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October 2013
FACULTY & STAFF NEWS
Theatre professor takes on numerous roles
BY WANDA LAUKKANEN | Ellen
Margolis is a professor of theatre with a lot
of hats to wear.
She is a prolific, award-winning
playwright whose productions have won
national awards. She chairs the Department
of Theatre and Dance at Pacific University
and teaches classes in acting, playwriting
and directing. She is a founding member of
Playwrights West, a Portland professional
theatre company. She finds room in her
“spare time” to write new plays every year
and works professionally as a director,
dialect coach and voiceover artist. And, she
is a wife and the mother of two sons, ages
17 and 11.
Growing up in the San Francisco Bay
area, Margolis said she found her calling
Photo by Wanda Laukkanen
Theatre Professor Ellen Margolis not only teaches students at Pacific University but also is an awardwinning playwright and works professionally as a director, dialect coach and voiceover artist.
to the theatre profession as a young person
who occasionally made treks to the Oregon
dramatic art from the University of
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.
California, Berkeley. “I think it was a production of The Time
“At the time, I saw myself as an actor,
stories are told and whose stories are told.
“I acted all through high school and
college,” she said. “I acted professionally
of Your Life that I saw in middle school, and
and then over the years, it was if my circle
when I got out of college. Then I started to
I thought to myself, ‘That’s where I want to
of interests kept getting bigger, so I got
get my feet wet with directing, and at that
live,’” she said.
interested in directing so I could be involved
point, I said, ‘I should go back to school to
with all parts of the storytelling,” she said.
understand the whole picture.’”
The theatre bug bit, and, after
graduating from high school, Margolis
“Then I got interested in theatre history,
went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in
because it’s full of questions about what
See MARGOLIS, page 2
pacificu.edu/marcom/pacnews.cfm |
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Volunteers needed at Homecoming
Pacific University employees
scramble for Gamma Sigma
are invited to volunteer at —
alumni to reunions for several
and enjoy — Homecoming on
classes. The day ends with a
Oct. 10-13.
volleyball match at the Stoller
Volunteers should contact
20
Ginger Moshofsky, assistant
HOMECOMING
director, at ginger@pacificu.edu,
Center, followed by the 9 p.m.
13
noise parade, bonfire and rally.
Saturday, Oct. 12, begins
come back to where it all began
or 530-352-2828.
with a pancake breakfast. The
october 10–13, 2013
“It would also be fantastic to
Boxer Nation Celebration, from
encourage employees to help
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Parking Lot
us celebrate the Class of 1963,”
2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, to sign
said Martha Calus-McLain ’03,
the sidewalk.
director of Alumni Relations.
Faculty and staff also may
M. The Homecoming football
Homecoming begins
Thursday, Oct. 10, with a lunch
game against University of
for the Golden Guard, the
Puget Sound starts at 1 p.m.
Members of that class will
participate in the events along
groundbreaking of Pacific’s new
be inducted into the Golden
with alumni. Preregistration is
residence hall and a reception
with a brunch for grads from
Guard. The new Golden Guard
required for many of the events,
for alumni award winners.
the late 1960s, a tea for Alpha
members will parade from the
and there are fees associated
UC to Old College Hall at
with some activities.
Activities slated for Friday,
Oct. 11, range from a golf
Homecoming ends Sunday
Kappa Delta alumnae and a
Margolis earned a master of fine arts in
student who wants to get a well-rounded
recognized by the Portland Civic Theatre
theatre degree and go into the profession.
Guild with a Drammy Award for Best
“That student will probably go on to get
executive mail center manager
certification this past spring. The course
provides training specifically designed
by the U.S. Postal Service for mailing
industry professionals. Instructors
from U.S. Postal Service traveled to
Portland to conduct the comprehensive
certification training program.
Original Script in 2012. Numerous other
acting at University of California, Davis and
a MFA in some particular sub-discipline,
plays have been produced throughout the
then a doctorate in theatre history from the
acting playwriting or directing,” she said.
United States and have been recognized
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Then, she said, there’s the student who
ERIN JOBST, Physical Therapy,
with accolades, including the New York
She came back to Oregon with her
“just wants a really great liberal arts education. husband after a stint at the University of
I always say theatre is the queen of liberal arts
10-Minute Play Competition, and the
Wisconsin Stevens Point, because they
because we have it all — history, literature,
Trustus Playwrights’ Festival.
wanted to live on the West Coast. She started
architecture, design, music— I mean, it’s all
teaching at Pacific in 2004.
in there.”
presented a lecture, Rehabilitation for
Getting ideas for plays is a matter of ideas
being connected, Margolis said.
