SPRING 2026 LAMAR HURD TRUSTS HIS GUT IN SEARCH OF WONDER (AND MUSHROOMS) EVERY BENNY HAS A TALE Decades of student mascots tell all.
CHERYL AND GARY DAVIS love Central Oregon and care deeply about kids. Inspired to support opportunities for Oregon 4-H youth and OSUCascades, they discovered a gift of real estate was the perfect blend of philanthropy and prudent planning for the future. Their rental property provided income, but they were ready to be done with the upkeep. By establishing a charitable remainder trust with the appreciated real estate, they avoided capital gains tax, earned a tax deduction and established a secure income stream for life — all while helping future generations. This gift vehicle worked so well for them, they’ve done it twice! If you’re considering selling your residence, vacation home, rental property, farm or forestland, consider making a gift that benefits you and creates a legacy at OSU. Contact me to learn more about transforming real estate into real impact. Jennifer Milburn Office of Gift Planning | 541-231-7247 Gift.Planning@osufoundation.org Your real estate. Their future. Cheryl and Gary Davis’ gift will support Oregon 4-H youth like Elaina Hartness, pictured with Sprout.
Spring 2026 1 PHOTO BY KARL MAASDAM, ’93 In Every Issue On the Cover The magazine of the Oregon State University Alumni Association C ON T E N T S F E A T U R E S 2 PHOTO ESSAY 4 EDITOR'S LETTER 5 PUBLISHER'S LETTER 6 LETTERS 58 IN MEMORIAM 64 BACKSTORY THE QUAD VOICES P. 10 President Jayathi Murthy on the future of enrollment growth, the land-grant mission and the worldwide Beaver community. NEWS P. 12 The Beaver Caucus celebrates 10 years of advocacy; the OSU Folk Club comes to an end; OSU science guides a landmark international pact; and more. RESEARCH P. 19 How an OSU geographer helps us understand the world’s conflicts. CULTURE P. 23 Off trail with an Oregon State undergraduate mushroom foray. SPORTS P. 27 Meet Head Coach JaMarcus Shephard; the new Oregon Stater podcast Beyond the Field debuts. OUR COMMUNITY ALUMNI NEWS P. 52 Lamar Hurd’s journey from Beaver point guard to Blazers analyst. O N L I N E OREGON STATER SPOTLIGHT Lululemon Chief Brand Officer Nikki Neuburger, ’04, talks about persistence and chasing big goals in a Stater video at OregonStater.org/ nikki-neuburger. 30 Stories from the Suit Inside the sweat-soaked, unforgettable experience of bringing Oregon State’s mascots to life. By Kip Carlson 40 From White Sands to the Red Planet How OSU researchers are helping a four-legged robot named LASSIE find its footing on Mars. By Sean Nealon SPRING 2026 ← Cover photo of Bennys (and Bernice) from many Beaver eras by Karl Maasdam, ’93.
2 OregonStater.org MOME N T S For the oncology team at Oregon State’s Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital, nothing matters more than giving people more time with their pets. They focus on providing animals the best quality of life after a cancer diagnosis, tailoring treatments to align with each family’s goals. They also know when to honor a hard-fought win. “Chemotherapy graduations are a meaningful way to celebrate a major milestone,” said Dr. Haley Leeper, hospital medical director and GRADUATION DAY
Spring 2026 3 PHOTOS BY KARL MAASDAM, ’93 PHOTO ESSAY wall. “Zeus is part of my family, just my guy,” said his owner, Axel Rivera. The service treats about 300 new patients each year. Part of the Gary R. Carlson, MD, College of Veterinary Medicine, it includes medical oncologists, residents, certified veterinary technicians and fourthyear veterinary students on clinical rotations. “As a teaching hospital, we give students vital experience in cancer care,” Leeper said. Photos of graduates like Zeus line office walls — daily reminders of hope. medical oncologist. “They honor the pet’s bravery, recognize the family’s support and acknowledge the entire veterinary team’s role in the journey.” On this day, the team celebrated a Doberman named Zeus as he posed near the “I Kicked Cancer’s Butt”
4 OregonStater.org FROM THE EDITOR THE SECRET LIFE OF BENNY AND BERNICE Those who don a Benny or Bernice suit are sworn to secrecy while they’re students. And OSU Athletics, I discovered, does not keep a tidy list of all who have worn the head. So when I got the idea for a story about the tales of those who once embodied our beloved beavers, I’ll admit I felt a flicker of doubt. How, exactly, do you find people who have been professionally anonymous? We started, as one does, in the archives. Cora Lassen, the Stater graduate assistant, combed through yearbooks and old Daily Barometers to see whether the secrecy code had perhaps been looser in decades past. (It had not.) I emailed colleagues in case anyone’s former roommate had eventually confessed why they were mysteriously “never at games.” (A couple of leads there.) Finally, we put out a call on social media. And then, like a Benny launching from a trampoline to execute a perfect dunk, the responses came pouring in. Emails. Names.Action shots. Did people have stories? Oh yes. Stories about meeting Oprah. Standing with Ken Austin — the man who originated the role — as a Reser crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Benny. Being on court as the women’s basketball team cut down nets from their first regular-season title. And the particular terror of falling into bushes or getting stuck crossing a dark street. Our writer Kip Carlson began making calls. He tapped into his own network. He followed leads from one former mascot to another. The list grew and grew. He finally stopped at 22 interviews, not because we ran out of names, but because we ran out of pages. There are, I now know, a great many alumni walking among us who can execute a flawless push-up routine while wearing a 10-pound beaver head. All of those unseen Beavers were on my mind the day we took over center court at Gill Coliseum for this issue’s cover shoot. Five current students — highly trained, deeply committed and absolutely not to be named here — agreed to spend a Sunday afternoon with us under bright lights. We outfitted them in mascot heads and suits from across the decades, so that whether you were cheering in 1988 or 2018, you’d spot a familiar grin. Then we stepped back. They slid across the hardwood in old-school, gloriously oversized booties. They marveled at the sheer scale of a 2010s-era head. They demonstrated exactly how much visibility one has through the nose mesh. (Not much.) They