For new faculty settling in at the UO and in the Eugene/Springfield community this fall, there are many adjustments and hidden gems to discover.
“I've absolutely fallen in love with Eugene, as has my family,” said C.J. Pascoe, a new assistant professor of sociology. “We have also had a blast discovering all the great places to eat, bike paths, hiking trails and the most abundant blackberry bushes.”
Pascoe is enjoying getting to know the community while teaching an upper division course about sex and society in her first term at the UO. Pascoe is a member of the board of experts for Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation and researches gender and sexuality.
This fall, 40 new tenure-track faculty members began their roles in University of Oregon classrooms and research facilities. The new faculty hires are in schools and colleges across campus, and represent an increase from the number of tenure-track faculty in the previous fiscal year.
This year’s faculty hiring is the result of several years of recruitment and hiring processes to attract high-quality faculty to the UO. The UO has experienced significant student growth in recent years, and faculty hiring is a priority to increase the number of tenure-track faculty correlated to the size of the student population.
Numerous campus resources are available to help new faculty - and staff - adjust to the UO environment.
Another new professor is Leslie Leve, professor in the College of Education’s Counseling Psychology and Human Services department, who shared her early impressions on campus in a video. Leve’s teaching and research focuses on developmental pathways and intervention outcomes for at-risk youth and families, particularly females. She also works with the UO’s Prevention Science Institute.
“One thing that I really have felt at the campus coming back as a faculty member is how committed the university is to wanting everyone who is new here to succeed, whether you're a new student and orienting you to the services available, or if you're a new faculty member like me,” said Leve.
As a new faculty member, she looks forward to opportunities for interdisciplinary research with colleagues across campus.
“Our new tenure-track faculty show exceptional promise as researchers and are already fantastic teachers,” said Scott Coltrane, interim senior vice president and provost. “We are able to attract the very best scholars and scientists to UO because of our longstanding commitment to excellence.”
- by Julie Brown, UO Office of Strategic Communications