THEATRE ARTS - It’s been a breakout year for Jana Schmieding. Star of the Peacock network’s hit show Rutherford Falls, the Lakota Sioux Native is shattering the glass ceiling and making room for Indigenous creatives in the entertainment industry.

PSYCHOLOGY, BIOLOGY, THEATRE ARTS - The Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement honored four faculty members this spring for excellence in mentoring students as they ask questions and seek answers.

Twenty outstanding faculty members, the most since 2007, have been selected for the sought-after Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards for the 2021-22 academic year. The fund is designed to reward, recognize and retain world-class teaching and research at the UO.

THEATRE ARTS - Michael Govier and fellow writer Will McCormick won an Academy Award for best animated short film for If Anything Happens I Love You, a 12-minute look into the world of parents whose marriage is suffering under the strain of losing their only child in a school shooting.

THEATRE ARTS - As a kid whose parents introduced him early and often to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Sean Andries (BS ’06, theater arts) appreciates the value the arts can bring to rural communities.

MATHEMATICS, THEATRE ARTS - The Heritage Project will receive $58.5 million in bond funding to renovate University and Villard Halls, the UO’s two founding buildings that together make up one of only 17 National Historic Landmarks in Oregon.

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 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.

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.