Marketing and Communications
Press Releases: April 2008
SOU Faculty and Students Explore Historic Mine (4/30/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) environmental studies faculty and students toured the historic Benton Mine in Merlin, Ore, on April 11, 2008. Geology professor Jad D’Allura and mine director Dave Brown provided 13 students and College of Arts and Sciences dean Josie Wilson an in-depth tour of the mining operation.
The students saw an underground mining operation first-hand, including the explosives used to carve new tunnels, the current blasting sites, the drilling machinery and the closed tunnels, which are filled with rock debris.
The all-day field trip included lunch with Dutch Gold engineer Terry Mulvihill and consultant geologist Dave Hembree. The lunch period provided SOU students the opportunity to ask questions regarding the mining industry and environmentally sound mining practices.
“The Benton Mine field trip was a great opportunity for environmental studies and geology students to see practical career options,” said D’Allura. “They also had the chance to see mining with low environmental impact.”
Benton Mill, which is still producing gold, was originally founded in 1893. The mine drains into the Whiskey Creek tributary, which feeds the Rogue River.
SOU Offers Accelerated Baccalaureate Degree Program (4/30/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is now accepting Accelerated Baccalaureate Degree Program (ABDP) applications for 2008/09 school year. Participants in the ABDP can complete specified four-year degrees in three years by meeting certain criteria, including taking summer classes and using advanced-placement high school classes.
Most ABDP students take an average of 16 credits a term and often have time to work part-time jobs and participate in SOU extracurricular activities.
“While in the Accelerated Baccalaureate Degree Program, I was able to do anything I really wanted to do. I have held two jobs throughout my college career,” said Rebecca Bliven, an SOU senior majoring in business. During her senior year, Bliven has “become involved with the Latino Student Union and played softball in the intramural sports on campus.”
Applications for the Accelerated Baccalaureate Degree Program are accepted until October 17, 2008. For more information, please visit sou.edu/abp or call Sherry Ettlich at 541-552-8109.
“I think the experience is great! Any time I had a problem or question, the program’s staff were always available,” said Nicole Olsen, an SOU senior majoring in business. “They want to see you succeed just as much as you do, if not more.”
SOU Faculty Member Receives National Recognition for Professional Achievement (4/30/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) English Professor Sandra Holstein received the National Association for Ethnic Studies (NAES) Charles C. Irby Distinguished Service Award.
The NAES award recognizes Holstein for her professional achievement, her commitment to the goals and ideals of NAES and her contributions to the field and scholarship of ethnic studies.
As part of her honor, Holstein as invited to attend the summer seminar, “Past and Present in the Study of India’s History and Culture.” The seminar will be held in Shimia and New Delhi, India, and spans four weeks, from July 7 to August 1, 2008.
Holstein, a long-time Ashland, Ore. resident, is currently on sabbatical and will return to SOU in fall 2008.
Over Holstein’s twenty-year tenure at SOU, she has worked with the SOU English, Honors and Women’s Studies Departments to integrate issues surrounding multiculturalism, race and gender into each department. She also served on the faculty committee that constructed the upper-division “Diversity” general education requirements for all SOU students.
“Seminars, such as the one I will attend, are critical to my development as a interdisciplinary teacher of transcultural race, ethnicity, gender and class,” said Holstein. “My scholarship of race and ethnicity infuses everything I do at SOU. Therefore, being recognized for my work with this award means so much.”
Israel Through the Eyes of a Bedouin Israeli: Ismail Khaldi (4/30/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is pleased to welcome Israeli Vice Consul Ismail Khaldi, Monday May 5 at noon in Stevenson Union, Room 330.
Consul Khaldi will be speaking about many of the current issues affecting Israel, as well as the unique challenges presented by being the first Bedouin in the Israeli Foreign Ministry and a Muslim representing the Jewish State.
