It was also one of exploration. O’Leary, currently a senior double majoring in horticulture and fine arts, had always had the intention of studying abroad. “My high school had a foreign exchange dorm when I was growing, up so about a third of my high school was international students. It’s always been something that appealed to me,” O’Leary says. “It was something that was on my college bucket list.”

Although it was a passion for horticulture that brought O’Leary to Oregon State, she wanted to take advantage the opportunity to study art – O’Leary, who is from Paisley, a town of 250 in southeastern Oregon, had cultivated her love of the arts from a young age, when her grandmother taught her how to paint watercolors. But opportunities to study art there weren’t abundant.

“Because I came from such a small school there wasn’t really the opportunity to take art classes in high school” O’Leary says. “I thought that it might be something that I would regret not taking so I picked it up.”

Oregon State offered her that opportunity, and made the dual pursuit with horticulture a possibility. Throughout her experiences here, she’s even managed to blend the two seemingly independent interests.

To get to Florence, though, O’Leary became an exchange student with Student Art Centers International (SACI) through the Study Abroad Office at Oregon State. She chose that program because of the heavy studio focus and the opportunities it would give her to work in different media.

“I wanted a program that focused on studio arts. A lot of programs focus more on art history. Italy had more class choices and opportunities than some of the other options,” O’Leary says.

While in Italy, O’Leary took classes in fresco and oil painting, Renaissance history, and Italian. Part of the curriculum was traveling and seeing iconic works like Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

“There are certain paintings and pieces that still are amazing. It doesn’t matter that they were made 500 years ago. They are just that good” O’Leary says.

The structure of her program and the accessibility of the studio allowed O’Leary plenty of time to work on her frescoes and other paintings. O’Leary and her classmates often went to the Boboli Gardens near Florence, grounds that house sculptures from as early as the 16^th century – there, they’d do watercolor studies of the landscape, and later return to the studio to oil versions of what they’d seen.

“We only had one critique at the end, and we just worked on all of the paintings continuously,” O’Leary says. “We would just get to work on paintings for three hours and go to class. It was very peaceful. It was easy to want to come in and paint on the weekends, and want to paint extra hours.”

O’Leary’s art history class took her to Ravenna and Rome, and the Medici Village. She went to the Perugia chocolate festival, and went to Venice. But some of what O’Leary loved most about Italy was day-to-day life. She loved the chalk artists who would sketch replicas of Renaissance works on the sidewalks. She joined a gym, and loved how Italian friends there would get pumped to Barry White, instead of the fast-paced music she was used to hearing in the U.S. She spent a great deal of time at a couple Italian coffee shops – just like she does in the U.S., and noticed how much smaller the Italian serving sizes were compared to the ones she’s used to serving up in Oregon.

Most importantly, though, she made friends. “Florence was really awesome but what made my experience even better was the opportunity to spend time with some really great people” says O’Leary.

Upon return, it was back to focusing on her other interest, horticulture.  “When I studied abroad I took only art classes. So it was kind of a shock to my system to come back to all the sciences,” O’Leary jokes.

Although it seems like these two interests would be mutually exclusive, O’Leary has found that they can complement each other.

She was even able to find an internship on campus that combined her two distinct passions. It was working for the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture (OCCUH) as the Artist in Residence. In this position, O’Leary divided her time working with plants for annual trials, and working on photography and metal art projects.

One of O’Leary’s responsibilities was spreading awareness of OCCUH. She used photography to do that.

“Photos are a really great way to get people curious about what’s going on and a transferable way to tell a story,” says O’Leary.

O’Leary helped get people to the garden by helping to host a photography workshop, during which she helped the participants learn about the different elements of photography by taking pictures in the gardens and then discussing technique.

In the future, O’Leary will welcome more opportunities to combine her passions. For now, she’s still exploring.  “[The future] is a big mystery for me. The longer I am in school the more I am not really sure of what I want to do.” O’Leary says with a smile.

Oregon has some of the world’s finest seafood, supported by research that helps keep it fresh, safe and abundant. Oregon State researchers developed a process that kills stomach flu-causing bacteria lurking in raw shellfish by subjecting oysters in the shell to very high pressure. Food technologists also developed a thin, edible protective film that can be used to coat fish fillets to keep them fresh much longer. And Oregon State’s Jae Park helped pioneer ways to process low-value fish into surimi, a high-value seafood product that can be made to imitate crab and scallops, helping revitalize fisheries in Oregon and beyond. Since 1993, the Seafood Laboratory has hosted the Surimi School to demonstrate new processing techniques for what has become a major international
commodity with an annual value of $2.2 billion.

