SOU Alumni

Theatre alumna leads in her small community

kuriyamf — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:46:45 +0000

Olena Hodges ’15

Theatre alumna leads in her small community

Growing up on Whidbey Island, WA, and being the daughter of visual artists, Olena Hodges ’15 , found herself as a young girl in the Whidbey Island Children’s Theatre, with dreams of acting in Romeo and Juliet from age four on. Graduating high school in 2006, she initially wanted a small school liberal arts education but ended up enrolling at nearby Western Washington University. There she took her first general acting class, which she loved.

In 2008 she moved to New York and attended the Circle in the Square Theatre School from 2008-10. She loved the experience in NY but wanted to complete a degree in theatre arts. She knew all about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland and considered SOU’s program to help her achieve the degree. She eventually moved to Ashland but didn’t start her course work, choosing to save some money. “I knew no one in Ashland or on campus and was completely by myself initially,” said Hodges. She secured a job as a barista at The Beanery on Ashland Street and got a part time position at OSF as an usher. There she met a few SOU theatre alums and she began classes as a transfer student winter of 2011.

Very few of her previous courses transferred so she began her work as a sophomore in standing. “I absolutely loved the theatre program and professors at SOU. I was 22 at the beginning and felt much older than many of the students but it didn’t deter me from enjoying the program and its welcoming community,” she said. After one year in the program, she applied for and was accepted into the bachelor of fine arts (BFA) program where she joined a close-knit cohort of motivated and likeminded students. She particularly enjoyed the mentoring of Jackie Apodaca and Kyle Haden in the department and remains connected to them over a decade later. She also enjoyed the complete liberal arts experience, taking courses outside of her major like astronomy and history of metals in civilization. “I had an ‘experience it all’ environment in the program and I take that with me even to this day,” she added.

Post-graduation she stayed in Ashland through 2015 then moved back to Whidbey Island. She accepted her first career position as the Marketing Director at the Island Shakespeare Festival (ISF). After a staff member departed, she stepped into the role of interim Artistic Director at ISF then the board of directors hired her permanently as Executive Artistic Director. “I love social justice and building passion and empathy with our theatre in our small local community. I am always looking for more ways to help this community that I love. This is exactly the place where we can educate and influence,” said Hodges.

Her connections to SOU extend to her cohort and former professors, several of whom have directed in the summer at ISF. She is also involved with the Shakespeare Theatre Association and belongs to Theatre Communications Group for collaborative mentorship and teamwork.

“My degree from Southern Oregon University taught me that theatre is, at its core, a collaborative art built through shared purpose. The program’s hands-on approach to every facet of production, from building props to painting sets, gave me practical skills and a deep respect for the work behind the scenes, both of which continue to shape how I lead as an executive artistic director today.”

Learn more: Island Shakespeare Festival

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Alum quite busy in retirement

kuriyamf — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 18:53:02 +0000

Steve Stenkamp ’80

Alum quite busy in retirement

Stenkamp ’80 family homesteaded in the Bend area over 110 years ago where he was raised and graduated from Bend HS. For two years, he attended Central Oregon Community College with a forest products degree interest, which would entail a transfer to Oregon State University in Corvallis. Having grown up in the high desert, Stenkamp was not thrilled about the high precipitation in the Willamette Valley. With an affinity for good weather and potential for skiing at Mt. Ashland, he made Southern Oregon State College (SOSC) his choice for a transfer.

On campus, Stenkamp gave up 45 credit hours that would not transfer as he focused on earning a business degree at SOSC. “Losing those credits was actually a good thing for me in terms of a maturation process,” he said. He became a Resident Assistant (RA) in Forest Hall then later, the Cedar Hall Head Resident (HR) and enjoyed the leadership aspect of being responsible for 50-100 people from diverse backgrounds, through campus housing. “I learned a lot about human dynamics and the ups and downs of young people finding their way in an academic and social setting. I learned to treat people fairly and they will have your back even if you are not there to win popularity contests,” said Stenkamp. “The entire experience was a real-life practicum.”

