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Dr. Chance White Eyes

By Katie Livermore, CLA Student Writer - January 22, 2025

Spending summers at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Dr. Chance White Eyes experienced the multitude of struggles Native Americans face inside and outside their communities.

His father drove the ambulance near the reservation, so White Eyes, an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, witnessed the worst moments of the reservation.

“He saw ugliness, you know, and my little brother and my little sister also lived on Pine Ridge,” White Eyes said. “My lens that I look at education through was informed by what I saw them having to live through. I knew they had it more rough than me.”

Now, White Eyes is the Director of Tribal Relations at Oregon State University in the Government Relations Office, a position created just last year. His goal is to remind the public that Native American identities are very much contemporary–they are not meant to be seen under glass at a museum.

As a young boy, White Eyes despised school. His mom “won the lottery” when he, his younger brother and sister were accepted into an affluent elementary school in Eugene, Oregon. It was a French immersion school and White Eyes, being Native American, felt he didn’t quite “belong” among the other kids.

“I knew it had something to do with money,” White Eyes said. “I knew it had something to do with the color of my skin, because that stood out. I knew it had something to do with culture, and I knew it had something to do with geographic location, where I physically lived…I was in elementary school thinking about those things.”

Though White Eyes was always getting into trouble at school, he found peace in the stacks of books. He was often the only kid in the book section and began reading full novels by first grade.

When he entered middle school, he began getting bullied by other students.

“At that time, I had long hair and long eyelashes and no facial hair, and everybody thought I was a girl,” White Eyes said. “French is a very gendered language, and I got teased a lot for looking feminine. I would try to express my masculinity in other ways, the way I walked, the way I talked, the way I dressed, but I still had long hair.”

He’d like to think he wasn’t a troublemaker, but White Eyes went to three different high schools, the last one in Corvallis.

“I would skip school,” White Eyes said. “I would go to the bowling alley and pool hall that is actually at Oregon State University, and the manager liked me. I kind of weaseled my way into getting a job there.”

Since he wasn’t a student at OSU, his manager told him he couldn’t keep working there the following year. So, his senior year of high school in Corvallis, he took a full load of classes and “got his act together” with good grades to get into college.

White Eyes loved cars, so he considered engineering as a degree to pursue. Despising math, he landed on philosophy at the College of Liberal Arts instead. Stumbling into an Eastern philosophy class in Buddhism, “everything fell into place.”

White Eyes found he loved the philosophy readings, debates in class and the overall thinking behind different philosophies. Many of his classroom ideals later in life were changed by his philosophy studies, such as discussion-based courses.

“It's a lot of writing, which I already like to do, and a lot of debating with people, which I also like,” White Eyes said. “I like to engage in critical conversation. Talking about things with people that don't agree with me actually helps me understand how I came to the conclusions that I've drawn.”

When engineering didn’t work out, White Eyes was on academic probation, taking 18 credits and working 20 hours a week at the bowling alley.

He thought he was going to fail out of college.

“I was sitting outside JavaStop with all my books and all my readings,” White Eyes said. “I wasn't even depressed about, ‘oh, I'm a failure.’ It was more like, ‘I'm gonna fail out of college and then I won't have access to these readings.’ I was frustrated.”

Instead, he read as much as he could, soaking up what he expected to be the last time he could access such a wealth of knowledge. From there, he had his best term.

Upon graduation from OSU in 2007, White Eyes was hired as the Native American recruiter at the University of Oregon’s Office of Admissions.

“I thought I was just going to be talking to high school students trying to get them to go to college,” White Eyes said. “I didn't realize that I was going to be expected to meet with tribal council, meet with elders, meet with children. And that shifted my perspective on the relationship dynamic between universities and Indigenous communities.”

When in his recruitment meetings, White Eyes discovered that many young Native people were running into issues that he thought were avoidable, if given the resources. It was frustrating.

“The conversations always came to the same end,” White Eyes said. “It was always just like, ‘Dang Chance. That sucks.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, and what are we going to do about it?’ It got to a point where I knew the conversations were just going to end, and there wasn't going to be substantial change.”

