Creative Industries will be consolidated at SOU Ashland

Creative Industries project gains legislative funding

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Southern Oregon University is celebrating a piece of its future by acknowledging the Oregon Legislature’s recent approval of $40 million in capital construction bonds to update and consolidate SOU’s facilities for creative industries – music, media and film. The cross-disciplinary project will transform the university’s programs and help secure Oregon’s future as a national leader in creative industries.

The legislative funding is a milestone in what is expected to be a lengthy process that includes the sale of bonds that were approved by the legislature, completion of architectural drawings, evaluation of bids for construction contracts and city building permits. It is likely to be at least a year before any construction activity begins.

Eventually, the project is expected to drive innovation at SOU and beyond, and serve as a regional and statewide economic boon. Renovations to the Music Building will increase accessibility and community enjoyment, and will serve students better by relocating complementary programs to take better advantage of opportunities for collaboration. SOU’s Digital Media Center, for instance, is currently located on the opposite side of campus and is a key component of the creative industries partnership.

The project will include the addition or renovation of a sound stage, screening room, computer labs for music production and spaces for teaching the business of music. It will fund the preservation and upgrading of the Recital Hall and adjacent practice rooms and classrooms; state-of-the-art electronics, acoustics and HVAC equipment; and expansion and support of a cinema and media program that is ranked among the best in the country.

Infrastructure improvements that are part of the project include LEED enhancements, HVAC efficiencies, and solar integration.

Creative industries in Oregon generated about $9.3 billion annually and support more than 62,000 jobs in the state. The renovated and expanded facilities at SOU will enhance what is already a vital arts hub that serves at least 30 organizations and hosts more than 200 events per year.

SOU Ashland will rebuild itself, President Rick Bailey announced

SOU announces plan to rebuild itself in response to fiscal crises

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University President Rick Bailey announced today that the university will rebuild itself as an institution with a target of a $60 million annual budget – 15% lower than its current total – in response to devastating funding trends at both the state and federal levels. The university will rely, in part, on a rarely used contractual mechanism called financial exigency to respond to its fiscal crises and quickly transform itself into a smaller but much more resilient institution.

The decision to enable the exigency process was formalized through a joint declaration between President Bailey and the Associated Professors of Southern Oregon University (APSOU), the faculty union. Exigency can only be triggered by otherwise unsolvable financial challenges like those facing SOU, and enables the university to take the steps necessary to reduce expenses including personnel costs, regardless of protections that may otherwise be afforded under the terms of collective bargaining agreements. It allows for expeditious and decisive actions.

“Details of the provisional plan that we have put forward are extremely and deeply personal, as they will affect not only several SOU programs and services that we all respect, but cherished members of our campus family,” President Bailey said. “Even though the path we are taking will put the university on much better long-term fiscal footing, these changes will result in heartbreaking outcomes for people who we love and respect.”

The provisional plan – which will be finalized in late August, following potential input from SOU’s faculty union – was outlined for the university’s employees and students during a “Campus Conversation” this morning at the Music Recital Hall.

SOU has been confronted this year with funding inadequacy at the state level, unprecedented uncertainty in its federal partnerships and lagging enrollment and retention. The Oregon Legislature’s appropriation for the 2025-27 biennium does not keep pace with basic cost increases such as retirement and medical benefits that are outside of the university’s control. The federal government has signaled its intent to dismantle or reduce support systems for low-income students, such as Pell grants and the Title IV TRIO-Success at Southern Program. And SOU’s enrollment has declined steadily over the past decade, due to demographics, changing attitudes toward higher education, financial issues and other factors.

The SOU Board of Trustees directed university leaders last month to identify $5 million in budget reductions to be achieved before the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. It was as President Bailey and his leadership team confronted that challenge when the need for even more monumental change became apparent.

“We recognize that the fiscal exigency process will be deeply challenging for many in the SOU community,” said Ben Cannon, Executive Director of Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission. “However, today’s unfortunate news – and the difficult financial reality driving it – is a critical step in positioning SOU for long-term stability.

“SOU’s plan aims to ensure students can continue to access high-quality courses and programs, while orienting SOU’s future towards a focused set of offerings that are aligned with regional and statewide needs,” Cannon said.

Despite instituting the SOU Forward initiative just two years ago – a plan to reduce reliance on state funding and tuition revenue by cutting costs (by eliminating 13% of the university’s work force), leveraging grants and philanthropy, and cultivating new revenue sources – the university found itself in a new crisis caused by external forces outside the scope of its immediate control.

