Naloxone overdose rescue kit

Opioid overdose rescue kits available throughout SOU campus

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Last year’s initiative to place overdose rescue kits at various locations on the SOU campus, enabling friends or passersby to save the lives of those experiencing opioid overdoses, has expanded this year.

A total of 20 Naloxone rescue kits – up from 18 last year – are now located at SOU: in the Shasta, McLoughlin, Cox, and Madrone residence halls; the Greensprings Complex; Aspen and Hawthorne halls in the Cascade Complex; the Education/Psychology, Theatre, Music, and Science buildings; The Hawk; the Facilities, Maintenance and Planning building; Stevenson Union; Hannon Library; two locations in Lithia Motors Pavillion; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the Campbell Center; and Britt and Taylor Halls. A map of all kit locations is available on Inside SOU.

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, can legally be possessed and administered in Oregon. It has no narcotic effects, and works by reversing opioid-induced depression of the respiratory and central nervous systems. Opioids include drugs such as heroin and methadone, along with prescription pain medications including hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, hydromorphone, morphine, oxymorphone, fentanyl and buprenorphine.

Overdoses requiring lifesaving treatment can occur in a wide variety of settings and circumstances, so everyone is encouraged to prepare as emergency responders. Self-training tools include an eight-minute video with details on how and when to administer naloxone, and a step-by-step description of the medication’s use.

An average of more than 115 people per day die of opioid overdose in the U.S., and a spike in opioid use and overdoses has been seen in southern Oregon. SOU’s proactive approach to addressing the issue has been effective, as one kit was used last year.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

SOU sustainability and recycling manager Rebecca Walker

Rebecca Walker hired as SOU’s new sustainability and recycling manager

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Southern Oregon University has hired Rebecca Walker, who has worked for the past 15 years with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, to serve as the university’s new sustainability and recycling manager. She will begin at SOU on Friday, Nov. 8.

Her mother is from Maine, but Walker has spent most of her life in Scotland and gained an appreciation for environmental work and nature.

“I am in awe of the beauty of nature and our world,” Walker said. “We are here temporarily for a very short time and it feels right that when we are here, we should be acting in a way that ensures future generations will also see and enjoy such a beautiful place…. I wanted to be part of this.”

She received her master’s degree in environmental technology in 2001 from the University of London. She began working in the field and then in 2004 found a long-term employer in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

SEPA is a public agency of the Scottish government that focuses on the sustainability of Scotland’s natural resources and services. It tests pollution levels, develops and enacts legislation, partners with other agencies to make the environment a priority, and even runs Scotland’s flood warning system.

Walker started with SEPA as a technical support officer, reviewing policy and supporting waste strategy area coordinators. She then became a waste strategy area coordinator and eventually worked her way up to the head of materials and sector planning. Her responsibilities included setting priorities, implementing policy, mentoring newer employees, managing budgets and coordinating with businesses – all while running four waste and landfill teams from a previous position.

“SEPA has been a brilliant place to work for 15 years of my career and I have had various roles in climate change, circular economy, management and senior leadership,” Walker said.

But she didn’t want to stay with SEPA forever and felt the time was right for a change.

“Something I have always believed is that change and pushing boundaries outside our comfort zone is how we grow,” Walker said. “I have worked in government for most of my career and so the idea of doing something different is exciting.”

With U.S. citizenship and “the desire to have a change of job and lifestyle,” she started looking for jobs in America and particularly in higher education.

“What particularly attracted me to education is the opportunity to work with those who are our future,” she said. “Not only do students have new, fresh and energetic ideas on how to tackle problems but they are also the future innovators, entrepreneurs, workers, teachers … and if sustainability is built into everything we do as a society and in our work and it is no longer an afterthought, real progress can and will be made.”

SOU’s previous sustainability and recycling manager, Roxane Beigel-Coryell, left the university in July to take a similar position at California State University, Channel Islands. The vacant position attracted more than 30 applicants – “one of the strongest applicant pools for searches that I’ve conducted recently,” said Drew Gilliland, director of the Facilities, Maintenance and Planning Department.