Launching New Food Business

Oregon State launched the Oregon Open Campus initiative in 2010 to address the unique
educational and economic development needs of communities statewide. And it’s
already producing results. In Tillamook County, Oregon Open Campus is helping turn
ideas into locally made products and profitable new businesses through its Recipe to
Market program. Over the four-month class, entrepreneurs learn safe food production
techniques, including a full-day session at the Food Innovation Center in Portland where
their products are tested in a laboratory setting. They also receive one-on-one help with
developing a business plan, brand and marketing campaign. To date, seven participants
have completed the course, and three new businesses have been launched. One of these
success stories is Jan Skelton, owner of More Than A Cracker. Her products can be found at the Tillamook Cheese factory.

Collaborating on Marine Reserves

Oregon State oceanographers, marine biologists and Sea Grant Extension agents have
spent at least a decade studying whether marine reserves can help protect biodiversity,
habitats and fish populations in Oregon’s coastal waters. Along with assessing scientific
data, they’ve also recognized the need to get buy-in from local fishermen and other
stakeholders. In Port Orford, with a pilot reserve planned at nearby Redfish Rocks,
Oregon Sea Grant has studied the socioeconomic impacts of marine reserves and served
as a neutral resource for community dialogue. In sometimes contentious meetings,
commercial and recreational fishermen, conservationists, scientists and local leaders
all had the opportunity to have their perspectives considered, with the intent to find a
balance that preserves both ocean ecosystems and a way of life for coastal communities.
Through respect and collaboration, they did.

Protecting a Small Berry with a Big Impact

Cranberries may be small, but their impact is not. Cranberry juice helps maintain
urinary tract health, and cranberries contribute $10 million to the Oregon economy.
But for growers along the southern coast, frost is an unpredictable killer. When frost
threatens, they must turn on sprinklers at just the right time and temperature so ice
forms quickly into a protective coating over the fragile cranberry buds. If the timing is
off or the temperature changes, the entire crop can be lost in less than an hour. To take
the guesswork out of frost control, OSU Extension horticulturists are testing frost units
— small, sensor-filled metal boxes set at varying temperatures and placed over vines
and berries, then checked daily. By examining the buds for damage, researchers can
determine at what temperatures and at what bud stages irrigation is needed to protect
against frost.

Monitoring Dairy Cow Health

Milk is Oregon’s official state beverage and its second-largest agricultural commodity,
with dairy farmers grossing $523.9 million in sales in 2011. The state’s dairy industry
contributes more than $1 billion to Oregon’s economy each year from its approximately
350 dairy farms and 120,000 dairy cows. Oregon State researchers are visiting 50 of those farms to examine the impact organic and conventional management practices have on cows’ health. They collect milk samples, count bacteria and screen for common infectious diseases, with the aim to find correlations between management practices, incidences of diseases and the amount of milk produced. Researchers can then use the data to develop recommendations for keeping dairy cows healthy while optimizing income and the quality of the milk.

Sustainable ranching means taking care of scarce water supplies and fragile desert grasses. Parched streams, erosion and invasive plants pose threats to ranchers’ livelihoods and a productive ecosystem. For more than 30 years, Oregon State rangeland scientists have been working with Central Oregon ranchers to test the effects of removing juniper and managing grass and cattle. The results have contributed to a successful beef co-op — Country Natural Beef —that has become an industry leader in sustainable ranching. The co-op’s founding Hatfield and McCormack families have opened their ranches as living laboratories for faculty and student researchers. Their work has given ranchers a holistic understanding of the watershed, helping them improve their grazing strategies, maintain a healthy ecosystem and deliver high-quality, hormone-free beef to Whole Foods and other grocery stores and restaurants throughout the western United States.

Scooting into a Successful Business

Jarred Baker didn’t wait until he graduated from OSU-Cascades to put his business degree to work. an avid skateboarder, he saw increasing numbers of scooters at Bend skateboarding parks and recognized a market opportunity. In a venture management course in September 2011, jarred developed a business plan for War Scooters, an online retailer of scooters, parts and accessories, in just three weeks. Soon, he rang up his first sales, and by Christmas, he was up until midnight packing orders while also completing his last term of school. War Scooters has since quadrupled its growth projections, and while he’s finished his degree, jared retains his connections to OSU-Cascades. He considers his professors integral to helping make the business successful and still calls them when issues arise. They immediately want to help.

A Bright Energy Future

Renewable energy is a fast-growing segment of the Central Oregon economy, and OSU-Cascades is responding to the industry’s growth with a new degree program in Energy Engineering Management (EEM). It, too, is growing fast: from four students in 2010 to 24 in 2012. The curriculum includes fundamental mechanical and industrial engineering courses, along with courses in business and energy-related management, giving graduates a unique set of skills that put them in high demand with renewable and traditional energy companies as well as with companies looking to improve their energy efficiency. advanced Energy, which manufactures photovoltaic inverters for utility and commercial applications, has its solar energy headquarters in Bend. according to Tucker Ruberti, director of product planning and applications engineering and a guest lecturer at OSU-Cascades, the EEM program helps develop the innovators and problem solvers his company and others in the area need.

