SOU Ashland's Calli Pelkey is in top 1% nationwide in MBA test

SOU MBA student places on top percentile in nationwide test

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University student Calli Pelkey, a participant in SOU’s Online MBA Program, has earned a remarkable distinction, placing in the top 1% nationwide on the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Major Field Test for master of business administration programs.

The MBA Major Field Test is a national standardized exam taken by thousands of MBA students across the country. It assesses knowledge and critical thinking in key areas such as accounting, finance, marketing, management and strategic integration. Scoring in the top percentile is an extraordinary academic achievement and a rare honor.

“First and foremost, Calli’s performance is a testament to her hard work, dedication and talent,” said Rene Leo E. Ordonez, Ph.D., professor and coordinator of graduate programs in business at SOU. “Scoring in the top 1% speaks volumes about her capabilities and commitment to excellence. While her success reflects positively on our MBA program, her individual effort and drive truly stand out.”

Pelkey lives in Grants Pass and is enrolled in SOU’s Online MBA Program, which was launched in 2017 to meet the needs of students in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The fully online program has grown significantly and currently serves approximately 150 students from Oregon, Washington and throughout the United States. Designed for flexibility and accessibility, the program operates year-around across five accelerated seven-week terms, allowing students to complete the degree in as few as 16 months.

“The MBA program at SOU provided a challenging yet rewarding journey, where the unwavering support of the faculty and my dedication were key factors in achieving a top 1% score nationwide on the MBA field test,” Pelkey said. “This recognition affirms that hard work and perseverance can lead to significant accomplishments. As I prepare to embark on the (Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program, I am eager to combine my passions for business and healthcare to make a meaningful impact in the future.”

In addition to the online format, SOU offers its MBA program in a traditional, face-to-face format on the Ashland campus. The in-person option provides a more immersive, classroom-based experience for students who prefer direct interaction with faculty and peers, while maintaining the same high standards of academic rigor and applied learning.

Pelkey’s success highlights the strength of SOU’s MBA curriculum and reinforces the university’s commitment to academic excellence and student achievement. The MBA program emphasizes real-world application, innovation and leadership development, preparing graduates to navigate the complexities of today’s global business environment.

Pelkey’s accomplishments have joined a growing list of student success stories that continue to elevate the reputation of SOU’s School of Business, which prepares future leaders in business and beyond.

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Open textbooks at SOU

SOU faculty members take lead role in open textbook project

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Open Oregon Educational Resources, a statewide initiative that promotes textbook affordability for students at Oregon colleges and universities, is releasing four new open textbooks whose authors include four Southern Oregon University faculty members and a student in the Criminology and Criminal Justice program.

“Our goal with these projects is to provide rigorous and scholarly – yet accessible and equity-minded – studies in contemporary criminology and criminal justice for our students,” said lead authors and SOU Criminal Justice faculty members Shanell Sanchez and Jessica Peterson. “By making this material freely accessible online, we remove financial barriers for our students and also provide classroom materials that instructors can fully adopt or modify to supplement their course materials.”

The SOU open textbook project started in September 2021, when Open Oregon Educational Resources received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to develop openly-licensed materials with an equity lens in criminal justice. The project targeted high-enrollment courses in a discipline where high-quality, deliberately inclusive open textbooks were not available.

As two of the project’s lead authors, Sanchez and Peterson served as primary decision-makers about textbook content and course design. Contributing authors including SOU faculty members Kelly Szott and Alison Burke, and undergraduate student Catherine Venegas-Garcia, brought their diverse expertise and experiences to the project. An instructional designer from Open Oregon Educational Resources also helped guide the course design with an emphasis on inclusion and student engagement.

Two of the open textbooks are already publicly available:

  • “Introduction to Criminology: An Equity Lens,” is co-authored by Peterson and Western Oregon University faculty member Taryn VanderPyl, with contributing authors Mauri Matsuda and Curt Sobolewski of Portland State University, Jennifer Moreno of WOU.
  • “Inequality and Interdependence: Social Problems and Social Justice,” is authored by Oregon Coast Community College instructor Kimberly Puttman, with contributing authors Szott of SOU, Patricia Antoine of Chemeketa Community College, independent scholar Kate Burrows, Bethany Grace Howe of the University of Oregon, antiracist educator Nora Karena and Avery Temple.