He described Walker’s application and presentation as “outstanding,” and she was hired for the position.

“When I was researching for my interview, I was overwhelmed with what had been achieved to date,” Walker said. “My predecessor has (left) big shoes to fill and the students were energized and active in so many areas of sustainability. To be part of this and to build on this is exciting.”

SOU recently received a prestigious “Excellence and Innovation Award” for sustainability from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The university’s numerous other awards and recognitions for sustainability practices include an honorable mention two years ago at the Presidential Climate Leadership Summit and the national Best Case Study sustainability award in 2015 from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

“My initial plan is to talk to as many students and staff as possible to understand their views of the opportunities, challenges and barriers (to sustainability),” Walker said. “I am keen to work … with staff and students to look at our long term goals and the actions we need to put in place to achieve these and to look at this holistically in terms of where we focus our efforts.”

Some of those goals include improving the management of plastic, food and electronic waste. But Walker said it will take many people on various fronts to effectively address the problems of sustainability and climate change.

“We need to try things, push boundaries and see where it takes us,” she said.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Kyle Riggs uses a battery-powered leaf blower on the SOU campus

New battery-powered landscape equipment reduces campus noise and pollution

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Leaf blowers may seem somewhat comical: gangly plastic tubes that push air to corral bits of dead trees. But the pollutants they emit, the gasoline they waste and the hearing-damaging noises they produce are no laughing matter, so SOU is working to replace them and other gas-powered landscape tools with battery-powered versions.

Some communities have considered outright bans on gas-powered leaf blowers, in particular, but SOU landscape supervisor Zack Williams has initiated a more gradual phase-out.

“When I began working for the university in January of this year, we had several battery tools, and I’ve expanded our fleet,” Williams said. “As the technology and power output improves, we’ll continue adding until we can replace gas-powered tools completely – perhaps in another two to three years.

“The benefits are obvious: zero emissions and low noise.”

An hour of gas-powered leaf blower use produces pollution equivalent to about 1,100 miles driven in a 2017 Toyota Camry, according to the SORE (small off-road engines) Fact Sheet, published by the California Air Resources Board. Similarly, the automotive review and shopping website Edmunds did an emissions test in 2011 which showed that half an hour of leaf blower use created as much pollution as 3,887 miles driven in a 2011 Ford Raptor.

Gas-fueled blowers, trimmers, mowers, chainsaws and other landscape equipment create environment-damaging emissions due to their engine design. A 2017 New York Times article, “On Banning Leaf Blowers,” said the two-stroke engines they use “are light enough to carry but produce significant exhaust and noise.”

“The gas and oil mix together, and about a third of it does not combust,” the Times story said. “As a result, pollutants that have been linked to cancers, heart disease, asthma and other serious ailments escape into the air.”

The story also cited a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that said as little as two hours of unprotected exposure to a leaf blower can lead to permanent hearing loss.

Williams – who oversees landscape maintenance as part of SOU’s Facilities, Management and Planning Department – said battery-powered tools address nearly all problems associated with the gas-powered versions. They cut down the noise to non-damaging levels and release no emissions to harm the environment, students or others. The batteries are also easy to use.

“Wall-mounted chargers are at our shop,” Williams said. “We remove battery packs from the tools and plug them in to charge.

“They are high amp-hour output lithium-ion batteries that last for many years,” he said. “At the end of their life cycle they are returned to the manufacturer for recycling – but that hasn’t occurred yet, and some of our batteries are almost five years old.”

One downside to battery-powered equipment is that it isn’t as powerful as gas-powered counterparts and there are some instances where that power is a necessity.

“We have not converted all of our landscape power tools to electric … this category of tool is not yet comparable to gas-powered equipment in performance, and we use a mix of both depending on the needs of the project/site,” Williams said. “We’ll favor battery-powered tools if noise is a concern, or if the job is appropriately sized. We use battery-powered chainsaws for tree pruning, but will opt for larger gas saws for tree removals or large limbs.”

