SOU Campus News

Finalists to be SOU's next president are being interviewed

Interviews of SOU presidential finalists are underway

The first two of five finalists to become SOU’s next president have visited campus over the past week, with the three remaining finalists scheduled to visit later this week and next. All of the candidates are visiting for two days of interviews and presentations with various constituent groups and community members. Chris Gilmer, Ph.D., currently […]

Toya Cooper is SOU's first-ever Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

SOU hires its first vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion

(Ashland, Ore.) — Toya Cooper, an attorney who has spent almost 20 years addressing diversity in higher education, has accepted an offer to become Southern Oregon University’s first vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion. She will start work with the university Nov. 15 “I think SOU is ready to engage the questions of equity, […]

SOU's Presidential Search Committee will conduct interviews in October

SOU presidential search entering interview phase

The Presidential Search Committee of the SOU Board of Trustees will begin first-round interviews by the start of October with candidates to become the university’s next president, and plans to select and interview finalists for the position by the end of October. SOU President Linda Schott announced in April that she will retire by the […]

SOU has adopted a land acknowledgement

SOU adopts “land acknowledgement”

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has adopted an acknowledgement that the SOU campus lies on the ancestral homelands of the area’s Native American tribes, who were removed through a series of actions by Euro-American settlers and the U.S. government, beginning in the mid-1800s. The formal “land acknowledgement” was developed by staff representatives of the […]

solar arrays installed at The Farm at SOU

Solar arrays pop up at The Farm at SOU

(Ashland, Ore.) — The Farm at SOU is sprouting solar arrays this month, with two new and innovative projects taking shape over the past week. The first, mounted on The Farm’s storage building, is student-funded and the second, installed atop 20-foot poles, was financed by a private investor. “It is a coincidence that these projects […]

Water conservation zones at SOU are in response to an ongoing drought

SOU water conservation brings brown lawns, drought-tolerant plantings

Several areas of the usually lush 175-acre SOU campus have dried up this summer – intentionally, rather than through neglect. Those areas have been designated as water conservation areas in response to the region’s ongoing drought and the university is monitoring them for potential fire hazards. Signs that identify many of the water conservation areas […]

SOU among eight recipients of climate/social justice grants from Second Nature

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University is one of eight North American higher education institutions to be awarded grant funding Tuesday from the Boston-based nonprofit Second Nature for innovative, cross-sector climate projects. A preference was given to those that emphasized justice, equity and engagement with communities of color. SOU’s Social Justice and Equity Center was […]

Spelling competition returns

SOU Youth Programs brings spelling competition back to region

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon’s elementary, middle and high school students know how to spell “normal,” and it begins with the resumption of extracurricular routines. Southern Oregon University’s Pre-College Youth Programs gave the region’s students an opportunity to restart one tradition when it coordinated the recent Regional Spelling Contest for 2021, following a two-year interruption […]

Bill McMillan

Celebration of life: Bill McMillan

A celebration of the life of William (Bill) McMillan – a 30-year employee of SOU’s Facilities, Management and Planning Department – will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 19, in Area B at Emigrant Lake. Bill, a highly-regarded custodian whose most recent areas of responsibility were in the Computer Services and Susanne Holmes buildings, died […]

The search is on for President Linda Schott's successor

SOU board begins search for new university president

(Ashland, Ore.) —The Southern Oregon University Board of Trustees has begun its search for the university’s next president, following President Linda Schott’s announcement last month that she will retire by the end of 2021. SOU’s governing board has selected Parker Executive Search – a firm that specializes in higher education presidential searches – as its […]