SOU-zebrafish-stednitz-alumna

SOU alumna to offer Friday Science Seminar on zebrafish study

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SOU alumna and doctoral candidate Sarah Stednitz will offer a lecture from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday that examines the social interactions of zebrafish and their implications on autism research and other deficits in humans’ social behavior.

The Friday Science Seminar event will be in the Science Building Auditorium (Room 151). The lecture is free and refreshments will be provided by SOU’s STEM Division.

Originally from Morro Bay, California, Stednitz was the recipient of the Ruhl Learning Fellowship and graduated from SOU in 2011. She earned her master’s degree at Humboldt State University and is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Oregon.

Stednitz’s findings could be instrumental in furthering research on schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. She has been studying how zebrafish behave in various social situations. The much-researched fish are genetically modifiable and show elaborate social patterns both in the laboratory and in the wild.

Zebrafish use each other to copy motions, and use other socially active fish to begin social orienting. Stednitz’s work shows that a non-engaged fish will not trigger social interactions with a normal fish. The mutated genes in the zebrafish may be similar to mutated genes in humans, which could mean the fish are essentially autistic.

Stednitz’s research is far from complete, however. Multiple questions still need to be answered about similarities and differences in the brains of zebrafish and humans.

“We leveraged modern neuroscience tools to address these questions, providing a foundation to understand how social cognition may be disrupted across species,” Stednitz said.

SOU’s Friday Science Seminar program offers presentations each week on topics ranging from biology to computer science to chemistry.

Story by Bryn Mosier, SOU Marketing and Communications intern

SOU-Taylor Mullaney-dentist

Taylor Mullaney: A dentist’s art and science

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The mouth is a window into the health of the body. According to the American Dental Association, it can foreshadow diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and immune disorders. When a dentist peers into the mouth, he or she can see signs of nutritional deficiencies or general infection, often the first symptoms of serious medical conditions.

Being a dentist is part science and part art. It combines a strong scientific background with creativity. At its core is the study, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the mouth, jaw and facial area.

But there is more. Dentists can improve a patient’s appearance, promote healthy living and serve their communities in important ways.

Dentistry is a calling for Taylor Mullaney (’17), and he believes his strong science education at SOU gave him the background he needs to be successful.

“The science program is not very big, but it is a really strong department, and it does a great job preparing students for whatever field they plan to go into,” said Mullaney, who is on track to graduate with a Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry (DMD) from Oregon Health & Science University in 2021.

Mullaney credits SOU with helping to guide his career path and nurture his sense of community.

“When I started at SOU, I didn’t understand what I was getting into,” he said. “From helping me select classes to the invaluable hands-on instruction and one-on-one time, the science department staff and faculty guided me from a confused freshman to a focused scientific mind. They influenced how I learn and how I will provide care throughout my career.”

Initially, Mullaney chose SOU for convenience.

“I grew up in Southern Oregon, and it was the best option financially,” he said. “But when I actually started at SOU, I realized it was the best choice for me and my interests.”

Mullaney was inspired to pursue a career in dentistry by experiences with his hometown dentist.

“When I was in high school, I built a relationship with my dentist, and later he became my mentor,” he said. “I fell in love with the work he did and the difference that he made in people’s lives. I decided I wanted to do the same work.”

While at SOU, Mullaney received the Rogue Valley Physician Service Scholarship and is now an OHSU scholarship recipient for the Healthy Oregon Initiative. Mullaney plans to focus on rural health, ensuring that all Oregonians have access to high quality dental care.

Although Mullaney thought he knew what to expect when he set foot on campus, SOU was full of surprises. “I didn’t realize how close-knit and small it was before I started, and it turned out to be one of my favorite things about the school,” he said.

At SOU, Mullaney found a strong culture of mentorship that helped him thrive.

“All my professors were pretty pivotal, but my biggest mentor was Greg Miller, who taught biochemistry,” he said. “From day one at my orientation, he sat me down and helped me figure out what classes I needed. We sparked a relationship that I would say will last my whole life.”

As he pursues his DMD degree and looks toward his future, Mullaney continues to draw upon the life lessons he gained at SOU.

