The Governor's Food Drive at SOU will help students with unreliable access to food

Governor’s State Employee Food Drive to run through February at SOU

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All food and cash donations collected at SOU during the seventh annual Governor’s State Employee Food Drive – which runs through February – will go to the Student Food Pantry and SOU students with unreliable access to food. Payroll deductions will support food assistance programs at ACCESS – the region’s community action agency.

“The most needed items at the SOU food pantry include boxed meals, soups, oatmeal, peanut butter, canned tuna, tortillas, canned fruit and other non-perishable items,” said Jill Smedstad, the environmental and community engagement coordinator for Student Life.

Recent studies have shown that as many as half of all U.S. college students have unreliable access to nutritious food. The Food Pantry provides SOU students who are in need with as many as 10 items of nonperishable food or hygiene supplies each week. Donations through the Governor’s Food Drive go directly toward supporting the Food Pantry.

“Overall, the total pounds collected (last year), including the pounds equivalent to the monetary donations, was 10,697,” Smedstad said. “This is equal to about 8,000 meals. This year we are hoping to increase both pounds of food donated and monetary donations through employee payroll deductions, with a goal of raising the equivalent of 10,000 meals.”

Red collection bags are expected to be delivered soon by campus mail to all SOU employees for the food collection competition among campus buildings, which is coordinated by the Student Sustainability Center. The bags can be filled with non-perishable food items and returned anytime this month to collection barrels located in each building. Employees may also sign up for monthly or one-time payroll deductions and submit the form to Michele Barlow in Human Resources.

Those who donate will help students in need and also have a chance to win awards and prizes for their good deeds. SOU Dining will offer a prize of coffee and snacks to employees from the building that collects the most pounds of donated food, with a dollar considered the equivalent of four pounds. All employees who sign up for payroll deductions will also be entered into a drawing for various prizes.

Other events associated with the food drive include a free concert, featuring student and faculty musical groups, presented by SOU’s Oregon Center for the Arts. Admission to the “Feed Body and Soul” concert – at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Music Recital Hall – will be two cans of food or a cash donation at the door. Performing artists include Left Edge Percussion, SOU Jazz Combo, SOU Chamber Choir, and Mazama Saxophone Quartet.

SOU Athletics will collect nonperishable food donations at the women’s wrestling match on Feb. 20, and at the mens and womens basketball games on Feb. 21.

“While the Governor’s State Employee Food Drive is focused specifically on soliciting donations from employees, students who can are certainly encouraged to donate as well – at athletic games, at the ‘Feed Body and Soul Concert’, or by putting cans in any of the barrels around campus,” Smedstad said.

The Student Sustainability Center will host a day of service with ACCESS at its food warehouse in Medford, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29. The entire SOU community is invited – students, employees, alumni, and friends and family. Transportation to and from Medford will be offered, and lunch will be provided. Sign up or find more information about the event online at tinyurl.com/SOUvolunteer2020 after Feb. 1.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

SOU emeritus professor Joseph Smith passed away Jan. 5

Retired SOU business professor Joseph Smith passes away at age 98

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Emeritus professor Joseph Raymond Smith, who taught business at SOU for 26 years, passed away on Jan. 5 at age 98.

Smith joined the faculty in 1964 of what was then Southern Oregon College. He taught courses in accounting and taxation until his retirement as an emeritus professor in 1990.

Smith was born in Magrath, Alberta, Canada in 1921, and graduated from high school in Salt Lake City, Utah before joining the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He graduated first in his class at the communication school and served as an electronics instructor, earning the rank of sergeant.

He volunteered for Mormon missionary work after the war in southern Brazil, then married his first wife, Alice Zemp, and earned his master’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University. He and his growing family relocated to Hawaii, where he was one of the original faculty members at Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie, Oahu, chairing the Division of Business.

He was a driving force behind the creation and founding of the Polynesian Cultural Center while in Hawaii, and served as a bishop of the Laie ward.

Smith received his doctorate in business from Colorado State College and relocated his family to Ashland in 1964 to join the Southern Oregon College faculty. He married Carolina Maria Timor in 1982.

Smith engaged in various commercial enterprises – both brick-and-mortar and online – in addition to his teaching. His business pursuits ranged from carpentry and textiles to education and tax consulting – he earned the status of an IRS enrolled agent. He was an accomplished carpenter and took great pleasure in the activities of rural life.

Smith is survived by his spouse, Carolina Smith; his children Gordon (Linda) Smith, Kent Smith, Jorae (Mark) Scofield, Loretta Backstrom, Raymond (Georgina) Smith, Shari Griffin and Yazmine (Mike) Arringtion; 14 grandchildren; and 14 great grandchildren.

