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UO E-clips, Nov. 6
Top stories for November 6, 2007: Associated Press reports today that a missing hiker is a math professor at the UO; The student Daily Emerald reports on students teaching students, how learning goes both ways; Eugene's human rights chief has joined the UO, the Register-Guard reports
Missing hiker is math professor at University of Oregon (Associated Press; story in entirety): A search is on for a University of Oregon professor who went hiking alone on Sunday. Daming Xu (Da Ming Shoo) had planned a day hike near Cougar Reservoir area in the Cascades foothills near McKenzie Bridge. Searchers have not found his car, a white 2003 Chevy Impala with Oregon license plates ZVH416. The Lane County Sheriff's Office is conducting the search aided by Explorer Scout units. Deputies said he had been scheduled to be in class yesterday. The search area is described as fairly rugged but crisscrossed with trails. Xu is 63 and teaches mathematics and statistics at the UO, where he has been since 1990.
Students teaching students: Learning goes both ways (Daily Emerald): Graduate teaching fellow Uriel Plascencia likens being a GTF to being "president of the nation" -- not because he considers himself all-powerful, but because the responsibilities are immense. Plascencia is one of just fewer than 1,300 GTFs at the University. He also happens to be a first-year graduate student. For Plascencia, his own education and that of his students are interdependent. When one is doing well or falls behind, the other reflects that. "I want to be the best teacher I can be," Plascencia said. "The things that I learn in my classes - I use those in the classes that I teach." Plascencia's journey to the University was a long one. He was born and raised in Mexico, and when he was 18, Plascencia's mother decided to move the family to Oregon so they could be together. His father was already in Oregon working at a nursery to support the family. As a student at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., Plascencia studied international business and English: a "complex and intense" program. After 5 1/2 years of undergraduate education, thorough research and much consideration, Plascencia graduated from George Fox and decided to attend graduate school at the University of Oregon.
City human rights chief to join UO (Register-Guard): The face of Eugene’s human rights program has moved on -- to the University of Oregon. Greg Rikhoff, the director of the city program for 19 years, resigned last month to accept a new position, director of community relations, at the university. Rikhoff said he realized in recent years that he had taken the city program as far as he could. The UO job “is really the right position at the right time,” he said. “It gives me the chance to do a lot of the things I love to do in terms of building true civic engagement.” In the wake of Rikhoff’s departure, City Manager Pro Tem Angel Jones expects this week to name a city employee who will conduct a six- to nine-month assessment of the city’s human rights and diversity programs. The city expects to advertise nationally for a successor to Rikhoff after the assessment and any restructuring is completed. Eliminating or sharply curtailing the human rights program is not an option, “not so long as I’m sitting here,” Jones said. “That’s a priority of mine, and the City Council says it’s a high priority for the City Council.” In his last year with the city, Rikhoff helped push the idea of making Eugene a “human rights city” -- an idea to be promoted at a symposium on Friday.