Energizing a New Field

BendBroadband, Central Oregon’s leading business and residential fiber, high-speed Internet, digital phone and TV service provider, illustrates the growing regional and national need for energy systems engineers. Such skills were essential in the design, construction and operation of the internationally acclaimed BendBroadband Vault, the company’s new Tier 3 LEED Gold Certified colocation data center, whose extensive energy-efficient features include 624 solar panels generating 152kW of power and an air- to-air heat exchange that takes advantage of the cool high desert climate. So to meet this need in the future, CEO amy Tykeson and her father, company founder Don Tykeson, gave $250,000 through the Tykeson Family Charitable Trust to establish the Tykeson Endowed Faculty Scholar in Energy Engineering Management at OSU-Cascades. The first endowed position was awarded last year to assistant professor Robin Feuerbacher, who leads the EEM program. He plans to use endowment funds to support student initiatives such as energy efficiency clubs, team competitions, senior projects and research.

Sharing Good Fortune

A Bend resident since 1970 and president of Cayuga Properties, allan Bruckner has given back to his community primarily though his 30-year membership in the Greater Bend Rotary Club, as a Bend city commissioner from 1988 to 1991 and then as mayor from 1992 to 1993. Wishing to share more of the good fortune Bend has provided him, Bruckner and his wife ann made an even bigger impact last year with an $800,000 gift that will help OSU-Cascades’ evolution into a comprehensive university for Central Oregon. Their generous support sealed the purchase of a building that will house OSU-Cascades graduate and research programs, including its expanding master’s degree programs. Bruckner firmly believes this financial investment will yield returns beyond any other he has ever made.

Genna Reeves De-Armond is studying the style of clothing of people who sailed on the Titanic. (Photo by Hannah O'Leary)

It’s been 100 years since the Titanic sank in freezing North Atlantic waters, resulting in one of the worst maritime disasters in history. Now, a new generation is discovering the the Titanic – in part because of the centennial anniversary, museums and exhibits around the country, but also because of  the 3-D release of Jame’s Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

To Genna Reeves-DeArmond, a doctoral student at Oregon State, one of the ways people can appreciate the Titanic’s history is through the clothes people wore on the ship. In fact, Reeves-DeArmond’s dissertation is on the role of dress in the Titanic.

“The ship itself is the icon,” said Genna Reeves-DeArmond, whose studies focus on historic and cultural dress. “But the attraction goes beyond the sinking; it is more than the ship’s demise. The Titanic is representative of a historical moment and clothing is a tangible marker of that moment. The clothes that the passengers wore add a rich layer to the historical knowledge and provide cultural context for museum visitors.”

“The clothing personalizes the history,” she added, “because people today can relate to it. It is a common thread between people of today and a hundred years ago, even though styles have changed.”

In her studies, Reeves-DeArmond is exploring the display of dress artifacts and costumes in Titanic museum exhibits, in the popular film by James Cameron, and in other representations. A self-described “Titaniac,” she became interested in the history of the ship as a young girl, and then fascinated as an eighth-grader in 1997 when Cameron’s “Titanic” came out and would go on to sweep most of the major Academy Awards the following year.

Whether on film or in museums, the role of dress and costumes is important in how people learn about the event, the OSU grad student notes. She has traveled to Titanic museum exhibits in Branson, Mo., Las Vegas, Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Orlando, Fla., to study the displays and how people interact with them.

“Through both observations and interviews, it is apparent that people identify with passengers that may be closest to them in terms of social status or occupation,” Reeves-DeArmond said. “And that connection is often made by the clothes the passengers wore. The first-class passengers dressed much differently than the third-class passengers.

“Clothing frequently reveals a lot about a particular time in history,” added Reeves-DeArmond, whose studies are based in Oregon State’s Department of Design and Human Environment. “Class differences obviously still exist, but they were much more evident from clothing then. And clothes can reveal other facets of cultural history, such as the length of a dress and the women’s

Reeves-DeArmond shows the detail on a garment. (Photo by Hannah O'Leary)

movement.”

One little-known historical tidbit, Reeves-DeArmond said, is that one of the fashion designers responsible for ridding the corset from women’s wear – “Lucile” Lady Duff Gordon – was aboard the Titanic.

The actual history of the Titanic may be forever mingled with its depiction in print and on film, and for her study Reeves-DeArmond has interviewed museum visitors ranging in age from 20 to 84, some who have seen the film and others who have not. One facet of her dissertation is to explore how viewing “Titanic” contributes to the museum experience.