Consul Ismail Khaldi began his term at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco in December 2006. Prior to his appointment as Consul, Khaldi worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in both the North American Division and the Arabic Media Department (where he served as the spokesperson to Arabic media on the issue of disengagement from Gaza).
Consul Khaldi was born and raised in the Bedouin village of Khawlid in the Western Galilee area of Israel and holds a master's degree in international relations from Tel Aviv University, as well as a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Haifa. He has served in the Defense Ministry, the Israeli Police, and the Israeli Defense Forces.
“It’s a great opportunity for the students,” said Dan Rubenson, Chair of the Department of Social Sciences, Policy, and Culture. “There are not many people with backgrounds like Ismail Khaldi, so he brings a truly unique perspective.”
SOU designated Conference Champion in EPA’s College & University Green Power Challenge (4/24/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) announced today that it was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the 2007-2008 Individual Conference Champion for purchasing more green power than any other school in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. EPA has been tracking green power purchasing among collegiate athletic conferences through its College & University Green Power Challenge, which concluded today with 40 schools and 18 conferences participating nationwide.
EPA presented two categories of awards for its 2007-2008 College & University Green Power Challenge:
- Individual Conference Champions: To recognize the school that has made the largest individual purchase of green power within a qualifying conference;
- Collective Conference Champions: To recognize the conference, and its respective participating schools, whose collective green power purchase was the largest among all participating conferences
Southern Oregon University (SOU) beat out its conference rivals by purchasing nearly 18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, representing 154 percent of the school’s annual purchased electricity use. Southern Oregon University is purchasing renewable energy credits from Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which helps to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the campus’s purchased electricity use. SOU’s green power purchase is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 2,000 average American homes each year. This purchase will have the impact of reducing the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions from nearly 3,000 passenger cars annually.
Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Green power is considered cleaner than conventional sources of electricity and has lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. Purchases of green power help accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.
“SOU is demonstrating leadership within the local community and across the country in its efforts to conserve energy, encourage regional economic development, and support the development of green power sources,” said Jonathan Eldridge, Vice President of Student Affairs. “As the largest energy user in Ashland, SOU also models participation in the Ashland Renewable Pioneers program, a partnership between the City of Ashland and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation that enables Ashland residents and businesses to support Green Tags. SOU’s powerful commitment to renewable energy shows how all homes and businesses can help build a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
EPA’s Green Power Partnership encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The Green Power Partnership currently has hundreds of Partners voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, trade associations, as well as colleges and universities. For additional information please visit epa.gov/greenpower.
SOU Will Host Quarterly Bioscience Meeting (4/18/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) will host the quarterly Southern Oregon Bioscience Consortium (SOBIC) meeting on April 24, 2008, at 3 p.m. in the SOU Science Building, Room 171. The meeting will be followed by a tour of the SOU Biotechnology Research Center.
Established by the SOU Departments of Biology and Chemistry, the Biotechnology Research Center is an undergraduate research facility dedicated to the interdisciplinary fields of biotechnology.
Student and faculty researchers use the center’s state-of-the-art equipment and molecular biology techniques to investigate both the organisms and environment of the biologically diverse and complex Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion. The center is also equipped for researchers to perform a full-range of DNA and protein manipulation, including cloning and sequencing of DNA and purification and analysis of novel proteins.
“With the Biotechnology Research Center, SOU students are trained on state-of-the-art biology and chemistry equipment,” said Gregory Miller, SOU chemistry professor. “For a school of our size, our research center is amazing. With the tour, we will have the chance to display it.”
Southern Oregon Bioscience Consortium works to address and represent the common concerns of southern Oregon bioscience-related companies and to help unify the interests of the consortium as a prominent industry in southern Oregon.
SOU Women’s Resource Center Takes Back the Night (4/18/08)
The Southern Oregon University (SOU) Women’s Resource Center is hosting a Take Back the Night march on Friday, April 18. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Stevenson Union courtyard with a rally and speaker. At 8:00 p.m., the assembly will march to the plaza in downtown Ashland where a candlelight gathering will be held for survivors and allies of sexual violence and assault.
