University of Portland

Setting sail from The Bluff, ⚓ highlights where our most recent grads are taking their first steps in their careers. Here is your first round of Pilots for ⚓:

Harper Maiorano '26
Major: Elementary education
Next Port: Preschool Teacher at Pipster Prep

Tyler Dorlarque '26
Major: Nursing
Next Port: Nurse at Swedish Cherry Hill Hospital

Veronica Conklin '26
Major: Mechanical engineering
Next Port: Mechanical Product Design Engineer at Daimler Truck North America

🔗 Learn more about their ⚓ here: https://bit.ly/3QqSOA7

Sophia Aguirre ’19 still remembers her elementary school teachers telling her not to speak Spanish in the classroom. “It got to the point where I was embarrassed to speak Spanish, and I stopped speaking it completely,” she says.

Now an English Language Development teacher at Aloha High School, Aguirre sees multilingualism in her students as a strength, rather than an educational barrier. And she’s being recognized for her approach—she was recently named one of four “Educators of the Year” by OnPoint Credit Union.

For Aguirre, embracing diversity means providing students with opportunities to share their languages and cultures. “Learning a language can be silly and weird and difficult at times,” she says, “but it can also be fun and fulfilling.”

🔗 Read the full story from Portland Magazine here: https://bit.ly/4xpWRgG

✏️ Tess Wrobleski

Thanks to the Moreau Pathways streamlined college entry experience, 20 of 47 graduating seniors from De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland plan to enroll at UP! 🎉

When University President Robert D. Kelly, PhD heard the news, he sent boxes of purple swag and visited their campus to give them an official welcome to The Bluff.

“Through programs like the Moreau Pathway and the Cristo Rey Network University Partnership, UP has made college more accessible and has shown our students that they belong,” said De La Salle North Catholic President Ashleigh de Villiers. “It is no surprise that an incredible 43 percent of our Class of 2026 have chosen to become Pilots this fall. We are deeply grateful for this partnership and excited to see the next generation of Pilots take flight.”

🔗 Read more here: https://bit.ly/49PJJaJ

The Bluff meets the Vatican!

President Robert D. Kelly, PhD experienced the honor of a face-to-face meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in Rome last week during a five-day pilgrimage and conference with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) in Rome.

Referencing themes from Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo told higher ed leaders, “We must be willing to invest generously in the education of future generations. It is crucial that young men and women learn to engage positively with new technologies, while at the same time truly developing their God-given skills and capacities to reason, to think critically and commit knowledge to memory, thus preparing them to shape responsibly the world to come.”

“Meeting the Pope was one of the most profound moments of my life,” Dr. Kelly wrote from Rome. “Standing there, I didn’t just feel peace for myself—I felt an overwhelming sense of hope.”

🔗 Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4aioHla

Photo credit: © Vatican Media

We love to see these ✨ iconic ✨ graduation caps 🎓

🔗 Want to see all of our photos from the 2026 Commencement season? Head here to see more photos from the entire weekend, including more graduation caps: https://bit.ly/4dWQkBq

A Message from University President Robert D. Kelly, PhD

With both immense sadness and abiding hope for our eternal life with Christ Jesus, I share the news that University of Portland President Emeritus Rev. David T. Tyson, C.S.C., passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 30, at Holy Cross House in Notre Dame, Indiana, after a brief illness. The UP community joins the Congregation of Holy Cross and Father David’s innumerable friends, family members, and supporters in mourning his passing and celebrating his life of ministry, service, and leadership.

Information on Father David’s Funeral Mass will be shared by the Congregation of Holy Cross soon. We will offer Mass in memory of Father David in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher on Friday, June 26th at 4pm.

Read the full message here: https://bit.ly/4o0VrFt

For as long as she can remember, US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mary Lea (Miller) Bordelon ’09 has always had to navigate two worlds. She reflected on this as part of a collection of stories by US Air Force Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “The thought of Lola, my aunts, and uncles, and my first cousins and their children, living a life completely different from mine has always been difficult for me to grasp,” she wrote.

Raised in the St. Johns neighborhood, Bordelon made regular treks across the Pacific with her family to visit relatives who lived on Cebu Island in the Philippines, about 350 miles southeast of Manila. After graduating with De La Salle North Catholic's inaugural class, she made her decision to attend UP.

A friend of hers in UP’s ROTC program gave a presentation on the Twilight Brigade, a volunteer organization that provides end-of-life care to veterans, especially those without family. Boredelon was inspired by the care for community and enrolled with Air Force ROTC her sophomore year.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UP and graduating from the ROTC program as a distinguished graduate, she headed to pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Awarded her pilot wings in the summer of 2011, Bordelon and members of her squadron also made an official trip to the Philippines that brought back youthful memories and meet their counterparts in the Philippine Air Force in Cebu.

🔗 Read the full story from Portland Magazine here: https://bit.ly/4v9shpG

✏️ Eileen Bjorkman

"This is the guiding principle for technological processes: it is not enough for artificial intelligence to make us more efficient or connected; it must also serve to build a universal human family, with shared rights and duties, where digital proximity becomes a real opportunity for encounter and mutual care."

This past Monday, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," a theological text that includes the ethical discussions surrounding artificial intelligence. At UP, where the intersection of AI and Catholic social teachings are embedded right into the curriculum, this discussion has never been more relevant.

Educators from around the country will be joining us on The Bluff, June 3-5, for the second annual Catholic Education and Artificial Intelligence conference to tackle these ethical and moral discussion head-on with experts who have worked with AI directly. From workshops to lectures, attendees will leave with hands-on experience and the knowledge of AI's benefits and its limitations.

🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4v43WSv

Honoring those who have died for our country this Memorial Day. 💜

Sharing some special moments from the ceremonies across The Bluff at the start of commencement season this month 🥰