swapped stories about near-collisions with exuberant elementary schoolers and the art of communicating pure joy without ever saying a word. In many ways, they are a study in contradiction, these students who exult in the spotlight while remaining hidden. They get no public credit, only the chance to make a child laugh, to make the fans roar, and to turn an ordinary Thursday night game into a cherished memory. Judging by the flood of emails we received from their predecessors, those memories last for them as well as for us. So to the Bennys and Bernices of years past: We see you and all you’ve done to bring us together. Even if, technically, we’re not supposed to know who you are. Scholle McFarland Editor, Oregon Stater Spring 2026, Vol. 111, No. 2 PUBLISHERS John Valva, executive director, OSUAA; vice president of alumni relations, OSU Foundation Dan Jarman, ’88, chair, OSUAA Board of Directors EDI TOR Scholle McFarland DIGITAL & PRODUCTION MANAGER Travis Stanford GRADUATE ASSISTANT Cora Lassen ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Pentagram Austin, DJ Stout, Becky Plante DESIGN CONSULTANT Teresa Hall, ’86 COPY EDITOR Charles Purdy ADDRESS CHANGES ForOregonState.org/Update LETTERS AND QUESTIONS stater@osualum.com 877-678-2837 Oregon Stater 204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center Corvallis, OR 97331 ADVERTISING Travis Stanford advertise@osualum.com 541-737-2786 ADVISORY COUNCIL David Baker Vicki Guinn, ’85 Tyler Hansen Colin Huber, ’10 Jennifer Milburn, ’96 Brian Monihan, ’86 Elena Passarello Bill Reader, '83 Lori Rush, ’78 Oregon Stater (ISSN 0885-3258) is published three times a year by the Oregon State University Alumni Association in collaboration with the Oregon State University Foundation and Oregon State University. Content may be reprinted only by permission of the editor.
Spring 2026 5 FROM THE PUBLISHER When I’m searching for a reason to feel optimistic about the future, I don’t have to look far — I find it every day at Oregon State University. Two years ago, when Carissa O’Donnell, ’24, was nearing final exams, she shared with me the bittersweet feeling of graduation: “I just can’t imagine leaving Oregon State. I feel like I grew up here. But I also know I have to go and make some sort of difference.” In what feels like the blink of an eye, she has already earned a graduate degree from Columbia University’s Climate School, interned with the U.S. House of Representatives and worked directly with Michael Bloomberg’s foundation evaluating low-carbon economics. She’s also finding time to mentor current OSU students. I first met Javier Garcia-Ramirez, ’24, when he was a sophomore studying engineering. As a first-generation student, he spoke proudly about his siblings, who were also OSU students, and a family life that emphasized hard work and well-being.As kind as he is ambitious, he graduated summa cum laude and secured a software engineering position in New York, all while volunteering for OSU’s alumni network. Carly Thorkildson, ’24, lights up any room she enters. She was one of those undergrads who belonged to dozens of student organizations. One quarter, after seeing her at multiple events, I finally asked when she had time to sleep. “Ha, sleep is for amateurs,” she quipped. She graduated with honors, immediately excelled in her chosen field of water safety, and continues to volunteer on our Recent Alumni Advisory Council. Each of these 2024 graduates was an Alumni Association scholarship recipient. Each excelled academically, served as a student leader, launched a career and is already giving back to Oregon State with their time, energy and networks. It’s a privilege to work with some of Oregon State’s most promising undergraduate students and get to witness their energy, vision and commitment. I know they’ll leave a lasting impact on our campus, on Oregon and beyond. Thanks to the generosity of thousands of OSU alumni and friends, the Alumni Association’s undergraduate scholarship program — the university’s longest standing — continues to open doors. Recipients often overcome significant personal and financial challenges to pursue their dreams. With all due respect to those wonderful Class of 2024 recipients, I suspect this year’s group may be our most outstanding yet. (I say that every year and I always mean it!) There’s Bella Larsen, who spent last summer supporting public health in Uganda; Alana Kelley, who champions healthy attitudes and wellness for girls and young women; and Lily Oliphant, who mentors schoolchildren in robotics — and many others. In a world that often feels uncertain, these undergraduate scholars remind me what’s possible. They are evidence that student success is worth an investment. They’re not only exceptional students; they also represent our most impressive community-builders and citizens. They care. They give back. And they make me profoundly optimistic about our future. Join in supporting the next generation at give.fororegonstate.org. John Valva Publisher, Oregon Stater WHY I'M HOPEFUL OFF I CERS Chair, Dan Jarman, ’88 Vice Chair, Jonathan Riley, ’09 Treasurer, Jay Boatwright, ’78 MEMBERS Derek Abbey, ’99 Casey Anderson, ’14 Dom Biggi, ’88 Bob Bluhm, ’82 Sara Boraston, ’15 Sharada Bose, ’84, M.S. ’88 Gabrielle Homer, ’88 Colin Huber, ’10 Conrad Hurdle, ’96, MAT ’97 Jon Isaacs, ’97 Kelley Kaiser, ’93, MPH ’99 Julie Lambert, ’85 Bella Larsen, student representative, ex officio Keith Leavitt, ’88 Charlene McGee Kollie, ’04 Lee Miller, ’80 Jayathi Murthy, OSU president, ex officio Candace Pierson-Charlton, ’73, Ed.M. ’02 Mary Power, ’90 Denver Pugh, ’97 Shawn Scoville, OSU Foundation president and CEO, ex officio Dorian Smith, ’09, MAIS ’17, Ed.D. ’25 Marcia Torres, ’01 Michael Whitten, ’12 Ellen Yin, ’16 ADDRESS 204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center Corvallis, OR 97331 541-737-2351 osualum@osualum.com ForOregonState.org SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: facebook.com/ oregonstatealum X: @oregonstatealum Instagram: @oregonstatealumni YouTube: @Oregon_Stater Sign up for the Beaver Lodge newsletter at ForOregonState.org/BeaverLodge ART BY JOÃO FAZENDA