“Getting one idea doesn’t necessarily count
idea of sitting in a coffee shop and being
program, applied theatre, that just began last
for anything,” she said. “It’s a few things that
discovered as an actor rather than having an
year, Margolis said. The program prepares
suddenly connect in your mind.
education is “a very American sort of slant on
students to use theatre performance to
acting, the idea that it’s anti-intellectual ... .
serve in the healthcare, education and social
moments or a piece of dialogue and a picture
In Europe, it would be natural for an actor
services fields.
or a gesture — those three things start to
to be as deeply educated and cultured as any
student or professor.”
Pacific’s theatre program draws three
kinds of students, she said. One is the
Margolis has written numerous award-
individuals with diabetes mellitus, to
Acute Care Rehabilitation Services at
Oregon Health Sciences University
in August.
JUDY SHERMAN, Athletics,
was inducted into the Forest Grove
High School Athletic Hall of Fame in
September. A 1960 graduate of FGHS,
Sherman coached the Boxer softball
team for 28 years and served as Pacific
University’s athletic director for 12
years. Although retired, she still works
in game management at Pacific.
TODD SCHULTZ, Psychology, will
discuss his book, Torment Saint: The Life
of Elliott Smith, at Powell’s Bookstore in
Portland at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6. Singersongwriter Smith was a Lincoln High
School graduate who rose to mainstream
prominence in the 1990s. He died in
2003 under questionable circumstances
in Los Angeles.
KEN SCHUMANN, Athletics,
presented a talk with two other athletic
directors on the topic “Leadership in
Athletic Fundraising,” at the National
Association of Athletic Development
Directors held in June in Florida.
Approximately 200 major gift officers
from NCAA Division I, II and III
institutions attended the sessions.
JIM SHEEDY, Optometry, was
quoted in the July 2013 issue of Family
Circle, offering tips for children who
spend a lot of time looking at computer,
tablet or cell phone screens.
MIKE STEELE, English, will present
a paper, Reflections of Robert E. Lee
in American Culture, in January at
the Hawaii University International
Conference on Arts, Humanities and
Social Sciences in Honolulu. The
presentation will preview a booklength manuscript currently under
consideration by two publishers. It
builds on two years of research by Steele,
including time spent at the Museum of
the Confederacy in Richmond, Va.
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or faculty member you would like to see
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achievement to share? Send
your ideas to news@pacificu.edu
International Fringe Festival, the National
The third kind of student is part of a new
Margolis is quick to point out that the
MICHAEL BURCH-PESSES,
Music, is the founding board member of
the Western International Band Clinic
University, joining several leading music
educators from across the nation to
form the new board of directors. The
Western International Band Clinic is a
long established and highly respected
annual event in Seattle for high school
musicians and is now expanding its
program to include college students.
The new board will establish goals and
procedures for college students in the
Pacific Northwest to become involved
in the clinic and will offer master classes
and performing opportunities at the
college level.
DONNA HEPLER and JUDY
COOK, Mail Services, each earned
2:30 p.m. men’s soccer game.
Margolis: Connecting ideas is central to her stories
Continued from Page 1
Faculty & staff highlights
and director of the Philharmonic.
by Rimsky-Korsakov, Danse Bacchanale
The Pacific Philharmonic is looking for
Those interested may contact Seliger at
from Samson & Dalila, Op. 47 by Saint-
musicians to play this fall. Faculty, staff
bseliger@pacificu.edu.
Saens, Grenade by Bruno Mars, and
Want to share your musical talent?
and community members, as well as
“If you’ve got three images, or three
speak to each other, and you feel like ‘maybe
winning plays over the years. Her most
they’re the part of a story, maybe they’re part
recent, Licking Batteries, premiered in August
of the same event.’ When things connect,
at The CoHo Theater in Portland. She was
that’s something that’s really exciting to me.” pacificu.edu/marcom/pacnews.cfm |
Share your talents with the Pacific Philharmonic
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The orchestra rehearses weekly from
Albinoni’s Adagio for Strings. A special
undergraduate and graduate students, are
7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays in
piece will be Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No.
invited to participate.
McCready Hall. The fall concert will be on
1 in A Minor, Op. 33, featuring Pacific’s
Friday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m.
cello instructor Noah Seitz.
