HOMECOMING MEANS TRADITION 38 A fiercely contested tug of war was just part of the fun at Homecoming 2017, which also included a carnival and an OSU150 celebration. (Photo by Hannah O’Leary) CONTENTS INSIDE 32 Head games: OSU research project aims to reduce head injuries among athletes. 4 Editor’s letter: OSU’s history, told in detail and without 36 Looking back: How did Beavers mark the university’s centennial? flinching. 38 Time for a party: Carnival, OSU150 displays mark Homecoming. 6 Letters and corrections: More back-and-forth on climate change; pushback on vitamins; complaints about the quiz. 40 Association news: Director appreciates online learning; alumni center turns 20; C2C team gathers answers; student ambassador 8 Ed said: What does OSU’s president do in his spare time? tells why he’s a Beaver forever. 9 What do you know? Familiar and not-so-familiar photos test 46 Athletes’ journal: Soccer player is a helpful entrepreneur. Beaver knowledge. 48 Sports: New coaches for women’s rowing and track and cross- 14 Beaver brags: Help spread the word about the best of OSU. country; the Giant Killers revisit campus. 16 Healthy life: The Linus Pauling Institute discusses why just 54 Joyful, awestruck trip to darkness and back: Thousands gather trying to eat right might not be enough. on campus to mark the total eclipse. 17 Storytellers: New regular feature spotlights stories in the 56 Of note: Welcome new life members and take note of Beaver university’s oral history collection. passings, accomplishments, publications and more. 18 More and more Beavers: Enrollment numbers are in, and 59 Get the job you want: Building careers for 150 years. growth continues, mostly away from the main campus. 61 One of us: North Dakotan says College of Veterinary Medicine 20 Cheesy goodness: Beaver Classic Cheese thrives as a career prepared him well. and business launching pad — and covers its costs. 63 Big success can be small: This OSU engineer makes a large 25 Guide for tough conversations: Ecampus student’s business impact with her one-woman firm. helps workplaces and workmates support transgender employees. On the cover: Kamryn Diaz’s father Albert gives her a lift. Albert and Samantha Diaz (Kamryn’s mom) are part of the rapidly growing 26 Images of success and generosity: Vignettes show how giving number of faraway Beavers who use OSU Ecampus to elevate and accomplishment feed one another at OSU. their lives. Story on page 22. (Photo by Chris Becerra) 30 Studying and service: Both are crucial to this student’s life. ON THE WEB Oregon State University: oregonstate.edu OSU Foundation: osufoundation.org FACEBOOK OSU Athletics: osubeavers.com Oregon State: facebook.com/osubeavers OSU Alumni Association: osualum.com OSU-Cascades: facebook.com/osucascades ONLINE Oregon Stater: osualum.com/stater OSU Athletics: facebook.com/beaverathletics Digital Oregon Stater: osualum.com/digitalstater OSUAA: facebook.com/oregonstatealum OSUF: facebook.com/oregonstatefoundation 2 OREGON STATER BACK WHERE SHE LOVES TO BE 50 A love of place, rowing and sharing lessons led Kate Maxim back to OSU. (Photo by Hannah O’Leary) C2C: FINDERS OF ANSWERS 42 Student business consultants and their faculty mentors have true skills to share. (Photo by Hannah O’Leary) TWITTER INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN Oregon State: @oregonstate Oregon State: @oregonstate Search for “Oregon State University” OSU-Cascades: @OSU_Cascades OSU-Cascades: @osucascades Search for “Beaver Careers Group” OSU Athletics: @beaverathletics OSU Athletics: @beaverathletics Search for “Oregon State University OSUAA: @oregonstatealum OSUAA: @oregonstatealumni International Alumni” OSUF: @oregonstatefoundation WINTER 2018 3 New OSU history tells our true story Universities, like most insti- the University of Oregon — gives the book high marks for tutions, like to remember readability, candor and thoroughness: themselves through rose- “Robbins maintains his promise to place events and trends on colored or — in Oregon the Corvallis campus within larger contexts,” writes Etulain. State’s case — orange-tinted “We see how troubling economic times in the late 19th century EDITOR’S LETTER glasses. It’s no surprise that and the Great Depression brought downturns in enrollments university histories written and, as a result, belt-tightening decisions. World wars and the by insiders sometimes read Vietnam War reduced the number of male students and then like annotated love letters, brought many back as veterans. New Deal policies, such as steeped in pride and nostal- the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation gia but vague and imprecise Corps work relief programs, also shaped artistic, environmental about the dicier bits of the and curricular decisions on campus.” story. The People’s School is not an easy, breezy read. For me it Not so with The People’s brought to mind a fifth-grader in my