It can confuse some visitors to museums and exhibits, Reeves-DeArmond pointed out. Cameron’s film, for example, focuses on the love story between Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), who were fictional characters, but were based on composites of several real passengers.

“They were representative of different classes and that was reflected in their clothing,” Reeves-DeArmond said. “James Cameron’s attention to detail was incredible. But likewise, many of the museums and exhibits have clothing and artifacts that really bring the history alive. The museum in Las Vegas has a pair of men’s pants and shoes that survived under the ocean for decades.”

Films, museums and exhibits increasingly are how many people foster an appreciation of science and history, and Oregon State is a leader in the understanding of this phenomenon, called “free-choice learning.” Reeves-DeArmond says the concept could be enhanced even more if curators of the displays would incorporate more of the clothing, even if it is a replica.

“Clothing is often overlooked in these exhibits,” she said. “One of the Titanic museums I visited had a Marconi replica room, and while it was neat to see the equipment, several visitors told me they would have liked to have seen a uniform – to connect with the person who may have been working in there.”

“Dress is a visual language,” she added, “and it is particularly important in the context of the Titanic. It helps take you back 100 years and visualize the people who survived or perished.”

Oregon State alum Roosevelt Credit is performing "Porgy and Bess" on Broadway. Credit is second from the right in this photo.

Roosevelt Andre Credit was born with a big voice and a big heart, but don’t think for a moment that the life of a professional performer is easy – even when he has a significant role in a Broadway musical rated by Time magazine as “The Best Musical of the Year.”

But the 1990 Oregon State University grad wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I am,” says Credit, “living the dream.”

Credit has a feature role in the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess,” which is drawing rave reviews from some of the top media outlets in the country. He nailed down the ensemble part of Jim the Fisherman, where his booming bass baritone fills the auditorium and allows him to share the stage with stars Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier.

Just look at the reviews for Porgy and Bess.

• “A great achievement that left me breathless” – The New Yorker
• “A luscious piece of musical theater” – Newsday
• “A gorgeous version of the Gershwin masterpiece” – Associated Press

For the 44-year-old Credit, it has been an interesting journey that began when he majored in music education at OSU.  He gravitated toward opera, but was visible throughout campus, singing the national anthem at basketball games and commencement ceremonies, and performing in countless plays, concerts, school and community functions. He was also director of music at the First Christian Church of Corvallis.

“My teachers at Oregon State whipped me into shape,” he says with a laugh. “I loved it there. Charlotte Headrick, Kathryn Olson, Ron and Becky Jeffers, Judy Krueger and others taught me a lot and made me realize I could be successful. And I’ve always enjoyed performing.”

“As one of my mentors, Will Keim, once told me – ‘find something you like to do and if you do it well enough, people will pay you for it.’”

Credit’s talent is natural, but getting to Broadway takes hard work – and a lot of it. After earning his music degree at OSU, he

Roosevelt Credit.

earned master’s degrees at Northwestern in conducting and opera performance, and he sings in Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Russian – and dabbles with numerous other languages.

He said he enjoys the challenge because it allows him to perform and understand the music of other cultures, while expressing musical phrases with his voice and with his hands.

“The best compliment someone can give you is to say ‘you make it look easy,’” Credit says. “You don’t want to be up on stage looking like you’re struggling.”

Daily warm-ups and practice allows Credit to master the many languages and expand his range. In his two-decade career, he has performed at President Obama’s inauguration; played the role of Jesus in Bach’s Saint Matthew and St. John Passion; starred as Joe in Showboat; and was a cast member of the Broadway and national touring companies of Harold Prince’s Tony Award-winning revival of Showboat.

He also has been a featured guest artist during the Centennial Celebration of Duke Ellington at Jazz at Lincoln Center – with Wynton Marsalis and Eric Reed.

“You can only get so far on natural talent,” Credit says, “then you must practice, practice, practice. At 44, I’m just coming into my voice. Many years of private lessons, classes and practice have paid off. Basses mature a lot later in life and I think I keep improving. But as a singer, you’ve got to take care of the instrument. So I also try to get rest and keep hydrated. It’s all good.”

Credit is humble and grateful for his success – and gives back generously to the community. He twice has received the Theron Montgomery Award, given by the Broadway community for charitable work; he supports organizations fighting cystic fibrosis, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Metropolitan Ministries. He volunteers with disabled children; and loves directing choruses around the country as they perform his published choral music and solo arrangements from his book, “Ol’ Time Religion,” featuring spirituals.

He’s even earned an Eagle Scout ranking with the Boy Scouts of America.

“Giving back is important,” Credit says. “When I got started, I was told ‘no’ a lot and I sang a lot for free. But I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone’s…”

Four decades later, Centro is thriving.