“In my second year, I was really struggling and I failed an organic chemistry class, but I decided that I owed it to myself and my teachers to try it again,” he said. “The next year, I took it again and by the end of the class I was asked to be an organic chemistry mentor for the incoming students. It was a huge honor, and I was so proud to have gone from failing the class to doing well enough to teach it to incoming students.”

Reposted from the Spring 2018 issue of The Raider, the magazine of the SOU Alumni Association

SOU-Gini Linder Oregon Supreme Court justice

Compelling case: Linder’s historic legal journey begins at SOU

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SOU alumna Virginia Linder (’75), who retired as an Oregon Supreme Court justice in 2016, says that being an undergraduate at what was then Southern Oregon State College in the 1970s was an ideal time for her.

“It was the civil rights period, the beginning of the women’s rights movement,” she says. “I and most of my generation of lawyers were heavily influenced by that; Southern Oregon State College was right there in the thick of it.”

Linder came from the Sacramento area and chose SOSC because it reflected her love of the outdoors, and Oregon had a reputation for being environmentally aware.

“I had planned to visit other Oregon colleges, but stopped at SOSC,” she says. “I liked the small college atmosphere and the town. It was in a beautiful setting and just right for me.”

A political science major with plans to get a teaching credential, Linder says that law was always in the back of her mind.

“I came from a long line of teachers, and teaching was always in my blood. Being a lawyer was more of a gleam in my eye at first,” she says.

The turning point in her career path came when, during her studies, she fell in with a group of pre-law students.

“I was the only woman, and the experience with those guys who were planning to go to law school became really reinforcing for me,” she says. “They created a campus political party, created a platform, and invited me to run for student senate. That got me involved with student government. It was very enriching.”

Linder says another appeal of SOSC was the speakers who came to campus.

“So many interesting people came and spoke with us,” she says. “Students could talk about issues and meet real people. SOSC offered the whole marketplace of ideas that college is supposed to be.”

One such person Linder met was then-Senator (later, Justice) Betty Roberts who was running for governor at the time.

“I got to speak with her and shake her hand. I never would have imagined having a career track in which she was such an icon,” Linder says.

Justice Roberts was the first woman appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court and a trail blazer in the state. When she first met Roberts at SOSC, Linder had no idea that Roberts would become a friend and mentor – or that nearly 25 years after Roberts’ appointment, Linder would also serve on Oregon’s Supreme Court.

After graduating SOSC, Linder attended Willamette Law School and clerked for the Oregon attorney general’s office. She later joined the Appellate Division and then took on the role as assistant solicitor general. In 1986, she was appointed Oregon solicitor general. Linder was the first woman to hold that position and served in that office for longer than anyone else in state history.

In that capacity, she was the administrator and chief counsel of the Appellate Division of the Oregon Department of Justice, representing the state in a variety of complex appeals. Linder was also directly and actively involved on the state’s behalf in all matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and was the first woman to argue a case on Oregon’s behalf in the United States Supreme Court (which she won, by the way).

Linder’s strong legal work, integrity and commitment to service led to an appointment in 1997 to the Oregon Court of Appeals by then-Gov. John Kitzhaber. In 2006, she became the first woman in the history of the state to be elected to the Oregon Supreme Court. It was against two men who outspent her by more than three to one.

“No woman had run and gotten on the court by election,” she says. “My election was perceived as having knocked another hole in the glass ceiling.”

Linder says the election was very tight, and she was happily surprised at the outcome.

“I remember waking up the morning after the election and Googling my name to see updated election returns,” she says. “The first thing that popped up was a Wikipedia page about me and the fact of my election to the Oregon Supreme Court. It sounded like history.”

Reprinted from the Fall 2016 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

SOU-Brook Colley McNair graduate

McNair program changed the life of SOU faculty member and alumna

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Mention the name Brook Colley (’07) around the SOU campus and students reply with delight, quickly sharing stories of her warmth, approachability and whip-smart lectures.