Academically, he enjoyed Tom Hitzelberger’s challenging business classes and expressing his opinion among his peers in class. One of Stenkamp’s proud moments on campus was his senior project, conducting surveys and publishing a report about saving the old Swedenburg House (now the Plunkett Center) on the north side of campus. In some small way, he believes it helped to preserve the building, which got an overhaul and refurbish in the early 1980s. His senior year was the best as he was able to be an HR, take a full schedule academically, get in 52 days of skiing and make the honor roll.

Steve graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business June of 1980. He immediately got involved in the ski industry working at Mt. Bachelor part time and helping to restore the Willamette Pass Ski Area between Eugene and Bend. His supervisory experience at SOSC veritably helped him in the real world. Over the years, he became a volunteer with the Bend Fire Department and spent over a decade teaching woodworking, mechanical drawing, architecture and fire science at Bend HS. In 2014, he was hired full time by Bend Fire Department then retired in 2019 so that he could enjoy “seven Saturdays per week!”

In 2016, Stenkamp took an interest in the history of ski areas in Oregon. By 2018, he started a Facebook page about Oregon’s Lost Ski Areas, conducted boots on the ground research across the state then published a book with the same title in 2024. “I’ve experienced passion and fun combining my love of the outdoors with research of the old ski areas in this state,” said Stenkamp.

Additionally, Steve served on the Bend City Council for four years and also as mayor for two years and has served on the Bend Metro Parks board and volunteers for the United Way and the Deschutes Historical Museum.

Southern Oregon State College was a trifecta for me: It was a good academic challenge; it had a wonderful social atmosphere and there were many outdoor opportunities.

Learn more: Oregon’s Lost Ski Areas

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History alum makes waves in the coffee industry

kuriyamf — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 16:50:26 +0000

Sam Sabori ’09

History alum makes waves in the coffee industry

Born in Klamath Falls but raised in Medford, Sam Sabori ’09, graduated South Medford HS then started his collegiate career at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Sam enrolled in multiple history and music courses but found that his core classes were too big, often having more than 100-200 students in each class. So, Sam found his way back to the Rogue Valley and transferred his credits to SOU in Ashland.

At SOU, Sam found his focus in the smaller class sizes and set his attention to music and history. “I actually spent more time earning my minor in music than my BA in history. I spent a lot of time in a practice room, understanding music at a higher level, and I am fortunate to have professors like Terry Longshore who were patient with me and extremely knowledgeable,” he said. Sabori’s coursework in history included classes with Jay Mullen, a former CIA officer. “Professor Mullen pushed us to understand the details within our area of focus, but also encouraged us to see what it was like to live and make decisions in the areas of history we were studying,” he added.

After graduation June of 2009 with his bachelors in history and a music minor, it was a former teacher at South Medford HS who had a tremendous influence on his career track; Jared Rennie ’99 MAT ’00. Jared built a new coffee roasting company in Ashland, Noble Coffee. Sabori worked for Noble for two years, starting as a barista, and eventually promoting to production roaster. After two years with Noble, in 2011, he was recruited to work for Intelligentsia Coffee as a Quality Control Specialist and Production Roaster. Sabori has been growing within Intelligentsia for 14 years, taking on more responsibility, from National Lead Roaster, to Head of Quality Control, to Director of Coffee, to his current position, Senior Director of Coffee and Operations. In 2014, he got to participate in a hilarious Conan O’Brien episode at Intelligentsia. The YouTube version of that episode now has over 23 million views!

As Sabori’s career has taken off with Intelligentsia, he’s been able to move into different positions withinthe company that requires him to travel to other countries and he’s come to appreciate different cultures and standards of living overseas because of it. He’s now working out of Chicago. “We roast around four million pounds of coffee annually and have shops in Chicago, LA, Austin, New York, Boston and South Korea,” said Sabori.

“For me, I love understanding the story of coffee and maximizing the potential of the product alongside those that grow it. Going to some parts of the world is similar to a coffee pilgrimage. I’m thankful for SOU mentors like Terry Longshore and Jay Mullen and Jared Rennie at Noble Coffee and the leadership here at Intelligentsia who have provided me the opportunity to have a fulfilling career.”

Learn more: Intelligentsia Coffee

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Graduation after a 30-Year Break

kuriyamf — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:21:09 +0000

Karen Jeffery ’11

Graduation after a 30-Year Break

Southern Oregon University (SOU) has hundreds of non-traditional students who work, go to school part or full time and take care of their families while trying to make ends meet. Karen Jeffery ’11 epitomizes the hard working, dedicated and family-oriented non-traditional students here at SOU. She grew up in Seattle and the Midwest before heading to California to study at the University of California – Irvine (UC Irvine). Then after a year teaching in Hawaii, she relocated to Oregon and opened a restaurant. By the late 1970s, she returned to Hawaii, where she spent many years building four businesses and raising three children—and eventually welcoming three grandchildren. In 2008, the entire family moved to Ashland.

Although she had completed two years of coursework at UC Irvine, over three decades had passed before Jeffery decided to resume her education at SOU. “Going back to school at a university in my mid-sixties was a difficult challenge, but I loved it and was able to build a 4.0 GPA,” she recalled. While at SOU, she published her first novel, Hot Tickets, and served as a director at Peace House, where she worked alongside student leader Shaun Franks ’14 to support campus activism. “I wanted to be a good role model for my grandsons, now OSU graduates. Having professors I enjoyed and appreciated—like Bill Gholson—was icing on the cake.”

After graduating in 2011, Jeffery wrote for Southern Oregon Magazine and a local free press. She also spent six months in southern France, where she kept up her column, her blog, and began another book project.

Looking back, Jeffery credits SOU with sparking a period of deep growth and new possibility. “SOU gave me the chance to reinvent myself in ways I never imagined,” she said. “It wasn’t just about the degree—it was about finding my voice, engaging with community, and proving to myself and my family that learning truly is lifelong.”

Learn more at: Maui Writer

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Alumna loves her natural resource career

kuriyamf — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:14:22 +0000

Lindsay Abercrombie MSEE ’12

Alumna loves her natural resource career

Lindsay Abercrombie MSEE ’12 grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, then attended and graduated Cal Poly San Louis Obispo for her undergraduate education in animal science. After working as an intern in Africa for eight months, she began researching for graduate school. She settled on the Master of Science in Environmental Education at Southern Oregon University (SOU).

While at SOU in the MSEE program, she earned a graduate assistantship which paid her out of state tuition. “I believe the MSEE program, which has now been discontinued, was one of the best in the country. Stewart Jaynes, Karen Stone and Michael Parker were among the best professors I ever had. They were smart, energetic, engaging and caring,” said Abercrombie. She really loved her time in the field in nearby Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and Fall in the Field programming at the Deer Creek Field Station.

During the culminating project of the MSEE program, Fall in the Field, graduate students worked with a team of thirteen environmental educators in designing and carrying out a two-site, seven-week residential environmental education program for 2nd through 9th grader students. The MSEE candidates taught classes on natural history, ecology, geology, botany, and other topics, tailored specific for grade level, in an outdoor setting. Students also supervised service-learning projects including trail maintenance and construction, and habitat restoration.

After graduating spring of 2012, Abercrombie secured a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wildlife tech job in Pinedale, WY, doing surveys of lizards, raptors and mule deer along with quaking aspen surveys. She worked in this role for two years then moved to Rock Springs, WY with an environmental consulting company as an environmental scientist, studying ground water and soil for one year. In 2015 became a full time BLM employee in Lander, WY, as a surface compliance tech then an environmental protection specialist. Currently she is a Natural Resource Specialist statewide program lead in Lander where she oversees compliance, environmental inspections and monitoring along with spill mitigation for oil and gas leases on BLM public land. All fall under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. “I get to teach new BLM employees and actually got to build a training curriculum from scratch that I’m very proud of. I really love my job and believe I am making a difference out in the field these past 10 years.”

At home, Abercrombie and her US Forest Service employee husband Cody have four horses of which two are adopted BLM mustangs. “Our BLM wild horses really bond with their humans and develop a much closer bond then domestic horses do. We love to get them out into the nearby Wind River Range for adventures.”

“I gained a lot from my time at SOU; it gave me a wealth of knowledge and experience that has benefited me greatly in my career with the Federal government. I look back fondly on my time at SOU and would encourage anyone who is interested in getting a great, hands-on education, in a great town, to consider SOU!”

Learn more: Bureau of Land Management

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Heiken family exudes Raider spirit

kuriyamf — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:37:36 +0000

Bobby ’97, Sarah ’00 & Gabby ’26

Heiken family exudes Raider spirit

If any family epitomizes what it means to be a Raider alum, the Heiken family more than fits that description. For Bobby ’97, Sarah ’00 and their daughter Gabby ’26, the hashtag #RaiderFamily, is the culture they live by.

Sarah grew up in Woodland, California and by age eight, her family went on annual vacations to southern Oregon, camping at Emigrant Lake and watching Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) plays in downtown Ashland. On a college visitation trip in high school, prior to a visit to Oregon State University in Corvallis, her mom suggested Sarah visit SOU. They got a great tour which she loved and she was also attracted to the music-business degree that SOU offered.

On campus, Sarah got involved with being a stage manager, a representative for the music department, was a Raider cheerleader for three years, played an instrument in the Raider Band for a year and she sang the national anthem for home football and basketball games and even got to sing it for the Harlem Globetrotters game when they came to SOU. Sarah did an internship winter term of 2000 with the Britt Festival Marketing Office. “Alice and Stu Turner in the music department and Tom Hitzelberger in the business department were outstanding professors who were all extremely helpful because they had all had prior experience in their fields that they brought to the classrooms, which was very practical for all of us,” said Sarah

Bobby grew up in Mt. Shasta and spent two years attending College of the Siskiyous (COS) in nearby Weed. He took advantage of a reciprocal agreement with Siskiyou County, earned 30 credits at COS and he was able to attend SOU as an in-state student. He was able to volunteer, earned credit and did work study within the athletic department in the sports information field and was the sports editor for the Siskiyou, SOU’s weekly newspaper, which had a staff of over a dozen students back in the day. “Good people like Athletic Director (AD) Monty Cartwright, Sports Information Director (SID) Rich Rosenthal and head trainer Phil Pipfer took me in and mentored me and helped me with my interest in sports information and I had already completed all of my core courses at COS so I was able to be much more involved on campus,” said Bobby. “Tom Pyle and Terrie Claflin were both influential instructors in the journalism program. They all had real life experiences that they brought to campus and their students.”

After graduation in 1997 with his degree in journalism, Bobby worked for the SOU Athletic Department, the Ashland Daily Tidings and ESPN radio then both he and Sarah both went to Colorado in 2002 where Bobby accepted a position as the SID at NCAA D-II Western Colorado University in Gunnison then was the Assistant AD there for six years. Sarah also worked at the Ashland Daily Tidings in advertising sales and in Gunnison entered the home titles and escrow sector.

They returned to Ashland when Bobby took the SID position at SOU. Their daughter Gabby ’26 was born in 2004. Sarah became the Director of Human Resources and Payroll at Coming Attractions Theatres founded by SOU 2010 President’s Medal awardee John Schweiger, a longtime supporter of SOU Athletics, which employs 300 people operating first run movie theatres in Oregon, California, Washington and Alaska. She is also a volunteer for the Rogue Valley Chapter and Oregon State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and recently was voted to become the President of the SOU Alumni Association, having served as a volunteer board member since 2013.

In 2009, Matt Sayre MS ‘02 was hired as the AD at SOU and asked Bobby to become the Associate AD, where he took over all fundraising efforts and external operations for the Athletic Department, including running one of the most successful collegiate athletics golf tourneys in the country, the Lithia & Driveway Golf Shootout. In his 14 years at SOU in charge of the Lithia & Driveway Golf Shootout, the event has brought in nearly $7 million to SOU Athletics, making it the highest collegiate fundraising golf tournament in the country. The 2025 version of the tournament brought in over $790,000 which goes straight to student-athlete scholarships. Heiken was also instrumental in signing corporate partnership deals to secure the video board and sound system at Raider Stadium and install the new field turf summer of 2025 at the stadium.

Gabby has been a Cascade Collegiate Conference and an NAIA scholar-athlete for two years and has NAIA National Championship rings as a member of the SOU Softball team in 2023 and 2025. She is an elementary education major, with a health/physical education minor with a sports management certificate and has a 3.84 GPA. Her thoughts on the SOU experience: “My parents from a young age have given me opportunities to be around college athletics. Being able to go to the same school that they both went to is a very unique experience. They care so much about all of the sports here on campus and are big supporters of SOU athletics. I’m very grateful to have been a part of the Raider family since I was born because of their love for SOU.

On the SOU experience:

Bobby:

“It’s really cool seeing Gabby grow. Even though we see her often she has been living on her
own since she graduated from Ashland HS. This place really supports female student-athletes and she is part of a record setting program. Our athletic department had a 3.3 cumulative GPA this past year and also had a record setting year on the fields and courts – that’s what makes this place special. We have lots of alums working in this department and they know the SOU culture and expectations and it helps breed success. The Rogue Valley is a great place to raise kids so even our young coaches love to stay here.”

Sarah:

“We all have passion for SOU and the community we live in. It helps to make life enjoyable living and working here. It has to be easier for our alums who coach here to be able to recruit and communicate with potential student-athletes because they are alums. We hire many student-athletes as interns at Coming Attractions. We love them because they have good people skills, they understand time management and they know how to be a teammate for an organization.”

Learn more: SOU Athletics and Coming Attractions Theatres

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Alumna was inspired into creative writing at SOU

kuriyamf — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:16:15 +0000

Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood ’13

Alumna was inspired into creative writing at SOU

Born in Vietnam, Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood ’13 came to Southern Oregon University as a struggling transfer student—the large campus and impersonal atmosphere had left her overwhelmed. At SOU, she found something different: small classes, genuine community, and professors who offered both practical guidance and heartfelt support.

“The SOU community felt genuine. The professors were kind, communicative, and accessible,” Rosewood recalled.

Since graduating SOU in 2013, she has gone on to earn an MFA at Columbia University in New York and while building an accomplished literary career. She has written numerous essays, reviews, articles, and creative works for online and print publications. Her debut novel, IF I HAD TWO LIVES, is out from Europa Editions. Her second novel CONSTELLATIONS OF EVE is the inaugural title from DVAN/TTUP, a publishing imprint founded by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, a scholar of Asian American history and literature, and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen to promote Vietnamese American literature.

Her works can be found at TIME Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Salon, Elle U.K, Cosmopolitan, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Catapult, Pen America, BOMB, among others. In 2019, her hybrid writing was featured in a multimedia art and poetry exhibit at Eccles Gallery. Her fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Short Story 2020, and was a finalist for the 49th New Millennium Writing Award. She won first place in the Writers Workshop of Asheville Literary Fiction contest.

Reflecting on her time at SOU, Rosewood credits the encouragement of friends and faculty as formative in her growth.

“At the time, I was still finding my voice. In this nascent stage as a writer when you are vulnerable, doubtful of your abilities, it’s very easy for your flame to get snuffed out by an unkind comment, a skeptical glance,” she said.

Among her many influential professors—Bill Gholson, Alma Alvarez, Kasey Mohammad, and Prakash Chenjeri—her closest mentor was Craig Wright.

“He was among the first to see something in my writing, to believe in my talent. He nurtured it, gave me the platform to share my writing with others, and helped me acquire scholarships,” she said.

Rosewood shared, “I’m indebted to Craig, and I’m grateful to be indebted to him. Craig taught us to slow down, to examine the effect of each word—the beauty and impact of a single line. From that first seed springs everything else: a story, a novel, a world. I, too, was a seed—a budding writer—nurtured by the compassion and rigor of my professors.”

She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and their daughter. Motherhood has expanded her creative pursuits: alongside her literary fiction, she is now at work on children’s picture books.

“Words such as ‘have faith’ and ‘believe’ are often so overused that they can lose their meaning, but that’s what the SOU community gave me. They had faith and they believed in me.”

Learn more: Abbigail N. Rosewood

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Alum was inspired to help students learn and succeed for six decades.

kuriyamf — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:08:33 +0000

Dr. Sue Teele MS ’69

Alum was inspired to help students learn and succeed for six decades.

Dr. Sue Teele MS ’69 has wanted to be a teacher since she was in 4th grade and never wavered from that career goal.

She met her husband, Steve at the University of Redlands Study Abroad program in Salzburg, Austria. Teele graduated from the University of Redlands in June 1964 and joined Steve in Fairbanks where he was stationed in the Army. She was able to do her student teaching and complete her teaching credential at the University of Alaska in College, Alaska. Faced with the decision to move back to California from Alaska, they found the Rogue Valley and fell in love with it. She was hired to teach English and social studies at Hedrick Junior HS in Medford. “I so enjoyed teaching that age students as they are open to learning,” said Teele. During her first year of teaching, she decided to work on a master’s degree at what was then Southern Oregon College. Steve also worked on his master’s and teaching credential. Because Sue went to SOC primarily in the summer, she had some special experiences. “I was able to work backstage on sets at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a practicum for one of my courses. It was so fun to be a part of that and then see the actual theatre productions on stage,” she added.

They lived in Medford for two years and then moved to Southern California where they both taught at junior high schools in Rialto, CA. Sue had to complete six semester hours to receive her master’s degree at SOC. She was allowed to complete two courses at the University of Redlands and was grateful that SOC enabled her to complete her degree. “I have always appreciated the attention and caring that SOC professors and staff provided by letting me finish my coursework at Redlands. They knew I had moved to California and were flexible and accommodating,” said Teele.

After eleven years of teaching at the junior high level, Dr. Teele worked for four years as an administrator at California State University, San Bernardino and then spent 32 years at the University of California, Riverside as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Education Extension. She was responsible for 50 different educational certificate and state approved credential programs that served 12,000 educators annually, along with conferences and staff development programs at many school districts. She wrote and administered over $4 million dollars in grants for educators, including a three-year study to reduce the achievement gap in math and science test scores experienced by black and Latino middle school students.

Dr. Teele received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. Her research was on methods for integrating the theory of multiple intelligences and applications for K-12 classrooms. She has made over 500 presentations nationally and internationally on the theory, and different approaches for teaching reading and writing.

Dr. Teele has written three books, Rainbows of Intelligence: Exploring How Students Learn; The Multiple Intelligences School: A Place for All Students to Learn and Overcoming Barricades to Learning: A Multiple Intelligences Approach. She also created a pictorial forced choice inventory called the Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligence (TIMI) which has been used in over 48 countries and throughout the United States to quickly identify how students learn. Her instrument has been used in master thesis and doctoral dissertations in Turkey, Korea, Pakistan, and the United States. “I am thankful that I had a great influential teacher in first grade, Mrs. Staudle, who inspired me to pursue a career helping students to read, learn and succeed in school. It all started with her,” said Teele.

Sue was elected to serve for 12 years on the Redlands Unified School District Board of Education. She focused on ways to improve student achievement, financial solvency for the district and constructing new schools for a growing district.

Dr. Teele received a Fulbright scholarship to teach a modified version of UCR’s Certificate in the Study of Multiple Intelligences program at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She and her husband lived with a Muslim family and had an amazing cultural experience. She also has a passion for studying pandas and how they learn. She traveled to China five times to work with Hua Mei, a panda she studied over twenty years, at the San Diego Zoo and in China.

Throughout Dr. Teele’s career she has always believed that all students can learn and succeed, but not in the same way and not on the same day. The theory of multiple intelligences has influenced how teachers teach and the different ways students learn.

“I thank the caring faculty and staff at SOC for providing me an opportunity to deepen my knowledge, encourage my love for research and assist me in focusing on how students learn and can achieve when methods and activities in the classroom are provided to them in the more dominant ways they learn.”

Learn more: Dr. Sue Teele

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Alumna excels as a commercial and business litigation attorney

kuriyamf — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:59:02 +0000

Catherine Meulemans ’85

Alumna excels as a commercial and business litigation attorney

It’s not too often that a 9th grader chooses to take a college course for credit, then aces the entire three-term series. But while she was a student at Ashland High School, Catherine Meulemans ’85, did just that. “My father, Dr. Bill Meulemans, was teaching political science at SOSC and I wanted to earn as many college credits as possible in high school, so it was logical for me to take that opportunity,” said Meulemans. Originally intending to leave the region and attend college in California, she chose to stay home and save money for her long-term goal of attending law school. Before high school graduation, she already had 18 credits at SOSC and a 4.0 GPA.

With the close proximity of Ashland High School across the street from SOSC, many local students don’t consider staying home, choosing instead to leave the Rogue Valley. “I had a great experience at SOSC and saved money by staying here in the valley,” said Meulemans. While on campus, she enjoyed her political science core courses but also enjoyed history courses, particularly those taught by Douglas Legg. “Mr. Legg was a brilliant professor and his courses on western civilization were fascinating to me. The way he made it interesting for his students, was inspiring,” she added. Additionally, she was a Robert Ruhl Scholarship Fellow, a journalism award tied to Robert Ruhl the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist with the Medford Mail Tribune, which helped to offset tuition.

During her junior year, Meulemans applied for and earned a year-long exchange at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for her senior year. Though she never lived in student housing while at SOSC, she did live in campus housing at Amherst. While at Amherst, she earned an internship in Washington DC, lobbying on Capitol Hill for the Professional’s Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control, which comprised members of the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Lawyers’ Alliance for Nuclear Arms Control and the Physicians for Social Responsibility. “I was 21 years old and lobbying on The Hill was an eye opener and enlightening for me in so many ways. It also made me yearn for a shot at attending law school,” she said. While at Amherst, she earned work study money as the Assistant Coordinator of National Student Exchange Program and graduated magna cum laude from SOSC in August of 1985.

Being in DC offered a great opportunity to apply to the prestigious Georgetown University Law Center. She was accepted and finished in three and a-half years, eventually taking many of her courses in the evening because she worked full-time at Steptoe & Johnson as a law clerk during the day. She was a summer associate after her first year of law school at Stoel Rives in Portland and a summer associate at Pettit & Martin in San Francisco after her second year of law school. Two months after graduating from Georgetown, she took the bar exam in California, passed it, took a post-bar trip to Australia, and started working at Pettit & Martin in San Francisco

After only three years as a litigation attorney in San Francisco, she partnered with some big law attorneys and co-founded a multi-state boutique law firm, Senn Palumbo Meulemans LLP. The firm specialized in complex business litigation, real estate, and civil appeals and operated offices in San Francisco, Orange County, Reno and Las Vegas, for 15 years.

Currently, Meulemans helps her clients resolve commercial and business disputes and serves as co-leader of the Utilities Team in the San Francisco office of Frost Brown Todd, an AmLaw 200 firm with offices across the United States. She has expertise assisting clients faced with a variety of lawsuits, including contractual disputes, complex tort claims, fraud, and employment claims. Some cases of note that she has litigated:

Meulemans helped a major international banking client succeed at both trial and appeal in a lawsuit that ultimately allowed a bad faith waste “exception” to California’s anti-deficiency statutes, establishing new case law that was widely praised and embraced by the California banking community.