Funeral and memorial services are being arranged by Litwiller-Simonsen Funeral Home in Ashland. Visit the funeral home’s website for viewing, memorial service and burial information. Flowers and condolences can be delivered to Litwiller-Simonsen Funeral Home at 1811 Ashland Street, Ashland, Oregon 97520. Alternatively, memorial donations can be sent to the Dr. Joseph R. Smith Endowed Scholarship Fund at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Marianne Golding (pictured with Dan Morris) will offer a Campus Theme lecture

“Uncertainty” series tackles incomplete accounts of three Jewish WWII refugees

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Southern Oregon University French professor and Summer Language Institute director Marianne Golding will present a “Campus Theme” lecture this month on World War II France.

The free lecture, which is part of SOU’s Campus Theme lecture series, will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, in the Hannon Library’s Meese Room. It follows the uncertain journey of three young Jewish refugees from Germany and Czechoslovakia and the women who helped them escape from German-occupied France.

Each year’s Campus Theme lectures examine a common premise, and this year it’s “uncertainty.” The first lecture in the series was by Stanley Crawford, who talked about his legal fight against a large garlic importing company. The second lecture was by Cailin O’Connor, who discussed the spread of misinformation and the inherent uncertainty of our beliefs.

Golding’s lecture will touch upon uncertainty by examining some of the errors found in personal and official archives and biographies. An American Sign Language interpreter will translate the lecture.

“(Holocaust survivors) who were never able to share their stories, because it was too painful to share them or because they died before they were ready to do so, one has to rely on a mixture of historical facts, which are sometimes erroneous or incomplete, and other people’s memories, which can also be erroneous or incomplete,” Golding said.

The lecture is especially important and personal for Golding. One of the three survivors she will talk about is her father.

“I loved my father dearly and felt guilty that I hadn’t tried to find more about his past while he was alive,” she said. “I feel I am honoring him with the research I am doing now, and also understanding so much more the reasons why he behaved the way he did, why he couldn’t share emotions or talk about his childhood – like so many other war refugees.”

Golding grew up outside of Paris before receiving her doctorate in French Literature from UCLA. She became a French language professor at SOU 1998, and teaches beginning through advanced French courses. She is particularly interested in autobiographies, feminist literature, and French-speaking literature, culture and film. She has authored the second edition of “The Graded French Reader” and various articles and conference presentations.

She has also been the director of SOU’s Summer Language Institute since 2014. The Summer Language Institute offers French teachers a masters degree in teaching French. The program takes three summers to complete and is held in Angers, France.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Culturally Responsive Teaching workshop to be held at SOU

SOU’s “Culturally Responsive Teaching Innovation Community” to hold CRT workshop

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A free workshop on Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) will be held for SOU faculty and staff at 9 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 in the Stevenson Union’s  Rogue River Room.

CRT is an educational method that recognizes the importance of students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. The approach was explained last year during a campus theme lecture by Zaretta Hammond, national education consultant and author of the 2014 book, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.”

Hammond’s lecture touched on the fact that student populations across the country are progressively growing more racially and linguistically diverse. She discussed the real and often positive impacts on learning that result from being more responsive to students’ differences.

Inspired by Hammond, a group of SOU faculty called the Culturally Responsive Teaching Innovation Community applied for and received a grant from SOU’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning to help make SOU’s teaching methods better align with CRT principles. This week’s workshop is part of that effort.

The event will feature Suresh Appavoo, SOU’s senior executive for equity and diversity, and Matthew Reynolds, an educator and teaching consultant. Those interested in attending must complete a registration form and complete pre-session reading materials.

The CRT Innovation Community has also submitted a proposal to present its work at the Oregon Association of Teacher Educators annual conference in February, and plan to present a panel on their implementation of CRT into their own classes at SOU’s annual SOAR event in May.

Members of the CRT Innovation Community include Alma Rosa Alvarez, Amy Belcastro, Amanda Casto, Teresa Coker, Megan Farnsworth, Danielle Hammer, Jamie Hickner, Younghee Kim, Jo-Anne Lau-Smith, Merrilyne Lundahl, Jessie Longhurst, Margaret Perrow and Erin Wilder.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Southern Oregon University Raiders Rising A product of heritage passions curiosity and SOU Cover

Raiders Rising: A product of heritage, passions, curiosity and SOU

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Connect these dots: Fidel Castro and the Mariel boatlift. The Miami Dolphins and that city’s Little Havana neighborhood. The Everglades, alligators, pythons and a fossilized tooth. Intellectual curiosity. Southern Oregon University. Those are waypoints on the road map of Frank Rodriguez’s life. He is anchored to and guided by them even as he takes a giant step toward the career that, until recently, he would have lacked the audacity to so much as dream about – paleontologist and research scientist.

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SOU bachelor of fine arts cohort "the Frenzies"

Entire cohort of SOU bachelor of fine arts students perform in L.A. and gain internships

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The 2019 cohort for Southern Oregon University’s bachelor of fine arts in performance program will get more than degrees after completing their requirements last month. All 16 members of the BFA program performed a thesis showcase in December, first on the SOU campus and then at the historic Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica, California.