Take Back the Night is a rowdy, vocal, and inspiring evening focused on empowering survivors of sexual assault and encouraging the entire community to take responsibility for ending sexual violence. Marchers and others will join in the plaza for a candlelight gathering, providing a safe space for stories of surviving sexual violence. This event provides a public forum for survivors and community allies to speak out against sexual violence and assault.
Take Back the Night originated in England as early as 1877 as a way for women to reclaim their right to safety and respect. The first march in the United States was held in San Francisco in 1978 and has since spread across the nation and to SOU.
SOU Theatre Arts Presents “Hunting Cockroaches” (4/18/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) Theatre Arts program presents “Hunting Cockroaches” by Janusz Glowacki, translated by Jadwiga Kosicka. The play runs at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, May 15 to 17 and May 22 to 24 and at 2 p.m on Saturday, May 17 and 24 and Sunday, May 25 at the Theatre Arts Center Square Theatre on South Mountain Avenue.
This charming comedy weighs the advantages and frustrations found in Poland and the United States. Two Polish émigrés arrive in New York City’s Lower East Side looking for their American dream. The cultural gulf they face as Eastern Europeans in America is revealed during a sleepless night three years into their new life. The variety of nightmares that Anka, a renowned actress in her home country who can’t find work on the New York stage because of her accent, and her husband Jan, who suffers from writers’ block, experience are outrageously brought to life.
“This play is that rare combination of the socially relevant and the socially human,” says guest director Terri McMahon. “It's a nightmare and a fantasy and a bittersweet comedy. I think like Kafka's The Metamorphosis, which is cited in the play, the playwright Glowacki finds an eccentric world that defies logic.”
“Hunting Cockroaches” was cited by the American Theatre Critics Association as an Outstanding New Play in 1986.
Terri McMahon is the assistant director of "The Clay Cart" at the 2008 Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She was the assistant director for James Bundy, who now heads the Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as for the Yale Drama Program production of "Romeo and Juliet" at The Acting Company. She directed "Guys on Ice" and "Lady with All the Answers" at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. McMahon also directed "Henry V" at the Kern Shakespeare Festival and "Top Girls" at SOU. She has directed numerous School Visit Programs for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival over the years.
Tickets are $17 regular admission, $14 senior, and $5 student and are available at the door or by calling the SOU Theatre Arts Box Office at 541-552-6348. More information is available at www.sou.edu/theatre/calendar.
Controversial Art at SOU (4/17/08)
The Department of Art and Art History at Southern Oregon University (SOU) is presenting an exhibition of the politically controversial work of Clinton Fein in the Thorndike Gallery of the Art Building. His political images have been immersed in controversy and dissent for a number of years. Fein is a native of South Africa who lives in San Francisco. He left South Africa at the height of the harsh climate of apartheid and censorship, hoping to find free expression in the United States.
The exhibition at SOU harshly criticizes the foreign policy of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Horrifying high-resolution images of carefully staged photographic reenactments of the torture of prisoners by the American military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq set the tone for the exhibition. Fein felt that the photographs shown in the press that were taken by American soldiers who participated in the Abu Ghraib abuses veiled the actual horror of the events. He concluded that only sharp, high-resolution images could convey the full impact of the humiliating atrocities and expose the policies of torture that the Bush administration routinely endorsed. The images are horrifying, but Fein would argue, not as horrifying as torturing other human beings or tolerating it as a national policy.
Another image depicts George W. Bush crucified on a cross with the caption “Who would Jesus Torture?” A phallic missile wrapped in an American flag emerges from his loin cloth. Other derisive images portray Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush administration in similarly scathing situations.
In 1997, Fein filed suit against Attorney General Janet Reno to challenge flaws in the application of the First Amendment of the Constitution. He maintained that the First Amendment protected the right of an individual to annoy. Furthermore, he asserted that indecency was one of the most effective tools to counter public apathy. The suit made it to the Supreme Court, and Fein won the case.