Several years prior to his employment, Native American students spoke up within the UO College of Education when they discovered what they were learning was not applicable to the Indigenous communities they wished to serve back home.

Afterward, the university created new programs that were aimed exactly at this.

White Eyes was accepted into one of the programs, a doctoral program called Critical and Socio Cultural Studies in Education.

White Eyes did a study with Native students, and questioned the notions of success closely tied to economic gain. However, these students weren’t playing the game of economic success, or escaping their lives on reservations.

He found they wanted to bring back what they learned.

“Not a single person alluded to the idea that they wanted to have economic gain. They all had a plan,” White Eyes said. “They all said, ‘Oh, I'm going to go back and teach language here. Oh, I actually do want to get my business degree, because our tribe, not me, but our tribe, has business interests, and I want to help with that aspect.’

After his studies, he moved to Southern Oregon University to further his journey in Native American ways of teaching post secondary education.

“I told them that I was not going to be housed in Native American studies because I've watched Native American studies programs get like, couched in history or anthropology, treating us like we're supposed to be under museum glass,” White Eyes said. “I'm over here, like, ‘My favorite food is pizza, and I like cars.’”

He was hired under the idea that Native American studies should be integrated in every department.

“I knew going into it that it was going to be a little weird,” White Eyes said. “I had to not only bring in Indigenous value systems into a non-Indigenous space, but also I had to meet the criteria for each discipline's mission and value systems for their department.”

White Eyes worked across campus for nearly five years, and he loved it. He taught classes in English, international studies, philosophy, women, gender and sexuality studies, ethnic studies and more. Each class was based on the “rules of the canoe,” which meant that students needed to be invested in the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of the person next to them; nobody was better than anybody else; and they relied on each other to arrive at their destination.

“It was like, ‘if you can, do this respectfully, this could be a constructive conversation.’ I love controversy, as long as it's respectful.”

When the job for the Director of Tribal Relations opened up at OSU, he had to apply. His wife, who is on tribal council for Chinook Indian Nation, traveled to Washington often, and she and their two kids lived in Eugene. Driving back and forth was a struggle.

“Given my background, my big pitch to the university was I have a background in both administration and faculty,” White Eyes said. “I know those lives, they're different lives, yeah, and not many people know how to navigate those two spaces. I've been doing that my whole life.”

He decided to just have some fun in the interview and meet new people, not expecting a call back from OSU.

Instead, he was offered the position.

“Oregon State University has too many resources and too much capacity to not be engaged in the prospect of empowering Indigenous communities,” White Eyes said. “We are benefiting from a frankly terrible history, and I'm raising my hand, too. I'm not Indigenous to here…my career literally has been built off of a history of people getting dispossessed from their lands, their culture, their resources.”

White Eyes said there are good people, Native and non-native who are trying to do the right thing. That makes him show up.

“I’m more engaged with either projects that are ongoing or in conversations with tribal communities on a spectrum that I didn't anticipate,” White Eyes said. “Sometimes it's heavy, sometimes it's emotional.”

He found there can be a residual mistrust at places like land grant universities and the overall history of educational institutions. Many Native students felt more supported in a group setting versus one-on-one with a stranger.

“You have to build trust. That's kind of what my position is built to do, is to help build that trust.”

Going forward, White Eyes hopes to address issues like this, connecting students with resources and help others understand the contemporary issues Native Americans face.

“If I can do something about it, then I'm going to do something about it,” White Eyes said. “At the end of the day, I want our Native students to have a better experience than I had, and especially our student leadership.

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Julia Kenyon

By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - January 22, 2025

Graphic design alumna Julia Kenyon, ‘20, always considered herself creative and into making art, but never an artist per se. Kenyon grew up in Monmouth, was a three-sport high school athlete, and wanted to pursue art and design in college, but was hesitant that it wouldn’t pan out into a successful career. During a gap year after high school, Kenyon saw a friend working on a project for OSU Athletics and thought that was something she could do.