Members of the SOU campus community submitted more than 70 pages of ideas and proposals as President Bailey and his cabinet members sought to decrease costs or rethink business processes. There have been budget-related updates to campus each week, consultations with academic deans and program chairs, and multiple meetings with shared governance partners – representatives from the unions for both faculty and classified staff, the organization that represents unclassified staff and the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University.

Ultimately, the president and his leadership team determined that SOU has an infrastructure of faculty and staff members that could support student enrollment as high as 7,500 – but the university’s full-time equivalent enrollment has been closer to 3,500 for several years.

The plan outlined today is based on the fundamental questions of what a $60 million university should look like, what the scope of its academic portfolio should be, and what SOU programs and services are mission-critical rather than mission-enhancing.

The model that is emerging will be built on responsiveness, focus, and resiliency, with academic programs strategically identified to match the academic preferences and professional needs of the region and state. Today’s Campus Conversation shed some light on where the reductions are likely to occur, but specific positions will only be finalized after a formal process between the university and the faculty union.

“This transformation will ensure that we focus our energy and resources toward programs that help the university to become an even more responsive economic prosperity engine for our region and for the benefit of all Oregonians,” President Bailey said.

Reducing expenses will remain just one part of SOU’s fiscal strategy, as the university will continue its efforts with philanthropy and grants, and to diversify revenue streams. The successes of the SOU Forward plan and earlier efforts include $22 million in grant support and $50 million in philanthropic gifts since 2021, $5.8 million in funding for solar projects and the ongoing identification and evaluation of private development partners for an older adult living complex on campus.

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Town hall at SOU Ashland with Attorney General Dan Rayfield

SOU to facilitate AG’s town hall

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Oregon Attorney Dan Rayfield will hold a town hall event from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the Rogue River Room of Southern Oregon University’s Stevenson Union. The event – part of the Rayfield’s ongoing series of “Safeguarding Oregon: Federal Oversight” meetings – will feature a panel with the attorney general, State Sen. Jeff Golden and State Rep. Pam Marsh, with moderator Jeremiah Rigsby of CareOregon.

The town hall will center on decisions and actions by the federal administration and their impacts on Oregon and Oregonians. It will include an opportunity for attendees to give public testimony and share their perspectives, and also to ask questions of the elected officials. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided.

Those who are interested in attending, signing up to give public comment or submitting questions in advance can RSVP here.

The statewide “Safeguarding Oregon: Federal Oversight” series began with an April town hall on the Portland State University campus, where Rayfield was joined by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. Rayfield’s focus for the meetings is to hear testimony from across Oregon as he shapes legal strategies to protect the state’s interest.

On his “Federal Oversight” website, the attorney general invites southern Oregon residents to “Share your experience of how you’ve been impacted by federal actions – whether around healthcare, support for veterans, schools, libraries, or federal workers or something else.”

SOU is serving as the town hall’s host and facilitator, and encourages residents to attend and learn more about issues and potential issues. The university does not endorse viewpoints that may be expressed during the event.

Rayfield has appointed a 14-member “Federal Oversight and Accountability Cabinet” that includes four union officials, two law professors and representatives from various other Oregon organizations. The cabinet is intended as “an innovative partnership between the Oregon Department of Justice and key communities in Oregon’s work to defend against potential federal impacts on the state and its people,” according to the website.

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NSF grant on grasshoppers awarded to SOU Ashland biologist

SOU biologist receives NSF grant for grasshopper research

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University biologist Jacob Youngblood has been awarded a three-year, $422,183 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how insects respond to two aspects of climate change – rising air temperatures and declining plant nutrients – potentially improving pest management strategies and forecasts of insect-related damage nationwide.

The study will focus on migratory grasshoppers, which consume as much as 20% of available forage from U.S. rangelands each year for losses estimated at about $393 million.

“This project will investigate how temperature and nutrition jointly affect the most damaging rangeland pest in the United States,” said an abstract of the NSF grant. ”By combining fieldwork, laboratory experiments and computer simulations, the research will improve ecological forecasts and inform pest management strategies that support national food security.”

The project is also expected to provide opportunities for SOU students to participate as paid researchers. The work will be conducted partly by students enrolled in Youngblood’s courses in environmental physiology and biogeography. The NSF-funded project – “How temperature-nutrient interactions affect the physiology and ecology of an insect herbivore” – is scheduled to begin Aug. 1.

