Alumni

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.

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.”

POLITICAL SCIENCE - A former star Ducks football player and one of the stars of CBS’s comedy Ghosts, Devan Long’s journey from Autzen Stadium to the small screen has been fraught with catastrophic curves and unforeseen opportunities.

University of Oregon's Environment Initiative partnered with APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscape Hub to support students exploring place-based climate resilience solutions across the Pacific Rim.

ENGLISH - Life rarely follows a linear narrative. It zigs. Sometimes it zags. Just ask Lidia Yuknavitch—teacher, lecturer, and best-selling author of Thrust and soon-to-be feature film, The Chronology of Water—whose fierce and fragmentary form of storytelling took root at the University of Oregon.

After more than three decades in office, Peter DeFazio MA ’77 is retiring. DeFazio’s service and voting record is extensive with over 20,000 votes logged in Congress and his impact goes far beyond representing the people of southwestern Oregon.

GENERAL SOCIAL SCIENCES - What brings people together? Alumni Connor Bussey, BS ’19 (business administration), and Adam Faris, BS ’20 (general social science), took to the popular TikTok platform for answers to that question during the pandemic. What they found: Cars. Yachts. Mansions. Sports. No, really.

University of Oregon alumnae are changing the face of public service. We look to the women highlighted in this article to govern nations, lead at the highest level of the military, interpret the law, determine the constitutionality of the law, and apply it to individual cases, and serve the public in state and local government.

FOLKLORE - When folklorist Michael Atwood Mason walks into work each day, he’s greeted by the legendary Emancipation Proclamation room, where President Lincoln wrote his famous 1863 presidential speech. As CEO and executive director of the Lincoln Cottage, Mason plays a pivotal role in the operations of the National Trust for Historic Preservation site.

Reunion season is quickly approaching, and the University of Oregon Alumni Association (UOAA) is excited to welcome alumni back to campus with the Oregon Alumni Band Reunion, Black Alumni Reunion, and a combined 50th reunion for the 1972 and 1973 classes.