ENGLISH - Mat Johnson, a professor in the Creative Writing Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the UO’s newest Philip H. Knight Chair. Johnson joined the UO faculty in 2018 after a decade teaching at the University of Houston’s creative writing program.

Sixteen UO faculty members are being honored with the Presidential Fellowships in Humanistic Studies for their contributions to the arts and humanities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Arts and Sciences is recognizing and celebrating both the 2020 and 2021 fellows together.

THEATRE ARTS - When Ty Burrell, the award-winning actor and die-hard Duck fan, addresses the UO’s class of 2021 at next month’s commencement, he will have plenty of pearls of wisdom to dispense to the graduates.

The UO’s Undergraduate Research Symposium is back this year with a virtual format that organizers say will make for an inspiring and accessible event. The symposium itself is May 27, but related events are going on throughout the week as part of the Week of Research.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will livestream the premiere of “Sanctuary: A Performance,” an artist collaboration exploring the collective experience of women and queer people of color seeking refuge from persecution under the ongoing violence of colonization.

Co-organized by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation and the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success, the inaugural Week of Research will be held remotely and is open to students, faculty members and staff.

POLITICAL SCIENCE, ENGLISH - Four UO faculty members will serve as the inaugural participants for teaching, mentorship and leadership positions in the new Provost Fellows Program. The program is designed to support faculty members and provide professional development opportunities.

THEATRE ARTS - University Theatre will virtually present “Watermelon Kisses” and “Marisol’s Christmas,” two one-act plays that celebrate the importance of family and storytelling within the LatinX community.

Twelve UO researchers and scholars pursuing research on subjects ranging from rock and roll music to data science to COVID-19 have received 2021 Faculty Research Awards, which support scholarship, creative projects and quantitative or qualitative research from all disciplinary backgrounds.

EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - An analysis of Twitter activity between March and August 2020 by University of Oregon linguists unmasked strong support for face coverings to reduce exposure to COVID-19, but feedback from journal reviewers led to a deeper dive into their data.

ENGLISH - The University of Oregon’s disability studies minor will present a virtual discussion featuring a multiracial panel of professionals with disabilities at its first public forum Wednesday, May 5. Topics include advancing equality in the work place, transitioning from school to career, and navigating the work force with a disability.

COMICS AND CARTOON STUDIES, PHYSICS - The University of Oregon Science/Comics Interdisciplinary Research Program pairs artistic students with accomplished scientists to create dynamic illustrations that tackle subjects not normally seen in the pages of a comic book.

ENGLISH, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - UO professor Sarah Wald hasn’t gone down the TikTok rabbit hole, but she’s explored just about every other storytelling medium to examine issues of equity and diversity in outdoor recreation and public land use.

The Glacier Lab is a group of graduate students, CHC undergrads and postdocs who study the societal impacts of glaciers, icebergs and snow worldwide. Members of the lab come from diverse academic backgrounds, including environmental studies, anthropology, history and English.

An environmental historian at Brown University will explore the Chukchi Peninsula in far eastern Siberia in the 2020-21 Oregon Humanities Center's Clark Lecture, “The Reindeer and the End of the World,” on Tuesday, May 4, at noon via Zoom.