A specially designed outdoor classroom opens this fall: Tykeson Hall’s west terrace. The updated open space, constructed specifically to serve as an informal learning area, has tiered bench seating that is wired with electrical outlets so students can plug in.

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.

The 14 fellowship recipients are pursuing projects in a range of disciplines, from conducting a study of the experiences and health of transgender people of color during COVID-19 to research that seeks to increase the accessibility of hydrogen fuel usage to an investigation of the effect of video-coaching interventions for early childhood caregivers.

ENGLISH - Mat Johnson, a professor in the Creative Writing Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the UO’s newest Philip H. Knight Chair. Johnson joined the UO faculty in 2018 after a decade teaching at the University of Houston’s creative writing program.

Sixteen UO faculty members are being honored with the Presidential Fellowships in Humanistic Studies for their contributions to the arts and humanities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Arts and Sciences is recognizing and celebrating both the 2020 and 2021 fellows together.

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 UO’s Undergraduate Research Symposium is back this year with a virtual format that organizers say will make for an inspiring and accessible event. The symposium itself is May 27, but related events are going on throughout the week as part of the Week of Research.

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.