Kenyon started at OSU undecided before enrolling in the School of Visual, Performing, and Design Arts’ (SVPDA) pre-graphic design program online, then becoming a full-time graphic design student her sophomore year.

“Though I had some Photoshop experience under my belt,” said Kenyon. “There was a huge learning curve with lots of technical knowledge I needed to learn, but the department was so welcoming and supportive. I never felt like I was alone.”

Kenyon appreciated the wide variety of classes offered, including branding identity, UX/UI design, book binding, screen printing, and packaging design. She also was a member of the competitive FLUX design class, a student-driven design studio that undertakes external client work, as well as a graphic designer for the Memorial Union’s Creative Studio and intern for the OSU Athletics' creative team (known as “Ideation”). The sense of community and general encouragement she received from peers and mentors alike allowed her to grow personally and professionally.

Kenyon was motivated to enter into service, so during the fall term of her senior year she applied to join the Peace Corps. She was accepted for a two-year English teaching program in Cambodia and was scheduled to leave in June 2020, one week after graduating. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 Pandemic derailed her plans and future entirely.

“I was absolutely devastated,” said Kenyon. “Through winter and spring 2020, I was working through my pre-departure checklist, gearing up and getting ready to go, then one-by-one I saw the Peace Corps begin canceling programs around the world. I was still hopeful that I could go, but it was only a matter of time before mine in Cambodia was officially halted.”

Lost and without any post-graduation plans, Kenyon finished up her graphic design degree program online, and moved to Lincoln City on Oregon’s coast. She began working at Beachcrest Brewing Company pouring beer and serving guests. The owners of the brewery knew that Kenyon had an art background so they asked if she’d like to paint a mural in the taproom.

“I hadn’t ever painted a proper mural before other than my own art,” said Kenyon. “It was very daunting, but I appreciate the owners of Beachcrest taking a risk on me at the time.”

Kenyon then became a graphic designer for the brewery part-time, primarily leading the design of their beer can labels, while still working behind the bar. This new opportunity inspired Kenyon to consider starting a freelance business.

“It was certainly daunting,” said Kenyon. “I wanted to expand working on more than beer packaging, but I had no idea how to start an LLC or do any sort of accounting. There was some serious imposter syndrome.”

Kenyon began to develop her brand, learn the legal and business side of freelancing, like creating an LLC and writing contracts. She started leaning into social media to get her name and new company out into the world, as well as connect with a community of freelancers who were able to help her with the logistics of starting a business.

The owners of Beachcrest introduced Kenyon to her first client, whom she still designs for today, the Siletz Bay Music Festival. Kenyon continued to work with local businesses, crafting a brand identity for Feather Root Farms in Monmouth, clothing merch for Breaking Grounds Coffee in Heppner, branding for local a photography and videography duo Kapsar Creations, as well as more beer can labels.

Kenyon also saw painting murals as a viable part of her business; she knew it was something she wanted to do more of. Again, she started small and local, adding color to baby nurseries and work spaces, then a 150 cement feet wall at Central High School in Independence, her alma mater.

Kenyon still kept in touch with friends and mentors from the graphic design program, one of whom, Keith Warner, had started working in OSU Athletics’ marketing and communications department. Warner reached out to Julia in early 2024 about potentially painting a mural at the south end zone concourse of Reser Stadium’s new addition. Kenyon leapt at the idea to give back to her school.

Kenyon started the weeks-long project by creating a design beforehand on her computer, and then projecting it on the 40 by 20 feet brick wall, where she outlined it in chalk. The unprimed brick required five gallons of primer and six gallons of exterior paint, which took less than a week to complete with the help of a few assistants.

“This was definitely the most challenging mural I’ve worked on,” explained Kenyon. “The weather didn’t always cooperate and painting on brick has its own unique challenges.”

The result was a beautiful landscape of conifer trees, the Oregon coast range, and football iconography, as well as local landmarks like Marys Peak and the Benton County Courthouse.

“I love seeing the attention it’s getting and pictures of fans standing in front of it on gameday.”

