov. 16 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., in addition to the regular Monday evening classes.

The Oregon Legislature wrapped up a three-day special session on Wednesday by passing a set of five bills that will make changes to PERS, increase revenue and provide additional funding for education, mental health services and senior services.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has indicated he will sign the bills, which provide $25 million in additional funding for the Oregon University System.

Here's a recap:

Philip Frohnmayer, a University of Oregon alumnus and brother of former UO President Dave Frohnmayer, died Sept. 27 from complications of peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the abdomen. He was 66.

Philip Frohnmayer, who joined the music faculty at Loyola University in New Orleans in 1982, taught as a visiting professor of music at the UO in 2005 during the Hurricane Katrina evacuation. His wife, Ellen, is also on the Loyola faculty and also served as a visiting professor at the UO during the 2005 evacuation.

Fall Family Day returns to the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History on Sunday, Oct. 6, introducing families to archaeology and paleontology through a variety of hands-on activities.

Part of the month-long statewide Oregon Archaeology Celebration, the event is open to the public and runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum, 1680 E. 15th Ave. The cost is $5 per family. Museum members will be admitted at no cost.

Do you belong to a gym? Here's your chance to get reimbursed for it.

UO employees this month are choosing and selecting health plans for the coming year. Among the benefits: Starting Oct. 1, if you go to a gym at least 12 times per month, you’ll be eligible to receive a $15 reimbursement per month. If your partner or spouse goes to the gym at least 12 times per month, they will also be eligible to receive a $15 reimbursement per month.

AroundtheO conducted a readership survey during the summer to help us identify the types of UO news that are most important to our readers. Now that campus is filled with students, the academic year is underway and AroundtheO's readers are back, it's time to share what you told us in the survey.

You get most of your UO-related news online. You like hearing about interesting AroundtheO stories by way of our periodic emails. And you enjoy reading about campus projects and situations that may affect you directly.

That's what you told us, anyway.

Shanghai, long considered China’s most cosmopolitan metropolis, has today reemerged as a global center with a booming culture industry and flourishing art scene.

A panel discussion, “Picturing Global China: Contemporary Art from Shanghai and Beyond,” Oct. 5 from 1-4 p.m. at the University of Oregon Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will bring together leading scholars and practitioners of Chinese art, theater, and film to discuss the rapidly developing cultural climate of China’s largest city and primary financial capital.

Starting today – Oct. 2 – the University Health Center offers flu and Tdap immunizations to UO faculty and staff as part of Lane County Public Health’s push to immunize the public against pertussis or whooping cough.

Throughout the month, the center reserves time for faculty and staff to get vaccinated quickly. The hours are 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays through Nov. 1 in the Nurse Specialty Clinic at the center, 13th and Agate streets.