After graduating SOU with degrees in sociology and political science, Colley attended the University of California-Davis, where she received her doctorate in Native American Studies. She returned to SOU in fall 2015 as a fully minted assistant professor.

Colley says the McNair Program at SOU changed the course of her life.

“I never thought I would go to college, then when I was here at college, I thought at best I’d get a bachelor’s degree,” she said. “Even though both my parents have graduate degrees, I had other challenges that made it seem unlikely that I would pursue an advanced degree.”

The beginning of a journey
While at SOU, one of Colley’s instructors noticed her academic curiosity and suggested she apply to the McNair Program.

“We talked about Ronald E. McNair,” Colley said. “I remember being in first or second grade and watching the Challenger incident happen. When I learned more about McNair, I was inspired by him, by the fact that he did more than forward his own professional development. He also spoke to others and asked for advocacy and support from the social institutions themselves in order to bring everyone up. That kind of community responsibility was already part of my ethics, but the McNair Program gave me a concrete way to apply this thinking to my education and career.”

Colley was accepted into the McNair Program and started in 2006.

“I came in with a great cohort of students; we had a lot of social justice-oriented community advocates in our group,” she said. “We learned about everything from how to dress for a university interview to how to ask for strong letters of recommendation.

“We had this terrific group of mentors who supported us on every front. I learned so much, and I use that knowledge even now as a teacher and mentor.”

Colley said the McNair Program makes moving through the unfamiliar landscape of universities somewhat easier. “McNair helps you recognize your own potential and all the ways you can negotiate the best path to the future you want,” she said.

McNair program paves path for doctoral candidates
“Our McNair scholars are an amazing group of students,” said Dee Southard, Ph.D., the director of SOU’s Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. “They go on to Ivy League schools, they win national awards, and they give back to their communities. It’s a joy working with these students.”

The McNair Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 151 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Education. The program, Southard said, offers a pathway to increase the number of doctorate holders from groups who are in financial need, or who are traditionally underrepresented in graduate schools.

“McNair graduates are an example of what people can achieve when given the opportunity,” she said.

Eligible students who enter the program are given the academic support they need to enter graduate programs in their chosen discipline. The success rate of McNair scholars is impressive.

“Generally, half the people who get into a Ph.D. program will drop out,” Southard said. “But McNair scholars who are admitted into a doctoral program are significantly more likely to complete a Ph.D.”

The program is named for astronaut Ronald E. McNair, Ph.D., who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986. McNair was an African-American scientist nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics. Growing up in segregated South Carolina, he overcame a childhood of crushing poverty and discrimination to earn a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“McNair was the second African-American astronaut in space, and he orbited the planet 122 times,” Southard said. “He was very dedicated to encouraging young people to pursue higher education.”

Southard and faculty mentors work to prepare qualified undergraduates for entrance into Ph.D. programs in their chosen fields of study. They receive GRE preparation, study research methods and learn how to write research proposals. By the end of the program, students are motivated, independent researchers with work published in the program’s scholarly journal.

“We encourage them to apply to outside summer research internships, and they often get what they go after,” Southard said.

The support and preparation pays off for the students.

“A majority of our students are accepted on their first application to graduate school,” Southard said. “When they receive those graduate school offers it makes an indescribable difference in their lives. It’s a joy.”

Over the past decade, SOU’s McNair scholars have had great success. Ninety percent have either completed a graduate degree or are currently attending a graduate-level program.

“I’m so proud of our graduates,” Southard said. “Right now we have 44 McNair alumni in graduate programs, and 59 graduate degrees completed by our alumni.”

A bulletin board in the McNair office is filled with postcards from McNair graduates studying or working nationally and internationally. Southard points out cards from Washington, D.C., Hawaii, China, and Australia.

“One of the things I enjoy as a McNair director is that I stay in touch with these students, and that is very rewarding,” Southard said.

Reprinted from the Spring 2016 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

SOU Michael Finley Fishing

SOU Alum: Michael Finley’s national parks balancing act

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Michael Finley was praised on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives when he retired in 2001 after more than 32 years with the National Park Service.