Despite almost five years since graduating, Kenyon still attributes the graphic design program at SVPDA integral to her success as a professional freelancer.

“There isn’t one skill, technical or otherwise, that I learned in the program that I haven’t used in my professional life,” said Kenyon. “This includes specialized skills, like learning (design software) Illustrator or InDesign, to vocational skills, like how to work with clients and create a business plan. To be successful at freelancing, you have to continue to grow and adapt, the graphic design program provided a firm foundation to start from.”

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Dr. Sharyn Clough

By Taylor Pedersen, CLA Student Writer - January 24, 2025

Dr. Sharyn Clough, a professor in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, bridges the gap between feminist scholarship, the philosophy of science, and peace studies. Her research challenges long-standing conventions in both science and society, all while fostering a vision of peace as a tangible, teachable skill through the Peace Literacy Institute, which she helps lead.

Clough’s focus on philosophy and feminist scholarship began unexpectedly during her undergraduate years. “I actually started out as an undergrad in psychology,” she recalled, initially drawn to the field's questions about complex phenomena such as religious experiences. However, some of the more reductive approaches she encountered in her neuropsychology classes drew her attention to the cultural and social norms of scientific practices. Her honors thesis became an investigation into the ways scientific methodology could be influenced by societal values. She then completed a master’s degree, this time engaging with the psychological study of religion from within a religious studies program. It soon became clear that her real interest concerned the philosophical elements of scientific methodology and in her doctoral work she began to work on the concept of objectivity itself.

Clough’s feminist perspective made her question whether science's traditional methods were as neutral and objective as they claimed. A popular question among feminist scientists and philosophers at the time was whether there was something inherently patriarchal about the scientific fixation on objectivity. While initially intrigued by this notion, Clough quickly concluded that objectivity was an important tool for feminist scientists that should not be abandoned.The problem was not objectivity itself, but the narrow ways in which it was applied. For example, she thinks we can and should expand the notion of objectivity to apply not only to facts but also to values. She has since spent two decades arguing that, in certain contexts, incorporating feminist values can make science not only more ethical but more objective and empirically accurate.

One of her more notable contributions came in 2011 when she published "Gender and the hygiene hypothesis." The hygiene hypothesis is a scientific theory linking increased rates of allergies and autoimmune disorders in urban environments to modern sanitation practices. Applying a feminist lens, Clough hypothesized that gendered child-rearing practices—such as discouraging girls from playing in the dirt—could be contributing to findings that a number of autoimmune diseases turn up more often in women than men. Her approach, which added overlooked data from feminist sociology into the scientific conversation, offered new insights for research that traditional perspectives had missed.

In line with her research on the role of politics in science, Clough became interested in the peace skills needed to address polarizing science policies. Clough’s dedication to peace studies reflects her commitment to applying philosophical insights to real-world problems. Building on the work of colleagues Linda Richards and Joseph Orosco, Clough began to contribute to OSU’s peace studies certificate program. Central to her efforts was the introduction of Peace Literacy, a concept brought to OSU by activist and educator Paul K. Chappell. Peace Literacy redefines peace as a set of practical, teachable skills rather than simply an abstract ideal. For Clough, this work marked a turning point. She transitioned from engaging primarily in academic debates about science and values, to leading public philosophy initiatives about the peace skills needed by scientists and all of us to engage in challenging debates about science policy, reaching out to students, educators, and communities to cultivate Peace Literacy at every level of education.

Peace Literacy, as Clough explains, is particularly relevant in today’s polarized political and social climate. It involves teaching people how to navigate conflicts with empathy and understanding—skills often missing from public discourse. Through the Peace Literacy Institute, Clough and her colleagues work with teachers and schools across the U.S. and Canada to integrate Peace Literacy into K-12 education as well as higher education. Peace Literacy training equips teachers and students with the tools to recognize behaviors such as aggression as signs of distress, fostering a compassionate approach to classroom management and student engagement.