6 OregonStater.org JOE MCKENDRY I was a student at OSU from 1967 to 1971 in the School of Education, and my mother was a cook at the MU and later at the “O” Club. While cooking at the MU, she introduced one of our favorite desserts from home, sticky rolls. It was cool to me that a best memory of OSU [shared in the feature “On the Tip of Your Tongue”] was my mother’s sticky rolls. —LYLE BEARD, ’ 7 1 The Winter edition of the Oregon Stater is exceptionally well done!! Thanks for doing such a good job. It’s colorful, informative and creative, with an excellent layout. And best wishes in the days ahead. —S. ROGER FRICHETTE, PH.D. ’76 Great articles on the food options, but you forgot one major option: Sunday morning breakfast at the Peacock — $.99 for ham and eggs or $1.65 for steak and eggs. Beer was extra. —JEFF KOLBERG, ’ 73 The Winter 2026 issue of the Stater brings back memories of my first two years (’64 and ’65) at Poling Hall, where we would go over to Food Tech and buy several gallon jugs of fresh apple cider and bring them back to our rooms. Using our Chem Cards, we would get stoppers and tubing and then buy yeast at a grocery store. Putting it all together made hard cider. Party on after two weeks. —BOB WILD, ’69 Three items in the Winter Oregon Stater [the Emily Darchuk profile, OSU Research Brewery story and Dave Cho online video] promote the use or production of alcoholic beverages. In fact, it’s becoming well known that alcohol is harmful to the human body. Although products containing alcohol are not yet labeled the way tobacco products are, I object to state support of alcohol production and use. —MICHAEL POWERS SECOND HELPINGS Readers couldn’t get enough of our exploration of the many ways Oregon State shapes what ends up on our plates. The feature was the Winter issue’s most-viewed story online. If you’re itching to try the recipes mentioned in the magazine — from MU Sticky Rolls to Wheyward’s Spirited Beaver to David L. G. Noakes’ Spice Cookies — you can find them all online at OregonStater.org/tag/recipes. L E T T E R S
Spring 2026 7 Checking the Facts I appreciate Taylor Pedersen’s article “Keeping the Fire” [about the origins of OSU’s yearly salmon bake] in the Winter 2026 edition. However, stating that “Oregon tribes were not federally recognized” in 1971 is inaccurate.The statement also begs the question, what’s an “Oregon tribe?” Some embrace a colonial notion that only tribal reservations inside state lines are Oregon tribes. My Tribe, Nez Perce, granted the U.S. rights, and they committed to protect ours such as fishing at usual and accustomed places, hunting and gathering in what became Oregon and beyond. Our rights embed us in the landscape, so an Oregon boundary is irrelevant to our existence, as witnessed in tribal jurisdiction supporting our citizens using these rights at places familiar to Oregon including the Columbia River’s banks and waters, and at Willamette Falls. Our rights require healthy habitat, and we own roughly 15,000 acres across northeast Oregon, co-manage alongside state agencies, and help oversee an estuary program in Astoria. Ms. Pedersen’s story is a start. Finishing the story is within reach through OSU graduates from the treaty tribes working across an enduring tribal landscape shared with Oregon to safeguard places we all call home. —JAIME A. PINKHAM, ’81 Editor’s Note: We also received a letter from Mary Baumgardner, ’89, pointing out that this article incorrectly stated that all — rather than some — of Oregon’s tribes lacked federal recognition in the early 1970s when the salmon bake began. We apologize for the error and appreciate the additional context. Memories and Gratitude I wish to thank the Oregon Stater and USAF Lt. Colonel Ronald L. Akers for highlighting my father, Professor Arthur D. Hughes [as an unforgettable mentor in the Winter issue’s Letters]. It was a nice surprise to open the latest edition and see his picture and description. I am 77 years old, and the last living child of Arthur and Edith. We helped collate his classroom supplies around the kitchen table. He used to say that when the war came and the government wanted him, he told them let him teach instead and he would give them a classroom full of engineers for their purposes. I remember the jet engine that was mentioned in the letter. It made quite a large sight across a field when fired up. Thank you for the honor you gave him. —CYNTHIA HUGHES HANHI I graduated in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. That commencement ceremony was held in Gill Coliseum, and it occurred concurrently with game six of the NBA Finals in which the Portland Trail Blazers won the NBA Championship. The commencement was briefly postponed by OSU President Robert McVicar to allow the final minute or two of the game to conclude. Graduates and attendees gave the Trail Blazers a standing ovation and then President McVicar proceeded with the ceremony. Following graduation, I accepted employment with Boldt Carlisle + Smith CPAs in Salem. In 1991, I became a partner, later becoming a partner at SingerLewak, LLP, after the businesses merged. SingerLewak, LLP, is in the top 75 CPA firms in the United States. I served as the Pacific Northwest Regional Tax Partner and led the Oregon tax department. My 48 years of employment in public accounting have been very rewarding, and I have enjoyed working with clients and employees. Thanks to OSU for getting me started with a solid education and being a resource throughout my career. —DOUG PARHAM, ’ 77 Send letters to stater@osualum.com or go to OregonStater.org/connect. We edit for clarity, brevity and factual accuracy. Please try to limit your letters to 225 words or less. John Paeth, ’76, sent us this photo from a Dixon Lodge Co-op reunion hosted by Mike McCarthy, ’72, M.S. ’75, at McCarthy Research Farms in Forest Grove. “Some bonds are timeless, and old friendships prove it,” Paeth wrote. Most participants graduated in the late 1960s to mid1970s, but “a unique multi-generational tie continued, as many of the offspring from this group attended OSU Co-ops as well.” Kayla Al-Khaledy, ’16, and Emme Punches, ’16, spent two weeks in October racing across Sri Lanka in a three-wheeled tuktuk adorned with a “Go Beavs!” sticker as part of the TukTuk Tournament — a scavenger hunt and adventure race that drew 197 participants from 24 countries in 2025. See more photos on Instagram at @twogirlsandatuktuk. TRAVELS & MEETUPS
8 OregonStater.org The official Oregon State University license plate is here. Ride with pride — and help support Oregon State University. The new Beaver State license plate is available at DMV offices across the state. For more information, visit beav.es/license-plate. SHOW YOUR PRIDE ON YOUR RIDE!