There’s also the matter of cost – Williams said battery-powered equipment is at least double the cost of gas-powered equipment. The gradual conversion won’t add to students’ expenses or take away from other SOU departments or services, but has required a shift in Williams’ budget and that of Facilities, Management and Planning.

Williams expects the issues with battery-powered equipment to be resolved over time.

“Like electric cars, as market adoption increases, and technology improves, the price will come down,” he said. “When electric vehicles can be purchased for the same price as conventionally-fueled vehicles, we’ll see the same situation with smaller tools.”

Even now, he said, the benefits of battery-powered tools outweigh their shortcomings.

“I think (the adoption of electric tools) meshes well with our values – low-noise, zero emissions,” Williams said. “SOU’s sustainability initiatives certainly call for this.”

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Real food – sustainable, human and socially equitable

SOU exceeding expectations in Real Food Challenge

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University joined universities across the country last year in working toward sustainable food practices by participating in the Real Food Challenge. Now that a year has passed, statistics show that SOU is exceeding expectations.

SOU joined more than 40 U.S. universities and four university systems by joining the Real Food Challenge, a student-founded activist organization dedicated to supporting and creating ecologically sustainable, human and socially equitable food systems.

When President Linda Schott signed the “SOU Real Food Campus Commitment,” she pledged that at least 20 percent of SOU’s food budget would be Real Food – created through sustainable, human and equitable systems – by 2023.

SOU also committed to establishing a transparent reporting system and filing annual progress reports to evaluate where the SOU Real Food Challenge team should focus. The data of the first year’s budget was recently released, which has been organized by category and color-coded for easy comparison.

Bar graph of SOU's real food by category

The bar graph shows percentages of SOU’s overall food budget by categories (in brown), and the percentage of the overall food budget that Real Food accounts for in each category (green). For instance, produce makes up 13.1 percent of the overall food budget, and the produce that qualifies as Real Food accounts for 3.2 percent of the overall budget. The Real Food percentages from all of the categories add up to 9.4 percent of the university’s overall food budget – nearly halfway to the university’s goal of 20 percent by 2023.

Pie chart of real food at SOU, across all categories

All of that progress was made in a single year of the five-year challenge, and even more changes have been made to how the school purchases coffee, produce and grocery items since this data was collected.

By the end of the spring term 2020, SOU’s Real Food Challenge team will be able to compare the changes they’ve made across multiple years to see how quickly they’re reaching the 20 percent goal. The Real Food Challenge team’s student leaders, Jamie Talarico and Jessica Zuzack, can be reached via their email for questions about the program.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Third annual observance of Indigenous Peoples Day at SOU

SOU celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day

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Southern Oregon University’s third annual Indigenous Peoples Day observance will take place between Sunday, Oct. 13 and Monday, Oct. 14.

The events start off with a film festival at South Medford High between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday. The festival is free and open to the public, and – like the other events the following day – is designed to celebrate the survival of Native American/Indigenous cultures and to encourage decolonization activism.

The film festival is just the start, however, as Monday is packed with free events, starting with a salmon bake. The salmon bake, situated in the Stevenson Union courtyard between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., will feature food, activities, performances and guest speakers.

The festivities continue with the Intergenerational Activism Panel between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the Stevenson Union Rogue River Room. Afterward, a Decolonization Celebration will be held in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Courtyard Stage between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Throughout the day the OSF campus will host a Native plays exhibit in the Black Swan Theatre. This celebration of OSF’s Native American and Indigenous plays will conclude in the Thomas Theatre at 8 p.m. with a showing of “Between Two Knees” by the 1491s. Tickets, which can be purchased online, will have a special price for Native/Indigenous students.

The SOU community overwhelmingly decided to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in June of 2017, making SOU one of several universities, seven states and over 100 U.S. cities to observe the holiday. It is typically celebrated on the second Monday of October, which the U.S. has observed as the federal Columbus Day holiday since 1937. Oregon and at least 16 other states do not recognize Columbus Day as a holiday.

