(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University and Southern Oregon Goodwill® Industries have teamed up for the fifth annual Move Out Donation Drive.
The year-end event enables students clearing out their rooms and apartments in SOU residence halls to dispose of things they no longer need in an environmentally responsible way that also supports job training and employment programs for people with the most need locally.
“It’s a great partnership,” said Roxane Beigel-Coryell, Sustainability & Recycling Coordinator at Southern Oregon University. “We started it to reduce the garbage volume and expenses related to that, but it also introduces our students to the opportunity to donate to an organization that creates jobs and provides affordable goods in the community through reuse.”
In the past, SOU had to order several large garbage bins to handle what students threw away as they moved out of residence halls. Much of what was tossed in the trash was useful — in some cases unused — including clothes, shoes, small appliances, electronics, books, office supplies, linens, furniture, rugs, and more.
Since 2012, SOU students have brought 29,795 pounds of donations to Goodwill bins on campus during the Move Out Donation Drive. Donated items are either sold in Goodwill stores or recycled if not in gently used condition. Revenues from donated items fund employment training and placement programs in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Find a complete list of on-campus donation locations and items that will be accepted at www.sou.edu/sustainable/moveout.html or learn more at www.sogoodwill.org/moveoutsou/.
For more information contact:
Roxane Beigel-Coryell, M.M.
Sustainability & Recycling Coordinator, Southern Oregon University
541-552-8139
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About Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries:
Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries is headquartered in Medford Oregon and is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the mission: enable employment by providing opportunities for personal and professional growth. The agency is one in a network of over 160 Goodwill agencies in the US and Canada. Revenue generated through the sale and recycling of donated goods is used to fund job training and support programs for the people in Southern Oregon in Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, and Lake Counties and Siskiyou County in California. For more information about Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries, go to www.sogoodwill.org.
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.

(Ashland, Ore.) — Third year Southern Oregon University sociology students Alessandra de la Torre and Kate Hillis have a unique understanding of sustainable agriculture—from a historical perspective.
Thanks to a 2015 grant from the Oregon Heritage Commission to SOU’s sociology/anthropology program, de la Torre and Hillis are researching Jackson County family farms that have been in the same family and in production for over 100 years. The students are finding that it takes commitment, strategy, and sometimes a bit of luck to keep land in the family over the course of four or five generations.
As an object lesson in the complexities of heritage agriculture, de la Torre discovered the sale of the 1852 Birdseye Ranch donation land claim to Del Rio Vineyards as it was happening in March 2016. In April, she met with the family, walked that historic Gold Hill property along the Rogue River, and talked with three Birdseye generations as they prepared to move from the home they’d lived in for 160 years. The Birdseye’s were pleased that their family heritage was documented for the project, and for de la Torre, it was a powerful and emotional experience.
Hillis researched Reginald Parsons’ 1908 Century Farm in East Medford, Hillcrest Orchards (now also Roxy Anny Winery). The property is owned by the Cogswell Limited Partnership, a partnership of Parsons family descendants. At the same time Hillis was tracing Hillcrest through the generations, Medford City Council held public hearings about annexing the property into the city’s Urban Growth Boundary. An aerial view of Hillcrest Orchards shows that housing and mixed use properties surround the green of the vineyard and Medford’s growth means more housing is needed. Jud Parsons is a member of the Cogswell Limited Partnership; he’s not sure how the partnership will vote if the land is annexed and the family is able to develop the property as housing. Hillis is scheduled to interview Jud Parsons later this spring.
You might not think that a farm established a hundred years ago would be of interest today but de la Torre and Hillis’s research shows that Southern Oregon agricultural landscapes continue to change and that family legacies change as well. Under the Oregon Heritage Commission grant, these two SOU students are researching 20 multi-generational farms to identify factors that contribute to how and why some properties stay in agricultural production and others do not.
“Understanding the patterns of agricultural land changes in Southern Oregon reveal the interweaving of environmental, economic, political, social, and personal influences that give nuance to why these changes occur,” said de la Torre. “It is certain that these factors continue to guide the path of our lives today, making the past an emblem of human lessons we can all learn from.”
For more information on the heritage agriculture project, contact Maureen Flanagan Battistella, affiliate faculty in SOU’s sociology/anthropology program, at 541-552-0743 or battistem@sou.edu.
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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.