“This work has the potential to significantly improve how we manage national rangelands in a changing climate,” Youngblood said. “If we can predict grasshopper outbreaks before they happen, we can act proactively to minimize damage to crops and forage.

“Just as important, the project will train SOU students – many of whom are the first in their families to attend college – in research design, data analysis and science communication, preparing our graduates to tackle scientific challenges in their careers and communities.”

The project will test competing hypotheses for how the combination of temperature conditions and nutrient availability affect the biology of grasshoppers. It will involve a combination of computer simulations, experiments in artificial laboratory environments and field experiments conducted at The Farm at SOU.

“Together, this integrative approach will advance general theory on how organisms forage in multidimensional environments and how those foraging decisions scale up to affect physiology and ecology,” the abstract of the NSF grant project said.

Youngblood, an animal physiologist and ecologist, joined the SOU Biology Department as an assistant professor in 2022. His research interests involve predicting the impacts of climate change on insect populations. He teaches courses on the principles of biology, comparative animal physiology and biogeography.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Clemson University and a doctorate in biology from Arizona State University.

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Solar energy project approved by students at SOU Ashland

SOU students step up for solar energy project

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(Ashland, Ore.) — A solar energy project approved recently by Southern Oregon University’s student government will generate both electricity and a steady flow of income for the university’s Student Food Pantry.

The Associated Students of SOU gave the go-ahead to spend $91,768 from the ASSOU Green Fund on a sustainability student’s proposal to replace an aged-out solar array on SOU’s Hannon Library with a new, higher-capacity array. An additional $7,560 provided by SOU’s Office of Facilities Management and Planning will be used to remove the pioneer panels.

Power produced by the 29.68 kW photovoltaic solar panels will be sold back to the university, and that income will be directed to the Student Food Pantry to help address food insecurity on campus.

“I’m excited to see my passion for sustainable food systems and food security come to life in a very real way as I leave SOU,” said student Sierra Garrett, who conceived the project before graduating last month. “I fully believe in leaving your environment better than how you found it, and this is no exception.

“Our SOU community deserves sustainable access to energy and nutrition, and my project brings those two together in a unique way,” said Garrett, who was worked for the past two years in the SOU Office of Sustainability and the Institute for Applied Sustainability.

The new solar panels will be purchased with money from the Green Fund, which is dedicated to sustainability projects and generated from a $14-per-term fee that SOU students have imposed on themselves. The new array will produce an estimated $2,664 per year for the Food Pantry, based on the current electricity rate of 6 cents per kilowatt hour.

The ASSOU-approved proposal came with a recommendation that the power proceeds allocated to the Food Pantry should be used on local foods, those associated with high quality or high nutritional value, and/or foods with cultural or social relevance to SOU students. Terms of the agreement are to be reviewed and voted upon again every five years by ASSOU’s Environmental Affairs Committee.

“Working with SOU students and ASSOU on sustainability is always inspiring, and collaborating with Sierra Garrett over the past few years has been especially meaningful,” said Becs Walker, SOU’s Director of Sustainability. “Her passion, creativity and drive have been central to so many projects – particularly this one.

“Seeing how students like Sierra approach challenges with innovative thinking, compassion and a commitment to building better systems gives me great hope for the future,” Walker said. “They truly are the next generation of leaders and change-makers.”

The panels that will be replaced were SOU’s first solar installation, placed on the university’s Hannon Library in 2000. That installation produced just 6kW when new – just over a fifth of what will be produced by the panels that will replace it – and was targeted for recycling because its efficiency has declined over the years.

SOU now has solar arrays on nine Ashland rooftops and one on its Medford campus, for total generating capacity of 842kW, which accounts for 11.6% of the electricity used on campus. The university already is saving almost $50,000 per year by using its own electricity, and is on pace to generate enough for all of its daytime power needs within about a decade.

SOU has been awarded $5.8 million in state and federal funding over the past three years to support energy generation and energy resilience on campus; that money has paid for new arrays on Lithia Motors Pavilion (the largest in Ashland) and The Hawk Dining Commons, and a battery storage system. It will also pay for another two rooftop arrays, one parking lot canopy array and another battery storage system.

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SOULA receives grant to create historic plastics database

SOU awarded grant to create historic plastics database

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology has been awarded a Preserving Oregon Grant from Oregon Heritage, the state historic preservation office, to create a digital, archaeological database of historic plastics – from buttons to knick-knacks to kitchenware.