“We try to provide a space for students where they feel welcomed, and we try to create a space where culture is the center,” says Agustin Vega-Peters, Centro’s external coordinator. “But it’s the events I really like. They’re informative. Some of them are fun. They get to the deeper issues of things.”

April, for Centro, is full of such events. It’s their annual César Chávez Tribute Month, a celebration not only of the labor leader and activist who is Centro’s namesake, but also of Latino/a culture in the U.S. and elsewhere. And this year, says Vega-Peters, will be big.

Centro's tribute to César Chávez will last throughout April.

“This year is our 40th anniversary,” he says. “Event-wise we’re doing even more than we have in the past.”

For example, Centro’s annual Tribute Month dinner on April 27 will kick off Mi Familia weekend, a new event that introduces Latino/a families to the Oregon State community.

Mi Familia is sponsored by various groups on campus, but Centro’s staff – all of whom have a hand in organizing Tribute Month – have worked hard to make this year’s events collaborative. At this year’s Tribute Month dinner, the families who will attend Mi Familia Weekend will be able to get to know each other before their orientation to campus begins.

Likewise, Centro staff this year made it a point to collaborate with other campus cultural centers. Oregon State’s Pride Center organized the Queer Latin Artists event on April 3 event,  and the Asian Pacific Cultural Center organized the April 11 event, American Colonization.

“It’s really cool how the centers connect in some ways most people wouldn’t think about,” Vega-Peters says. “Like in immigration. The focus is on Latinos immigrating, but immigration life, whether you’re in one culture or another, works in some of the same kinds of ways.”

Ultimately, according to Vega-Peters, the goal of Tribute Month is to present events that represents the whole Latino/a community.

“Latino culture encompasses a huge amount,” he says. It’s kind of hard to pull that together, but our staff has been really, really great this year.”

Students in Jon Lewis' honors film class catalogued movies from the 1980s, "The Goonies" being one of them.

Someday, Emily Barton wants to work in the public sector as an economic policy analyst, but right now, she is spending hours watching movies from the 1980s. She’s watching Goldie Hawn in “Private Benjamin,” Robert DeNiro in “Angel Heart,” feminist melodrama “Old Boyfriends,” and a now-classic comedy filmed in Oregon called “The Goonies.”

Barton isn’t being a slacker, though. She is watching these movies to help create historical records for the legacy of American cinema. And in the process, Barton says, she is learning a great deal about the way gender politics colored the film industry of the early 1980s.

“I grew up watching films on television during my summer breaks,” Barton says. “I remember watching films that we are now studying, like ‘E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial’ on a drive-in movie screen.”

Barton, a University Honors College senior and economics major, enrolled winter term in a film class taught by Oregon State University film historian and English professor Jon Lewis. The class of 12 students was given the opportunity to catalog 48 films from the 1980s that will be put into the American Film Institute’s online archive. Their work is part of a larger effort on behalf of the AFI to have accurate online records available for every American feature-length film produced from 1893 through 2011.

The AFI Catalog Academic Network recruits what they call “the best and brightest” scholars from around the country to provide plot summary and production note information to help flesh out the basic records of American movies.

Lewis was contacted last year by the AFI catalog’s editor, Bob Birchard, about the project, which already has complete listings for films made through 1975. Birchard was aware of Lewis’ work as a nationally-known scholar of new American cinema, and thought he might enjoy the opportunity to bring OSU students into this work of documenting American film history.

There was only one slight snag – Birchard needed films from the 1980s catalogued and Lewis generally moves quickly through that decade in his film history courses.

“The 1980s mark the transition from auteur to blockbuster Hollywood,” Lewis says. “So I tend to talk about the decade as the beginning of the end of a so-called Hollywood renaissance. Luckily, when the AFI sent me a list of the films they wanted us to work on,  it included mostly movies that are overlooked. This proved to be an interesting learning experience for the students and gave me the opportunity to reconsider my assumptions about Hollywood in the ’80s.”

A typical entry for the archive includes an exhaustive list of details, including the complete cast and crew, as well as a detailed

Senior Emily Barton watched "Private Benjamin" as part of the class project.

plot description, movie reviews, and production notes. The AFI provides some useful industry backstory, some sample reviews and a DVD of the film for the students to view.

Barton, who was assigned four movies, said researching the backstories of each film for the AFI was fascinating. For instance, she said many of the historical accounts of the movies come directly from people who were deeply entrenched in the movie industry and defended the politics of the system. She found descriptions in publicity materials issued by the studio and in the historical documents around the film “shocking.”

“In one article, Goldie Hawn was described as ‘daft,’” Barton says. “Yet, she was an executive producer on the film and largely responsible for getting it into production. It was a box office hit and one of the top earners of all time in the video rental market. There’s nothing daft about that.”

