Pacific University Eugene School of Learning & Teaching

10/25/2024

Best kept teacher preparation secret in Oregon. Small classes. Personalized support. Equity-focused. ESOL-embedded pathway to a preliminary teacher license.

10/03/2024

DesiFest 2024 Artist Residency begins this morning at The Village School, an arts integrated charter school in Eugene. Youth will learn about “the mother of all martial arts”, which survived British colonialism, dominance, and oppression. They will also learn classical Mysore style Bharatananatyam dance. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-659AqRGmB/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

09/30/2024

Eugene’s first South Asian Arts and Cultural Festival: Oregon DesiFest is sponsoring an Artist Residency for The Sindhoor & Natyaveda Navarasa Dance Theater

The artist residency includes workshops for K-12 students at two local public schools and a UO workshop for students, faculty, and the wider public this Friday from 10-11:30am at 353 Gerlinger Annex.

Navarasa is an acclaimed performance group that fuses the classical Indian dance of Bharatanatyam with Kalarippayattu, a martial art from Kerala that is commonly used in theater training across India.

Navarasa's mission is to create high quality South Asian performing arts to entertain, inspire, and engage all audiences to build a compassionate and just world. They work with diverse art forms to create social justice awareness and build momentum for positive social change.

Navarasa will be performing Saturday evening as part of Oregon DesiFest, Eugene's South Asian festival. Tickets for the performance can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sindhoor-and-natyaveda-navarasa-dance-theaters-a-story-a-song-tickets-1007221254887?aff=oddtdtcreator

Come out Friday to get your bodies moving!

Join us for an evening of captivating storytelling and mesmerizing dance performances by Sindhoor & Natyaveda Navarasa Dance Theater

09/18/2024

Don't miss author Johanna Ogden at Oregon DesiFest 2024 on Saturday, October 5, 2024. She will participate in a Q&A session with Professor Thomas Anil Oommen, Pacific University alum and assistant professor in the College of Education at Pacific University. Johanna Ogden is the author of "Punjabi Rebels of the Columbia River and the Global Fight for Indian Independence and Citizenship."

We are thrilled to announce that Oregon DesiFest 2024 has been highlighted in the Oregonian as one of the South Asian "events you won't want to miss"!

09/13/2024

Oregon DesiFest thanks all of its current sponsors. Your support makes our work possible!

05/19/2024

Wow! What a full day of celebrating our graduates and our collective work as lifelong learners!

05/16/2024

So great to see some of our newest group of teachers presenting their action research projects this evening at Pacific University’s Eugene location. Special thanks to Spencer, Jesse, and Linda for helping assure that everything went so smoothly! From the technology integration that connected us with our graduates and faculty in Forest grove to the food and cleanup after the last graduate said goodbye. One of our graduates is the mother of a former first grader that I had the honor of teaching. I will have the honor of hooding her at Saturday’s commencement ceremony in Forest Grove!

04/17/2024

Proud work moment: The Oregon Longitudinal Data Collaborative (OLDC) did an analysis of the teacher employment match from 2010-2023 by institution. Pacific has the highest match for graduates being employed in Oregon (80%) and the lowest unemployment match (15%) of any private institution in Oregon! This speaks to the wonderful work of our School of Learning & Teaching faculty and staff, and that school districts want Pacific grads. Thank you to the district partners we work with and all the Pacific University alumni out there doing great work.

03/19/2024

The politics of migration needs a platform for serious dialogue. I love that Pacific University is hosting this symposium:

Silky Shah 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. | Thursday, March 21, 2024 Marsh Hall, Taylor Auditorium 216

03/12/2024

Wow! What a day! We started with Yashica Dutt’s book talk moderated by Dr. Lalit Khandare at Pacific University and ended the day with folks from the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) and the DesiFest team. See you at the Eugene Public Library to hear Yashica Dutt’s story as we celebrate Women’s History Month! (6 PM)

03/08/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/h6n75GSe7sN3hK6Z/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Coming up Tues., March 12, 6 p.m. at the Downtown Library: a free talk by journalist and activist Yashica Dutt, author of the award winning non-fiction book, "Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir of Surviving India's Caste System." Her memoir presents a scathing and intimate account of how the caste system brutally affects Dalits in today’s India and in the Indian diaspora worldwide.
Born “in a formerly untouchable ‘lower’ caste family,” she passed as dominant caste to survive discrimination. Dutt moved to New Delhi at 17 and became one of the most widely-read culture journalists at a leading English language paper. Eventually coming out as Dalit, she introduced this expression which powerfully resonated in India.

Dutt's site, Documents of Dalit Discrimination, was among the first highly visible media spaces for caste oppressed people. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Foreign Policy and the Atlantic, and she has been featured on The BBC, The Guardian, and PBS NewsHour.

Books will be available for purchase and signing. This event is co-sponsored by DesiFest Eugene/South Asian American Solidarity Network - SAASN, Oregon Caste Abolition Collective (OCAC) and Eugene Public Library.

10/01/2023

College of Education Faculty member and Associate Director of Clinical Practices and Continuing Education, Thomas Anil Oommen, who teaches courses like Critical Perspectives on Identity and Social Systems as well as Culture, Power, and Identity: Becoming a Teacher Leader and Advocate has organized a community event that will be a window into the “Roots and Wings” experiences of the South Asian diaspora and its multitude of ethnicities, their struggles and solidarity movements. The event will be on October 6 and 7 at Pacific’s Eugene location at Lane Community College. Please visit the event website for more details:

Come celebrate and explore the diverse and dynamic experiences of the South Asian diaspora through art, comedy, dance, music, spoken word, and more.