California Congressman Jerry Lewis lauded Finley for his dynamic leadership of three of the nation’s largest national parks – Yosemite, Yellowstone and Everglades. Lewis identified Finley’s work with state and local governments, oversight of significant research projects and his international reputation as a conservation expert as exceptional.

For Finley, it was the end of a career that began at Southern Oregon University.

Finley grew up in a Medford family that enjoyed hunting and fishing, as well as music and the arts. He attended SOU as a biology major and planned to become a dentist. He remembers his education as rigorous but caring.

“Small classes, field trips, brown bag lunches and informal coffee discussions contributed to a very rewarding experience for me,” Finley said.

During summer months, Finley worked in a hotshot crew with the U.S. Forest Service, and by the time he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1970, he had discovered that his passion was in the outdoors and not a dental office.

Finley became a park ranger in 1971 at Big Bend National Park in Texas. He remembers the wide-open spaces of the desert and his friendly neighbors in nearby Mexico. But his time in Texas was brief, as he was moved to National Capital Parks in Washington, D.C., for additional training.

During the next five years, Finley moved a lot – to California’s Pinnacles National Monument, Big Basin State Park and Yosemite National Park, and finally to Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, where he was responsible for park law enforcement, emergency medical aid, communications, wilderness permitting programs and wildland and structural fire programs.

Finley returned to the nation’s capital in 1978 and began learning the political ropes associated with running the nation’s park system. As a legislative affairs specialist, Finley organized the legislative program for the Western and Pacific Northwest regions. “I worked both the House and Senate sides of the Hill and learned how to generate constituency pressure, develop unusual allies and productively engage state governments to support the Interior Department position,” he recalled.

The first of Finley’s four superintendent positions began in 1981 when he joined Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. He was reassigned to Alaska just two years later, providing Finley an opportunity to manage and operate a 13-park territory.

“In Alaska, I learned the importance of protecting large landscapes and ensuring that all the parts of the natural ecosystem were protected and allowed to function in a manner to ensure biological diversity,” he said.

When Finley was named superintendent of Everglades National Park in 1986, he had already crisscrossed the country twice in 15 years. And his time in Florida was not easy. Everglades’ location within 20 miles of a county that was growing by 100,000 people a year threatened an ecosystem that included 13 endangered species.

“I used my SOC biological training to manage and direct over 100 management and research scientists,” Finley recalled.

He immersed himself in the water issues facing Everglades and by the time he left in 1989, he had weathered a number of political battles. Finley’s dogged determination to protect the park and its ecosystem contributed to a reputation as being one of the few Park Service professionals who had the political savvy, negotiating skill and toughness to bring parties together. Finley would be put to the test when he was named superintendent at Yosemite National Park in 1989.

Finley joined Yosemite in the midst of a bitter, long-standing battle between various environmental groups and the Curry Company, which had held the concession contract within the park for more than 90 years. Finley was just 42 years old when he became superintendent, and his enthusiasm and dynamic energy were seen as positives at a time when the park was “being loved to death,” as described in 1993 by the Christian Science Monitor.

Exponential growth in visitors, a lack of federal funding and deteriorating facilities threatened the nation’s second oldest national park. It was natural that Finley became a target for those who took issue with how the park was run. But his experience in bringing warring parties together resulted in the creation of a plan to restore the meadows in Yosemite Valley, move the concession business further from the natural beauty of the park and bring additional revenue into the park for ongoing maintenance and restoration.

t had taken Finley just five years to accomplish what many had viewed as impossible.

He moved to his final superintendent post in Yellowstone National Park, where he served from 1994 until his retirement in 2001. There was no shortage of issues facing Finley upon his arrival – from recreation and bison management to restoration of the cutthroat trout and the reintroduction of the gray wolf. He described one of his greatest achievements as establishing the Yellowstone Park Foundation, which has since raised more than $100 million.

“The contribution of the foundation cannot be overstated,” Finley said. “It allows park staff to undertake projects, studies and restorations that, while not required by law, are required by conscience.”

But Finley didn’t really retire. His 30 years traversing the country gave him a perspective that few enjoy – a keen understanding of the delicate balance in managing the nation’s public lands so future generations can enjoy them. Joining the Turner Foundation in 2001 seemed a logical next step.