Barton, who has a minor in both English and writing, says that on the surface taking a class on film may not seem like a natural fit for an economics major. But much of the focus of the class is about how large economic forces in the late 1970s and early ’80s shifted the focus of films away from “auteurs” and smaller creative works toward high-concept, big-budget movies that could be sold on the strength of a marketing tagline.

“Movies are fun, but they are serious areas of study,” she said. “For me, the class has been a case study in deregulation and the aftermath on artistic product, a type of innovation.”

Plus, Barton believes education should be about learning about a broad array of topics.

“That’s one of the things I love about the Honors College,” she said. “Every class I have taken has broadened my world view.”

For those students in the class who plan to make filmmaking a career, the opportunity gave them a chance to look critically at movies that many just see as pieces of entertainment. Austin Hodaie, a sophomore majoring in liberal studies with a new media communications emphasis, is an aspiring filmmaker whose short movie “My Lumiere” showed at last year’s campus movie festival.

He watched “Blade Runner,” “Aliens,” “Trouble in Mind” and “Colors” for the class and especially enjoyed “Aliens” and “Blade Runner” for the directorial “innovation.” Hodaie says, however, that he shares Lewis’ low opinion of the 1980s as a decade for filmmaking. So what he gained instead was a deeper understanding of how to engage with and “read” a film similarly to how he might a book.

Sophomore Austin Hodaie, an aspiring filmmaker, says that cataloguing the films for AFI gave him a greater insight into moviemaking.

“I think there is a high demand for film classes and OSU would greatly benefit from more of them,” he said. “Taking critical film studies has allowed me to focus my ideas and learn the most effective way of expressing them.”

OSU is the only university participating in the AFI Catalog of Feature Films project that does not have an established film studies program or major – for now.

OSU’s Department of English is in the process of becoming the School of Writing, Literature, and Film, with an emphasis on transforming programs to create more vibrant and meaningful experiences for students.

New faculty hires in areas such as global/world cinema and creative non-fiction for the upcoming school year will continue these efforts to bolster the scholarly reputation in these core areas of literature, writing and film studies.

Lewis sees opportunities such as this partnership with the American Film Institute as a way to heighten the reputation of the program for future scholars of cinema at OSU and to increase student interest in film studies.

And at the very least, a student might discover a movie that they never would have seen otherwise. Barton says she had never heard of “Old Boyfriends,” a drama starring Talia Shire (of “Rocky” fame) that she loved. “It surprised me because it isn’t sentimental at all.”

Barton says, as well, that Lewis asked the students in the class to take a single “frame grab,” or image from one of their assigned films, and expand on it by discussing how that one image is significant to the movie, what it says about the director’s vision, or how that image is representative of broader themes that the work of art is addressing.

“I was surprised at how deeply familiar I became with the movie. I’m sure that if I was asked to write a typical English paper on one of my films, it would be better because of the depth of my involvement with each shot, each scene.”

Thinh Nguyen (left) and his older brother in a refugee camp in the Philippines.

Setting Out

Crowded into the bottom storage compartment of a fishing boat were 10-year-old Thinh Nguyen and his 15-year-old brother, Thang, along with many other Vietnamese families.

Panic set in when the first big storm wave hit the boat, and nearly flipped it. But eventually everyone sat quietly in the dark just waiting for the next big wave — watching as each one sent water pouring down through the compartment lid. Many started praying.

In the morning, when they spotted the shore, the Nguyen brothers first thought they reached their destination in the Philippines.

Then they heard gunshots.

Local police in a small seaside village in Vinh Chau, a southern province of Vietnam, had spotted the boat. The brothers ended up in jail for a month, eating just one small bowl of rice a day until their mother could pay their bail.

“We found out later that most villagers were very poor and hardcore communist followers. They reported anyone who looked strange to them. So virtually nobody was able to escape — since we were from the city our clothes made it easier for them to spot us,” Nguyen says.

The year was 1983, and they were among many who were trying to get out of Vietnam in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The new communist government dealt harshly with those who had supported the government of the South — often sending them to prison or “re-educations camps.” Nguyen’s father was a colonel in the fallen South Vietnam army (listed as missing in action), so the family had been blacklisted.

“My mom kept telling us that the reason she sent us away was so we would have a good education.  We would never be able to go to college with our background if we stayed in Vietnam,” Nguyen says. “Also, she was a literature teacher, but she couldn’t teach anymore because her romantic literature expertise was viewed as degenerate by the communist regime. She ended up making money by selling bicycle parts. So, freedom to pursue one’s desires in life was what she wanted for us.”

It took multiple attempts and a lot of bribe money, but she was undeterred — sending her five children out again and again in ones and twos.

Now that Thinh Nguyen is a professor in the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University, where he is able to pursue his many interests including networking and communications, he can say the sacrifice was worth it.

But it took another perilous journey to get him here.

