A week of activities celebrating and showcasing the broad range of scholarship, programs, and research taking place across the University of Oregon related to human performance and sport within the context of the Olympic movement.
With a legacy of more than 100 alumni representing over 20 countries at the Olympic Games and a tradition of hosting elite competitions, the Olympic spirit is woven into the DNA of the University of Oregon.
Olympics Studies Week is about honoring and celebrating that legacy. Coordinated by the newly launched University of Oregon Olympic Studies Hub, the week is designed to showcase the breadth of research and activities taking place across the university related to sports and wellness within the context of the Olympic movement.
Several events, including an academic symposium and an industry session, are open for community members to attend. Professors and instructors are also incorporating lessons and research into their courses, as well as guest speakers, to explore topics related to Olympic studies.
Plus, there is an array of sporting events taking place on campus during the week, culminating in the Big Ten Track and Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field.
See full schedule of events: https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025
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Highlights of Olympic Studies Week include
- Academic Showcase, May 12, 9:00 a.m. – noon, Beetham Family Seminar Room, Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: Short presentations showcasing the array of courses, research, and scholarship taking place on campus connected to the Olympic movement. Speakers include the UO Athletics Archivist and scholars from different departments and units, including the Lundquist College of Business, School of Journalism and Communications, Human Performance, Bowerman Sports Science Center, College of Arts and Sciences, and more. This session will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/live/2DZPjvS1iLg.
- Industry Panel, May 16, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.: Organized by the Warsaw Sports Business Center, this industry session will showcase the University of Oregon's hands-on learning approach to education. Representatives from various organizations will be on hand to share insights about how they have partnered to advance the Olympic movement and appreciation for sports and wellness. Open to the public.
- UO Olympics History Archives Tour, May 14, 10:00 - 10:45 a.m., Location: Knight Library, Special Collections and University Archives (2nd Floor, North Wing): Archivist Lauren Goss will share some of the hidden treasures the university keeps in its special collections, including writings from legendary track coach Bill Bowerman. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-archive-tour
- UO Olympics History Hayward Hall Tour, May 14, 11:00 - 11:45 a.m., Hayward Hall, Hayward Field, (Base of Hayward Tower): This museum within legendary track-and-field venue Hayward Field honors the university’s eight Olympic gold medalists and showcases the global reach of Oregon athletics. The tour will also include a visit to the top of Hayward Field Tower. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-hayward-tour
- Oregon Performance Research Lab Tour, May 14, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Esslinger Hall 156: Lab director Brad Wilkins will highlight how the lab's research and cutting-edge technologies advance the understanding and limitations of human performance. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-performance-tour
- Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Spring Symposium, May 15, Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: The Wu Tsau Human Performance Alliance includes research from the University of Oregon, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, University of Kansas, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The alliance is holding its spring symposium at UO. UO students, faculty, and staff are invited to join keynote sessions via Zoom (links available at https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025)
3:30–5:00 p.m.
Bridging Borders – Stories of Migration, Memory, and Cultural Identity with Kristin Yarris, Tobin Hansen, Salma Valadez Marquez, and Liesl Cohn De Leon
May 15 / 3:30pm-5:00pm / EMU Cedar Room
Join the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies (CLLAS) for a dynamic research colloquium featuring three presentations from current CLLAS faculty and graduate student grantees. Through diverse lenses—art-activism, food studies, and oral history—these scholars explore the lived experiences, cultural legacies, and resistances of Latinx, Latin American, and Guatemalan Maya communities across borders and generations.
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Faculty members Kristin Yarris and Tobin Hansen present “Witnessing Immigration Injustice: Art, Memory, and Activism with Hostile Terrain ’94,” a collaborative project that brings an interactive memorial installation to the University of Oregon, inviting participants to engage with the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border through art and research. Learn more.
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Salma Valadez Marquez (PhD Candidate, Folklore) shares work from her dissertation project “Amor Propio: Mexican Food and Culture Beyond the Fictions We’ve Been Fed,” uncovering how Mexican foodways have been used to shape—and resist—national narratives of race, gender, and identity throughout history.
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Liesl Cohn De Leon (PhD Student, Anthropology) discusses her anthropological research, “Migrant Memories of Guatemalan Maya Women in Oregon,” examining how Maya women reconstruct collective identity and memory in new contexts shaped by displacement, violence, and resilience.
This event is free and open to the public. Come learn how scholars are using research to illuminate underrepresented stories and to foster dialogue across communities, borders, and generations.
4:00–6:00 p.m.
