On June 20, College of Arts and Sciences students wrapped up the final day of spring — and years of college work — with commencement ceremonies. Starting in the morning and running until early evening, CAS graduates celebrated their achievements around campus, from Autzen Stadium to the grassy lawns of Global Scholars Hall.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, FOLKLORE, SOCIOLOGY, DATA SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS - Graduating students offer parting words and reflect on their time at the University of Oregon.

HISTORY - Assistant Professor Steven Beda recently won two awards for his debut book on timber workers in the Pacific Northwest. The book, titled Strong Winds and Widow Makers: Workers, Nature and Environmental Conflict in Pacific Northwest Timber Country, is the winner of the Philip Taft Labor History Book Prize from Cornell University and is a co-winner of the Pacific Coast Branch Book Award.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Senior Rowan Glass's research on the Kamëntšá people took him to Colombia three times. While in the field, he studied jajañ, attended the annual Bëtsknaté festival and interviewed Kamëntšá people. Glass encourages undergrads to pursue similar ambitious research projects. He will pursue a master of social and cultural anthropology at KU Leuven in Belgium in fall, with his sights set on a PhD.

PSYCHOLOGY, CINEMA STUDIES, HISTORY - College of Arts and Sciences students shared their research with the academic community at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

GEOGRAPHY - A two-day conference June 3-4 will honor the work of University of Oregon Department of Geography Professor Alec Murphy and will discuss the changing significance of territory and the rise of right-wing populism in response to the changing state of borders.   

POLITICAL SCIENCE, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - Amy Bowers Cordalis will speak at the University of Oregon's commencement on Tuesday, June 20. Cordalis is the co-principal of the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, a nonprofit that represents Indigenous tribes, organizations and people in natural and cultural resource matters. She graduated from the UO in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in political science and minor in environmental studies.

ECONOMICS - People are living longer and birth rates are declining, and that could hamper growth of the U.S. gross domestic product, the monetary sum of goods and services, according to an April 2023 paper published in American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. University of Oregon Associate Professor and Petrone Chair of Economics Kathleen Mullen is a co-author of the study.

By mid June, the smiling faces of nearly 60 UO faculty members will soon be flying on banners on campus and into town, highlighting outstanding teaching and scholarship. Each of the 59 banners will feature a portrait of a faculty member, a quote, and the reason the person is being featured, such as excellence in teaching, research, mentorship or leadership.

HISTORY - Funding from Mellon/ACLS Innovation Fellowship will support Department of History doctoral student Michele Pflug’s research of the Natural History Museum in London’s 17th century underrepresented insect collectors: women and enslaved and Indigenous peoples.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - The environmental studies-focused event is May 18 and features graduate research from three Oregon universities and a speech from keynote speaker Dina Gilio-Whitaker.

For the winter term, 4,556 University of Oregon students made the Dean' List. To qualify, a student must be an admitted undergraduate and complete at least 12 credits with a letter grade and with a grade-point average of at least 3.75.

GEOGRAPHY - In her debut novel, 'The Ice Sings Back,' alumna M Jackson (Geography, 2017), tells the stories of four women and their struggles, against the backdrop of the Oregon Cascades. “We—glacier scientists broadly—have done a really good job at studying ice,” Jackson said. “What we don’t have is the business of you and me connecting to a glacier.”

The Mother’s Day Powwow is back in full swing this year with traditional dances, ceremonies and a salmon bake. The 55th annual celebration is a designated Oregon Heritage Event and the oldest documented powwow in the state. The powwow, which runs May 12-14, is intended to honor and celebrate native educators, mothers and graduating seniors.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the University of Oregon has several mental health resources for students, including anonymous mental health screening, peer connection services, group and individual short-term therapy — and more.