The exhibition was organized as a senior capstone project by Phoebe Peterson, a graduating art history student. She noted that Fein’s work “deliberately provokes reaction and is meant to make people think about what is really happening in the political world.” Peterson added, “[Fein] wants us to be disgusted and horrified, as the current state of American foreign policy should make us feel.” She also noted that the exhibition was suitable only for mature audiences with open minds.
The exhibition continues through May 16. Fein has accepted an invitation to present a lecture on his work in early May. The date, place, and time will be announced.
Southern Oregon University Hosts Hands-on Science Workshops (4/17/08)
The Southern Oregon University (SOU) Departments of Chemistry and Physics will host the Fourth Annual Invitational Hands-on Science and Instrumentation Workshops day. The workshops will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2008, from noon to 5 p.m. Workshop participation is by invitation only to regional high school and community college students.
Participants will have the option of attending workshops in either forensic chemistry (Department of Chemistry) or materials science (Department of Physics).
The forensic chemistry workshop will involve a mock crime scene. By completing seven different experiments, students will process the crime scene’s evidence using the Chemistry Department’s state-of-the-art equipment and methodology.
In the material science workshop, participants will conduct a series of experiments investigating the molecular properties of various materials, including glass and aluminum. The experiments are designed to examine the structural bonds of different materials and how those bonds affect a material’s function and form.
The event will also offer potential SOU students opportunities to meet and interact with SOU students and faculty while touring the facilities.
Lunch will be provided to all participants.
“Our hands-on workshop showcases what the University’s science departments have to offer,” said Doug Chapman, event organizer and SOU chemistry professor. “This event is a great chance to see the facilities first-hand.”
Southern Oregon University Partners with Siskiyou Field Institute (4/17/08)
The Siskiyou Field Institute (SFI), a Southern Oregon University (SOU) education and research partner, will host two exciting free events during the month of April.
On April 18 at 7 p.m., SFI Executive Director Sue Parrish and Kristi Mergenthaler, instructor and board member, will show the SFI original short film “Siskiyou Field Institute: Bioregion and Programs” which will offer a tour of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion and its unique natural features. A Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and discussion forum will follow the short film. The event will be held in the SOU Science Building room 118.
The SFI facility Deer Creek Center (DCC) will host its second annual open house on April 27 from 2 to 6 p.m. The open house’s activities will include facility tours, outdoor demonstrations, research exhibits and children’s activities. At 3:30 p.m. SOU Geology Professor Michael Parker will guide a nature hike. The event is co-sponsored by the Southern Oregon University Foundation.
“SFI has partnered with SOU and the SOU Foundation to bring a dedicated education and research facility to the Illinois Valley and the greater southern Oregon,” said Parris. “This exciting partnership will allow students of all ages and levels to experience first hand the rare and pristine landscape they’re surrounded by.”
Siskiyou Field Institutes mission is to deepen people's scientific understanding and intimate connection to the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion by providing educational programs and outdoor experiences to a broad spectrum of the public. For more information, please visit www.thesfi.org or call 541-597-8530.
War Awareness Exhibit Visits SOU Campus (4/17/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) will host the “Iraq Body Count Exhibit” on the SOU Ashland campus. The exhibit uses small lawn flags to visually demonstrate the number of lives lost during the Iraq war. The exhibit opens Saturday, April 26, and will be on display for one week, ending Saturday, May 3.
Volunteers will plant 120,738 flags in the lawn facing Siskiyou Boulevard. With one flag representing approximately five dead, 120,000 white flags will signify 655,000 Iraqi causalities. Using the same one-to-five ratio, 738 red flags will symbolize the 4,025 U.S. soldiers lost.
More than 100 volunteers will be needed to implement the exhibit. Those interested in helping to set up the display are asked to gather in front of Churchill Hall at 9 a.m. on April 26.
