SOU Academic Stories

New esports website brings academic and competitive information together

Everything esports: new SOU website covers academic minor and esports gaming

A minor in esports management? Information about the soon-to-be-launched Esports Hub in SOU’s Student Recreation Center? The university’s new esports website brings all the information about SOU’s trend-setting programs together in one place. The university is launching both an academic program and a competitive team in esports this fall, becoming one of the first institutions […]

Student Quinn Barrabee credits SOU's University Coaching and Academic Mentoring program

SOU’s University Coaching and Academic Mentoring program brings results

SOU student Quinn Barrabee was nearly finished with a term paper but couldn’t quite get over the hump, so he turned to his academic lifeline – the University Coaching and Mentoring (UCAM) program and academic coach Jade Severson. “Jade said that ‘If you come in first thing tomorrow, I bet we could finish it,’” Barrabee […]

Program for non-traditional students receives five-year grant

SOU awarded $1.6 million to help first-generation and non-traditional students

(Ashland, Ore.) — The TRIO-Student Support Services (SSS) program at SOU, which helps non-traditional students succeed and graduate, has received a five-year, $1,627,990 federal grant renewal to keep the program in operation through 2026. The U.S. Department of Education grant will provide $325,598 per year in funding for SOU’s Success at Southern/TRIO Program, which is […]

Peter Wu's passion is to teach physics and do research

Peter Wu has found his calling: to teach physics and do research at SOU

Peter Ka-Chai Wu has worked in factories and mailrooms, and has held positions ranging from security guard to researcher. But the opportunity to teach physics is what brought him to SOU as a young academic and it’s what has kept him on the STEM faculty for 25 years. “(Teaching) is rewarding and challenging,” Wu said. […]

Sean O'Skea

SOU’s Sean O’Skea: from historic preservation to theatrical scene design

After moving back-and-forth – between the East and West coasts, and between theater stage design and historic preservation – Sean O’Skea has settled into his role at SOU as a professor of scenic design, which he’s held for the past 13 years. O’Skea became interested in scene design after taking drama classes in high school […]

Kempner studies role of women in Saudi universities

SOU’s Ken Kempner studies role of women faculty in Saudi universities

Southern Oregon University emeritus professor Ken Kempner, a former dean of social sciences at SOU, has continued studying the role of higher education in developing countries – most recently, the role of women in Saudi Arabia’s universities. Kempner’s research was cited last month in a story in the life sciences magazine The Scientist about women […]

Esports management minor is coming to SOU

Esports team and esports management minor coming to SOU

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University will be among the first universities on the West Coast to offer both an academic program and a competitive team in esports when both are launched this fall. Esports is a billion-dollar global enterprise, and the programs will position SOU students for future employment in the burgeoning industry. The […]

Student teachers in SOU's School of Education are working remotely

SOU’s graduating student teachers provide value in varied settings

(Ashland, Ore.) — Even the most seasoned educators are currently navigating uncharted territory. But for student teachers in Southern Oregon University’s School of Education, unusual classroom circumstances are coinciding with the culmination of college journeys. Teaching placements have gone ahead as scheduled – though not exactly as planned – for 110 SOU students who are […]

SOULA staff work on Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project

SOULA wins Oregon Heritage Excellence Award for Chinese immigrant research

(Ashland, Ore.) — The Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) has won a 2020 Oregon Heritage Excellence Award for its work on the Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project. Students worked with faculty on the project as part of a Sociology and Anthropology (SOAN) summer archaeological field school in 2019. “The (Oregon Heritage Excellence Award) recipients […]

Virtual meeting of SOU Percussion Ensemble

SOU music ensembles get creative in their new, virtual reality

With some schools cancelling ensembles altogether, Paul T. French – Southern Oregon University’s Director of Choral Studies and Vocal Studies – had doubts about the spring ahead for his corner of the Music Program in the Oregon Center for the Arts at SOU. The idea of taking the choir virtual was especially daunting, with the […]