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HIGH TECH MAPS | PATHWAY TO STUDENT SUCCESS | SAUDI FEMINIST OregonWINTER 2015 QUARTERLY “Much of what I learned in graduate school was wrong. It’s wonderful.” THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Cheer in Style. is striking “O” is hand made at Skeie’s Jewelers in Eugene Oregon, the home of the Ducks! Please Call for price and availability. 10 Oakway Center Eugene, OR 97401 541-345-0354 www.skeies.com 13-1201_Skeies Ad qrtr pg.indd 1 1/27/14 1:10 PM EDITOR’S NOTE dialogue Stories of Transformation One of the best things about serving as Oregon Quarterly’s editor is, of course, the stories. The stories are why you pick up the magazine when it arrives in your mailbox (or inbox, or Facebook feed), THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON and they’re why I’m convinced I have one of the best jobs in town. It’s not just about the stories we WINTER 2015 • VOLUME 95 NUMBER 2 bring you, our readers, but also the stories you bring us. Many of my favorites involve escapades and shenanigans of decades past, which are recounted by alumni as if the mischief took place just EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Ann Wiens last week. Those are the funny ones—of painting the “O” on Skinner Butte, chasing Puddles in the [email protected] | 541-346-5048 Millrace, and pranking one’s housemates in admirably creative ways. MANAGING EDITOR Jonathan Graham [email protected] | 541-346-5047 The most moving stories, though, are about transformation. I’m consistently humbled and SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR Rosemary Camozzi impressed by the stories I hear of the very real difference attending the University of Oregon [email protected] | 541-346-3606 made in the trajectory of someone’s life. The intellectual and creative passions stoked, the careers ART DIRECTOR JoDee Stringham [email protected] | 541-346-1593 launched, and the lifelong relationships fostered on this campus. So it’s no wonder that the concern ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Susi Thelen I hear most often from alumni is their worry that bright, ambitious, young people will not have [email protected] | 541-346-5046 the same opportunities they did. That lower- and middle-income students are losing access to the PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATOR Shelly Cooper very thing—a college degree—that has been shown, time and time again, to be one of the greatest [email protected] | 541-346-5045 positive influences on one’s lifetime earnings (1.6 times greater than those with high-school diplo- STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Charlie Litchfield PROOFREADERS Sharleen Nelson, Scott Skelton mas alone), and even on their health, happiness, and community involvement. INTERN Chloe Huckins This week, as we prepared to send this issue of Oregon Quarterly to press, the UO’s new president EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD spoke to the campus community on this very topic. In his first all-campus address, Michael Schill Mark Blaine, Betsy Boyd, Kathi O’Neil Dordevic, Kathleen Holt, Alexandra Lyons, Kenneth O’Connell, laid out an initiative he calls the Oregon Commitment. It’s a “promise of access and success,” a Holly Simons, Mike Thoele seven-point plan designed to make the university more affordable for lower-income students; to WEBSITE OregonQuarterly.com support pipeline programs that prepare high school students for the rigors of college; to improve MAILING ADDRESS retention rates and on-time graduation (because graduating in four years is one of the surest ways 5228 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon 97403-5228 to reduce student debt); and to significantly expand scholarships and financial aid, primarily Phone 541-346-5045 through philanthropic support. 541-346-5047 EDITORIAL It was a heartening message to hear, particularly as we wrapped up work on this issue. One of ADVERTISING SALES Ross Johnson, 1859 Media [email protected] | 541-948-5200 our feature stories, “Dreams Within Reach,” focuses on PathwayOregon, a program that is central E-MAIL [email protected] to the president’s initiative. Launched in 2008, within its first year PathwayOregon nearly erased OREGON QUARTERLY is published by the UO in February, the gap in four-year graduation rates between Oregon students eligible for Federal Pell Grants (a May, August, and November and distributed free to alumni. Printed in the USA on recycled paper. © 2015 University need-based program) and their more affluent peers. The program—which employs an innova- of Oregon. All rights reserved. Views expressed do not tive mix of financial, academic, and social support and leverages multiple funding sources—has necessarily reflect those of the UO administration. enabled thousands of students to attend the UO. Hearing their stories, four of which are included CHANGE OF ADDRESS Alumni Records, 1204 