Remembering

Peggy K. Nitsos

by Cass Waldo

ON JUNE 21, 2005 , Financial Aid Director Peggy K. Nitsos left work shortly after seven a.m., telling coworkers she felt ill. She passed away later that morning at Ashland Community Hospital.

Described as “a lovely lady” by those who knew her, Peggy directed the Financial Aid Office from July 2001 to June 2005 with stamina, technical expertise, and compassion. Peggy worked at Southern for more than twenty years, first in the Bookstore, then in Business Services, and finally in Financial Aid, where she began as a counselor.

The loss stunned Financial Aid staff, who called former director Constance Alexander minutes after hearing the news. “I came right down,” Alexander says. “Knowing what summers are like here . . . getting ready for fall, our busiest season, I offered to come back half-time.”

“Peggy was very, very caring about students,” Alexander says, recalling the many student thankyou cards she found in Peggy’s desk. According to Alexander, Peggy had a special way with some of the toughest students.

“It was as though she could look at that [student] who might look kind of silent and scruffy and antagonistic, and she could look beyond that . . . and help that student feel at ease, get the story, and figure out how to help.”

During her years in the Financial Aid Office, Peggy contributed to its closeknit culture. Although she routinely worked late into the night, she would rise early to bake birthday cakes for coworkers and often hosted the office holiday party and staff picnic at her home. Peggy was a willing participant in office shenanigans, such as the themed Halloween dress-up.

Peggy Nitsos (fifth from left) with the 1987 Financial Aid Staff.

Alexander recalls the year the theme was “Financial Aid Hell.” With “pitchforks and horns, [we] had a little drill we did, like a little rap thing. We performed it in the rotunda of Churchill Hall, and Joe Cox, who was then our president . . . just loved it.”

Peggy, who held a master’s degree in microbiology from Oregon State University, helped create Southern’s financial aid data system, contributing to the development of Power-FAIDS, the software used by financial aid professionals across the country. Peggy learned the system “from the ground up,” becoming such an expert that the College Scholarship Service (CSS)—the financial aid branch of the college board—asked Peggy to participate annually with an elite group of U.S. financial aid directors to troubleshoot and redesign it. She also demonstrated the software to representatives of other schools at national conferences.

“She was so good at . . . technical things, that I could leave that to her with 110 percent confidence that she would do an outstanding job. I just utterly relied on her to bring the system up each year,” says Alexander.

Peggy had a deep appreciation of nature, joining in the drive to save Oregon lighthouses. Closer to home, she supported the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) through twenty years of service in the Tudor Guild, OSF’s volunteer-run gift shop.

Peggy and her husband, SOU Professor Emeritus of Biology Ronald Nitsos, also contributed to the American Lung Association, the La Leche League, and the Ashland Schools Foundation, among others.

In a campuswide email, President Elisabeth Zinser lauded Peggy as a “consummate professional” and a person of “understanding, integrity, and fine spirit.”

Dr. Zinser summed up the feelings of many across campus when she wrote, “She is among those who have shaped the last quarter century of the University, and she will be missed collectively and personally.”

Directing the Financial Aid Office “is an unusual . . . multifaceted job,” says Alexander. “You need people skills, fiscal skills, social service skills.” She continues, “Because financial aid is so heavily regulated by the federal government, there are many aspects which require complex and detailed reporting. Then, regulations change and we need to implement those changes . . . and it never stops coming. It’s big.”

Peggy was up to the challenge. Her lifetime of dedication helped bring success to students, the community, and SOU.

“She made a tremendous contribution. She really made a difference,” says Alexander.