The other textbooks are expected to be available soon:

  • “Race, Crime and Injustice” authored by SOU’s Sanchez and edited by Peterson, with contributing authors Szott, Venegas-Garcia and WOU’s VanderPyl.
  • “Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System: An Equity Lens,” is co-authored by Roxie Supplee of Central Oregon Community College and Megan Gonzalez of Chemeketa Community College, with co-authors Burke of SOU, Sam Arungwa of Utah State University, Irvin Brown of Chemeketa, Whitney Head-Potter and Eric Wilkes.

“SOU is a leader in creating Criminal Justice open textbooks with an equity lens,” said Holly Gabriel, an open access librarian at SOU’s Hannon Library who assists faculty in locating open course materials and helps coordinate projects from Open Oregon Educational Resources.

“Starting with our faculty writing the ‘Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System’ in 2019, and now with four faculty authors on the current project, SOU is leading the way in creating inclusive open materials for students,” she said. “These textbooks will be shared online with an open license, making them free for people to use across North America and all across the world.”

Open Oregon Educational Resources is a state-funded effort to support the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in the state’s community colleges and universities. It collaborates with various institutions and offers grants and training to support faculty members who develop open textbooks and other Open Educational Resource course materials.

Open textbooks – typically available online – are released under open licenses that allow them to be used at no cost by educators, students and others.

“As an undergraduate student, I have seen the impact that textbook prices have on my peers,” said Venegas-Garcia, the SOU student who served as a contributing author on the project. “Free and low-cost textbooks are important because they allow students to engage with impactful and detailed resources without spending a significant amount of money.”

Another Criminology and Criminal Justice student at SOU, Kayla Gaches, said she hadn’t realized that some of the textbooks she has used in her classes have been Open Educational Resource materials, but she acknowledged their effect on her bottom line.

“Whenever I see that I do not have to purchase a textbook, it is like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders because I can allocate my textbook fund elsewhere, so I truly appreciate that we have this opportunity,” Gaches said.

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SOU Ashland graduate Thilini Dissanyake stars in "Earnest" at OSF

Recent SOU alumna stars in OSF production of “Earnest”

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Sitting in the backseat of her family’s car after a third-grade play, Thilini Dissanayake surprised her mother with a bold declaration: “I wanna be famous.” That moment – following her turn as the Little Red Hen in her class play – sparked a love for acting that would lead Dissanayake to Southern Oregon University and now to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she stars this season as Cecily in “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

SOU Ashland alumna Thilini Dissanayake as Cecily Cardew and Hao Feng as Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Photos by Jenny Graham, courtesy of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

“Understandably, (my mom) shot that down – the nomadic and uncertain career of a professional actor was not the future my immigrant parents would have ever dreamed of for me,” Dissanayake said. “Nevertheless, every musical, play, workshop and summer camp I did over the next 10 years made me hungrier.”

By her junior year of high school, Dissanayake had made a decision: “I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least give it the old college try.”

She arrived at SOU in fall 2019 and graduated in fall 2023 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in Theatre Performance. Though she had options, SOU stood out for its conservatory-style training, professional partnerships and affordability.

“SOU was the only school that offered a competitive, conservatory-style training, distinguished faculty, internships and apprenticeships with a professional equity theater and an education I could afford due to scholarships and in-state tuition,” she said. “It was also important to me to attend an accredited university with other robust programs available rather than just a conservatory, in case I ever decided to change career paths.”

Now at OSF, Dissanayake draws directly on the training she received at SOU. Over two years, she immersed herself in a rigorous curriculum: acting, movement, voice, Shakespeare, clowning, dialects, business of acting and more.

“It’s remarkable how applicable my training has been, working at OSF so far,” she said.