The $13,000 grant will help pay for new camera equipment that will be used to create a new digital database in the Southern Oregon Digital Archives at SOU’s Hannon Library. It will also be used to help bring experts to SOU to assist in building the collection, and student workers who will produce digital content for the collection – including photography, research and short videos or animations that demonstrate how to identify historic plastics.

The new website and database are expected to be used by archaeologists and historians nationwide.

“The grant provides funding to upgrade the photography system that Hannon Library has been using for the last 15 years to digitize objects for the Southern Oregon Digital Archives,” said Shana Sandor, the SOU archivist and digital projects specialist who has worked with SOULA on previous collections. “This will benefit not only the plastics collection that the grant was awarded for, but also any future digital collections, creating higher quality images to improve the research value of the collections.”

The SOU Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) regularly collaborates with various individuals, agencies and organizations to promote public archaeology and heritage stewardship. SOULA has previously completed three Preserving Oregon Grant projects, one other Oregon Heritage project and has worked with the SOU Hannon Library on two previous online research resources – the Jim Rock Historic Can Collection in about 2015 and the Chinese Material Culture Collection in 2018.

The Jim Rock collection had more than 80,000 views this year, and the CMCC had more than 6,000 views. Both are important resources for professional researchers in Oregon and beyond, and provide open-source scholarly content for the public.

The Historic Plastics Database will take advantage of the existing platform and audience to serve a growing interest in the study of historic plastics.

Outside experts expected to contribute to the project include Kimberly Wooten, a California-based archaeologist who teaches workshops and classes on historic plastics. Wooten said the new digital database will give researchers the opportunity to “tackle an archaeological issue in real time.”

“The interest in the history and archaeology of plastics never stops surprising me, and with each class we teach, demand only continues to grow,” Wooten said.

“Plastic really is the artifact of the modern era – people can see their own archaeological footprint in plastic artifacts – and at the same time it’s a reflection of the shape of things that have come before us. I can’t wait to share the online historic plastic database at my next workshop.”

The new archive will help archaeologists and researchers to identify and interpret plastic artifacts, to date sites more accurately and to explore more nuanced questions about how the growing commercialization of plastic items changed daily life with cheap, mass-produced consumer products.

Early celluloid, for instance, mimicked expensive natural materials. Later, when the versatility of synthetic materials was fully embraced, there was an explosion of colorful and creatively-shaped Bakelite jewelry that is now highly sought-after.

The SOULA project was awarded one of 20 grants totaling $300,000 that were announced this week by Oregon Heritage, a division of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Six of the grants were awarded in the “Diamonds in the Rough” category to help restore the historic character of properties. The other 14 grants were in the “Preserving Oregon” category for properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places and for archaeology projects.

More information about the grant program is available on the Oregon Heritage website.

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Older adult housing and education facility finalists come to campus

SOU considers partners for older adult housing and education facility

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University is in the process of selecting an official partner to build and operate a housing and educational facility for older adults on a 4.3-acre site previously occupied by the Cascade Complex of residence halls.

“SOU is excited to continue advancing this initiative to identify a partner company that aligns with our vision and values for this new space on campus,” SOU President Rick Bailey said. “This also serves as a testament to our commitment to changing the fiscal model of our university to keep it affordable and accessible for generations of students to come.”

SOU has invited two companies to campus, where they will present their visions for a partnership during the second phase of the selection process. The companies under consideration are McCormack Baron Salazar and Pacific Retirement Services.

Representatives of both companies will engage with university leaders, the wider campus and local community during their visits to Ashland. The companies were selected in phase one as part of a national “request for proposal” bid process.

Medford-based Pacific Retirement Services, whose properties include the Rogue Valley Manor, will make its on-campus presentation from 9 to 9:50 a.m. on July 9 in the SOU Music Recital Hall, followed by St. Louis-based McCormack Baron Salazar, which will make its presentation from 1:30 to 2:20 p.m. on July 11, in the Music Recital Hall .

Members of the SOU, Ashland and Rogue Valley communities are encouraged to attend each of the moderated sessions. The meetings will feature presentations from the vendors, followed by opportunities for questions and answers.

Community members may submit questions in advance to ensure a robust discussion. SOU has established a designated website (https://sou.edu/older-adult-living-community-provider-partnership/) for those seeking additional information or to submit questions. The university’s Office of the General Counsel can also be contacted at generalcounsel@sou.edu or (541) 552-8055 for further inquiries.