The flag exhibit began on the University of Colorado, Boulder campus in 2006. Soon after, the exhibit gained national recognition. In 2007, the exhibit visited Washington D.C. The flag exhibit is coming to Ashland after being displayed on the Portland State University campus.
The “Iraq Body Count Exhibit” is sponsored by the SOU student organization Students for Truth, Peace House, South Mountain Friends, Citizens for Peace and Justice, Rogue Valley and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
“The sight of the sheer volume of flags representing the lives of the civilians lost in the war is a real spiritual experience,” said Irene Kai, an Ashland artist and organizer for the Ashland flag display. “The exhibit is not political. The viewers just experience an overwhelming sense of loss. They will draw their own conclusions.”
Leader in Bioethics Visits Southern Oregon University (4/17/08)
Author, keynote speaker and Dartmouth College ethics professor Ron Green will give two lectures as a guest speaker of the Frank J. Dyke Endowed Lecture Series in Professional Ethics.
Green will present “Bioethics in the Vortex of Controversy: The Science and Politics of Stem Cell Debate” on Thursday, May 8, at 6 p.m. in the SOU Art Building’s Meese Auditorium. Green will give the lecture, “Babies by Design: The Ethics of Human Gene Enhancement” on Friday, May 9, at 3 p.m. in SOU Science Building Room 118.
Green has been a member of Dartmouth's Religion Department since 1969. He currently directs Dartmouth's Ethics Institute, a consortium of faculty concerned with teaching and research in applied and professional ethics.
Author of seven books on theoretical and applied ethics, Green’s most recent work, Babies by Design: The Ethic of Genetic Choice (Yale University Press, 2007), examines the ethical issues presented by the unprecedented growth in our ability to understand and change the human genome. New reproductive technologies now enable parents to select some genetic traits for their children.
“Today, bioethical issues—stem cell research, gene therapy and cloning—are taking center stage in all areas of life, and we are flooded with announcements of new discoveries virtually every day,” said Prakash Chenjeri, SOU philosophy program director. “Dr. Green will discuss this timely subject and help clarify some of the critical issues and questions, especially the ethical and moral.
SOU Student’s Work is Regionally Recognized (4/8/08)
The Western Psychology Association has accepted a Southern Oregon University (SOU) psychology student’s research paper. SOU senior Joshua Reynolds was asked to present his research paper “Self-control in Criminal Deviance and Academic Achievement: A Comprehensive Approach” at the convention in Irvine, California, on April 12, 2008.
Over the last year, Reynolds conducted primary research with SOU psychology professor Kimberley Cox. They used a group of 100 SOU students to test hypotheses based around the “General Theory of Criminal Behavior.” While various psychological studies have tested this theory, few studies have targeted college populations.
Reynolds’s research focused on correlations between self-control and impulsivity and how that relates to criminal behavior of college students. The yearlong study also surveyed the possible link between perceived stress and impulsivity as it relates to criminal behavior, academic achievement, mental handicapping and drug use.
“The experience made me love research,” said Reynolds. “I learned how important research is to find the truth behind theories. I also learned how frustrating and rewarding the process can be.”
Reynolds will graduate in June with bachelor’s of science degrees in both psychology and anthropology. An Arizona native, Reynolds plans to move back this summer and begin work as a research assistant for the University of Arizona at Tucson. Reynolds parents, Deborah and John Reynolds, reside in Ojai, California, where Reynolds attended Ojai Valley School, graduating in 2004.
Mexican Public-Finance Expert Visits Southern Oregon University (4/8/08)
Mexican public-finance expert and Southern Oregon University (SOU) alumnus José Luis Romero Hicks will visit SOU on April 10, 2008. Romero Hicks will present “NAFTA at Almost 15” in the Meese Room of the Hannon Library. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 3:30 p.m., and the lecture presentation will begin at 4:00 p.m.
