Raiders Rising Sachta Bakshi Southern Oregon University School of Business Alumni

Raiders Rising: International travelers, entrepreneurs find family at SOU

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It’s fitting that Sachta Bakshi was visiting her grandparents in Ashland when she fell in love with Southern Oregon University. It’s always been a family affair. She was a 10th-grader in India at the time, and a chance visit to campus led her to the Admissions Office, SAT tests a few days later and then the intriguing prospect of a student job in SOU’s International Programs office. What followed has become legend in the university’s School of Business.

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Smaller plates avoid food waste

SOU awarded grant for novel approach to reducing food waste

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has been awarded a $7,512 grant from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to try a logical means of reducing food waste on campus: use smaller plates.

The grant pays to replace 10.5-inch plates with nine-inch plates at The Hawk student dining commons.

SOU’s grant application explains that “studies have shown a reduction in plate size can lead to a reduction in food waste as patrons eat the portions allotted on the smaller plate. Larger plates tend toward food waste as patrons take more food than the individual can consume in one sitting.”

Drew Gilliland, director of SOU’s Department of Facilities, Management and Planning, said that any money left over from the dish replacement will be used to “purchase additional smaller plates and purchase marketing materials to encourage healthy eating.”

SOU’s grant application was submitted last year by then-sustainability and recycling manager Roxane Beigel-Coryell, who has since left the university for a similar position in southern California. The plates were replaced in mid-September, before fall term classes began, so first-year students attending SOU won’t have noticed a change.

The grant requires that food waste measurements be recorded this year to determine the effectiveness of the reduced plate size. Gilliland said early indications are promising.

“It’s my observation that there is already less food waste and we want to continue to reduce that,” he said. “Publishing the results of the study will hopefully encourage our students to discuss food consumption.

“We plan on using the study as part of a marketing program to encourage mindfulness around our consumption and its impact on the greater environment.”

He pointed out that the discarded 10.5-inch plates weren’t thrown away.

“(The larger plates) will be used for special events and other events where food is provided,” Gilliland said. “We may also consider donating any excess to a non-profit.”

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Lisa Warner, Friday Science Seminar guest lecturer

Friday Science Seminar offers double-dip

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Lisa Warner, an assistant professor in the Biomolecular Research Center at Boise State University, will get down-in-the-weeds sciencey during this week’s Friday Science Seminar at SOU. She will discuss her findings on how anaerobic bacteria turn inorganic carbon compounds into organic carbon compounds and will also talk about her workshops on the “Chemistry of Color and Art.”

The free lecture will be held in the Science Building Auditorium (Room 151) from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with light refreshments provided by SOU’s STEM Division. The presentation is part of the Friday Science Seminars program, which offers events each week on topics ranging from astronomy to computer science to this week’s topic, biochemistry.

The first half of the science seminar presentation is about the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum. What’s interesting about C. thermocellum is that it grows when introduced to CO2, even though it lacks the enzymes that would normally turn CO2 into formate – the substance needed to cause that growth. Warner has experimentally shown that C. thermocellum instead uses one-carbon metabolism and pyruvate-formate lyase to turn inorganic compounds containing carbon into formate.

If that’s not your speed, you may still want to learn about Warner’s “The Chemistry of Color and Art” workshops. These workshops were designed to get high school and college students, and community members, interested in chemistry and science by presenting it through the lens of art. Warner plans to reflect on the successes and failures of the workshop, and ultimately reassert her commitment to hosting it.

Warner’s research centers around understanding the relationship between the structures and functions of biomolecules. Among other things, she focuses on individual molecules and uses a number of highly complex techniques (one of which is called high-resolution magic angle spinning) to figure out how those molecules are put together.

She researches in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Boise State University.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Dylann Loverro to join SOU Board of Trustees

SOU Honors College student joins university’s Board of Trustees

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Dylann Loverro, a Southern Oregon University Honors College student who has held various positions on campus, has been appointed by Gov. Kate Brown and confirmed today by the Oregon Senate to serve on the university’s Board of Trustees.

Loverro succeeds Shanztyn Nihipali, who graduated in June, as the university’s student member for the 15-person board. Her two-year appointment is a voting position.

“I am excited and honored to be a part of my university’s governing board,” Loverro said. “I look forward to supporting the strategies and vision that will increase student success and the great work happening at SOU.”

Loverro, who is working toward a 2021 bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies, is currently chief justice of the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University (ASSOU) and student representative on the Faculty Senate’s University Assessment Committee. She has also served as the international senator and vice speaker of the Student Senate.

She completed the Leadership Fellows Program during her freshman year at SOU, has participated in an Alternative Spring Break trip to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in Colorado and next spring will lead a Raider Alternative Weekend trip.

“We are pleased to welcome Dylann to SOU’s Board of Trustees,” said Lyn Hennion, the board’s chair. “She is a very involved and high-achieving student, and her voice will be a welcomed addition to the board.

“The board also thanks its retiring trustee, Shanztyn Nihipali, for his years of dedicated service to the board and his alma mater – SOU. We wish Shanztyn the best in all of his future endeavors.”