Developers from around the country were invited in January to submit proposals for the project – an entrepreneurial opportunity to forge a synergy between the facility’s residents, traditional SOU students, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at SOU and the university. The project is intended to generate long-term revenue for SOU while supporting the university’s commitment to lifelong learning.

Several proposals were submitted and were narrowed to the two finalists in a review process that extended through the spring.

The university will make its final selection, then negotiate specifics for a public-private partnership to build and run the proposed SOU facility. If those negotiations fail to produce an agreement, the university will shift to the runner-up.

The university is not expected to take an ownership interest or operational role in the project, but will provide agreed-upon services and amenities for the facility and its residents.

Older adult communities are a rare but growing feature on university campuses across the U.S., and the SOU facility would be the first in Oregon – capitalizing on southern Oregon’s reputation as a retirement mecca with a blend of educational, cultural and recreational opportunities.

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About Southern Oregon University
 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.

Sustainability Director Becs Walker among solar panels at SOU

SOU maintains “Gold” in prestigious sustainability rating

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University’s rating for campus-wide sustainability achievements remains at the “Gold” level and is the highest of five participating colleges and universities in Oregon, as measured by an evaluation system developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

SOU improved its score from three years ago in the AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) that is used to grade colleges and universities worldwide. The system grades participating institutions in 45 subcategories, and SOU scored particularly well for its sustainability-based course offerings, graduate programs, outreach and communication efforts, student success, civic engagement, and institutional climate and governance.

“STARS was developed by the campus sustainability community to provide high standards for recognizing campus sustainability efforts,” said AASHE Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “Southern Oregon University has demonstrated a substantial commitment to sustainability by achieving a STARS Gold Rating and is to be congratulated for their efforts.”

SOU first achieved the system’s silver level in 2017, and that rating was reaffirmed in 2019, before the university reached AASHE’s Gold level in 2022. The latest Gold rating will be in effect for three years.

Participants in AASHE’s can be recognized simply for reporting their sustainability achievements, or for rating at the organization’s bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels. STARS is used by more than 1,200 participating institutions in 52 countries, rating their sustainability efforts in five categories: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership.

“SOU’s Gold STARS rating is a powerful testament to the leadership, dedication, and innovation demonstrated across our entire campus community,” said Becs Walker, SOU’s Director of Sustainability. “It’s exciting to see us not only maintain this high standard but also make meaningful improvements in key areas.

“Sustainability is deeply woven into both our daily operations and long-term strategic vision. We’re proud to continue challenging ourselves to find better, smarter and more impactful ways of doing things at SOU.”

SOU’s latest Gold rating takes into account the university’s ongoing efforts to achieve a variety of sustainability goals. STARS assesses environmental factors, along with social and economic considerations. SOU has demonstrated progress in many areas related to sustainability in achieving the gold rating, including governance of sustainability, health and wellbeing, protecting the environment, equity, social justice and community engagement.

The new STARS rating from AASHE is the latest of many sustainability efforts by the university in recent years. SOU was the nation’s first certified Bee Campus USA and has maintained that certification, has been named a Tree Campus USA for eight consecutive years.

The university has been awarded $5.8 million in state and federal funding over the past three years to support energy generation and resilience, including six new rooftop solar arrays, one parking lot canopy array and two battery storage systems. SOU currently has solar arrays on nine Ashland rooftops and one on its Medford campus, for total generating capacity of 842kW – 11.6% of the electricity it uses.

SOU purchases the rest of its electricity through the city of Ashland – a mix that includes as much as 77% renewable energy.

The university has also launched its Institute for Applied Sustainability since the 2022 AASHE rating. The institute – part of an historic philanthropic gift from Lithia Motors and its GreenCars division – identifies and implements initiatives that move the university toward sustainability, collaborating with Lithia to develop projects and programs such as a national sustainability conference and an academic credential in corporate sustainability.

AASHE is a nonprofit organization that helps colleges and universities work together to create and lead the way to a sustainable future. Its STARS program is the most widely recognized framework in the world for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance.

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Surprise speaker Tina Kotek at SOU Ashland commencement

Commencement surprise: Gov. Kotek addresses SOU graduates

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek surprised graduates and audience members by visiting Ashland to deliver the commencement address for Southern Oregon University’s class of 2025 on Saturday. The event – SOU’s 99th Commencement – marked the first time the governor has spoken at a graduation ceremony since taking office.

“I know that young Americans feel conflicted about their world, about themselves, about the future,” Governor Kotek told the SOU graduates. “But don’t give up on the big picture. Don’t give up on what the world can be.

