Commencement surprise: Gov. Kotek addresses SOU graduates
(Ashland, Ore.) — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek surprised graduates and audience members by visiting Ashland to deliver the commencement address for Southern Oregon University’s class of 2025 on Saturday. The event – SOU’s 99th Commencement – marked the first time the governor has spoken at a graduation ceremony since taking office.
“I know that young Americans feel conflicted about their world, about themselves, about the future,” Governor Kotek told the SOU graduates. “But don’t give up on the big picture. Don’t give up on what the world can be.
“So, as you start a new chapter in your life, believe in yourself. Believe in others. And believe in something bigger than yourself. You’ll like where it takes you.”
SOU President Rick Bailey expressed his thanks to the governor and to the day’s honorees – the graduates.
“Today our governor gave us all a beautiful and gracious gift by taking the time to help us celebrate our graduates,” Bailey said. “All of us were honored to host Governor Kotek, who exemplifies the transformative power of higher education and serves as a powerful role model for our university and our graduates.
“She is an inspiring leader, and her comments today truly moved and motivated those in SOU’s Class of 2025 as they transition into meaningful careers as future leaders of our region and our state.”
The 880 graduates in SOU’s class of 2025 – and the capacity crowd at SOU’s Raider Stadium – cheered and applauded throughout speeches from Gov. Kotek, President Bailey, student Parker Boom and others in the 2 ½-hour ceremony. Blue skies and moderate temperatures helped to create a picture-perfect backdrop as a total of 1,056 degrees were conferred – 659 undergrad degrees, 221 graduate degrees and 176 certificates.
Boom, a creative writing graduate and poet, drew sustained applause as her speech came near its conclusion.
“As we celebrate today, I urge all of us to embrace our active role in the meaning-making of the world,” she said. “To be conscious of its direction. To witness and notice the shape of the earth, the quality of light. To hurl ourselves against billionaires, monarchs, oligarchs and regimes. To place ourselves between the sword and the neck. To insist on all our lives.
“That work, too, is worthy of celebration.”
Governor Kotek and President Bailey presented diploma covers, shook hands and posed for photos with each new graduate as their names were called and they walked individually across the stage. SOU Provost and Executive Vice President Casey Shillam, Ph.D., presided over the event.
Gov. Kotek graduated high school near York, Pennsylvania and attended Georgetown University before earning a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Oregon. She received her master’s degree in international studies and comparative religion at the University of Washington before returning to Oregon, where she served as a public policy advocate for the Oregon Food Bank before beginning her political career in 2006.
She was elected to eight two-year terms in the Oregon House of Representatives – and served 10 years as House Speaker – before her election as governor in 2022..
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