University of Oregon, in this issue beginning on page 32, reminded me why this job is so rewarding. We’re all well Eugene, Oregon 97403-1204 541-302-0336, [email protected] aware of the rising cost of higher education and the staggering burden of student debt facing recent ADMINISTRATION graduates in our country. But the steps the UO is taking, through programs like PathwayOregon President Michael H. Schill, Senior Vice President and initiatives like President Schill’s Oregon Commitment, assure me that the UO will continue and Provost Scott Coltrane, Vice President for University Advancement Michael Andreasen, Vice President for to fight the good fight for access to higher education. And seeing our students rise to the occasion, University Communications Kyle Henley, Vice President for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson, Vice committing themselves to making the most of the opportunities they’ve earned, gives me optimism President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt, that more students will have stories of transformation to tell, like so many of our alumni do, for Vice President for Institutional Equity and Inclusion Yvette Marie Alex-Assensoh, Vice President for Student generations to come. Life Robin Holmes, Interim Vice President for Research Brad Shelton, Associate Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the UO Alumni Association Ann Wiens, Editor Paul Clifford UO INFORMATION 541-346-1000 [email protected] The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request: 541-346-5048. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 1 contents DEPARTMENTS One wears an apron stained DIALOGUE 1 with something red, but it’s 1 Editor’s Note 12 definitely not tomato sauce. 4 Letters The other wears jeans and a T-shirt that reads, ‘This guy likes INTRO 9 fistfights.’ Too late, I wonder if 10 Campus News Blivet can be trusted. 10 —THE SEARCH FOR ALABY BLIVET 50 ON THE COVER Jon Erlandson, director of the Museum of Natural and 12 The Search for Alaby Blivet Cultural History, with a drawer 18 Map Quest of ancient artifacts, including 21 Cracking the “Nut” one of the 10,000-year-old sandals discovered by Luther 26 Off and Running Cressman in 1938. 28 Profile: Sharon Paul PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE SMITH 29 Bookmarks Left: Shelly Bowerman has 30 The Best . a hoe, and she knows how to use it. She is part of a burgeoning movement to turn vacant lots OLD OREGON 49 into urban farms. 50 Farming for the Future 52 Driving Change 54 Class Notes 64 Because Science 2 OREGON QUARTERLY | WINTER 2015 SHAKESPEARE FIRST FOLIO, 1623. FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY. BOWERMAN: PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE LITCHFIELD The Magazine of the University of Oregon Winter 2015 Vol. 95 No. 2 OQ ONLINE OregonQuarterly.com WEBSITE EXCLUSIVE See video testimonials and read more about how students are benefitting from the UO’s Pathway- Oregon program at uoregon.edu/pathway. TALK TO US Comment on stories and share your 44 favorites with others via e-mail and social media. MORE TO LOVE See addi- tional materials—including FEATURES video—related to stories 32 DREAMS WITHIN REACH in the print edition, and read The PathwayOregon program helps take down the barriers— stories not found in the economic, academic, and social—that can limit low-income pages of this publication. students’ access to higher education. LEARN MORE Read a BY ED DORSCH little more about the people who create Oregon 38 SEA CHANGE: RETHINKING EARLY Quarterly and learn about HUMAN MIGRATION TO THE AMERICAS our approach to covering Two agate tools found in Eastern Oregon have reshaped archaeolo- the university and its gists’ view of how and when the first settlers came to our state. alumni. BY BONNIE HENDERSON JOIN IN Submit letters, class notes, and photos for 44 LOVE BRINGS US HOME: CARING FOR our “Ducks Afield” section. DRUG-EXPOSED BABIES It takes a special kind of family to raise children who are victims of parental drug abuse, but with the help of extensive research and support, kids are thriving in their placements with local families. BY MELISSA HART ILLUSTRATION BY KATHERINE STREETER THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 3 dialogue LETTERS Our Plastics Problem “Awash in Plastic” ends with a paragraph Thank you for writing such an informative about reducing plastic through personal con- and impressive article (“Awash in Plastic,” sumer choices. That’s not pointless, and is also not a solution. Plastic makers are getting Autumn 2015). I’ve known about these a free ride. Their products are not cheaper, humongous ocean debris areas from read- nor harmless to dispose. Impact costs could be embedded in manufacture and sale. We ing previous articles. Your article made all pay for it in different ways already. Policy them more real to the imagination. I felt as changes are required. Andrew Stone if I were along on your trip.