Loverro is from Ellensburg, Washington, where her mother is an associate professor of psychology and her father is chair of the Department of Curriculum, Supervision and Educational Leadership at Central Washington University.

She is fluent in French, and studied abroad in Lyon, France, during the 2017-18 academic year. During her senior year of high school, she served on the bipartisan Youth Advisory Board to former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert of Washington’s 8th Congressional District.

Loverro intends to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees after completing her undergraduate studies at SOU. She hopes for a career with the U.S. State Department, the United Nations or another international organization.

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SOU to adopt Purple Heart proclamation

SOU president to sign Purple Heart proclamation

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Southern Oregon University will become the first Oregon university to adopt the Military Order of the Purple Heart proclamation during a formal ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 27, pledging the university’s support to military veterans and placing SOU on the “Purple Heart Trail.”

The Purple Heart is the United States’ oldest military award that is still issued – awarded to any member of the armed forces who is physically harmed or killed in action. The Military Order of the Purple Heart is a U.S. nonprofit organization made up of military veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart.

“(This proclamation) is a way to show appreciation and support for those who have earned the Purple Heart in service to our country,” said Kevin Stevens, coordinator of SOU’s Veterans Resource Center. “It also correlates with the core values and mission of our university.”

More than 200 SOU students each year are considered military-affiliated. Most of them are veterans or dependents, while many others serve as cadets in the Army ROTC program. SOU also offers a Military Science Program that serves nearly 150 students per term, and various campus organizations are dedicated to helping veterans – including the Veteran’s Resource Center, the Student Veterans Association and the Veterans’ Student Union.

SOU President Linda Schott will sign the proclamation on behalf of the university at 10 a.m. on Nov. 27, in SOU’s Veterans Resource Office – Room 301 of the Stevenson Union. The proclamation encourages SOU students and others to “show their appreciation for the sacrifices the Purple Heart recipients have made in defending our freedoms, to acknowledge their courage, and to show them the honor and support they have earned.”

The proclamation will also induct SOU into the Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic system of roads, highways, monuments and cities that give tribute to those awarded the Purple Heart. These locations have special signage to denote their participation in the trail.

While SOU is the first university in Oregon to make the declaration and become a part of the Purple Heart Trail, the trail includes 21 cities in Oregon, as well as Grant and Jackson counties.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

"Angels in America" is one of two plays performed this month by SOU students

SOU’S Oregon Center for the Arts presents two plays in November

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Southern Oregon University theater students are performing two plays this month: Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” was presented on eight dates ending on Nov. 17, and Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika” has four performances remaining.

Tickets for “Angels” can be purchased online or in-person for $5 for students, $20 for the general public, and $15 for seniors. Parking during the Oregon Center for the Arts performances is free in lot #36, which is on South Mountain Avenue and Henry Street, across from the SOU Music Building.

Following up spring 2019’s production of “Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches,” this fall’s “Angels in America Part Two” is directed by SOU faculty member Jim Edmondson and follows the entwined stories of two AIDS; the reluctant “prophet” Prior, who sees angels, and the notorious reactionary Roy Cohn, who sees the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg (played by Katie Bullock).

The play offsets the end-of-the-world dread of the 1980’s AIDS Crisis with a powerful affirmation of love and hope. It began last weekend and can still be seen at the Main Stage Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 22, and at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 23 and 24.

“Hedda Gabler,” directed by SOU Theatre professor Jackie Apodaca, followed the titular main character (played by Angela Hernandez) as she chafes against the restraints placed on women in the late 19th century.

The conflicts Hedda deals with are still relevant today: what does it cost a woman to be “likable?” Can she be strong but not “bossy,” smart but not “scary?” The play was performed in the Black Box Theatre on eight dates between Nov. 7 and Nov. 17.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Betty LaDuke, recipient of Oregon Arts Medallion

Betty LaDuke receives the second-ever Oregon Arts Medallion

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Betty LaDuke, who taught art for more than three decades at Southern Oregon University, has been named the second recipient of the biennial Oregon Arts Medallion. She received the award from SOU’s Oregon Center for the Arts at a reception earlier this month.

LaDuke has traveled and exhibited her work throughout the world, published books on her travels, painted a 100 foot high mural, featured her art at Disneyland and the United Nations, been passionately involved in social activism and community engagement, and has given generously of her time, talent and resources in support of young artists from all cultural backgrounds.

Her art can currently be seen across the SOU campus – in Hannon Library, the atrium of the Theatre/JPR Building and in Churchill Hall.

LaDuke was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1933. She attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and later received scholarships to study at Denver University, the Cleveland Institute of Art and at the prestigious Instituto Allende in San Miguel, Mexico.

She lived in Mexico with the indigenous Otomi, whose heritage influenced LaDuke’s work throughout her career.

She received her master’s degree in printmaking from California State University, Los Angeles, then moved to Ashland and was the only woman in SOU’s Art Department for 18 of her 32 years of teaching.