No classes at SOU are canceled for Indigenous Peoples Day, but the occasion is observed through special programming and events.

SOU’s celebration of Indigenous Peoples doesn’t end on the 14th, as the Schneider Museum of Art will be housing a solo exhibition of Victor Maldonado between Oct. 24 and Dec. 14.

SOU’s Indigenous Peoples Day is sponsored by numerous SOU departments and student organizations as well as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Red Earth Descendants and the city of Ashland.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Flu shots are available at Health and Wellness Fair

Health care, raffles, and flu shots at SOU’s annual Health and Wellness Fair

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SOU’s annual Health and Wellness Fair will be in the Stevenson Union Arena on Monday, Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Human Resources encourages all employees to participate in the once-a-year fair. Along with meeting representatives from health care organizations such as Providence, Willamette Dental and Fidelity, SOU employees will be able to enter a raffle to win items from vendors by participating in the fair’s flu shot clinic.

The flu shot clinic is a partnership between SOU and Rite-Aid, and vaccines will be administered free while supplies last to employees currently covered under an SOU medical insurance plan. Those who submit a Rite-Aid Screening and Consent Form by Friday, Oct. 4 will be prioritized for flu shots.

All who attend the Health and Wellness Fair will have the chance to enter the raffle. 

Changes to 2020 health care plans have been announced ahead of the Health and Wellness Fair, including Willamette Dental’s implant surgery annual maximums and Providence’s coverage of varicose vein surgery. More coverage changes and information on the fair in general can be found at HR’s Open Enrollment page.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

Annual Golf Shootout produces record amount for SOU athletic scholarships

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Last Thursday’s 29th annual Lithia/Raider Club Golf Shootout raised a record $480,000 to help SOU student-athletes.

The tournament, held annually at Medford’s Rogue Valley Country Club, also produced a record number of “Major Executive Sponsors” that each contributed $12,500 to the event.

This year’s major sponsors were Lithia Motors, The Partners Group, JP Morgan Chase, ExxonMobil, US Bank, Assurant, Chrysler Capital, Genova Burns, American Credit Acceptance, CarFax, Launch Consulting, Axalta, TD Auto Finance, Enterprise, Edmunds.com, Wells Fargo, Cox Automotive, Ally, MaxDigital, Cars.com, AutoPoint, PermaPlate, ADESA, Northwest BG, CDK and Toyota Financial.

Tournament results are available at https://bit.ly/RaiderClubGolfSOU.

The Lithia/Raider Club Golf Shootout has raised a total of more than $3 million in scholarships since 2011.

Donations can be made year-around through the SOU Foundation to support intercollegiate athletics at the university. More than 400 students represent SOU by competing in a total of 13 men’s and women’s sports.

Students at SOU to benefit from new ScholarshipUniverse app

SOU simplifies and broadens student aid options with ScholarshipUniverse

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has launched a new suite of software intended to keep students in school by helping them identify and apply for relevant scholarships – both internal and external.

The ScholarshipUniverse platform, from the higher education support vendor CampusLogic, automates much of the scholarship screening and application process for students. It matches scholarships to students based on their responses to a series of questions and guides them through the application process.

Students can login to the ScholarshipUniverse website or use a mobile app to check the status of their scholarship applications. It also helps to keep students on-task – those who have started scholarship applications will receive live alerts and text messages, reminding them to finish the process.

A majority of SOU students are eligible for financial aid in one form or another – scholarships, grants, institutional aid or work-study. But many students at SOU and elsewhere don’t make the most of their financial opportunities – CampusLogic estimates that almost three million students across the country leave college each year because of finances, while many scholarships go unfilled.

Almost 500 colleges and universities nationwide use products from CampusLogic to help their students navigate the financial aspects of higher education.