life who once picked up School: A History of Oregon a new textbook, thumbed through it for about 20 seconds, State University, the new dropped it on his desk and rolled his eyes in disgust. book by OSU history professor emeritus William Robbins, avail- able from OSU Press just in time for the OSU150 celebration at “Oh, no,” he exclaimed. “This has facts in it!” osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/peoples-school. Indeed, The People’s School has facts in it. Robbins never For those of us who care deeply about OSU, as Robbins clearly flinches from his mission to get us to understand how what was does, reading this meticulously researched and precisely writ- happening on our favorite campus in Corvallis and elsewhere in ten book is like sitting down with a great-grandparent who has OSU’s expanding footprint affected — and was affected by — a sharp memory and a lot of love for the family, but is no longer the events of the times. worried about appearances. We get to learn all that stuff we’ve For me — with a better-than-most but by no means thorough always wondered about the family stories, for better and for understanding of OSU history — the book offered many rea- worse. Ah-ha moments, frowns and broad smiles abound. sons to pause and say, “Oh, so that’s why that happened.” The Oregonian calls The People’s School “a must-read history What more can one ask of a history? q of Oregon State University,” and its reviewer, noted historian Richard W. Etulain — a graduate of Northwest Nazarene and — Kevin Miller ’78, editor OREGON STATER Editor Produced for the OSU community around Kevin Miller ’78 the world by the OSU Alumni Association Winter 2018, Vol. 103, No. 1 in collaboration with the OSU Foundation ©OSU Alumni Association [email protected] Direct: 541-737-0780 and OSU. CONTACT THE STATER Toll-free: 877-678-2837 Printed with ink containing soy at Journal 877-OSTATER (877-678-2837) Graphics in Portland. [email protected] Associate editors Oregon Stater, 204 CH2M HILL History and traditions: Oregon Stater (ISSN 0885-3258) Alumni Center, Corvallis, OR 97331 Hannah O’Leary ’13 is a publication of the Oregon State Univer- Design: Teresa Hall ’06 sity Alumni Association, mailed three times UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS Philanthropy: Molly Brown a year. Postage paid at Corvallis, OR 97333 osualum.com/address Photography: Hannah O’Leary ’13 and other locations. Sports: Kip Carlson TABLET-FRIENDLY & PDF VERSIONS University research: Nick Houtman osualum.com/stater Chief proofreader Publishers Janet Phillips McKensey ’79 Kathy Bickel, executive director and vice president of alumni relations; ADVERTISING Wade Westhoff ’93, president, OSUAA 877-OSTATER (877-678-2837) [email protected] 4 OREGON STATER FW OSU mag 910.17_Layout 1 10/17/17 5:39 PM Page 1 Our employees stand behind our numbers and proudly back Oregon State University. $3 million minimum fergusonwellman.com $750,000 minimum westbearinginvest .com Data as of 1/1/17 Why no renaming letters? say we can’t do anything about it is to It is easier, of course, to claim that condemn us all to a frightening future. humans didn’t cause climate change From the editor: The Oregon Stater We have a moral obligation to prevent (if we didn’t cause it, we can hardly received a handful of letters regarding climate change. correct for it) but Mr. Doenges takes it the university’s consideration of renaming a step further, arguing that regardless, four campus buildings because of allegedly Now for the good news: The solution it is “foolish” to even try. If humanity LETTERS racist aspects in the lives of the buildings’ is simply a matter of choice. We have can’t adapt to climate change, then we namesakes. We sent them on to Steve the technology that allows us to deserve to go extinct. Clark, vice president of university relations cut greenhouse gases to essentially and marketing, who entered them into the zero, solving most of the problem. Few would argue that we are the most body of information to be considered by Adjustments to agricultural practices advanced civilization to ever walk this the committee making recommendations, and eating habits, as well as emphasizing planet. We have harnessed the power and by President Ed Ray, in advance of his local economies, takes care of even of the sun, the wind, the atom, the decisions on the matters. more. By doing the above, the problem oceans and the various carbon sinks of is essentially solved and our lives will be prehistory. We control our indoor climate We didn’t print the letters in this issue of better for it. As I said, solving climate to a state unimaginable 100 years ago. the Stater because President Ray planned change is a matter of the choices we to announce his decision in late November, This magazine itself is of an advanced make. It always has been. which was after we had to send the issue scientific institution.