ACTIVITIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

                                                                                                                  Cheyney Ryan

 

1. I was co-founder (1977) of the University’s Council on Minority Education, now the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs. I was on its governing board for its first four years. 

 

2. I was a co-founder of the University of Oregon Humanities Center. I organized the Symposium on Critical Theory 1982-83, that led to the creation of the Center.

 

3. I was responsible for soliciting funds that created established the Carleton Savage Endowment in International Relations in Peace, providing ongoing support for peace related scholarship and lectures (established 1988). I have chaired or co-chaired the Savage Endowment since its inception.

 

In this capacity, I have supervised numerous year-long projects on such topics as South African liberation struggles; peace and conflict in post-Communist Eastern Europe; violence and the imagination; approaching peace through music; the legacy of the Vietnam War; Native American visions of peace; feminism and peace; Hiroshima and its legacy; etc.

 

4. I was a co-founder of the University of Oregon Peace Studies Program (1987). I have been a co-chair of the program ever since.

 

With Robert Gould, I helped create the Portland State University Conflict Resolution Program, in Portland, with which I am still affiliated.

 

5. I was co-chair of President’s Committee on Rights of Gay and Lesbian Students (1990-1992), investigated the situation of gay and lesbian students on campus and formulated proposals to address their concerns. This led to the creation of the University’s Office on Gay and Lesbian Affairs.

 

6. I was faculty sponsor of the legislation creating the University’s current policies barring “fraternization” (sexual relations) between faculty and students. I worked with the Oregon State Legislature and Representative Cynthia Wooten to change state policies on this matter, specifically related to statute-of-limitations issues.

 

7. I was principal faculty organizer of international conference “Ethics After the Holocaust” (May 1996), that brought scholars and students together to discuss moral and political significance of the event.

 

I was also principal faculty organizer of related conference on “Community: The Forgotten Tradition” the following year (1997), in conjunction with U of O Hillel.

 

Both events led to the creation of the U of O Schnitzer Program on Judaic Studies, of which I am a co-founder.

 

8. I co-chaired the President’s committee to create Center on Diversity and Community (CODAC). The Center was established in 2000 to help coordinate diversity efforts across the campus and sponsor research related to diversity. 

 

9. I am a co-founder of the Masters Program in Conflict Resolution, housed in the University of Oregon Law School. In 2007 the Law’s schools program in conflict resolution was named on the top ten in the United States.

 

10. In 2005, I was responsible for soliciting a bequest from former University of Oregon professor Henry Alexander to develop work in peace and conflict resolution at both the University of Oregon and Portland State University. The initial gift was $300,000. It was given the Northwest Institute of Conflict Resolution to initiate several programs, which I help oversee. Our ultimate aim is to create a center on peace and conflict resolution that will serve the Northwest.

 

11. I have been involved for the past several years in developing the “Insight Seminars” with Professor Jim Earle and a number of community members. In the fall of 2006 I gave a month long seminar on Hollywood films. In spring 2007 I will be giving a seminar on forgiveness.