Spring 2026 9 PHOTO BY DARRYL LAI T H E QUAD Weatherford Hall as seen from above on a crisp February day. INSIDE VOICES P. 10 NEWS P. 12 RESEARCH P. 19 CULTURE P. 23 SPORTS P. 27
10 OregonStater.org OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT VO I C E S Oregon State has experienced a 29-year streak of rising enrollment, but soon we’ll begin to feel the effects of the sharp drop in U.S. birth rates that followed the 2008 financial crisis. What opportunities do you see for OSU even as the traditional college-age population declines? We’ve been very fortunate — though I wouldn’t ascribe it entirely to luck — to have had 29 years of increasing enrollments. But nationwide, we’re already beginning to see enrollment pressures growing, and that’s also true in Oregon. Of course, none of this is a surprise, and there’s been quite a bit of thinking and planning around it. We’ve always been aware that Oregon is a small population state — somewhat over 4 million people — and that there would be demand for our offerings outside our borders. Ecampus has been an extraordinary instrument to serve both people inside and outside the state. So we’ve been thinking a lot about what would make it even more attractive. A FAR-FLUNG FAMILY PRESIDENT JAYATHI MURTHY ON GROWTH, ENGAGEMENT AND THE WORLDWIDE BEAVER COMMUNITY. As told to Scholle McFarland
Spring 2026 11 PRESIDENT Q + A Ecampus has been ranked in the Top 10 by U.S. News & World Report for 12 years. There are also new online programs that we’ve been creating — for example, in sports business and in healthcare administration. We’ve always been a good engineering school, so there’s a slew of engineering programs coming online. For example, online mechanical engineering has about 300 students in it. That tells you how attractive that program is. So being agile, being quick, being creative about the programs that we offer is going to be very important. We’ve been talking a lot about micro-credentials. These are online certificates in specialized fields — I’m sure it comes as no surprise that AI and semiconductors are big! But in the nonSTEM areas, for example, we’ve got microcredentials in consumer analytics and viral content creation. The other thing that I think about a lot is the fact that transfer students are a big chunk of our population. Therefore, making the transfer process smoother is part of how we attract community college students and others into the mix. It can’t be business as usual. We cannot take increasing enrollment for granted. Do we need enrollment to keep increasing? We’re already the biggest school in the state. Part of it is our reach. I mean, we want, through our land-grant mission, to have influence — and being bigger does mean influence. You have many more of your graduates out in the world doing good things. There are also financial pressures that will inevitably lead you there because of the way costs are increasing. Those costs outstrip tuition and what the state can give us, so part of how you make up for that is through increasing enrollment numbers. There are, of course, limits to how big on- campus enrollment can get. Ecampus offers exciting new offerings and an answer to the problem of physical constraints. ← President Murthy and OSU Foundation President and CEO Shawn Scoville at a 2025 meetup with alumni and friends in Taiwan. Follow her on LinkedIn. OSU’s land-grant mission can be hard to explain, but Oregonians feel the effects when funding for it is reduced. How do you explain the value of statewide engagement? You’re right that it’s when a program disappears that you understand its value most deeply. SNAP-Ed teaches people eligible for federal SNAP benefits how to eat and live healthily. In 2024, 24,000 Oregonians received direct education in these areas. Recently, federal funding for the program was eliminated, which was a devastating loss to OSU employees and the communities they served. Despite that, OSU Extension is working hard to deliver as much of the programming as they can. Outdoor School is another example. OSU Extension runs the state’s weeklong nature education program for fifth and sixth graders. The state cut its funding by 20%, but we’ll continue Outdoor School with maybe a shorter program duration or other adjustments. You can see how important these programs are. People may not know what a land-grant school is, but they access our programs all the time. Other OSU Extension programs that people certainly know about are 4-H and the Master Gardener program. Yes, degree granting is important. Yes, research is important. But this big deep connection to our community is also hugely important. Do you have any stories from communities that illustrate why the work matters? I’ve been making it a point to visit as many extension offices and experiment stations as possible. I’m always struck by the importance of the role that we play and the level of need that there is. There’s so much OSU does that should make us proud. One example: I am a huge potato fan, and I’m married to a man who lives exclusively on potatoes, it seems! I was at the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, one of two potato research facilities that we run (along with the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center), and I learned an interesting fact. The work that we do supports 40% of the frozen potato production in North America — 40%! That’s more than a billion dollars in gross revenue to farmers. You’re about to embark on your second OSU tour of Southeast Asia. What have you learned so far from visiting Beavers around the world? There’s so much love of OSU in the hearts of Beavers everywhere. Of course, the young folks are very connected through social media. They follow us and keep track of the things that are happening — and they’re deeply invested. But even people who have been out for a long time have so much nostalgia about their time at OSU and a lot of gratitude. I mean, we had these evening get-togethers, and people wouldn’t leave! There was just this amazing feeling of catching up with family after a long time. THIS INTERVIEW WAS EDITED FOR CLARITY AND LENGTH. “YES, DEGREE GRANTING IS IMPORTANT. YES, RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT. BUT THIS BIG DEEP CONNECTION TO OUR COMMUNITY IS ALSO HUGELY IMPORTANT.”