Romero Hicks is an advocate of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and believes in the trade policy’s ability to unite the North American continent, especially the United States and Mexico. He argues that NAFTA works towards the goal of creating a borderless North America similar to the European Union.
Romero Hicks has a long history of public-finance experience in the Mexican government. He worked as the director general of revenue in Guanajuato State, commercial counselor to the Mexican embassy in India, and economic attaché at the embassy in Japan. Most recently, Romero Hicks finished a three-year term as the president and CEO of the Mexican Bank for Foreign Trade.
A Mexican national, Romero Hicks has a multinational family. His mother was a Mexican citizen and his father was a U.S. citizen. Romero Hicks is one of many in his family who have participated in international exchange student programs. His son currently lives in Ashland and attends Ashland High School as an exchange student.
“I’m delighted that our alumnus José Luis Romero Hicks will be spending time with SOU students and faculty during his visit to Ashland,” said Mary Cullinan, SOU president. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge—and will help us all see the world in new ways.”
SOU to Host Lecture by John Frohnmayer (4/7/08)
John Frohnmayer, the former head of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will speak at Southern Oregon University (SOU) on April 14, 2008, at 7 pm. The title of his talk is “No Read, No Think, No Democracy.”
The evening will begin with a short dramatic reading by actor Paul Jones from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, which is the book highlighted for the 2008 Jackson County Reads, a collaborative project of Jackson County Library Services, Jackson County Library Foundation, Hannon Library and Westwind Review at SOU. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a book with special meaning for residents of Jackson county. In 2007, residents learned that it doesn’t take an event as dramatic as a book-burning to lose access to the world of books, reading and information. In April 2007, the 15 branches of Jackson County Library Services were closed and remained closed for more than six months.
A long-time arts advocate, trial lawyer and accomplished singer, John Frohnmayer was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to chair the NEA in 1989, amidst controversies regarding public funding for art. Frohnmayer’s 1993 book Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior chronicles his tenure as the fifth chairman of the NEA and his encounters with the politics of art and artistic freedom.
John Frohnmayer was born in Medford and earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, a master's degree in Christian ethics from the University of Chicago, and a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. He chaired the Oregon Arts Commission from 1980–1984. Frohnmayer is also the author of Out of Tune: Listening to the First Amendment (1995). The People for the American Way honored Frohnmayer with its first National First Amendment Award in 1992. He also received Oregon's Governor’s Arts Award in 1993 and the Montana Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Award in 1997.
The event is co-sponsored by SOU Hannon Library as part of the Siskiyou Views Lecture Series. Hannon Library is pleased to be part of this exciting collaboration to celebrate reading and bring John Frohnmayer to SOU. The free event will take place in the SOU Stevenson Union Rogue River Room and is open to the public.
For information, call Hannon Library at 541-552-6836. To see a listing of all Jackson County Reads events and to learn more about Fahrenheit 451, visit the Jackson County Library Services website.
Southern Oregon University Student Named “Student of the Year” (4/4/08)
Southern Oregon University (SOU) student Lilly Yasana was named “Higher Education Student of the Year” by the Oregon Indian Education Association (OIEA) at the annual conference held on March 6 and 7, 2008.
Yasana has been active in the SOU Native American Student Union (NASU) since fall 2007. She currently serves as the union’s co-chair. NASU hosts numerous cultural awareness and fundraising events on the SOU campus, including powwows and salmon bakes. Yasana also has participated in the SOU Konaway Nika Tillicum summer Native American youth program, as well as being involved in her own Native American community, the Klamath Tribes: the Klamaths, the Modocs and the Yahooskin.
While Yasana was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, she was raised in Coos Bay, Oregon, where she graduated from Marshfield High School (MHS) in 2002. Her mother, Oskie Yasana, still resides in Coos Bay and teaches English at MHS.
At the OIEA conference, Yasana was also elected as the OIEA’s college representative for SOU. As part of her representative role, she plans to work with the OIEA campaign against college mascots trivializing Native American culture.