In “Jane Eyre,” her OSF debut, she performed in the outdoor Elizabethan Theatre as Young Jane and Adele.

“My voice and movement training was crucial to creating large choices for my characters and to audibly project in a venue that holds over a thousand people,” she said.

In “The Importance of Being Earnest” – set in the 1890s Malay Peninsula, with a regular slate of performances now through October – Dissanayake plays Cecily, with a custom-built accent that blends RP British, South Indian and Malaysian speech patterns. She credits her ability to shape those nuances to SOU’s coursework in the International Phonetic Alphabet and accents.

“My education at SOU has done a phenomenal job preparing me for professional theater,” she said. “I have worked with several peers my age who have recently graduated from elite undergraduate theater programs such as NYU, Carnegie Mellon and even graduate programs such as Yale and UCSD. I can confidently say that SOU Theater’s BFA in performance offers an equally comparable education to those distinguished programs.”

Desdemona Chiang, director of OSF’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” praised Dissanayake’s skills as an actress.

“Lini was an absolute delight to work with on ‘Earnest,’” Chiang said. “She brought a natural grace and radiance to the role of Cecily, and a strong work ethic to the process. She was dedicated to the role, constantly prepared and eager to explore the work with her scene partners. She was always ready to try, ready to fail, and always in pursuit of something greater, richer and more interesting. I loved her curiosity through the process – she is the kind of actor every director loves to have contributing in the room.”

Dissanayake’s years at SOU were not without challenges – especially during the COVID-era pivot to outdoor instruction.

“My cohort started our BFA in the fall of 2021,” she said. “With social distancing and mask requirements, we spent the first half of our term outside, wearing masks, in tents – yes, tents. “It was ridiculous, but also the best. There was so much grace and positivity because we were all just so grateful to do what we loved in-person again.”

Dissanayake attributes much of her growth to SOU’s dedicated faculty, especially professors Jackie Apodaca, Brendan McMahon and former voice and speech professor Ginger Eckhert.

“I think my time was so impactful in this program because the faculty put so much heart and soul into their students,” she said. “They pushed our strengths, and made us face our weaknesses.

“There was a time with each of these three professors where they pulled me aside while I was struggling and asked, ‘how can I support you?’ When I expressed what I needed, they showed up.”

She singles out Apodaca for her mentorship and advocacy.

“Jackie Apodaca has advocated for me and my peers time and time again,” Dissanayake said. “I cannot thank her enough for the opportunities she has built and provided for her students through (the Ashland New Plays Festival), the OSF Trainee Program and other professional gigs.”

Performing on OSF’s stage today brings Dissanayake full circle.

“The first OSF production I ever saw with my family was their 2012 production of ‘As You Like It’ in the Elizabethan Theater,” she said. “I was so deeply moved to see people who looked like me telling classical stories on that beautiful stage. At 11 years old, I saw a possibility in which the lifestyle I dreamed of was achievable.

“I don’t know if I possess all the words to express the gratitude I feel to be here now,” Dissanayake said. “I know that little Lini would think the world of me, and every day I go to work I hope that there’s a kid out in the audience that thinks, ‘maybe I could do that, too.’”

As she looks to the future, Dissanayake’s dream is simple: to keep doing the work.

“This may not seem like the most grand or ambitious answer, but as I continue to work in professional theater, I’m learning how precious it is to stay booked,” she said. “So long as I continue to be able to make a living telling stories, in whatever capacity that may be, I feel like I’m living the dream.”

Her advice to SOU students? “Be brave, be bold, be humble,” she said. “Your fears and doubts don’t always get smaller, but you can grow bigger to face them. Kindness to yourself and others takes you farthest.”

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Creativity Conference at SOU Ashland set to begin

Creativity Conference at Southern Oregon University set to begin May 15

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The 7th annual Creativity Conference at Southern Oregon University will offer something for everyone in four days of presentations, May 15 through 18. The conference delivers a wealth of information for those who study the science of creativity, seek to leverage research on creative thinking or simply consider themselves to be creative.

