SOU Alumni Association Archives

(Ashland, Ore.) — This year’s Southern Oregon University alumni award winners will be a retired U.S. Army colonel; a program manager for a global video game developer; the superintendent of the Phoenix-Talent School District; and a civil rights activist who founded the Black Alliance for Social Empowerment.

This year’s four award recipients, who were chosen by the SOU Alumni Association Board of Directors, are Brant Hoskins for the Distinguished Alumni Award; Brent Barry for the Alumni Excellence in Education Award; Vance Beach for the Stan Smith Alumni Service Award; and Lindsay Thacker for the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. The awards will be presented during a celebration at noon on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Meese Room of SOU’s Hannon Library.

Hoskins
The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented each year by the university and the SOU Alumni Association to recognize someone whose personal and professional achievements have significantly benefited humankind and brought distinction to the university. This year’s honoree, Hoskins, earned an economics degree and was commissioned as a second lieutenant through SOU’s ROTC program. He later earned master’s degrees in adult and continuing education, military science, and U.S. military strategic studies from Kansas State University, the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies, and the U.S. Army War College, respectively. As an expert in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) operations, Hoskins managed strategic and operational initiatives around the world. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2023 after a distinguished 30-year military career.

Barry
The Alumni Excellence in Education Award recognizes career achievement in education, service to community and commitment to SOU. Barry, who will receive this year’s award, is a Rogue Valley native who went to San Diego State University on a baseball scholarship and later studies as an undergraduate at SOU and Linfield College. He then earned his master’s degree in education from SOU and his administrative credentials from Portland State University. Barry began his career teaching math and coaching, and served as athletic director, assistant principal and school principal before becoming assistant superintendent and then superintendent. In that role since 2017, Barry helped to pass an historic $68 million community bond measure for safety, and career and technical education, and he has championed targeted equity programs. He was named the Oregon Superintendent of the Year in 2022 for his extraordinary leadership to stabilize the district through the dual crises of COVID-19 and the Almeda Fire. Barry has served on the SOU Board of Trustees since 2022.

Beach
The Stan Smith Alumni Service Award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the community and service to people. Beach earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in management at SOU, where he was a wide receiver on the Raider football team. He founded the Black Alliance for Social Empowerment (BASE) in 2020 to combat structural racism and ease isolation for Black residents in southern Oregon, after producing “We Stand Together” – a documentary capturing the lived experiences and community building of local Black residents. Under Beach’s leadership, BASE has become a leading regional nonprofit delivering youth mentorship, cultural programming and advocacy. He is a former member of the SOU Foundation Board of Trustees..

Thacker
The Distinguished Young Alumni Award is presented to a recent university graduate who has demonstrated distinction in career, civic involvement or both. Thacker earned degrees in art and computer science from SOU in 2012, and serves as a program manager at Riot Games – the global video game developer and publisher of “League of Legends” and “VALORANT.” She has focused on game quality, production and talent development while contributing to titles including “Guild Wars 2” and “Plants vs. Zombies 2.” Thacker has become a prominent advocate for studio collaboration since joining Riot Games in 2017. She has spoken at the Game Developers Conference on her “Six Pillars of Impactful Onboarding” framework and mentors aspiring talent.

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Service has been a way of life for Dr. James Van Delden (’70). He has delivered babies in war-torn nations, cared for children on Native American reservations of the Great Plains and served on medical missions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

“I was a family doctor; I wanted to help wherever families and kids needed a doctor,” he said.

Van Delden’s career path began when he emigrated with his family from the Netherlands to Grants Pass in 1961 at the age of 12. He was born in what is now Indonesia, and became a U.S. citizen while studying pre-med and playing soccer at Southern Oregon College in the late 1960s. He chose the small college in Ashland because of the atmosphere – it offered what he needed.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at SOC,” Van Delden said. “The professors were very helpful, I made a lot of friends and I loved soccer.”

The kindness of his instructors, friends and teammates made a lasting impression on Van Delden, who studied biology. His experience at SOC had a profound influence and led to a lifelong commitment to help others. “When people give to you, you want to give back,” he said.

Van Delden entered medical school in 1969 at Creighton University in Nebraska, with a bachelor’s degree and just three years of pre-med coursework at SOU. “Graduation was a glorious day, but then I went back to work swing shift at the plywood mill to earn some money for med school,” said Van Delden.

“I truly had no funds when I reached third-year status at Creighton, and the U.S. Army came to the rescue by signing me up in 1971 and made me an instant ‘butter bar’ (a second lieutenant),” explained Van Delden.

He was then on active duty during his senior year and was stationed in West Germany after completing his medical degree in 1973.

After retiring from active duty in 1977, Van Delden joined the Army National Guard and signed on with the Indian Health Service as a civilian. The Indian Health Service is a division of the U.S. Public Health Service, and is the principal federal health care advocate and provider for American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to the more than 550 federally recognized tribes.

“I had two careers simultaneously,” he said. “I was working full time at the Indian Health Service and part-time as a soldier.”

Van Delden was recalled to active duty with Army National Guard during Desert Storm in 1990. He retired from the Army in 2001 after 30 years, earning the rank of Brigadier General upon retirement. Van Delden’s career with the Indian Health Service ended in 2005, although he remained busy helping tribal administrators with their own medical clinics for almost 10 years.

“It was a fun ride,” he said. “I met lots of good folks, and I was honored to have been able to be a part of their lives.”

Throughout his career and into retirement, the SOU alumnus’ focus has remained squarely on serving those in need.

“If there is a situation where I can be of help, then that is what I will do,” he said.

He volunteers with veterans’ organizations and continues to work at the Omaha Nation tribal clinic in Nebraska.

Van Delden said his sense of service comes from the joy he takes in meeting people and the many kindnesses people have shown him over the years.

“I’d tell anyone who wanted a career in medicine or in any public service to just think of those who were of service to you,” he said. “Then knuckle down, hit the books and engage with your community.

“So many people were good to me and supported me when I first came to the United States. It never occurred to me not to give back.”

Reposted from the Spring 2017 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

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