Born in Tobago, m. nourbeSe philip is an unembedded poet, essayist, novelist and playwright who lives in the space-time of Toronto. A former lawyer, her published works include the award-winning YA novel, Harriet’s Daughter, the seminal poetry collection, She Tries Her Tongue; Her Silence Softly Breaks, the speculative prose poem, Looking for Livingstone: An Odyssey of Silence, as well as her genre-breaking book-length epic, Zong!. She has written several collections of essays in- cluding Frontiers: Essays and Writings on Racism and Culture and A Genealogy of Resistance; her most recent collection is BlanK.
philip is a fellow of the Guggenheim and Rockefeller (Bellagio) Foundations. In 2020 she was the recipient of PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, then in 2021 the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize by the Canada Council for her outstanding achievement in the arts. In 2023 she was the Bain-Swiggett Chair in Poetry at Princeton for the Spring semester. In 2024, she became a recipient of the Windham Campbell Award for Poetry.
Sponsored by the St. Louis & Horn Endowments and the Department of English
5:30–7:30 p.m.
“Saving rhinos: The path to genetic rescue” presented by Dr. Marisa Korody from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Food and refreshments provided!
2025 Public Spring Seminar hosted by GrEBES at the University of Oregon (Graduate Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Students).
Free and Open to the Public!
Abstract:
The northern white rhino is functionally extinct, with only two reproductive females remaining. In this talk I will outline and discuss a roadmap for genetic rescue that we have developed in the hopes of preventing the loss of this iconic species. I will focus on the importance of biobanking, genomics, advanced reproductive techniques, stem cell development, and their applications for genetic rescue. I will also highlight recent advances in cellular technology that may have future applications for species conservation. While cutting edge cellular technologies are providing new avenues for saving species, they are not a substitute for traditional conservation methods.
7:00 p.m.
The Creative Writing Program invites you to a fiction reading with Tania James.
Free and open to the public.
Tania James is the author of four works of fiction, all published by Knopf: Loot, which was nominated for The National Book Award and the Carol Shields Prize; The Tusk That Did the Damage, which was a finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Financial Times Oppenheimer Award; Aerogrammes and Other Stories, named a Best Book of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and The San Francisco Chronicle; and the novel Atlas of Unknowns, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a finalist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her short stories have appeared in Freeman’s: The Future of New Writing; Granta; The New Yorker; O, The Oprah Magazine; and One Story, among other places, and thrice featured on Symphony Space Selected Shorts. She has received fellowships from the Macdowell Colony, Ragdale, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and the Fulbright Program, and is an associate professor of English in the MFA program at George Mason University.
For more information about the Creative Writing Reading Series, please visit https://humanities.uoregon.edu/creative-writing/reading-series
A week of activities celebrating and showcasing the broad range of scholarship, programs, and research taking place across the University of Oregon related to human performance and sport within the context of the Olympic movement.
With a legacy of more than 100 alumni representing over 20 countries at the Olympic Games and a tradition of hosting elite competitions, the Olympic spirit is woven into the DNA of the University of Oregon.
Olympics Studies Week is about honoring and celebrating that legacy. Coordinated by the newly launched University of Oregon Olympic Studies Hub, the week is designed to showcase the breadth of research and activities taking place across the university related to sports and wellness within the context of the Olympic movement.
Several events, including an academic symposium and an industry session, are open for community members to attend. Professors and instructors are also incorporating lessons and research into their courses, as well as guest speakers, to explore topics related to Olympic studies.
Plus, there is an array of sporting events taking place on campus during the week, culminating in the Big Ten Track and Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field.
See full schedule of events: https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025
--
Highlights of Olympic Studies Week include
- Academic Showcase, May 12, 9:00 a.m. – noon, Beetham Family Seminar Room, Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: Short presentations showcasing the array of courses, research, and scholarship taking place on campus connected to the Olympic movement. Speakers include the UO Athletics Archivist and scholars from different departments and units, including the Lundquist College of Business, School of Journalism and Communications, Human Performance, Bowerman Sports Science Center, College of Arts and Sciences, and more. This session will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/live/2DZPjvS1iLg.
- Industry Panel, May 16, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.: Organized by the Warsaw Sports Business Center, this industry session will showcase the University of Oregon's hands-on learning approach to education. Representatives from various organizations will be on hand to share insights about how they have partnered to advance the Olympic movement and appreciation for sports and wellness. Open to the public.