NEWS
Spring 2026 13 MANY NATIONS, ONE OCEAN Oregon State science guides historic international pact. Oregon State University research has helped shape a landmark moment for the planet: the enactment of the High Seas Treaty, which went into effect Jan. 17. Formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, it followed more than two decades of negotiations. Its aim is to safeguard the high seas, the two-thirds of the ocean beyond individual nations’ control. “It’s time to celebrate,” said Jane Lubchenco, OSU Wayne and Gladys Valley Chair of Marine Biology. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to protect and sustainably use the biodiversity in an area covering nearly half the planet. That area houses phenomenal biodiversity, but it’s declining and at risk. This new treaty is a very big deal and very good news — science is informing pioneering global policy, and needs to continue doing so.” Central to that science is The MPA Guide (MPA stands for “marine protected areas”), published in 2021 and led by OSU’s Kirsten GrorudColvert and Jenna Sullivan-Stack, who coordinated contributions from more than three dozen scientists to create a road map for planning, evaluating and monitoring marine protected areas. “The High Seas Treaty represents another huge milestone, and I’m really proud of the part OSU plays,” Grorud-Colvert said. — Steve Lundeberg HAPPY MONKEY / ADOBE STOCK
PHOTO BY KAI CASEY BEAVER BRAGS 6 -million-year-old ice — the oldest ever directly dated — was discovered in East Antarctica by researchers with COLDEX, a collaboration of 15 U.S. institutions led by OSU. 100 YEARS of stewardship of the McDonald Research Forest, north of Corvallis, is what Oregon State’s College of Forestry is celebrating this year. ORGANIZING FOR OSU THE BEAVER CAUCUS MARKS 10 YEARS OF ADVOCACY IN SALEM AND BEYOND. By Caley Henderson For the past 10 years, the Beaver Caucus has helped Oregon State University supporters make their voices heard in the halls of government. What began as an effort to organize OSU’s influence in state policymaking has grown into a coalition that includes students, employees, alumni, donors and experts in the legislative process — all focused on advancing OSU’s priorities through coordinated advocacy. When the Beaver Caucus launched in 2015, the university had no centralized system for mobilizing supporters. “We have always had good people rooting for us,” said Jill Eiland, ’73, vice president of the Beaver Caucus Board. “But we didn’t have an organized, orchestrated plan with messages people could help us deliver.” The Caucus was created in response to that need. It serves to coordinate strategies and train volunteers to communicate effectively with elected leaders. Caucus leaders point to a number of high-profile outcomes as evidence of the group’s impact. One is the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts, OSU’s new performing and visual arts center in Corvallis. Alumna Patricia Valian Reser, ’60, ’19 (Hon. Ph.D.), kicked off the construction project with a key $25 million gift. The Caucus used that momentum to 94 MILLION views is what a viral video about OSU’s O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Lab got across social media in 2025. Watch it at beav.es/wave-lab. 1ST PLACE in the nation is what the OSU student literary magazine PRISM earned in the College Media Association’s Pinnacle awards. 14 OregonStater.org
Spring 2026 15 BY THE NUMBERS Advocates make an impact State funding for capital construction projects After the collapse of the original Pac-12, OSU advocates sent more than 10,000 emails to legislators and the governor, resulting in $10 million in funding to support student-athletes. More than 2,500 current advocates in all 90 Oregon legislative districts. CORVALLIS CAMPUS BEND CAMPUS for the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex for the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts $39M for Edward J. Ray Hall $75M $38M $13.8M for the Student Success Center A D V O C A C Y N EWS launch a campaign for state funding. OSU students, employees and leaders spoke with decision-makers about the benefits an arts center would bring to the region. Legislators also heard from K-12 teachers in their districts about what the center would mean for arts education. In the end, the state provided $38 million to complete the project. “We’re effective because we’re all in the same boat, rowing together,” said Tony Williams, ’87, a professional advocate and Beaver Caucus board member. He said that once OSU’s leadership identifies priorities, the Caucus creates a unified approach for talking with legislators and activates its grassroots network of advocates. In other sessions, Caucus advocates helped guarantee funds for capital projects including the JenHsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex and the OSU-Cascades Student has grown increasingly uncertain. In response to these pressures, the Caucus has diversified its focus, advocating for OSU interests at both local and federal levels. For current board member and former state representative Greg Macpherson, one moment illustrates the Beaver Caucus’ power. After all but two member universities abandoned the Pac-12, OSU’s media rights revenue was expected to drop 44%, putting student- athletes’ scholarships at risk. The organization urged supporters to attend a pivotal legislative session sporting Beaver gear. Participants were already invested. They just needed to know what to do. “We had that room nearly filled with people wearing orange,” said Macpherson. Lawmakers ultimately approved $10 million in state funding to fill the gap. Learn more about the Beaver Caucus at beavercaucus.org. Success Center. The group has also continued to advocate for increased public university funding and expanded tuition assistance for Oregon students. Such victories are never guaranteed. Oregon trails many other states in public university funding — ranking 37th nationally in 2024 according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association — and federal funding for research “WE’RE EFFECTIVE BECAUSE WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT, ROWING TOGETHER.”
