Football, fall foliage and a new flock of freshmen: Autumn has arrived at last at the University of Oregon.
Campus has awoken from its summer slumber and is bustling with events — speakers, groundbreakings, celebrations, and arts and cultural happenings. Campus is full of new faces, new places to eat and drink, and new exhibits in our museums.
Here’s a look at some — but not all — of what’s new on campus this fall and what’s coming up. As always, you can consult the events calendar for the latest on campus happenings.
NOTEWORTHY
The inaugural Black Alumni Reunion takes place Oct. 11-14. Events include workshops, a catered tailgate at the Washington game. Also, Black Student Convocation is Oct. 13.
New to the Erb Memorial Union: Jamba Juice, set to open the first week of October. Also, the EMU Ticket Office is now an authorized passport acceptance center for students looking to study abroad and for the general public as well.
The School of Journalism and Communication will mark the first anniversary of its Media Center for Science and Technology in October, a program funded by the Presidential Fund for Excellence.
The Warsaw Sports Marketing Center is celebrating its 25th year with a gala event at the Ford Alumni Center on Nov. 2.
The second annual UO PopVoice competition takes place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 Aasen-Hull Hall in the Frohnmayer Music Building. Students may enter the prescreening round by submitting a vocal performance video through the online application.
Shake Smart has opened in the Rec Center Duck Store.
PeaceHealth Rides bike-share arrived on campus last spring, providing an easy way for students to get around campus and around town. Not sure where to start? Stop by one of their how-to clinics the first Friday of every month.
Want to explore Oregon? Check out the Outdoor Program, which organizes trips near and far, and rents all kinds of outdoor gear for cheap.
The always popular ASUO Street Faire returns to East 13th Avenue Oct. 10-12.
BUILDING BLOCKS
The Black Cultural Center will break ground in October.
The Academic Design Innovation Lab, where digital scholarship meets collaboration, is set to open by early November in the Knight Library Academic Commons.
Major construction projects continue apace, including the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact; the Tykeson College and Careers Building; and the new Hayward Field.
TALKS AND LECTURES
Quack Chats pub talks, the bimonthly series of talks by faculty members, starts its fall schedule Wednesday, Sept. 26, with history professor Mark Carey discussing the economics and politics of icebergs. The talks start at 6 p.m. at the Ax Billy Grill at the Downtown Athletic Club.
Angel Gambino, a Wired Top 100 executive who has built companies on three continents, kicks off the Graduate Student Lecture Series at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at Room 175, Knight Law School.
David Conover, vice president for research and innovation, will discuss the state of UO research at 3 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Crater Lake Rooms, EMU.
Artist and activist Dianna Cohen will discuss the pervasive problem of plastic pollution at the O’Fallon Lecture in Art and American Culture, presented by the Oregon Humanities Center, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 in Room 156, Straub Hall.
Mireille Miller-Young, a professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, kicks off the New Directions in Feminist Studies Speaker Series with her talk, “Black Feminism, Labor, Sex Work,” at noon Oct. 19 in Gerlinger Alumni Lounge.
The next installment of the Wings: UO Presidential Speakers Series, takes place Nov. 1 at UO Portland. Topics including the Cascadia subduction zone, courts and constitutional rights, and the history of the Black Power movement.
EVENTS
LatinX Heritage Month events take place across campus and the community, beginning Sept. 21 through Nov 2.
The New Student Fall Retreat for first-year and transfer students from diverse backgrounds, sponsored by Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence, takes place Sept. 28-30 at Camp Harlow in Eugene.
Indigenous People’s Day is Oct. 8.
"Reaching for Economic Equity and Inclusion in the Second Gilded Age" is the theme of the Oregon Economic Forum on Oct. 17 at UO Portland.
The annual networking reception Weaving New Beginnings: Creating Connections, to welcome new students, staff and faculty of color, will happen at 5 p.m. Oct. 26 in the EMU ballroom. Sponsored by the divisions of Equity and Inclusion and Student Life.
Homecoming and Fall Family Weekend take place the week of Oct. 29.
International Week, sponsored by the Office of International Affairs, is Nov. 12-17 and includes the Study Abroad Fair Nov. 13.
NEW FACES
We’ve got some new deans: Gabe Paquette at the Robert D. Clark Honors College; Janet Woodruff-Borden at the Graduate School; and Sabrina Madison-Cannon at the School of Music and Dance.
IN THE CLASSROOM
The School of Journalism and Communication has added a new master’s program in advertising and brand responsibility, the first of its kind in the world.
Over at Lundquist College of Business, new minors in sports business and entrepreneurship are being offered. And the college is launching a new Professional Edge program for business students.
SPORTS
The athletics department has introduced new rules for attending football games at Autzen Stadium.
The Ducks play UCLA in the homecoming game Nov. 1, which will mark a homecoming of sorts for the Bruin’s new coach, who Duck fans may have heard of.
Volleyball, ranked 12th in the country, just beat top-ranked Minnesota and has begun its rugged Pac-12 campaign, including a looming showdown with No. 2 Stanford Oct. 21.
Men’s basketball open the season at home with an exhibition game vs. Western Oregon Nov. 1 and host Portland State Nov. 6. They head east to play in the 2K Classic, benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project, Nov. 15-16 at Madison Square Garden in New York with Iowa, Syracuse and Connecticut.
Women’s basketball, led by the dynamic duo of Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard and coming off a run to the Elite Eight, begin play Nov. 6 against Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks. The home opener is Nov. 10 vs. Syracuse, and the Ducks host NCAA runner-up Mississippi State Dec. 18.
ARTS AND CULTURE
Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials is an exhibition at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art that runs through Dec. 30. Featuring 58 recent works made by 30 artists from 13 countries, the show investigates the complex cultural and material nexus that is plastic.
A Mammoth Celebration, Oct. 6-7, marks the unveiling of two new, life-size Columbian mammoth sculptures in the courtyard of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
Undergraduate Poetry Prizes, Reading and Reception in the Knight Library Browsing Room, Sept. 28, 4-6 p.m.
Takeda Tomoyuki, a Noh actor from Kanze School, will give presentations on the history of traditional Japanese Noh theater, its performance and its costumes at two workshops, Oct. 1 and 2. Co-sponsored by The Center for Asian and Pacific Studies and Oregon Humanities Center.
“Show Up, Stand Out, Empower,” a juried exhibition of student artwork in Knight Library, opens Oct. 15.
The popular (and free) family event Halloween Spooktastic, presented by the School of Music and Dance, happens at 6 p.m. Oct. 28 at Aasen-Hull Hall in the Frohnmayer Music Building. There’s even candy for the kids.
“The Best We Could Do” by Thi Bui is this year’s UO Common Reading selection. After reading the book, check out the Common See, an exhibition at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art curated to relate to the themes of the campuswide reading selection.
"Avenue Q," a musical comedy about the harsh realities of life after college, relationships and finding your purpose, opens Nov. 2. Tickets are free for UO students.
ICYMI
Incoming students and family members flocked to campus over the summer for the latest iteration of IntroDUCKtion, the university’s long-running orientation program.
“Animal House,” the raunchy college comedy shot on and around our campus, turned 40 over the summer, sparking memories of those who there for the shoot and spurring questions about whether the movie’s brand of off-color humor holds up in today’s world.
The university is celebrating 10 years of Pathway Oregon, a scholarship program for low-income Oregonians.