Clough’s interdisciplinary approach—spanning feminist philosophy, the philosophy of science, and peace studies—combines intellectual rigor with practical application; an approach increasingly important amid today's social, political, and environmental crises. Her work reminds us that the values we bring to our academic and social efforts shape not only our understanding of the world but also our ability to transform it for the better.

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Tor Strand

By Quinn Keller, CLA Student Writer - January 15, 2025

Graduate student, Tor Strand, has been chasing his lifetime passion for poetry. Ever since Strand’s writing career began as a senior in high school, he’s been unwavering as to his preferred writing form. Growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, and spending the past ten years in Oregon, “the landscapes are always on my mind,” said Strand. As a result, much of his poetry alludes to scenes of nature – more specifically, “human politics, and asking about how people interact with nature.”

During his undergraduate studies at Linfield College, Strand’s writing interests turned to poetry. It was his mentor Joe Wilkins, professor of English and environmental studies at Linfield, that introduced him to more contemporary, environmental-focused, poets like Theodore Roethke, Natalie Diaz, and Charlies Wright. Strand’s senior thesis called, “The Role of Light in Creating Space,” was inspired by the coastlines of Norway, where his father’s family is originally from. 

After graduating from Linfield, Strand spent five years in the wine industry before coming to the College of Liberal Arts. “Being in the heart of Oregon wine country, I took a writing class my senior year that blended writing and winemaking. We visited local vineyards, met the winemakers, and were asked to write about the experience. During that class, he met his future employer and mentor, Remy Drabkin of Remy Wines, whom he contacted after graduating. Although pursuing an M.F.A. was always on Strand’s mind after Linfield, he is still drawn to the artistry of winemaking. “I was connected to the vivid scenes of the grapes coming in, getting processed, and eventually, often after several years, being poured into a glass .” Strand said that increasingly, he’s been writing about the hard work that goes into creating, and sharing something such as a bottle of wine. “All those memories and people are there.”

Before attending OSU, Strand was also a part of a writing residency in the Rogue River of southwestern Oregon. The Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, run by PEN America, is where Strand spent the summer of 2023, writing in an isolated backcountry environment. Strand said that, being in a rural area, “the days are longer than when you’re living somewhere more populated. I loved all the time I had to get stuff done.” Other than a few visitors here and there, Strand was entirely solo during his writing experience. The diversity of flora and fauna stuck with him and continued to inspire his writing. While attending his residency, Strand received the news that he would be one of four poets accepted into the School of Writing, Literature, and Film’s M.F.A. poetry program. “After I learned that, I was excited to use the writing I’d done at the rogue residency as a jumpstart into the program. It helped bring my mindset into one of confidence and creativity.”

Currently, Strand is in year two of the graduate program. While drafting his thesis, he also teaches English Composition (WR 121) and Introduction to Poetry Writing (WR 241). After he graduates, Strand said that he plans to apply to more writing residencies and teaching positions. “I’ll do whatever I can to continue having time and space to write poems, and I enjoy teaching as well. The most satisfying thing about teaching is seeing students work together. I often try to open the class up for discussion so everyone is learning from each other.”

Strand plans to publish a full collection of poetry, incorporating older writings into new discoveries “As one of my writing mentors once said,writing poetry is like deconstructing a car for its parts. Sometimes when I’m stuck, I’ll go looking through my parts to see what may work in a new poem. Occasionally, the combination of something old and new creates tension in its juxtaposition . Weirdly, after ten years of writing, it feels like I’m just getting started.”

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By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - January 8, 2025

The building sector comprises over one-third of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Transitioning away from fossil fuel-based energy use in buildings will be essential to meet emissions reductions targets, yet, little is known about homeowner attitudes and preferences for home energy fuel sources, either electric or natural gas.

In new research published in Energy Research & Social Science, Shawn Hazboun, assistant professor of sociology, Greg Stelmach, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Public Policy, and Paige Martin Cox of E Source, a Colorado-based sustainable energy consulting firm, explore homeowner preferences of sustainable home electrification options. 