As president of the Turner Foundation until 2016, Finley helped distribute more than $334 million in grants to organizations around the world. He described his work at the foundation as apolitical, with the goal simply to help future generations and “to leave the planet better than we found it.” Under Finley’s leadership, the foundation funded projects to “green” the nation’s hotels and restaurants, help create sustainable commercial fishing in Alaska and the Northern Pacific, defend biodiversity by protecting habitats in Africa and Asia, and launch projects to help the nation’s youth.

Today, as chair of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, Finley is in his third act. When he wades into the swirling Rogue River and casts his fly rod, he is both recreational enthusiast and environmental steward. Finley is still maintaining that delicate balance.

Reprinted from the Spring 2018 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

Bruce Guenther

The Power of Art in the Political World

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“It is possible to make a life in the arts and to live in the world of ideas as an intellectual,” says Bruce Guenther (’71) when reflecting on his 50-year career as a curator, artist and educator. For Guenther, who retired in 2014 after serving 14 years as chief curator for the Portland Art Museum, it was the SOU faculty who provided inspiration and opened the door to a larger world.

Guenther grew up in Medford and attended what was then Southern Oregon College as an Honors Program student. He seized on every opportunity to learn and engage with the campus, the art department and the community. “I was editor of the Honors Journal of creative writing for two years. The encouragement, attention and challenges kept me engaged and hungry for more,” Guenther said.

Guenther attended college in the late 1960s, the height of student protests around civil rights, poverty and the Vietnam War. For Guenther, SOU’s faculty members were grounding; they expected excellence and served as a “moral and ethical compass in the sea of change that was the late 1960s,” he remembers.

“Betty LaDuke in the art department, poet Lawson Inada, and Charles Ryberg in English were faculty who lived and taught their passion with an embodiment of moral authority and political engagement that has been a beacon for my career,” Guenther said.

Guenther also recalls serving as the student representative alongside faculty members and the French philosopher and journalist Jean Francois Revel for a symposium discussion of Revel’s book,”Without Marx or Jesus: The New American Revolution Has Begun.”

“It was my first successful lesson in public intellectual sparring,” he said.

Guenther also participated in the arts club, performed in student plays and took part in organizing anti-Vietnam War events on campus. 

SOU’s art department was modest in size when Guenther attended, but the faculty were strong academic and moral leaders.

“The seriousness of the art faculty for their majors was real and important developmentally,” Guenther said. Their commitment taught Guenther what was possible, and his involvement with student activities taught skills he used his entire career. 

“From the art projects I undertook to the extracurricular activities, I learned valuable lessons and skill sets,” he said.

Serving on the Britt Student Union Board introduced Guenther to the world of cultural programming, budgeting, fundraising, ticket sales and press relations under the guidance of Marythea Grebner.

“All invaluable for the planning of exhibitions and plotting collaborative projects across art disciplines, which has been one of the hallmarks of my career as a curator,” Guenther said. 

Guenther delayed his own graduation by a year so he could serve with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), where he worked with migrant agricultural workers and in community organizing in Colorado.

“I came back a different person, a true adult,” he said. The time in VISTA crystalized his own thinking about the power of art in the political world. 

After graduating, Guenther pursued a career as an artist, teacher and design consultant. His big break came in 1973 when he earned a position as a curatorial intern at the Portland Art Museum.

“I was a bright-eyed kid when I first walked through its doors and discovered a world beyond the parameters of the place I was living,” he reflected. “It was the first museum I remember visiting as a child, and I had a sense of obligation to make it better, to leave it better than I found it,” he remembers. 

Although it would be nearly 30 years before Guenther would be given the opportunity to realize fully that obligation, the intervening years were filled with curatorial experiences throughout the United States. As curator of contemporary art at the Seattle Art Museum, Guenther had administrative oversight of 70 percent of the exhibitions during his eight-year tenure. He also expanded the museum’s permanent collection, adding works by Leon Golub, Robert Ryman, Gilbert and George, and others.

