Class Spotlight

In mid-January, the Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership hosted its annual entrepreneurial workshop, known as Winterim. The event brought 27 students to campus prior to the start of spring semester for a week of learning, networking, and mentoring, which culminated in a pitch competition for more than $10,000 in prizes.

A new course, Playing at the Border: Migration and Art, examines how migrant and refugee stories are told in film, theatre, and visual art, providing students with opportunities to engage directly with Portland’s immigrant communities.

Cara Tomlinson’s Art and Ecology class uses waste materials from around Portland to create beautiful and meaningful works of art. This course offers a fresh approach to creative practice, merging art and ecology to help students respond to the climate crisis, explore the agency of materials, and build connections to place.

L&C environmental studies students gained some real-world experience last month when they visited Tillamook Forest Center to attend the center’s annual Rain Festival, a celebration of the Tillamook Forest and its waterways. They spent the afternoon gathering input from rural community members on what they value most about Oregon’s forests.

Two semesters in the making, Dance X runs from December 5 to 7. The performances offer students the opportunity to have their original choreography fully staged for large audiences.

Students in the Portland Music Scenes course connect directly with the city’s varied music communities—from country to jazz, punk to R&B, taiko to Irish trad—while learning to use the tools of ethnomusicology.