The Oregon Center for the Arts at SOU created the Oregon Arts Medallion in 2017 to honor long-term philanthropists who support the arts in Oregon. OCA Director David Humphrey and the SOU Foundation awarded the first medallion to Jim Collier, who annually supports over 18 organizations per year to nurture up-and-coming young artists.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Stanley Crawford to lecture on garlic battle

SOU guest to lecture on garlic, international companies and uncertainty

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Stanley Crawford – garlic farmer, author and focus of the Netflix documentary “Garlic Breath” – will speak at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in SOU’s Meese Auditorium (Room 101 of the Art Building).

Crawford’s free lecture will lead off the university’s 12th annual “Campus Theme” lecture series. Each year’s lectures follow a theme, with past series including “Ignorance and Wisdom,” “Truth” and “Shapes of Curiosity.” This year’s theme is “Uncertainty.”

Crawford is an author who moved to Dixon, New Mexico in 1970, where he and his wife Rosemary started their garlic farm, El Bosque Farm. There, he wrote “A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm” along with other essays and novels.

Crawford started a legal battle in the fall of 2014, when he petitioned the US Department of Commerce to look into Chinese garlic importer Harmoni International Spice, which Crawford claimed was exploiting an anti-dumping loophole. The fight between Crawford and Harmoni continues, but his account of the case has been told both through his upcoming book “The Garlic Papers: A Small Garlic Farm in the Age of Global Vampires,” and in the episode “Garlic Breath” of Netflix’s six-part documentary series “Rotten.”

SOU faculty members are asked to encourage their students to attend Campus Theme presentations.

The themed lectures are presented by the Oregon Center for the Arts in partnership with the Office of the Provost and the Division of Humanities and Culture.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

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Quito, the capital of Ecuador, will be one of the stops during an SOU field course

Ecuador adventure awaits SOU’s students in new summer class

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SOU’s Environmental Science and Policy program will mix academics with vacation-type fun in a field course next summer, focusing on tourism’s impact on the culture, environment, and biodiversity of Ecuador.

The course, Ecoadventure: Andes to Amazon (ES 408/508), is worth six credits and will take place some time over the summer. It’ll be taught on SOU’s campus, online and in the Republic of Ecuador, as the course includes a 12-day trip to the South American country. Vincent Smith, an associate professor and chair of Environmental Science and Policy, is expected to teach the course.

“The course will focus on the impacts of tourism and development on the culture and environment of Ecuador,” Smith said. “Students will further explore tropical ecology and biodiversity in two distinct regions of Ecuador.”

During the course, students will take tours of the Mindo Wildlife Canopy and Ecuador’s capital Quito, raft in the Napo River, visit the Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardens and the Papallacta Hot Springs, take a Pacmanca Cooking Class, and much more.

The total cost is expected to be about $4,000, including six credits of tuition and a trip fee that will include airfare, lodging, food and ground transportation. The course is open to all students, regardless of their major.

Those who are interested in learning more about the field course are asked to fill out an online form to receive emails regarding trip updates, registration deadlines, exact costs and other details. While the exact dates for the course will be set during Winter Term, the trip to Ecuador is expected to leave the Medford airport on about July 13.

Smith has taught a number of classes at SOU, including last summer’s Ecoadventure: Mayan Riviera course, which focused on marine biology, sustainable development and tourism. His research explores the coupled human-environment systems that shape the world. Smith’s work spans from human ecology to agroecology.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

JPR's Paul Westhelle receives public radio award

JPR director receives national innovation award for public radio

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Paul Westhelle, the executive director of Jefferson Public Radio at Southern Oregon University, has been awarded this year’s Madison Hodges Innovator Award for Public Radio Advancement by the nonprofit organization University Station Alliance.

Westhelle was recognized for strengthening JPR’s market position and finances, and overseeing its move last year into state-of-the-art facilities adjacent to the SOU Theater Building. The University Station Alliance, which serves as a link between public broadcast stations and the higher education institutions that sponsor them, is made up of about 50 broadcast organizations nationwide.

Westhelle receives public radio innovation award“I’m honored to accept this award on behalf of Southern Oregon University and one of the most loyal and supportive public radio audiences in the nation,” Westhelle said. “JPR is blessed with a university licensee that truly understands the civic engagement opportunities and public service potential of operating an NPR affiliate.

“JPR is also blessed with an audience that stands with us time and time again to support our work at levels that far exceed national benchmarks – JPR is special, thanks to our listeners.”

The innovator award is named in honor of Madison Hodges, a longtime manager and advocate of public radio stations in Florida who died in 2014 while battling bone cancer. The award recognizes success and the courage to advance the mission of public broadcasting.

In honoring Westhelle, the University Station Alliance noted that JPR is one of the nation’s largest multi-state regional, rural broadcast organizations, with 23 stations and 36 translators serving an area with more than a million residents.

The organization said that Westhelle, “with only modest resources to tap,” has built relationships with the university, its foundation, listeners and the communities served by JPR.

“Paul’s success belies the common belief that public radio can only survive, much less thrive, in large population centers with strong economic underpinnings,” the Alliance said. “He has also made the case that public radio makes great sense in a university setting.”

The innovator award was presented to Westhelle at last month’s Public Radio Super Regional Conference in New Orleans. He received a plaque and a check for $1,500.

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