The Creativity Conference at SOU features a lineup of more than 100 presenters, with both in-person and virtual events that allow for exhibits, performances and presentations – and attendees – from a variety of countries. It draws many of the world’s leading scholars, researchers and practitioners from the field of creativity, including this year’s five keynote and invited speakers.

“This annual conference brings together internationally renowned speakers, researchers and artists who are leaders in creativity research and application,” said SOU Associate Provost Daniel DeNeui, co-executive director of the conference. “This is an opportunity to learn and imagine, and also to network and build relationships that could have a meaningful impact on the world.”

Participants will be able to join in several applied workshops that feature hands-on activities for developing and using creativity in the workplace. Previous presentations have included “Fostering Creativity Through Virtual Environments” and “Attitudes toward creative people and innovators.”

All sessions – remote and in-person – will be accessible via livestream, ensuring inclusivity and engagement. Archived presentations will be available for viewing post-event.

The 2025 conference will feature in-person sessions all day Thursday through Saturday, May 15-17. A full day of remote sessions will be featured on Sunday, May 18. The in-person featured speakers will include:

  • Denis Dumas, Ph.D., who will be presenting his research on the creativity and psychology of stage and screen actors;
  • International scholar Todd Lubart, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the Université Paris Descartes, who will offer a 75-year retrospective on creativity research;
  • Laura McBain – designer, educator and managing director of the Stanford d.school – who will address how human-centered design can be used to shape more preferable futures;
  • International scholar Tuuli Mattelmäki, associate professor in design at Aalto University in Finland, who will present research on how creative practices stimulate eco-social change; and
  • Ivonne Chand O’Neal, Ph.D. – the founder and principal of creativity and arts impact research firm MUSE Research, LLC – who will discuss culturally responsive storytelling in opera, and its impact on artistic creativity.

Attendees can expect a range of formats, including 60-minute panel discussions, 40- to 50-minute individual presentations, 15-minute “boom talk” sessions that deliver concise insights and engaging poster presentations. Opportunities for interactive dialogue and exchange will be offered in each format.

The Creativity Conference at SOU welcomes sponsorships from individuals and organizations. For more information or to register for this year’s conference, visit soucreativityconference.com. Conference co-executive director Daniel DeNeui can be reached at creativity@sou.edu.

About the Creativity Conference and Southern Oregon University
The Creativity Conference, sponsored by Southern Oregon University, is located in beautiful Ashland, Oregon. Ashland is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a burgeoning wine industry and an array of outdoor recreational opportunities, providing the perfect backdrop for creativity and innovation.

Southern Oregon University is a medium-sized campus that provides comprehensive educational opportunities with a strong focus on student success and intellectual creativity. Located in vibrant Ashland, Oregon, SOU remains committed to diversity and inclusion for all students on its environmentally sustainable campus. Connected learning programs taught by a host of exceptional faculty provide quality, innovative experiences for students. Visit sou.edu.

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Tacit knowledge grant awarded to SOU Ashland's Boscoe

SOU’s Boscoe awarded second “tacit knowledge” grant

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Bernadette Boscoe, an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Southern Oregon University, has been awarded a second grant to fund her study of tacit knowledge in research settings – gathering, storing and retrieving the unspoken practices of academic teams that sometimes are lost when a project is disrupted or ends.

The latest grant, from the National Science Foundation, totals about $164,000 over two years, beginning July 1.

Boscoe received a $250,000 grant last fall from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to help fund her creation of a Large Language Model (LLM) of artificial intelligence to archive the protocols of scientific groups researching environmental science at SOU, astronomy at UCLA and violin acoustics at Cornell University. The tacit knowledge archive, if successfully developed, would benefit researchers in those and other academic disciplines by preventing the loss of unstated practices in research labs when participants leave the projects.

Research funded by the NSF grant is closely related to that funded by the Sloan grant, but is focused more on what Boscoe calls “the technical tool-building side” and looks exclusively at astronomy research.