Three years after being imprisoned, Nguyen had another chance at escape. His older brother had already escaped in a separate attempt, so this time he and four other people swam from the shore to a boat that would take them to the Philippines. Nguyen used an inner-tube from an old truck to keep him afloat on the kilometer-long swim.

It was a September night, and the South China Sea was calm. The group safely reached the boat that would take them to the refugee camp in the Philippines, where Nguyen’s brother was living. The boat was about 25 meters long and 5 meters wide, with 128 people crowded aboard. More were in the water, yelling for the boat to stop as it pulled away.

“There was really no place to lie down to sleep — I remember sleeping while sitting up,” Nguyen says. “The boat was so full that from where I sat at the edge of the boat I could reach down and touch the water with my hand.”

After losing some of the drinking water to a storm and having trouble with the engine, the mood on the boat was pretty dismal — until the fifth day, when an American merchant ship stopped and gave them some food and water and directed them to the Philippines.

The next day, the elated passengers reached the island of El Nido in the Philippines, the first stop on their way to the refugee camp. In their exuberance many jumped out of the boat to swim to shore, but as they got closer their emotions turned again to panic when they saw knives in the hands of the islanders. It turned out the knives were just to cut down coconuts, and eventually the confusion was sorted out.

“That story gives you some insight into the psychology of the boat people,” Nguyen says. “Many of the refugees were afraid of pirates and the like. So it was not surprising that people were very nervous seeing the local people with knives.”

Yet Nguyen would not describe the whole experience as scary or even challenging. For a 13-year-old, it was an adventure. “But tell me to do it again, and I would say, ‘No!’” he laughs. “Now I understand the consequences — one big wave and you’re gone.”

Finding a Home 

At the camp Nguyen was reunited with his older brother, who had arrived several months earlier. Reaching the Philippines

meant freedom for all the refugees, but for two teenagers living in the camp without parents, the experience had even further

Thinh Nguyen with students (photo by Jan Sonnenmair)

meaning — freedom, for sure, but also becoming self-reliant.

Letters from his mother would remind them they needed to study and prepare for their life in the U.S. So, with no school available at the camp, Nguyen spent much of his six months there studying physics and calculus on his own.

Although many refugees were stuck in camp for years, the two brothers were able to get out relatively quickly and traveled to Seattle, Wash., where their brother and sister were already living.

“I remember feeling very happy and excited,” he says of arriving in the U.S. “My first thought was everything was so clean and green.”

Initially they all lived with a friend of their family, but when his older sister turned 18 they moved into an apartment in a housing project.

“We also received government checks for a few months, but my older brother hated it, so he got a job while going to school.  In my sophomore through senior years in high school, I had different part-time jobs — dishwasher, newspaper delivery, assembly line, programmer, typist — while going to school, and worked full-time in the summers,” he says.

And even though his mother was far away, she still had a strong influence on the family. Through letters she would remind them of the sacrifices she made to make sure that they would take advantage of the life she was able to provide for them, urging them to study hard to be successful. Nguyen had no trouble with high school and went on to the University of Washington, where he studied physics and math.

“Somehow, it just worked,” he says of growing up essentially without parents. “I never really thought about it.”

Finally, when Nguyen was out of high school and in his second year of college his mother was able to escape with his youngest brother and join them in Seattle. At that time Nguyen switched his major to computer engineering, which was more practical for supporting his family. But after completing his degree and working three years at Intel Corporation, he realized that his family was fairly well settled in their lives and he no longer needed to be a breadwinner.

“I thought what the heck, I should do something I like,” he says.

A Career that Fit 

His love of science led him to look for an area that was theoretically driven but had a practical application. He settled on electrical engineering and specialized in signal processing and transmission, receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science at University of California, Berkeley.

Now, at OSU, his research encompasses information representation, processing, and transmission — the processes involved in streaming a movie to TV. His undergraduate courses focus on the mathematical underpinnings of signal processing, communication and networking; and his graduate courses on information theory, a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering. He also advises several graduate students whose projects range from implementation to theory.

“I’m curious about what information is, fundamentally, and how to represent it. Deep down, I really like something that is theory driven,” he says.

Although he has accomplished much in his career, his achievements like Best Paper awards stay turned over on his bookshelf rather the hung on the wall.

“I’m just doing what I like. Maybe someday I will do something I’m really proud of. That’s what keeps me going,” he says.

His biggest lesson in life, however, was self-reliance, which he now tries to instill in his three children, as well as his students.

“I encourage my students to constantly learn new ideas, to be independent and in the end do it your way,” he says.

All of his siblings were able to achieve the success they were hoping for when they embarked on their journey to the U.S. And although they are spread across the country from Florida to California, Nguyen describes them as “very close” and every year they get together for a family reunion.