“So, as you start a new chapter in your life, believe in yourself. Believe in others. And believe in something bigger than yourself. You’ll like where it takes you.”

SOU President Rick Bailey expressed his thanks to the governor and to the day’s honorees – the graduates.

“Today our governor gave us all a beautiful and gracious gift by taking the time to help us celebrate our graduates,” Bailey said. “All of us were honored to host Governor Kotek, who exemplifies the transformative power of higher education and serves as a powerful role model for our university and our graduates.

“She is an inspiring leader, and her comments today truly moved and motivated those in SOU’s Class of 2025 as they transition into meaningful careers as future leaders of our region and our state.”

The 880 graduates in SOU’s class of 2025 – and the capacity crowd at SOU’s Raider Stadium – cheered and applauded throughout speeches from Gov. Kotek, President Bailey, student Parker Boom and others in the 2 ½-hour ceremony. Blue skies and moderate temperatures helped to create a picture-perfect backdrop as a total of 1,056 degrees were conferred – 659 undergrad degrees, 221 graduate degrees and 176 certificates.

Boom, a creative writing graduate and poet, drew sustained applause as her speech came near its conclusion.

“As we celebrate today, I urge all of us to embrace our active role in the meaning-making of the world,” she said. “To be conscious of its direction. To witness and notice the shape of the earth, the quality of light. To hurl ourselves against billionaires, monarchs, oligarchs and regimes. To place ourselves between the sword and the neck. To insist on all our lives.

“That work, too, is worthy of celebration.”

Governor Kotek and President Bailey presented diploma covers, shook hands and posed for photos with each new graduate as their names were called and they walked individually across the stage. SOU Provost and Executive Vice President Casey Shillam, Ph.D., presided over the event.

Gov. Kotek graduated high school near York, Pennsylvania and attended Georgetown University before earning a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Oregon. She received her master’s degree in international studies and comparative religion at the University of Washington before returning to Oregon, where she served as a public policy advocate for the Oregon Food Bank before beginning her political career in 2006.

She was elected to eight two-year terms in the Oregon House of Representatives – and served 10 years as House Speaker – before her election as governor in 2022..

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Outstanding Graduate Student award recipient Matthew Havniear, SOU Ashland

SOU’s Havniear receives Outstanding Graduate Student award

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(Ashland, Ore.) — U.S. Marine Corps veteran, nonprofit leader and graduating MBA student Matthew Havniear will be celebrated as the 2025 recipient of the University of Guanajuato Outstanding Graduate Student Award during the Southern Oregon University commencement ceremony on June 14.

The prestigious annual award honors a graduate student who exemplifies academic excellence and meaningful service to both their university and broader community. It celebrates the long-standing academic partnership between Southern Oregon University and the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, grounded in shared commitments to cross-cultural understanding, leadership and public impact.

Havniear – a full-time graduate student from Talent with a 4.0 GPA – was nominated by SOU’s MBA Program for his noteworthy contributions inside and outside the classroom. He currently serves as Interim Executive Director of both the Jackson County Community Long-Term Recovery Group and the Rogue Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) – two key regional organizations that support disaster recovery, housing and emergency preparedness across southern Oregon.

Havniear has played a central role in advancing wildfire resilience, affordable housing initiatives and inclusive recovery strategies for vulnerable populations through his leadership. He has also co-authored federal grant proposals in collaboration with SOU and other regional leaders, securing vital resources for underserved communities.

He founded Team Overland in 2015 – a volunteer-run nonprofit that provides free therapeutic outdoor adventures for veterans and their families. Since its inception, the organization has positively impacted more than 1,000 participants throughout the region.

“This award is significant to me – not just as a student, but as a father, a veteran and a community member,” Havniear said. “My time at SOU has helped me build stronger systems of support for those most impacted by crisis. I’m proud to be part of a university that values service, cultural inclusion and resilience.”

Havniear completed his degree through SOU’s Online MBA Program, launched in 2017 to meet the needs of working professionals throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The program now serves approximately 150 students nationwide, offering flexible, accelerated terms that allow students to finish their degrees in as few as 16 months.

For those who prefer a traditional classroom experience, SOU also offers its MBA in a face-to-face format on the Ashland campus, maintaining the same academic rigor and applied learning as the online program while fostering in-person engagement.

The University of Guanajuato Outstanding Graduate Student Award stands as a testament to the power of international academic partnerships and the role of transformational leadership in advancing the public good – values that are central to both SOU and the Universidad de Guanajuato.

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