“The Sloan grant is more (about) using three research group spokes and doing an investigation of the tacit knowledge capture,” Boscoe said. “The NSF grant doesn’t look at that – it is more about how we can improve astronomy workflows and tools.”

Boscoe is using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), an AI framework that pairs an LLM with an information retrieval system to improve accuracy and relevance of resulting data. She is working with SOU computer science graduate Chandler Campbell to build the project’s RAG-LLM tool, called AquiLLM – named after the constellation Aquila.

“Research groups often face challenges managing and accessing work such as paper drafts, research experiments, plots, and meeting notes, especially as these resources grow over time and researchers transition in and out of projects,” an NSF abstract on the project said.

“This project benefits research groups by offering a way to use natural language to ask questions about their data, yielding links to relevant documents.”

Boscoe is a computer and information scientist who builds and researches infrastructures and tools to help domain scientists do their work. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from the Pratt Institute in New York, an associate degree in computer science from Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in mathematics from California State University-Northridge and a Ph.D. in information science from UCLA.

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McNair Scholars program at SOU Ashland

McNair Scholars: Apply or nominate potential grad students

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Undergraduate students who have stood out in the classroom and have an interest in graduate school can apply or be nominated to join the next cohort of SOU’s McNair Scholars Program. The application deadline for spring interviews is Friday, May 30.

The McNair program, a U.S. Department of Education initiative that began at SOU in 2003, is considered a graduate school preparatory program of activities and instruction that participants can engage in throughout a calendar year or longer. Students can be from any academic major, must have completed at least two terms of college and can enter the program as sophomores, juniors or early in their senior years.

To apply for the program, nominate a student or learn more, email McNair@sou.edu or visit SOU’s McNair Scholars Program website. Nomination emails should include the student’s name and email address.

The program is named for Dr. Ronald E. McNair, who was a member of the Challenger space shuttle’s seven-person crew that met a tragic end in a 1986 explosion. As a tribute to his achievements, Congress and the McNair family formed the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program in 1989 to assist young people in following McNair’s path and taking the initiative to chart their own academic paths.

It is intended to help underrepresented and first-generation undergraduate students from low-income backgrounds to prepare for research-intensive doctoral programs. However, SOU faculty members have traditionally nominated any students they feel may have the ability and desire to complete graduate school, and eligibility is sorted out during the application process.

SOU’s McNair program has provided an intensive research experience and graduate school preparation to nearly 200 students since its inception. As many as 28 students are selected for each year’s cohort of McNair Scholars.

The SOU program offers one-on-one guidance from faculty mentors as it helps participants complete their undergraduate degrees, enroll in graduate school and prepare for doctoral studies. Scholars complete an eight-week research internship in the summer, attend weekly seminars to help prepare them for testing and graduate school applications, and travel to national McNair conferences and graduate program visitations.

Taran Cross is bound for Oxford after receiving bachelor's degrees at SOU Ashland

Unorthodox path: recent SOU graduate bound for Oxford

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Achieving success wasn’t the issue for Taran Cross. He had risen to the position of vice president with a Medford-based healthcare technology company, despite dropping out of college soon after he began back in 2007. But he had unfinished business and higher ambitions.

“I dreamed of going to Oxford as a kid and, around 2018, I started having these profound feelings of regret that I hadn’t been the sort of person who could accomplish those dreams,” Cross said. “I felt like the opportunities of my life had passed me by and, despite having a successful career, that I had squandered my potential.

“Applying to SOU was my way of rejecting that negative thinking. I decided that I wasn’t going to let the failures of my past define me, and live the rest of my life with regret. If I wanted to go to Oxford, I was the only person who could stop me.”

Cross applied for and was accepted into SOU’s Innovation and Leadership Program for working professionals in January 2021, and graduated last spring with a pair of bachelor’s degrees – in Innovation and Leadership, and in History. And as for that dream of attending Oxford University? Well, soon after earning his bachelor’s degrees he applied for admission into a master’s degree program in history at Oxford – and learned recently that he has been accepted.

“I didn’t often tell people that was my goal while at SOU because, even to me, it seemed far-fetched,” Cross said. “It honestly felt almost silly to articulate. How could a former college dropout be accepted to the best university in the world?

“However, the loftiness of the goal drove me to put everything I had into every class I attended, because I knew that the cards were stacked against me. I think success often requires both luck and just enough delusion to believe something is possible without being oblivious to the difficulties that lie ahead.”

The first missteps, and moving forward
Cross acknowledges that his academic pathway, like those of many students in the multidisciplinary Innovation and Leadership Program, was “a bit unorthodox.” The SOU program offers an accelerated bachelor’s degree – completed either in-person or fully online – for working professionals hoping to develop skills in academic areas such as organizational leadership, project management, systems thinking, communication, emerging media and data management.

Cross first enrolled in college following his high school graduation in 2007, but dropped out early in 2008. “Roughly 15 years passed and while I regretted failing in college, I didn’t really have a strong desire to go back until around 2018 or 2019,” he said.

Meanwhile, he learned on the fly and developed a career. He took a short-term job at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival shortly after leaving college, then several months later began the first in a succession of technology-related positions – first at a computer forensic services firm, then back at OSF and then at a Medford computer support and services business. He began as an applications support specialist in 2014 at PLEXIS Healthcare Systems, and by March 2019 he had risen to vice president of client and information services at the Medford-based company.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more. He was nagged by his failed attempt at college, had a growing commitment to self-improvement and felt that there must be a more meaningful role for him. So he took the first step toward a return to college, registering in fall 2020 for a single, lower-division class in SOU’s History Department to measure his merit as a student.

“I didn’t anticipate how much I would love that class or the process of examining historical sources,” Cross said. “Professor (Sean) McEnroe’s love of history is genuinely infectious, and I quickly realized that this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life – and that SOU was the place to train me how to do it.”

He began looking into the best avenue for working on his degree while continuing in his position at PLEXIS, and discovered the university’s INL program. He set up a call with Moneeka Settles, the program’s coordinator, and realized immediately that it was his best route toward academic success and improvement as a business leader.

“She ended up inviting me to join her Organizational Communication class, which started about an hour later (after the call),” Cross said. “I felt once again I had stumbled into the perfect place.”

Two degrees, and much more
The Innovation and Leadership Program provided the academic pathway that Cross needed as a working professional, but it was his love of history that motivated him. Even as he was working his way up the corporate ladder, Cross was captivated by history – particularly the biographies of presidents and other historical figures who have exercised power. At the time, he visualized himself communicating that type of “popular history” to the general public.

“However, SOU exposed me to the variety of historical fields and their corresponding methods,” Cross said. “It was in classes like professor McEnroe’s ‘Global History of Slavery’ that I started gravitating toward subaltern (lower status) studies.

“It was one of those really life-changing classes that shifted my perspective and interests. I now fully intend to make the study of slavery my life’s work, looking for what Jenny Sharpe (author of ‘Ghosts Of Slavery: A Literary Archaeology of Black Women’s Lives’) calls ‘the stories that are being withheld’ in the historical narrative.”

Cross also gained appreciation for historiography – what he calls “the history of the study of history” – and his capstone project taught him to search archives and manuscripts to find “little pieces of forgotten history” that add texture to a larger tapestry.

“I discovered this new interest in Professor (Hannah) Archambault’s classes, where she does a phenomenal job getting students into historiography,” Cross said. “One of the main things I find exciting about pursuing history as a career is participating in these debates and making a serious contribution to the historiography.”

Those pursuits of historical knowledge were complemented by courses Cross took in the Innovation and Leadership Program, which focused on skills such as effective communication, organizational understanding and emotional intelligence.

“I think Moneeka (Settles) has done a remarkable job creating a program that is not only accessible to returning students, which is no simple task, but provides the exact kind of training every individual needs to be successful in the modern workforce,” he said.

In the end, the former college dropout graduated summa cum laude – with highest honors – in last June’s SOU Commencement ceremony, with bachelor’s degrees in Innovation and Leadership, and History.

“He did very well in both programs, studied abroad for a semester, and after graduating, applied to graduate school,” Settles said. “His acceptance at Oxford is unprecedented.”

Graduate studies in the UK
Cross’s study abroad program in 2023 was at University of Nottingham, about 100 miles north of Oxford. He expects that experience to be helpful in his transition to life and studies at Oxford University, where he will begin his master’s degree program in October at Oxford’s Corpus Christi College, studying British and European history of 1700 to 1850.

But just getting his foot in the door of the English-speaking world’s oldest university was a “practically indescribable” accomplishment. Cross felt he “left everything out on the field” when he applied to the Oxford program, but he still was uncertain how it would play out. Then the acceptance email arrived.

“I was actually in a work meeting when the email came in, and had to excuse myself to leap around my office in joy and legitimately cry with happiness,” he said. “I was so emotional, both because this is such an unbelievable opportunity and because I proved to myself that I am capable of accomplishing my dreams.”

His ultimate plan is to earn his master’s degree from Oxford, then apply to the university’s doctoral program in history, before finding a position focused on research and writing about British colonialism in the Caribbean – particularly around slavery and the experiences of the African community.

The entire Oxford experience promises to be the second-most exciting of the year for Cross.

“I’m getting married later this summer to my loving and supportive partner, Hayley Dixon, who will be joining me in Oxford along with our wonderful, goofball dog, Gus,” he said.

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Criminology & Criminal Justice students from SOU Ashland

SOU Criminology & Criminal Justice class visits historic UK sites

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A group of Criminology & Criminal Justice students from SOU spent their spring break on an immersive academic journey to Nottingham, London and other locations in the United Kingdom, delving deep into the UK’s rich legal and criminal justice history. The students in Alison Burke’s CCJ 389 class visited two prisons, a British courtroom and even the area of Jack the Ripper’s crimes.

Criminology & Criminal Justice students from SOU AshlandStudents in the fall term 2024 class immersed themselves during classroom sessions in the United Kingdom’s criminal justice history, then concluded their studies with the spring break study abroad trip.

The visit began in Nottingham, where students explored the city’s original prison, gaining firsthand insight into historical penal conditions. A highlight of the visit was a dynamic session at Nottingham Trent University with Phil Rudkin of the Centre of International Law. Students had the unique opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue alongside three police constables and a dozen NTU students, comparing international perspectives on policing, law,  justice and education.

The journey carried on with a memorable guided tour of Shrewsbury Prison, a decommissioned Victorian-era facility that offered a haunting glimpse into life behind bars. After exploring the historic cells and corridors, students put their wits to the test in a prison-themed escape room — but despite their best efforts (and their professor’s), no one managed to break free.

In London, the group stepped into the grandeur of the Royal Courts of Justice, where students brought a real court case to life in an original courtroom, complete with robed and wigged judges presiding. The hands-on legal simulation offered a rare and memorable glimpse into the inner workings of the British legal system.

The journey concluded with a chilling Jack the Ripper walking tour through the darkened streets of Whitechapel, tracing the path of one of history’s most infamous unsolved crime sprees.

The impactful experience blended historical exploration with modern legal insight, allowing students to engage critically and creatively with issues of justice, law and public safety across some of the UK’s most iconic locations.

Students in next year’s CCJ 389 sequence will study and visit Ireland, and all majors are welcome. Contact CCJ professor Alison Burke at burkea@sou.edu for more information.

outh Programs department brought local high school students to the university campus recently for the César E. Chávez Leadership Conference returns to SOU Ashland

César E. Chávez Leadership Conference returns to SOU

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Southern Oregon University’s Youth Programs department brought local high school students to the university campus recently for the César E. Chávez Leadership Conference, which began at SOU in 2012 to celebrates the late civil rights leader’s heritage and teach young people to carry on his legacy of leadership.

Last month’s 14th annual César E. Chávez Leadership Conference hosted 200 students from nine high schools throughout the southern Oregon region.

Led by SOU Youth Program’s Latino/a/x team – Genesis Beas, Monserrat Alegia and Katie Mena – the one-day gathering was designed to empower students to become more involved in their schools and communities while deepening their understanding of Latino/a/x culture and contemporary issues.

The event consisted of an opening session, with a welcome message from SOU President Rick Bailey and an interactive keynote speech from Julia Garcia. Through a hands-on presentation that involved student participation and a soccer challenge, “Dr. Garcia had a really great way of interacting with us,” a student wrote.

After the keynote, the students were divided into groups and went off to workshop sessions hosted throughout campus. Attendees were exposed to a variety of educational and career opportunities by participating in workshops focused on leadership skills, cultural arts, life skills, and college and career readiness.

Participants chose their language preference (Spanish or English) for workshop sessions, which included the topics “Latinos In Business,” “Presenting Your Authentic Self on Application Essays” and “Getting Started in Forestry: Oportunidades en el Bosque.” Two current students and three SOU professors – Alma Rosa Alvarez, Enrique Chacón and Anne Connor – shared their expertise through session breakouts.

The conference also plays a crucial role in motivating Latina/o/x youth to pursue education beyond high school. Public universities and colleges, along with local business and nonprofits, participated in the College and Career Fair as a portion of the event. Students had a chance to visit the individual tables to ask questions and learn more about their organization.

The afternoon portion of the conference consisted of lunch at The Hawk, additional workshop sessions and an end-of-ceremony DJ dance party in the Stevenson Union Diversions.

“It is always great to see the partnership between SOU Youth Programs and the local high schools,” Genesis Beas said. “It is a yearly reminder that students are actively investing in themselves and exploring their post-graduation options.”

SOU’s Latino/a/x student ambassadors and the Office of Admissions’ student staff were also on-site to lead groups and offer guidance and support to the high school students.

For more information about Youth Programs opportunities, please visit youth.sou.edu.

Crew Experience mentor Gary Lundgren at SOU Ashland

Acclaimed Ashland director and screenwriter leads SOU students’ “Crew Experience”

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Ashland-based writer-director Gary Lundgren will guide student filmmakers at Southern Oregon University in bringing “An Extraordinary Year” to life this spring, when he mentors those in the Digital Cinema Department’s innovative “Crew Experience” course.

“Crew Experience,” launched in 2022, has given SOU’s Digital Cinema students a chance each year to work on and complete a full-fledged film project. The course allows students to assume professional film crew positions under the guidance of professional mentors in the production of a short film.

They will be mentored this year by Lundgren, an Ashland-based director and screenwriter, while bringing his new short film project “An Extraordinary Year” to the big screen. The class is being guided by Megan Isser, an experienced producer and instructor in SOU’s Communication, Media and Cinema department. Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors Chris Butler and Barret O’Brien, past collaborators with Lundgren, have joined the film’s cast.

“I’m so excited to work with this impressive faculty to mentor film students,” Lundgren said. “I’d love to help demystify the filmmaking process. As an aspiring filmmaker in L.A., I learned the most from being on set or in edit bays watching filmmakers make decisions.

“The fact that SOU is allocating resources to give their students an opportunity like this while they’re still in school feels exciting and unprecedented. In 10 weeks, we will cover the entire process, from script to screen and complete a short film together.”

“I am beyond thrilled to be working side-by-side with Gary and I’m so excited for our students to learn from him and from each other,” Isser said. “I have worked with many directors in my filmmaking career, and it is rare to find someone who is not only as wildly talented as Gary, but who is also willing to take the time to mentor future professionals. And the cherry on top is that we’re all going to walk away with a fantastic film.”

The Digital Cinema program was recognized by MovieMaker Magazine in 2024 as a “Top 30 Film Program in North America,” in large part due to innovative course offerings like “The Crew Experience.”

The SOU Digital Cinema program sets itself apart as a hub for creative innovation and experiential learning. With the guidance of industry professionals such as Lundgren, students hone their craft and make meaningful contributions to the world of cinema.

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