Especially needed are French horn,
string, oboe and bassoon players, said
Bryce Seliger, associate professor of music
This semester’s lineup includes Firework
by Katy Perry, Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
For more information, visit the Pacific
University Philharmonic Facebook page.
pacificu.edu/marcom/pacnews.cfm |
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May Birthdays
October
Birthdays
1 Alan James
1 Jolynn Graham
2 Diane Simpson
2 David DeMoss
2 Dana Zurcher
2 Michael Daniel
2 Kelli Stephens
2 Todd Twyman
3 Keith Buckley
3 Kylie Hepler
3 O’Neill Solanky
3 Michael Fulop
3 Megan Serenco
4 Laura Siltanen
4 Ralph Vasey
5 Kelly Elliott
5 Piper Menke
5 Jason Damron
5 Megan Doren
5 David Brown
5 Cristian Barajas
6 Chad Wiener
6 Sara Pisa
33%
of Pacific faculty
and staff gave to
Pacific so far in the
2013 fiscal year, as
of Sept. 17. Your
gift supports the
university and our
students. Consider
a gift or a payroll
deduction today.
pacificu.edu/giving
6 Rosario
Mendez-Rodriguez
6 Nancy Morrison
6 Nicole Wegrzyn
7 Benjamin Griffin
7 Susan Pedersen
8 Johathan Pope
8 Kathy Read
9 Michael Millard
9 Erica Chiotti
9 Joe Sepulveda
10 Karina
Guzman-Arroyo
10 Niki Brooks
11 Pilar Sayago
11 Teresa Lara
11 Kyle Johnstone
11 Donna Hepler
11 Nancy Christoph
11 Damon Kupper
12 Sandra
Pelham-Foster
12 Jeff Cummins
12 Lonnie Anderson
13 Rosa Mejia Gaona
14 Erica Findley
14 Rachel Elliott
14 Barbara Colter
15 Michael Iacolucci
16 Howard Smith
16 David Cookman
16 Catherine Miller
17 Lorely French
19 Ashim Malhotra
19 Carole Billings
19 Kenneth Johnston
19 Wynne Lobel
20 Amanda Ryan Fear
20 Fraser Horn
22 Lois Hornberger
22 Valerie Cleary
23 Matthew Allen
23 Lori Hobbs
23 Juliet Brosing
23 Jeffrey Turay
24 Lisa Geraci
24 Kyle Carey
24 Sarah Tomlinson
25 Ian Falconer
25 Paul Sabah
26 Robert Smith
26 Ryan Garcia
26 Paula Luginbuhl
27 Susan Orchard
27 Julia Pence
27 Maria Escutia Andrade
28 Sarah Phillips
28 Stanley Tang
28 Sandra Guyton Doan
29 Leslie Devaud
29 Jody Victoria
29 Patricia Montoya
30 Karla Staihar
30 Jordan Mittelsdorf
30 Yvette Ly
31 Dane Joseph
31 Alissa Nielsen
31 Ted Krupicka
31 Kristy McGinnis
31 Emily Nichols
31 Dane Joseph
OCTOBER 2013
Office of Marketing
& Communications
Editor | Jenni Luckett
Associate Editor |
Wanda Laukkanen
Send your news to
news@pacificu.edu
BOXER BOOST REFRESHMENTS
SET AT TWO CAMPUS LOCATIONS
heavily discounted price. The pass is valid for all times,
Coffee and light refreshments will be provided free for
and the Portland street cars through Aug. 31, 2014.
Pacific University staff at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17,
all days and all zones for Tri-Met buses, MAX light rail
Cost is $159.74, taken as a one-time deduction out
at the Hillsboro and Forest Grove campuses, courtesy
of the first paycheck following purchase of the pass.
of Staff Senate and ARAMARK. At the Forest Grove
Normal retail cost for an annual all-zone Tri-Met pass
Campus, the refreshments will be offered at the Alumni
is $1,100. To purchase, contact the Human Resources
Room in the University Center. The Hillsboro Campus
office for more information.
refreshments are available at HPC2 Room 430.
TRI-MET OFFERS DEEP DISCOUNT
FACULTY SENATE PLANS MEETING
The Faculty Senate will meet Thursday, Oct. 31,
Pacific University benefit-eligible employees may
from 3 to 5 p.m. in Berglund Hall on the Forest
purchase a 2013-14 Tri-Met transportation pass at a
Grove Campus.
pacificu.edu/marcom/pacnews.cfm |
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