When he moved to Chicago in 1987, Guenther became chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was there that his mandate included the introduction of multicultural perspectives as he planned and coordinated the museum’s exhibition program. Each new curatorial challenge broadened Guenther’s view. When he joined the Orange County Museum of Art in 1991, Guenther’s responsibilities expanded even further. With newly renovated museum space, he orchestrated the presentation of 100 years of California art in nine new rooms.

In 2000, the Portland Art Museum had just completed the state’s largest fundraising campaign by a cultural organization. A major renovation of the Hoffman Wing had added more than 50,000 square feet of gallery space, and the museum opened the Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art as well as the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art. It was a golden opportunity for Guenther when he became chief curator.  

During the next 14 years, Guenther expanded the museum’s permanent collection, adding 5,000 pieces. He worked alongside museum leaders to envision and plan the museum’s future. Guenther’s expertise was critical as renovations to a former Masonic temple transformed into the Mark Building, which opened in 2005. The renovation added 28,000 square feet of exhibit space for Modern and Contemporary Art—making it the largest exhibition space for modern and contemporary art in the region.

When Guenther retired from the PAM in 2014, colleagues in the arts community, artists, historians and community leaders showered him with praise. He had indeed left the museum in a better place than when he arrived.

Reprinted from the Fall 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

Jesse Molloy Saxophone

Saxophone sensation: On Tour with Panic! At the Disco

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Gratitude is a recurring theme for saxophonist Jesse Molloy (’01). Whether the topic is music, bands or his education, Molloy said he wants to take the time to be thankful for the opportunities that have come his way.

“I have been trying to express my gratitude in different ways, whether it is through producing music or performing music,” he said. “Making music in service to others, not just myself, has opened my soul in many ways. The idea of getting out there and sharing what you do, that’s something that I have had with me since SOU.” 

Molloy is a multi-talented musician, producer and composer. He is currently playing saxophone with the rock band, Panic! At the Disco. The band’s manager reached out to Molloy to put together the touring horn section for the group’s “Death of a Bachelor” album cycle. 

The ensuing album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2016. Molloy said that working with the band and touring with them was a childhood dream.

“I always wanted to play saxophone in a project like this,” he said. The band played venues all over the world, including Madison Square Garden in New York, where the concert was sold out. “It was unbelievable,” Molloy said. “I had to take a moment and just soak it in.”

But it’s more than playing to sold-out venues that catches Molloy’s attention. He is working with leading musicians and honing his craft each day.

“Working with this band has been one of the best experiences,” he said. “The guys are some of the most talented and coolest guys I have ever met, and I am so honored to be a part of it for a season.”

While Molloy is humble about his skills, talent and the many hard hours of work he puts into his music, he is reflective about his experience at SOU.

“I was really lucky, both with the people I met and with the teachers I had,” he said. “It seemed like all my classmates were passionate and always doing something. And all my teachers were the same. There’s a lot that shapes us in the environments we choose to stand in.” 

Molloy said what surprised him about SOU was how much his teachers encouraged him to get off campus and perform.

“I was always in a band – ska, punk, jazz, funk, soul – you name it,” he said. “My professors, especially Rhett Bender, cheered me on the whole time. This encouragement was big for me.”

It ultimately would be Bender who was the thread between Molloy’s years at Ashland High School and his college years. Molloy started taking private lessons during his senior year of high school while Bender was on the SOU faculty.

“He was a big reason I went to SOU,” Molloy said. “I still have Rhett Bender’s voice in my head. He had this warm way of offering a critique while being encouraging at the same time.”

Bender’s influence remains with Molloy today, even while he is touring with one of the nation’s most popular bands.

“Rhett influenced just about every aspect of my playing, from the way I hold the saxophone to the way I approach practicing,” he said. “I’ve always been a little impatient with myself, but even now, I think of Rhett telling me to relax.”

Reprinted from the Fall 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

SOU Chris Briscoe Photographer

Constant motion: Photographer Christopher Briscoe tells story through adventure

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Photographer Chris Briscoe (’75) will flat-out tell you he did not enjoy most of his time at college. Not because of SOU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and teaching certification, but because of his love for adventure.