16 OregonStater.org CREDIT TK N EWS END OF AN ERA MORE THAN A CENTURY OF FRIENDSHIP AND GIVING COMES TO A CLOSE FOR THE OSU FOLK CLUB. By Cora Lassen In the Corvallis Community Center’s Chandler Ballroom, a ghost appeared. The room was packed with women when Leonora Kerr burst into the room, wearing an elaborate black feathered hat, to roaring laughter and applause. She was the wife of William Jasper Kerr, Oregon State president from 1907 to 1932. And her appearance marked the final meeting of the organization she founded in 1908: the OSU Folk Club. Of course, this wasn’t a real ghost. On this particular October afternoon, the apparition was played by Freda Vars, M.S. ’66, a member of the Folk Club for 58 years and the club’s unofficial historian. Vars spoke of the club’s history. Founded as a networking and cultural group for women associated with the university, the club soon began supporting campus projects, including construction of the Memorial Union. Then came the Great Depression. “In B R I E F S COSMIC HONOR A discovery that opened a new window on the universe has earned Oregon State astrophysicist Xavier Siemens the Bruno Rossi Prize, one of the highest honors in high- energy astrophysics. Siemens led an international team of nearly 200 researchers, including OSU students, that detected low-frequency gravitational waves — ripples in space-time first predicted by Albert Einstein. The discovery revealed a long-theorized, universe-spanning background of gravitational waves produced by pairs of supermassive black holes slowly merging. PRINT. MOVE IN. Oregon State University researchers have developed a fast-curing, low-carbon building material designed to make 3-D printing homes and infrastructure faster and more practical. Unlike traditional concrete, the clay-based material hardens as it is printed, eliminating days-long curing delays and allowing construction across unsupported gaps such as window and door openings. Early tests show that it reaches residential-grade strength in just three days and reduces carbon emissions by replacing conventional cement with soil, hemp fibers and biochar. SKIP THE SCALPEL OSU College of Pharmacy researchers have developed new nanoparticles that make it possible to destroy melanoma tumors using low-power, skin-safe laser light instead of surgery or high-powered lasers that can damage healthy skin. The particles collect inside tumors and heat up when exposed to the laser, killing cancer cells while sparing surrounding tissue. In early mouse studies, tumors disappeared without invasive procedures.
Spring 2026 17 OSU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES B R I E F S SCIENCE WITH SPIRIT The name of a new medical imaging breakthrough contains a playful nod to Oregon State’s favorite furry mascot. BVR-19 — a newly patented, manganese-based MRI contrast material — could help patients receive clearer diagnostic images while avoiding the health and environmental concerns tied to commonly used agents. Developed by Oregon State researchers, BVR-19 offers an alternative to conventional MRI contrast agents that rely on rarer, more toxic metals. TOP HONOR FOR MILITARY BEAV Oregon State student Nikki Gold is the first openly LGBTQ+ veteran to be named National Student Veteran of the Year by Student Veterans of America. The honor recognizes leadership, service and advocacy among student veterans nationwide. An undergraduate health student and second-generation Naval veteran, Gold was selected from more than 600,000 candidates across the country. Gold has been involved in peer support and suicide prevention initiatives at OSU and plans to attend law school after graduation. HISTORY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS A new interactive touch table outside the Special Collections and Archives Research Center on the fifth floor of the Valley Library in Corvallis lets visitors explore 150 years of Oregon State University stories in a dynamic, digital format. Drag and open “bubbles” of photos, text and videos that cover historic moments — from early broadcasts and inventions to cultural milestones. The exhibit was first developed for OSU’s 150th anniversary and is now available whenever the library is open. CREDIT TK ORGANIZATIONS 1930, with the stock market crash,” said Vars, “they began raising their own money to give away student scholarships.” This proved to be the beginning of a nearly century-long tradition. The Folk Club has distributed more than $1.5 million in scholarships, with the majority raised through the OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop. Opened in 1949 and staffed entirely with volunteers, the shop now sits at the corner of Second Street and Jackson Avenue. Back in the ballroom, the club’s vice president, Mary Ann Matzke, addressed a special guest. Traditionally, the wife of Oregon State’s president served as honorary president of the Folk Club. “Well, times have changed!” Matzke said. “I’d like to name Dr. Jayathi Murthy our honorary president for this year.” OSU’s 16th president would serve for only a few days, but the symbolic gesture was indicative of the changing times partially responsible for the club’s disbandment. “I think what we saw was a change in our society,” said Ann Kimerling, a member since 1976. “When I arrived here, a lot of women stayed at home, raised families, and if they had careers it was part-time.” According to Kimerling, membership dropped steadily over the next 50 years, from around 450 women in the 1980s to just around 100 in 2025. “Everybody in Folk Club got older,” said Vars. With a lack of new members, the club found itself cycling through the same tight group for leadership positions. At the club’s final meeting, close friendships were evident. “Whenever people sent in their dues, they sent me cards, or little notes, and just little hellos,” said club treasurer Elizabeth Spatafora. “It made me feel so connected to everyone — some of you are my very best friends now.” Though the club may be gone, the thrift shop’s familiar orangeand-black storefront is not. It’s now called the Corvallis Community Thrift Shop, and its volunteer staff — including many former Folk Club members — will continue providing financial support to students and community members. And the history of the Folk Club will live on, thanks to OSU’s Special Collections and Archives and the diligent recordkeeping of members. As Vars said: “I hope someday someone’s going to come and do a project on women’s organizations at the university, and find this wonderful wealth of information.” ← FAR LEFT: Folk Club members tested playground equipment they funded. TOP: All the club’s living past presidents gathered in 1991. BOTTOM: The OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop around 1961. ↑ Leonora Kerr began the Folk Club in 1908 for women affiliated with the university.