SOU’s recent strategic planning process identified student success through service excellence as a key component of the university’s mission. Its addition of the ScholarshipUniverse software is intended to help more students remain in school, complete their degree programs and go on to lead successful lives.

The ScholarshipUniverse platform helps students track and manage both internal scholarships available through the Southern Oregon Scholarship Application (SOSA) and external scholarships offered by a spectrum of organizations, foundations and private companies.

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Smoke blankets the Ashland hills

SOU steps up as smoke moves in

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Significant smoke moved into Ashland on Thursday night for the first time this summer and Southern Oregon University acted quickly to protect students and employees, and offer refuge for community members seeking to escape the poor air quality.

Smoke from the Milepost 97 fire, which had burned more than 1,650 acres near Canyonville as of Friday morning, blanketed much of the Rogue Valley and pushed the air quality index to “unhealthy” range.

SOU staff began regular monitoring of exterior and interior air quality and promised to take whatever actions are necessary to support the health and safety of all on campus.

Particulate-filtering N95 or N100 face masks were made available to all employees at the Facilities Management and Planning office on Walker Street. Those who spend extended periods outside were encouraged to wear the masks if air quality measurements rise above 200 and into the “very unhealthy” range at the state Department of Environmental Quality’s monitoring station in Ashland.

University staff initiated daily indoor air quality tests for every SOU building and if unfavorable conditions are found, steps will be taken such as closing the dampers to outside air, installing more effective air filters and supplying air purifiers. Building-by-building conditions will be updated later today on SOU’s Environmental Health and Safety website.

“Many of our buildings have exceptional air filtration systems and provide healthy havens from the smoke outside,” said Greg Perkinson, SOU’s vice president for finance and administration, in a Friday morning message to campus.

The university invited community members to share its healthy spaces, as it did for about two months last summer. Areas where the public can find respite from smoke include the indoor walking and running track at SOU’s Student Recreation Center, where community members will be welcome from 6 to 8 p.m. every Sunday through Thursday until outdoor air quality improves. Other on-campus spaces where the public can enjoy fresh air are located in the Stevenson Union and Hannon Library.

“The health of everyone at SOU is a top priority for all of us,” Perkinson said in his campus message. “Our monitoring of indoor and outdoor air quality will continue as we work to ensure a safe environment for students, staff and others.”

SOU's public safety officers will train with APD in downtown Ashland

SOU public safety officers to get code-violation training with APD

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University’s Campus Public Safety officers may occasionally be seen in downtown Ashland beginning this week, citing people for smoking, intrusive panhandling and other minor infractions as part of a new training program with Ashland Police.

CPS officers, who typically work on or adjacent to the SOU campus, are authorized by the Ashland Municipal Code to serve as code compliance officers throughout the city and issue citations for those who violate provisions of the city code – the same as Ashland Police Department’s Central Area Patrol officers.

But the SOU officers don’t get a high volume of citation-writing work on their home turf, and newly hired officers sometimes struggle with the nuances of dealing with code-violators. That isn’t an issue for the city’s CAP officers – particularly in the downtown area.

So Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara and SOU Campus Public Safety Director Andrew MacPherson have agreed to a training partnership: newly hired CPS officers will begin shadowing Ashland’s CAP officers, who will serve as code violation mentors. The SOU officers will learn from their city counterparts, and become better prepared for enforcement actions on and near campus.

“SOU is an integral part of our community, and cooperation and collaboration with them can only yield overall positive results,” said Ashland City Administrator Kelly Madding, who approved the new program.

SOU’s officers will never work by themselves in downtown Ashland. But after a period of time working with and observing city officers, the CPS officers will likely begin initiating contact with suspected code-violators – under the watch of their mentors from the city’s police department.

“This is a great opportunity for our public safety officers to get intensive training in some situations that don’t happen all that often on campus,” said MacPherson, SOU’s director of public safety. “With this training, they’ll be prepared when those situations do happen, and in the meantime we’re strengthening the solid relationship we already have with Ashland Police.”

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