“I’m just wired that way,” Briscoe said. “When I went back for my teaching certificate, I think I enrolled and re-enrolled about four or five times. I just didn’t want to sit in a classroom.”

Photo by Chris Briscoe

Briscoe once sailed a small boat to Tahiti, where he lived for a year, and he has cycled across America four times. He has traveled the world, engaging with and photographing everyone from homeless children in Cambodia to offbeat artists in New Orleans. His work includes intimate portraits of celebrities and politicians such as Rob Lowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Ronald Reagan. He has been published in everything from The London Times to People magazine.

But Briscoe didn’t start out wanting to be a photographer. In his memoir, “Shifting Gears: Riding the Roads through America’s Heartland,” Briscoe describes how a bike trip with a friend in 1976 helped him settle into school and earn a teaching certificate. When Briscoe started student teaching, he found a passion.

“Student teaching lit me on fire,” he said. He worked with elementary school kids as lively as he was, and he used his energy and creativity to engage them. He once arranged for his third-grade students to fly over Ashland as part of a unit on mapmaking.

Photography wa

s a hobby, not something Briscoe expected to earn a living doing. Because he often photographed his students and their adventures, Briscoe’s work began getting noticed. When his work caught the attention of a photographer from the Ashland Daily Tidings, Briscoe’s career path changed. “I had always taken photographs, but that job made me a better photographer,” he said.

Briscoe left teaching after four years to pursue a full-time career in photography. “It wasn’t an easy decision. I loved teaching and I loved the kids, but my passion was photography.”

Briscoe’s award-winning photos are a mirror of humanity, showing simultaneously how interconnected we are as humans and how unique we are as individuals. His work, including his writing, is engaging, humorous and honest.

Photo by Chris Briscoe

Perhaps Briscoe is best known for photographing hands and faces. He has described the human face as the “greatest landscape,” and his portraits of Sheryl Crow are as intensely personal as those of New Orleans resident Little Freddie King.

 

The hands, however, hold special power and allure for Briscoe.

“Hands tell about not only what a person does; they are a roadmap of where a person has been. And maybe where they want to go. Hands are an extension of our souls. They make tools that can change the world, end the world, hold a pen to sign a peace treaty to save the world,” Brisco said.

With over three decades of work and adventure behind him, Briscoe isn’t slowing down. He is wrapping up a book about his three-month, across-America cycling adventure with his son and continuing to focus on the three things that drive him: vision, passion and courage.

“We can all have creative ideas, but having the vision to follow through makes a big difference,” he said.

As for courage, he takes a deep breath. “We all struggle with courage,” he said. “Whether you’re a teenager wanting to ask a girl on a date or trying to decide if you should quit your day job and pursue your passion. The trick is to constantly challenge yourself, let yourself take a risk and live your life.”

Reprinted from the Fall 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

SOU Abbi Rosewood

Burning Bright: Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood’s commitment to creativity

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The encouraging creative-writing community at SOU was an ideal fit for 27-year old writing dynamo Abbigail Nguyen- Rosewood (’13). Since graduating, she has written numerous essays, reviews, articles and creative works for online and print publications. And now, after recently finishing graduate school at Columbia University, Nguyen-Rosewood anxiously awaits the U.S. release of her first novel, “If I Had Two Lives,” published by Europa Editions.

“If I Had Two Lives” follows the journey of a young girl from her childhood in a military camp in Vietnam to her adulthood as a lonely and disillusioned immigrant in New York. The novel chronicles how the young woman learns what it means to love and be loved as she escapes her past and creates a new life in the U.S. 

Nguyen-Rosewood’s other works have been published in literary journals online and in print, including The Adirondack Review, Columbia Journal, Green Hills Literary Lantern and The Missing Slate. An excerpt from “If I Had Two Lives” was awarded first place in the Writers’ Workshop of Asheville Literary Fiction contest.

Nguyen-Rosewood, who transferred to SOU from another state school, was relieved to get practical support navigating graduation requirements. She found SOU to be a caring and authentic place, with small classes and intimate relationships between professors and students.