And all 16 have secured internships at either the Oregon Shakespeare Festival or the Oregon Cabaret Theatre.

“Performing our thesis showcase in L.A. was a peek into the work it takes to put on your own show and let people see it,” said Taya Dixon, one of the actors who participated in the performance. “I now feel better prepared to produce my own art in a place like L.A., which makes me excited and more at ease to jump into the professional world.”

Jackie Apodaca, the head of performance for SOU’s Theatre’ program, redesigned the BFA-performance program’s thesis requirement several years ago. In place of a thesis paper, students now work collaboratively to create an industry-style acting showcase for a local audience.

This year, Apodaca led the senior BFA cohort – who call themselves the “Frenzies” – on the trip to Southern California, where they performed for friends, family, alumni and industry guests. 

In addition to booking the performance at Miles Memorial Playhouse, Apodaca was able to help the Frenzies find local internships and fellowships with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. Both have close relationships with the SOU Theatre program.

“We often place every BFA student in a professional internship upon graduation,” Apodaca said. “It’s exciting to know our graduates are consistently going straight into the profession. This success distinguishes us from many regional undergraduate programs that offer, frankly, less for more.”

The BFA is a pre-professional degree with a declared area of emphasis in either performance, design, technology or management/direction. Admission into the BFA program is through audition, interview, and/or portfolio presentation, and requires two years in residence and acceptance into an undergraduate theatre major. For more information about audition/interview guidelines and dates, you can contact the Theatre Office.

“I’m so excited for the opportunity to work for a professional theatre company right out of college,” said Annie Murrell, another member of the Frenzies. “Especially one with as renowned a reputation as the Cabaret. I feel prepared for life as a working actor in a way I never could have without receiving a formal education in theatre and performance.”

The full 2019 BFA cohort – the Frenzies – are Austin Ewing, Quinci Lytle-Freeman, Hunter Sims-Douglas, Wren Eustis, Taya Dixon, Bucanan Howard, Lauren Taylor, Carlos-Zenen Trujillo, Galen James-Heskett, Annie Murrell, Sam Campbell, Rachel Routh, Angela Hernandez, Sean Boulton, Meghan Nealon and Corey Renfree.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

SOU's alternative spring break trips include a service opportunity in California's John Muir Woods

SOU students to tackle homelessness and environment issues for spring break

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The deadline to apply online for either of two Raider Alternative Break trips this spring is Jan. 18. The trips – one to Arizona and the other to Marin County, California – will coincide with SOU’s spring break, March 21 through 29.. 

Raider Alternative Breaks focuses on inspiring students to be active citizens. Through short-term service learning experiences, students explore various themes and issues. The topics are examined through readings, media, discussions, group reflection, direct experience and dialogue with partners and community members. Students can also earn academic credit for their service by registering for the spring term class Sociology and Anthropology (SOAN) 399 – a pass, no-pass option that can be worth two to four credits.

One of this year’s spring break trips – to East Mesa, Arizona – is called “Basic Needs,” and will involve providing help with housing and food insecurity. The eight-student RAB group will volunteer with House of Refuge, a non-profit organization that provides transitional housing and support services to families in crisis; and United Food Bank, an East Valley-based provider of food for the needy.

The second trip is “Into the Woods,” a forest conservation and recreation opportunity in the Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco. The 10-student spring break class will travel across the Golden Gate Bridge to volunteer on a variety of conservation and recreation enhancement projects, including the maintenance and clean-up of trails, boardwalks, habitats, beaches and historic sites.

The RAB Spring 2020 Application and Information form includes more detailed information on each experience and explains participant expectations and commitments.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Philosopher Cailin O'Connor to speak at SOU

Philosopher to lecture at SOU on misinformation and false beliefs

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Cailin O’Connor – mathematician, philosopher, author, evolutionary game theorist and associate professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine – will speak at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in Room 151 of the Southern Oregon University Science Building.

O’Connor’s free lecture is part of SOU’s “Campus Theme” lecture series. Each year’s lectures follow a theme, and this year it’s “uncertainty.” The first lecture in the series was by Stanley Crawford, who talked about his legal fight against a large garlic importing company. To continue with the theme, O’Connor will discuss the spread of misinformation and the inherent uncertainty of our beliefs.

That topic is also the focus of O’Connor’s 2018 book, “The Misinformation Age,” in which she and co-author James Owen Weatherall use models of social networks to show the social spread of false beliefs. O’Connor also wrote the 2019 book, “The Origins of Unfairness” – a monograph on social categories’ influence over cooperation and the distribution of resources.

“The Misinformation Age” was selected last January for both the New York Times’ Editor’s Choice Reading List and Scientific American’s Recommended Reading List.

O’Connor has been a member of the UC-Irvine faculty since 2013. She received her bachelor’s degree in visual and environmental studies from Harvard College in 2006 and her doctorate from UC-Irvine in 2013.

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