18 OregonStater.org DONATO: AIDEN BURGESS; HARBORTON: CHRISTIAN COLUMBRES; SHULER: CADE PATTON/OSU ATHLETICS B O O K S N EWS 1. Enjoying the Evening by Clemens Starck, OSU Facilities Services staff From the late carpenter-poet Clemens Starck comes one final collection, marked by his plainspoken wit and clear-eyed attention to work and place in the Northwest. Starck received the William Stafford Memorial Poetry Award and won the Oregon Book Award for Journeyman’s Wages in 1995. Learn more: bit.ly/Clemens-Starck. 2. Gods of the Smoke Machine by Scott Latta, MFA ’15 Scott Latta draws on memoir and reporting to examine American megachurch culture and its human cost. Meet survivors, attorneys and advocates working to hold institutions to account in this intimate and unsettling look at faith and the misuse of power. Latta received the Southampton Review’s Frank McCourt Memoir Prize in 2016. Learn more: bit.ly/Scott-Latta. 3. I Will Give Them an Everlasting Name by Samuel Cox, ’91 Centering on the verbal accounts of eight survivors, a rescuer and a camp liberator, this book tells the stories of 10 people who found themselves in Jacksonville, Florida, after experiencing the atrocities of the Holocaust in Europe. Learn more: bit.ly/Samuel-Cox. 4. The Psychic by Nancy Bush, ’75 A page-turning suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author Nancy Bush, this intensely eerie story follows Veronica Quick as her ever-present premonitions lead her deeper into a grisly murder case. Learn more: bit.ly/Nancy-Bush. BOOKS BY BEAVERS 2 1 3 4 INSTAWORTHY @oregonstatefoundation @beaverwbb @ hatfieldmsc Student Natalie Donato shows off the Oregon “Vibrant Ocean” license plate she designed to support shark research at OSU. Learn about it at beav.es/shark-plate. Kennedie Shuler became one of only four student-athletes in the past 25 years to record 10 steals and three blocks in a game. She was named WCC Player of the Week and USBWA National Player of the Week after the Beavs’ overtime victory against Gonzaga. Hatfield Marine Science Center’s new housing facility, Harborton Street Housing, opened in Newport.
RESEARCH Spring 2026 19 PHOTO BY KARL MAASDAM, ’93 MAPPING WAR How an OSU geographer helps us understand the world’s conflicts. By Nancy Steinberg While the field of geography is often thought of as the study of spatial relationships, some geographers are as concerned with time as they are with space. Temporal change in places experiencing conflict or disaster, —and the reasons for that change — is what drives Associate Professor Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. Van Den Hoek and the Conflict Ecology lab that he leads use satellite imagery to characterize long-term, nationwide changes in conflict settings where it’s often too dangerous to collect information on the ground. He uses a combination of technologies to track the destruction of infrastructure, changes in land use related to conflict, and the movement of people — all with the goal of providing critical information to aid organizations and the media. continued
20 OregonStater.org R E S E AR C H Much of what the world knows about the progression of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza is due to the work of Van Den Hoek and his team: The maps they have created have been staples of wartime reporting in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Public Radio and other outlets. What does war look like from space? Van Den Hoek and his team look at a range of changes, such as the destruction of buildings and roads in urban settings, loss or abandonment of agriculture and the establishment of refugee settlements. “Increasingly we’re looking at other signals, too, like atmospheric conditions, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions attributable to largescale war, smoke signals and more,” he says. It’s the integration of these disparate techniques and tools that truly helps Van Den Hoek understand the progress of conflict rather than just its footprint. “We consider ourselves to be conducting conflict-engaged, rather than simply conflict-aware, work,” he explains. While a conflict-aware project might look at a single parameter in a conflict zone, like deforestation, and MUCH OF WHAT THE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT THE PROGRESSION OF THE WARS IN UKRAINE AND GAZA IS DUE TO THE WORK OF VAN DEN HOEK AND HIS TEAM. attribute that change to the conflict, his approach engages more deeply in understanding the damage patterns that result from more specific factors like changes in territorial control. He explains that the difference lies in using a suite of complementary approaches to study change, and linking that data to other kinds of information, including mainstream and social media reports, the history of the conflict area, troop deployment information and any data that can be collected on the ground. The study of urban conflict areas is challenging, but in some ways it is a little easier than looking at change in other types of landscapes. All studies of change need a baseline, and Van Den Hoek explains that he “exploits the fact that cities tend to look largely the same year after year,” as opposed to agricultural areas that change seasonally and over spans of years. With a solid baseline drawn from pre-war records, Van Den Hoek and his team examine images of urban conflict and look for building damage using a kind of open-source radar imagery captured weekly by the European Space Agency. This imaging, taken from a side angle rather than strictly from above (like the imagery used by Google or Apple Maps), detects the loss of buildings as well as changes like scorch marks that might indicate internal damage. Review of the imagery is automated using algorithms written and updated by Van Den Hoek and his team; results of their analyses for urban areas include numbers and percentages of buildings damaged. Each new analysis of changes in Gaza, Ukraine or elsewhere is sent to Van Den Hoek’s list of hundreds of media contacts and non-governmental and aid organizations, who use it to inform the world and, when possible, to take humanitarian action. His lab’s work has revealed that nearly 200,000 buildings have been destroyed so far in Gaza, and twice that many have been destroyed in Ukraine. While Gaza and Ukraine garner the mostWestern media attention,Van Den Hoek would like his work to raise awareness of lesser-known but similarly destructive conflicts, too. “There are half a dozen conflict areas in the world that should be getting more attention. Sudan, for example, has for months been identified as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis,” he says. continued
Spring 2026 21 2024 THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY G E O G R A P H Y Van Den Hoek says the hardest impact to monitor is also the most important, and the one he cares about most deeply: the effects of conflicts on people. His approach can’t say whether there were people in a building when it was destroyed, or where survivors went after an attack. But his team is trying to track the migration of people in war zones and gain insights into what post-conflict life looks like for both refugees (people who leave their country due to disaster) and internally displaced people (those who leave home but stay within their own country’s borders). “There’s a weight, a burden to this work. I want to do it in a way that’s helpful to others, and I recognize that it affects a lot of extremely vulnerable people,” he says. “I think the continuing goal is to do this work in a rigorous way, with shareable outcomes that are relevant not to understanding the war per se but understanding how to lessen the harm on civilians. “The global humanitarian system is in tatters right now, in the worst shape it’s been in for a long time. I’m hoping for a turning point and hoping that our work of the last couple of years can serve as an example of what can be done transparently and collaboratively.” “THERE ARE HALF A DOZEN CONFLICT AREAS IN THE WORLD THAT SHOULD BE GETTING MORE ATTENTION.” The Data Behind the Headlines When major news outlets want to understand the devastating impact of war, they often turn to OSU’s Jamon Van Den Hoek and his Conflict Ecology lab. In the 2024 article “What Ukraine Has Lost,” The New York Times’ graphics editor Marco Hernandez and senior editor Tim Wallace created an arresting set of charts, using the lab’s data, that provided the first visualizations of the war’s destruction. “I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Jamon,” Hernandez said. “The work he does is exceptional and has made it possible to inform our readers not only about what is happening in Ukraine but in many other parts of the world, with an accuracy and efficiency that no one else has been able to achieve before.”