“The SOU community felt genuine. The professors were kind, communicative, and accessible,” Nguyen-Rosewood recalled. 

She said what helped shape her and her career is the belief and encouragement of her friends and instructors.

“At the time, I was still finding my voice. In this nascent stage as a writer when you are vulnerable, doubtful of your abilities, it’s very easy for your flame to get snuffed out by an unkind comment, a skeptical glance. Writers are sensitive,” she said. “Words such as ‘have faith’ and ‘believe’ are often so overused that they can lose their meaning, but that’s what the SOU community gave me. They had faith and they believed in me.”

Nguyen-Rosewood says she had many influential professors at SOU, including Bill Gholson, Kasey Mohammad and Prakash Chenjeri, but her closest mentor was Craig Wright in the Creative Writing Program.

“He was among the first to see something in my writing, to believe in my talent. He nurtured it, gave me the platform to share my writing with others, and helped me acquire scholarships,” she said. “I’m indebted to him, and I’m grateful to be indebted to him.”

Reprinted from the Fall 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

SOU Luders Manuel Writer

Luders-Manuel: Writer addresses race with creativity and compassion

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Shannon Luders-Manuel (’07) wasn’t sure what a thesis statement was when came to SOU as an English major. She now makes her living as a writer, essayist and critical mixed-race scholar who has been published in a number of academic, news and creative publications.

Luders-Manuel garnered national attention earlier this year when the New York Times published her essay, “My Grandmother’s Story is Ending as Mine Begins.” The piece in the Times increased her audience base, but Luders-Manuel’s other works are where she earned her writing chops.

As a public speaker and author of “Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide: Educators’ Guide,” Luders-Manuel has found herself at the epicenter of some of the nation’s most polarizing race issues.

“When I talk about my family culture, I’m mixed,” she wrote on For Harriet, an online community for women of African ancestry. “When I talk about racism, I’m black. When Trayvon Martin was shot for wearing a hoodie, I was black. When Eric Garner was choked to death for selling cigarettes on the street, I was black. When Sandra Bland was arrested for failing to turn on her blinker, I was black. When churchgoers were shot for being black, I was black.”

Luders-Manuel found her voice sharing her experience as a mixed-race woman while at SOU and during graduate school at the University of Massachusetts. She has been researching and writing the biracial experience for more than 10 years. The essay posted on For Harriet was shared over 50,000 times on Facebook when it was published in 2015.

Luders-Manuel originally chose SOU because it was an easy drive to visit family in California, but she realized shortly after arriving in Ashland that she had found her place.

“There was such a welcoming community. I lived in Baker dorm, and it had a real family feel,” she said. “Also, I had a work-study job at the library, and we really had a tight-knit community of students working there. Some of us still stay in touch.”

Though she has been away from SOU for 10 years, she still draws on the lessons she learned there. Luders-Manuel recalls one of her favorite instructors, Alma Rosa Alvarez.

“Professor Alvarez used to make us write short-response papers. After we turned them in, she would offer feedback and keep giving them back for rewrites until they were correct. She’d do this as many times as needed,” said Luders-Manuel. “If she did like it, she would put a tiny check mark at the top of the paper. I remember when I got the checkmark, I would be so excited. It was one of the most effective ways of learning to write well. She wouldn’t just tell you about your errors, she’d make you work to change them.”

Alvarez, says Luders-Manuel, was also the first teacher of color that she had ever had. “It was important to me to see a woman of color in that position. Even though we are different ethnicities, I could see myself in her,” she said. “She was also my biggest advocate. Professor Alvarez was the one who encouraged me to go to graduate school, and I’m so glad I did that. I am so grateful to her.”

Luders-Manuel, who earned a master’s degree from UMass, said she hadn’t always seen college in her future. “It wasn’t something my family encouraged at first, and it took me a long time to take the leap,” she said.

She credits SOU for giving her the foundation to write in a variety of genres, including business, news, academic and marketing. “I am able to write in many different genres because I had so many different classes and opportunities while I was at SOU. That has helped me more than anything,” Luders-Manuel said.

Reprinted from the Fall 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine