Twelve аÄ×ÊÁÏies Who Are Shaping the Future of Oregon
аÄ×ÊÁÏ has played a profound role in shaping Oregon over the last 100 years, producing leaders in every field imaginable, from electronics pioneer Howard Vollum ’36 to entrepreneur Bill Naito ’49 to novelist Katherine Dunn ’69. Today that tradition is stronger than ever. More than 4,000 аÄ×ÊÁÏ grads live and work in the Beaver State, contributing to the intellectual, cultural, and educational fabric of the community, often behind the scenes. Here’s a snapshot of 12 аÄ×ÊÁÏies who are shaping the future of our state.
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Rosie Cottingham ’10
Rosie is a math teacher who leads an innovative program at Oregon City High School to help struggling students succeed. Known as the , the program has helped raise the school’s graduation rate to 94%, a rate unmatched by any public high school in the Portland area. Rosie majored in physics and wrote her thesis on the use of lightcurve analysis to study asteroids. Roughly 17% of аÄ×ÊÁÏ grads pursue careers in education. They are teachers, of course, but they are also coaches, social workers, textbook writers, professors, counselors, and innovators.
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Peter Barr-Gillespie ’81
Peter is the chief research officer at Oregon Health and Sciences University, where he leads a composed of dozens of research programs in basic, translational, clinical, and public health. He is also an internationally acclaimed expert on the neurobiology of hearing who has published more than 100 scholarly articles. (OHSU is well stocked with аÄ×ÊÁÏies—more than 90 grads work there.)
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Esteban Gutierrez ’94
Esteban is one of Oregon’s leading voices in information technology and security. He has helped build the security community through many efforts, including starting , a volunteer-driven annual security conference that draws some of the most interesting minds in infosec. As director of information security at software company New Relic, he has advocated for a when it comes to the way we talk about information security—away from a siege mentality and towards a relationship mentality. He knows all about the power of metaphor: he majored in linguistics and wrote his thesis on directionality in the Mayan language of Tzotzil.
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Chris Garrett ’96
Judge Garrett was recently appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court by Gov. Kate Brown, who hailed his “brilliant mind” and collegial style. He majored in political science at аÄ×ÊÁÏ, did some policy gigs, and served a couple of terms as a state representative in the Oregon legislature, where he worked on a successful plan for political redistricting. He also championed the Justice Reinvestment Act (HB 3194), which funds alternatives to incarceration. Other аÄ×ÊÁÏies who served on the Oregon Supreme Court include Hans Linde ’47 and Jacob Tanzer ’56.
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Mara Zepeda ’02
Mara is the CEO of Switchboard, an online community-building platform. She is also the founding board president of , a progressive business group; , an entrepreneurship program program and loan fund for women entrepreneurs in Oregon; and the movement, in the New York Times, which aims to create a more ethical and inclusive startup culture. An award-winning journalist, she majored in Russian literature and wrote her thesis on the influence of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the culture of Russia. And not to brag, but аÄ×ÊÁÏies are behind some of Oregon’s hottest tech companies, including Puppet Labs, Circle Media, Urban Airship, AppFog, Lucky Sort, and Rogue Ventures.
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Mingus Mapps ’90
Mingus to build a more equitable, inclusive, and liveable city. After majoring in political science at аÄ×ÊÁÏ, he earned a PhD in government from Cornell and taught courses in politics, race, and social justice at Bowdoin and Brandeis before coming back to Portland, where he works to solve problems such as housing, income inequality, and infrastructure, and cuts a distinctive figure at neighborhood hearings and meetings. He is part of a proud tradition of аÄ×ÊÁÏ changemakers in Oregon, including Bill Naito ’49, Bud Clark ’57, Ron Herndon ‘70, Kathleen Saadat ’74, and many more.
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