In 2006, Nguyen returned to Vietnam and saw what his life could have been — he witnessed the daily struggles of his childhood friends and relatives and the lack of opportunities there.

“I really feel blessed and thankful to America, and grateful to all the people who helped my family escape and who contributed to our lives in America. It still amazes me that four of us kids living in a housing project without our parents, turned out okay. We all finished college.  My two younger brothers are medical doctors and my older brother and sister have electrical engineering degrees.  I am probably more optimistic than an average person, but I think America is still a land of opportunities,” he says.

-Story by Rachel Robertson

The free public event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature scientists and educators from OSU, federal and state agencies, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and the new NOAA Marine Operations Center-Pacific. It is a rare opportunity for the public to go behind the scenes of one of the nation’s leading marine science and education facilities.

Among the highlights:
•    Hear volcanoes erupt and whales ‘sing’ in an audio display by NOAA and OSU researchers using undersea hydrophones;
•    Learn how researchers are supporting sustainable fisheries through innovative, collaborative research;
•    Collect biological data from fish, plankton and even a shrimp parasite through hands-on experimentation;
•    Explore novel oceangoing and ocean floor instrument platforms and meet the scientists who designed them.

A volunteer demonstrates one of the interactive exhibits at Oregon State's Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Visitors can meet Pearl, the Visitor Center’s new octopus; observe a sea turtle necropsy; and meet fisheries scientists and geologists whose research is described in center exhibits. The public also can participate in self-guided tours through the facility’s marine research labs, library and classrooms, where scientists will have interactive exhibits explaining their research.

Visitors may also take guided tours of HMSC’s seawater facilities and ornamental fish laboratory.

“Marine Science Day will be fun and engaging for people of all ages,” said Maryann Bozza, program manager for the Hatfield Marine Science Center. “Visitors will wind through the campus, getting a true behind-the-scenes experience with an unparalleled opportunity to learn directly from marine scientists.”

“The diverse science conducted at the facility reaches from local coastlines and estuaries to the depths of the world’s oceans,” she added, “and in scale from microbes on the seafloor to undersea volcanoes and the whales that swim over them.”

Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes will speak briefly at 3 p.m. in the auditorium, along with OSU Vice President for Research Richard Spinrad. Bruce Mate, director of OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, will follow with a presentation showcasing the center’s pioneering role in tracking whales by satellite.

The event will showcase OSU’s unique partnership with state and federal agencies, which makes the Hatfield Marine Science Center a national leader for marine research and education, according to director George Boehlert.

“OSU’s Newport campus is known for a diversity of research and the expertise of its scientists, which offer unique opportunities in education and outreach,” Boehlert said. “Visitors to Marine Science Day will get a sense of the innovation and synergy that makes the Hatfield Marine Science Center unique.”

Most Marine Science Day exhibits and activities will be indoors, although visitors are advised to dress for the weather as portions of tours, paths between buildings and some exhibits will be outdoors.

The OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center is located at 2030 S.E. Marine Science Drive in Newport, just south of the Highway 101 bridge over Yaquina Bay.

Impact.

President Edward J. Ray

It’s a word we use regularly to describe the work that goes on at Oregon State University. Our impact is specific and measurable. It is wide-ranging as well as personal. And it is deeply ingrained into our culture. For more than 140 years, we have made a positive and significant difference across this state on what’s most important for Oregonians.

At Oregon State, we have an unwavering commitment to excellence: in our academic classrooms and laboratories where faculty teaching inspires students to expand their minds and develop the knowledge to achieve their goals; in cutting-edge research; and through Extension Service outreach and engagement in communities throughout Oregon.

And while we are proud and deeply committed to serve as Oregon’s land grant university, OSU’s impact reaches well beyond Oregon. Our contribution and impact extend across the U.S. and throughout the world and range from the microscopic innovation of nanoscience to the vast universe within our oceans.

Detailed within these posts are specific measurements — and many narrative examples — of Oregon State University’s impact.

Yet, measuring the recent and current impact of the university is not nearly enough.

Today, we reaffirm and expand our commitment to the future:

• To further engage OSU in vibrant, innovative and impactful industry research and partnerships to propel the economy, retain employment and create new businesses and jobs.
•  To broaden the contributions of OSU’s Extension Service throughout the state by increasingly serving the specific needs of Oregon’s urban and rural communities.
• To expand teaching, research and promotion of public health initiatives that improve quality of life by expanding focus on preventative care, healthy lifestyle habits, exercise and improved nutrition.
• To invest in strategic leadership, engagement, programs and commitments that improve the economy and quality of life in the Portland area.
• To enhance the wise use and protection of natural resources to ensure their vital sustainability for generations to come.

I hope you enjoy this report of the impacts our faculty, students and alumni are making in the economy, in communities and in people’s lives.

Edward J. Ray

President
Oregon State University