Artificial intelligence is shaping how we grow food, understand human behavior, make policy and solve complex global challenges. That’s why Oregon State University’s new AI fundamentals microcredentials focus on building practical AI skills for professionals in every field, not just technologists. What is a microcredential? Oregon State’s AI microcredentials consist of three courses that provide an introduction to AI based on ethics and real-world contexts. These short-form credentials, delivered online and on campus, enable you to gain specialized skills and earn an OSU digital badge upon completion. AI is changing everything. Now it can elevate your next move. Explore all AI fundamentals microcredentials: beav.es/aifundamentals AI for farmers. AI for psychologists. AI for policymakers. AI for everyone. AI FUNDAMENTALS MICROCREDENTIALS
CULTURE Spring 2026 23 PHOTOS BY KARL MAASDAM, ’93 IN SEARCH OF WONDER Off trail with an Oregon State undergraduate mushroom foray. By Cora Lassen There was a steady drizzle drumming against the fall foliage when I arrived at Oak Creek with the rest of Associate Professor Jessie Uehling’s mycology class. The sky was gray, but the forest floor was an explosion of fall colors. Baskets in hand, we dispersed, all of us rooting through the wet leaf litter, our eyes close to the ground — or walking slowly through it, scanning for colors or shapes that stood out against the busy backdrop. I was tagging along as an observer, not a student, but every flash of color on the forest floor still sent my heart racing. My eyes played tricks on me: at one point, I mistook a nail in a log for a mushroom, reaching out hopefully to touch it. Other times, I brushed aside leaves to reveal a wet, slightly sticky brown cap, or found greenish shelf mushrooms on a rotting stump. continued
24 OregonStater.org C U LT UR E Uehling moved between groups, guiding their handson identification processes. “What do you smell?” she asked one student, who was holding a small white mushroom with a feathery underside. The group passed the mushroom around, bringing it carefully to their noses.“Some people say this one smells like green corn.” Several years ago, in my early 20s, I bought a mushroom field guide and became obsessed with fungi overnight. Before, the word “mushroom” had conjured up a mental image of gray button mushrooms from the grocery store. In my field guide, it was an entirely different story: Coral mushrooms reached up from the forest floor just like their namesake, with delicate branching limbs. Enormous puffballs ballooned from the earth, larger than a human head. Witch’s butter was smeared, jellylike, on tree trunks. My relationship with the outdoors was forever changed. I began to notice the fungi that had always been there — in forests, yes, but also on lawns, on the side of the road, or on piles of mulch. Every time I saw one, I had to drop everything and consult my field guide. That feeling followed me when I moved from the Midwest to Oregon. As a writing MFA student working with the Oregon Stater, I’m always looking for stories that connect people to place — and the wet forests of the Northwest seemed to be a fun- “WE THINK THAT WE UNDERSTAND MAYBE 5% OF THE FUNGAL SPECIES THAT ARE OUT THERE.” gal paradise. I found myself wondering what mushroom hunting looked like in this ecoregion, and what community might exist around it at Oregon State. My curiosity brought me to Uehling’s class field trip. “What we have here is very rare,” Uehling explained. “Most universities have maybe one mycologist in one department, but we have this kind of constellation of mycologists — probably a dozen mycologically oriented professors across different departments in the university.” Interdisciplinary interest in fungi extends well beyond the classroom and academia. Not only do mushrooms have a growing presence in the cultural imagination right now — one of the students on this trip sported a crocheted mushroom hat — but the science of mycology is also a growing field with surprising practical applications. “There are a lot of companies popping up now that use fungi to make interesting materials,” said Uehling. “Dairy-free cheeses, styrofoam alternatives, alternative leathers, nontoxic dyes. … The list goes on.” New uses raise new questions about safety, oversight and environmental impact. One of the problems is a lack of information. “Compared to other fields, [mycologists] have very little baseline data on fungal populations and their distributions,” said Uehling. Luckily, mycology is a field with a history of welcoming amateur enthusiasts like me — or like the students in Uehling’s class, whether or not they go on to pursue mycology as a career. “We’ve been partnering with regional mycology clubs and harnessing the power of citizen science to make a running list of every fungal species in the state,” Uehling said. Among the apps that make this kind of data collection easy is iNaturalist. It is user-friendly and AI-powered. Anyone can snap a picture of an interesting-looking fungus and upload it to its database. The result is a crowd-sourced library of geotagged continued continued
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==