- UO Olympics History Archives Tour, May 14, 10:00 - 10:45 a.m., Location: Knight Library, Special Collections and University Archives (2nd Floor, North Wing): Archivist Lauren Goss will share some of the hidden treasures the university keeps in its special collections, including writings from legendary track coach Bill Bowerman. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-archive-tour
- UO Olympics History Hayward Hall Tour, May 14, 11:00 - 11:45 a.m., Hayward Hall, Hayward Field, (Base of Hayward Tower): This museum within legendary track-and-field venue Hayward Field honors the university’s eight Olympic gold medalists and showcases the global reach of Oregon athletics. The tour will also include a visit to the top of Hayward Field Tower. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-hayward-tour
- Oregon Performance Research Lab Tour, May 14, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Esslinger Hall 156: Lab director Brad Wilkins will highlight how the lab's research and cutting-edge technologies advance the understanding and limitations of human performance. Space is limited. UO students, faculty, and staff only. RSVP at https://uobiz.co/olympic-studies-performance-tour
- Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Spring Symposium, May 15, Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: The Wu Tsau Human Performance Alliance includes research from the University of Oregon, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, University of Kansas, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The alliance is holding its spring symposium at UO. UO students, faculty, and staff are invited to join keynote sessions via Zoom (links available at https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025)
10:00 a.m.
Join the Department of Cinema Studies for a talk with Dr. Stephanie Mastrostefano, Senior CG Animation Coordinator at LAIKA Studios, on Friday, May 16th at 10 am in the EMU Diamond Lake Room (Room 119). Free and open to the community!
Drawing on Dr. Stephanie Mastrostefano’s graduate research into women’s labor in the Ink and Paint Department at Walt Disney Studios during the 1930s, and her current role in production management at LAIKA Studios, this talk invites us to consider how we can bring the tools of academic scholarship into the everyday work of making, managing, and imagining animation’s future. Dr. Mastrostefano reflects on how historical labor patterns continue to influence the animation industry today, not only in organizational structures and workflows, but in whose voices are heard and whose work is seen. By blending historical research with personal experience, she addresses the ongoing challenges and opportunities for women in animation and explores how bridging scholarship and industry can lead to meaningful change.
Dr. Stephanie Mastrostefano (PhD 2024, University of Oregon) is a Senior CG Animation Coordinator at LAIKA Studios in Portland, OR. Her research examines how cinematic technologies, labor practices, and social attitudes shaped—and sometimes subverted—women’s roles in animation during its industrial development. After a decade researching women’s contributions to animation, Stephanie transitioned from academia to industry to actively promote pathways for women’s advancement from within. She now oversees CG animated shot production on LAIKA’s upcoming feature, Wildwood.
10:00 a.m.
Organized by the Warsaw Sports Business Center, this industry session will showcase the University of Oregon's hands-on learning approach to education.
Representatives from various organizations will be on hand to share insights about how they have partnered to advance the Olympic movement and appreciation for sports and wellness.
Panelists Include:
- Adam Wood, Director, High Performance Pathways, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee
- Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Olympic bronze medalist; former UO track-and-field student-athlete.
- Rob Mullens, University of Oregon Athletic Director; member, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Collegiate Advisory Council
- Lauren Anderson, Director, Warsaw Sports Business Center (moderator)
A Q&A with audience members is also planned.
Open to the Public
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This event is part of UO Olympic Studies Week. See the full schedule of events at https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025.
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Do you have questions about your fall term schedule? Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society and faculty from the Department of History are partnering to provide students with excellent advising and a free pizza party! Bring your questions and your appetite! Open to all history majors and minors.
1:30–2:30 p.m.
Are you an incoming/prospective graduate (Master's/Doctoral student) or a current first-year graduate student? Then consider attending this online information session on the National Science Foundation-Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP).
Please RSVP at https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/0196263723367ecf87e548ae6d98e9dd
NSF-GRFP is a prestigious national award program given each year to a select group of master’s and doctoral students in science and engineering fields in recognition of their academic and professional excellence. Students who receive the NSF-GRFP benefit from a generous stipend, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education to which they are accepted. The University of Oregon offers competitive benefits meant to augment and support NSF Fellowships.
NSF Graduate Research Fellows who choose UO as their affiliate graduate institution will receive full tuition and mandatory fee support, and subsidized health insurance benefits under UO's graduate assistant and fellow health insurance plan during their active tenure years. UO will also reserve a portion of the annual cost of education allowance for the Fellow to use for research expenses. Must be an incoming student or in your first year of study to apply. For more information see our UO NSF page.