Meulemans conducted a high-profile investigation in Las Vegas, involving numerous City departmental heads, the Mayor and the City Council members, on behalf of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General. The case related to the Las Vegas City Council’s decision to allow a developer with close ties to the Mayor to build residential housing on land adjacent to a sewage treatment facility. The highly public investigation culminated in the release of a comprehensive 165-page report that was widely praised in the Las Vegas press.

Meulemans managed the litigation portfolio for a $4 billion privately held international real estate brokerage franchise, including real estate and franchise disputes and vicarious liability actions brought before various courts within California. She worked with a client to develop effective strategies for case resolution that enabled the client to settle 100% of litigation in advance of trial.

“SOSC gave me the confidence to step into new places, take risks, and keep growing. It gave me community, perspective, and a strong sense of who I was becoming. SOSC wasn’t just where I graduated from college – it’s the place where I found my footing and started the path I’m still on today.”

Learn more: Frost Brown Todd Attorneys

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Alumna Leads Rogue Valley Community Health Organization with Heart and Vision

kuriyamf — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 15:44:47 +0000

Brenda Johnson ’95

Alumna Leads Rogue Valley Community Health Organization with Heart and Vision

When Brenda Johnson ’95 was growing up, her mom had a strong feeling she’d become a nurse—and as it turns out, her mom was right. After moving to Medford with her family and graduating from North Medford High School, Brenda already had her sights set on Southern Oregon State College (now SOU). Living nearby, she had spent time on campus as a teen and always felt at home there. “It just felt right,” she said. “It was accessible, it was welcoming, and it gave me the opportunity to pursue something meaningful.”

While attending college full-time, she worked part-time and fully immersed herself in her studies. One professor, Grace “Señora Chela” Tapp Kocks, left a profound mark on her. “She was the most influential person in my life on campus,” Brenda shared. “She encouraged me—pushed me, really—to study abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico. That exchange during my sophomore year changed everything. It shaped who I am today.”

In Guanajuato, Brenda gained more than language skills—she discovered confidence, resilience, and a deeper sense of empathy. Living with a host family she still keeps in touch with, navigating healthcare in a second language during a personal illness, and tackling rigorous academic coursework helped her develop a deep understanding of the challenges faced by others, especially those learning English as a second language. “That experience directly impacts how I lead La Clinica now,” she said. “I understand how central healthcare is to all of our lives and how vulnerable we can feel when we don’t have it – it’s a deep understanding and a powerful part of what drives me,” she added

After returning to Ashland, she continued her Spanish major at SOU while also enrolling in the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) nursing program at the Ashland campus. Balancing two demanding programs was not easy—but she never wavered. “I always believed that combining Spanish and nursing would open more doors, and it did. It made me a better nurse and a better communicator.”

In 1995, Brenda earned her bachelor of arts in Spanish from SOU and a bachelor of science in Nursing from OHSU. She later went on to earn her MBA from Purdue University, a decision that would strengthen her leadership capacity and help her grow La Clinica into a regional healthcare cornerstone. “My time at SOU gave me more than an education—it gave me a sense of belonging, of purpose. It was where I discovered who I wanted to be and found people who believed in me. That foundation has stayed with me ever since.”

After graduation, Brenda began her career in public health nursing, including a clinical rotation at La Clinica—the same organization she now leads. Over the past 25 years, Brenda has grown with La Clinica, becoming its second CEO and overseeing a tremendous transformation. “When I started, we served about 1,000 people a year with a budget of under $1 million. Today, we serve over 30,000 people annually with a $61 million budget and a team of over 500 employees,” she said. “It’s an absolute privilege to lead this organization. I’m proud of what we’ve built together and the impact we continue to have on our community.”

Learn more: La Clinica Health

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