(Ashland, Ore.) — After a nationwide search, three finalists have been selected in the search for a new president of Southern Oregon University. The finalists were recommended to the SOU board of trustees by the Presidential Search Committee, which was comprised of key members of both internal and external constituent groups, including, but not limited to, the board of trustees; SOU faculty, staff, alumni, and students; an Oregon public university president; and members of the Rogue Valley community.
Each of the three finalists will visit Southern Oregon to meet with various SOU constituent groups as well as hold town hall-style forums that will be open to the public.
The second of the finalists to arrive on campus will be Dr. Terry Allison, who is scheduled to be in the Rogue Valley June 1 and 2. Allison currently serves as chancellor of Indiana University South Bend. He holds a doctorate in literature from University of California, San Diego; a master’s degree in comparative literature, also from UCSD; a master’s degree in library and information science from University of California, Berkley; and a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, also from UC Berkley.
Prior to his role as chancellor of Indiana University South Bend, Allison held various positions in higher education teaching and administration, including provost and vice president of academic affairs at Governors State University in Illinois; dean of the College of Arts and Letters at California State University, Los Angeles; and numerous faculty appointments.
The public will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of Allison during an open forum on June 1 at 3:30 p.m. The forum will take place in Room 151 inside the Science Building on SOU’s main campus in Ashland.
“We are hoping that not only our campus community, but the entire Rogue Valley will want to be involved in this process and meet these candidates,” said Bill Thorndike, chair of the SOU board of trustees. “We will be soliciting feedback from all who attend, and that input is very important in our decision making process.”
One of the three finalists, Dr. Michael Tidwell, visited the Rogue Valley May 25 and 26. The third finalist will be announced in advance of his or her visit to SOU. More information on the search and the candidates is available at presidentialsearch.sou.edu.
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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.

NEWS RELEASE
(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University is set to officially break ground on two new construction projects during a ceremony scheduled for June 3 at 12:30 p.m. The projects, a renovation and expansion of the University’s Theatre Building as well as new studios and administrative offices for Jefferson Public Radio, are expected to be complete by fall 2017.
The Theatre Building renovation and expansion is an $11 million project that will add a dynamic new program element to the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University and create an arts and culture hub on the SOU campus.
“This expansion is badly needed,” according to SOU President Roy Saigo. “Our theatre program has been at capacity and this project will provide more opportunities for current and future students at SOU.”
By co-locating the new JPR studios and offices with the Oregon Center for the Arts, SOU will realize efficiencies and cost savings in the project, and also improve instructional benefits for students. “Jefferson Public Radio is a vital part of our campus community, and the entire region of southern Oregon and northern California,” Saigo said. “This project will create new, hands-on learning experiences for SOU students while engaging the campus and community with the cultural and civic programs that are broadcast on JPR.”
The ceremony will take place on the east side of the Theatre Building.
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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.

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University, along with 90 other colleges and universities across the United States, committed to carbon neutrality and resilience by becoming a Charter Signatory to the Climate Commitment. The Climate Commitment, a signature program of Boston-based nonprofit Second Nature, will require SOU to set climate targets, report on progress publicly, and collaborate with the surrounding community, all while integrating sustainability across the curriculum. To become a Charter Signatory of the Climate Commitment, schools had to sign between October 5, 2015 and Earth Day, 2016.
“Being charter signatories to this commitment further illustrates how seriously SOU takes its commitment to the climate and environment,” said SOU President Roy Saigo. “We are honored to join 90 other colleges and universities in making this commitment.”
The Climate Commitment is one of three commitments from Second Nature. These are known jointly as the Climate Leadership Commitments, and include a Carbon Commitment (focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions), a Resilience Commitment (focused on climate adaptation and building community capacity), and a Climate Commitment that integrates both.
The Carbon Commitment, formerly known as the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (or ACUPCC) has a track record of 10 years of success, boasts nearly 600 signatories, and has been used as a model for higher education climate action internationally. The Climate Commitment seeks to expand on that success and integrate resilience into the framework. In the U.S., these signatory institutions become part of the Climate Leadership Network, which comprises more than 650 colleges and universities in every state and the District of Columbia.
The Climate Leadership Commitments have created tremendous impact: A recent study from the University of New Hampshire and facilities solutions company, Sightlines, found that campuses that have signed the Carbon Commitment have 47 percent lower carbon emissions from purchased energy than non-signatories that are doing sustainability work on campus.
Second Nature launched the Climate Commitment on October 5, 2015, along with the Resilience Commitment and the Carbon Commitment.
For a full list of the Climate Commitment Charter Signatories, see: secondnature.org/charter-signatories/
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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.
About Second Nature
Second Nature works to proactively build a sustainable and positive global future through initiating bold commitments, scaling successful actions, and accelerating innovative solutions among leadership networks in higher education. The Climate Leadership Commitments are a signature program of Second Nature and include a Carbon Commitment (focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions), a Resilience Commitment (focused on climate adaptation and building community capacity), and a Climate Commitment that integrates both. The Climate Leadership Network comprises more than 650 colleges and universities in every state and the District of Columbia who have committed to take action on climate and prepare students through research and education to solve the challenges of the 21st century. Learn more at: secondnature.org.