“Currently, over half of American homes use natural gas for heating or cooking,” explained Hazboun. “But, more research is needed to understand public opinion of household electrification. Understanding homeowners' attitudes toward home energy sources—and toward electrification generally—is a vital component in the unfolding future of building decarbonization.”

Hazboun, Stelmach, and Cox, analyzed results from a survey circulated  to more than 4,400 American homeowners with household electricity to better analyze the distribution of different energy sources currently used by homeowners, as well as favorability toward gas versus electric appliances, and attitudes toward home electrification. 

First, survey respondents who had electric-only homes were geographically clustered in the U.S. southeast, whereby natural gas use had a less clear pattern, most likely due to a lack of natural gas infrastructure in more rural and remote areas. Furthermore, researchers found areas that are more likely to support the Biden administration's building electrification efforts, e.g. West Coast, are also among the places that are the most reliant on natural gas in the home, whereas rural areas and the south, which already have a higher proportion of electric only homes, are more easily positioned to upgrade to efficient heat pumps and other electrification technologies.

Second, respondents, on average, indicated more support for natural gas than electricity only, and respondents indicated they felt gas is superior for two distinct dimensions, focusing on 1) comfort and efficiency and 2) environment and safety. Additionally, Hazboun, Stelmach, and Cox, found that conservative political ideology was a significant predictor of favorability toward natural gas, as well as what energy sources are currently used in the home, hinting towards natural gas being a more desirable energy source.

Third, a further analysis of respondent data showed that participants who are older, female, white, and politically conservative were less favorable toward the idea of home electrification, while those living in a single-family home, had children living with them, lived in an urban area, and who used decarbonizing home energy technologies, such as rooftop solar, induction cooktops, and heat pumps, were more favorable toward home electrification. These findings, taken together, suggest that politically liberal, urban families are a likely demographic that will take advantage of the Biden administration Inflation Reduction Act’s tax incentives for decarbonizing home upgrades. 

“Overall,” explained Hazboun, “our survey research suggests that both political ideology and current use of natural gas in the home are relevant indicators. However, other factors, such as affordability, perceived safety and efficacy of various fuel sources, and age, are likely to be significant as well.”

Implications of this work include finding ways to target  electrification incentives, such as those included in the IRA, towards those most likely to adopt them, including political liberals and those residing in urban areas. Additionally, there is work to be done in terms of messaging the safety and many other benefits of electrification technologies to the public.

“Who will ‘go electric’? American homeowners' perceptions of home energy sources and home electrification” builds upon previous research by Hazboun on electrification policy. A 2023 paper published in Case Studies in the Environment examined the successes and challenges of a building electrification policy (“gas ban”) passed in the city of Bellingham, Washington, in early 2022.

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By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - December 12, 2024

Intergenerational mobility is an important indicator of economic development in emerging economies. An improvement in intergenerational mobility is found to be highly associated with higher economic growth, faster poverty reduction, lower inequality, and a more stable society. Given that globalization is believed to have played a significant role in promoting economic growth worldwide, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries, it is important to understand whether international trade reinforces or diminishes the persistence of socioeconomic status across generations.

Using survey data in Vietnam, a new working paper by Assistant Professor of Economics Hoang Pham in the School of Public Policy examines the extent of how trade liberalization affects absolute and relative occupational mobility. Pham and his co-authors found that greater trade between Vietnam and the United States, as a result of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in 2001, increased absolute occupational mobility for younger boys and girls, yet this effect is not necessarily equal between children across different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Pham and his co-authors utilized 16 years of the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys (VHLSSs), a state-run survey, designed and supported by the World Bank, for policy-making and socio-economic development planning, to examine the changes in occupational mobility.

Trade liberalization in Vietnam within the past two decades provides an ideal context to link exports to mobility. Since 2001, Vietnam has experienced massive export growth due to the BTA, which has resulted in a significant reallocation of resources towards export-oriented sectors in response to an increase in demand.

“A person’s occupation is likely to be directly related to their welfare through income and job stability,” explained Pham. “Also, in an emerging economy, a person’s occupation is more than likely affected by the country’s specialization, like manufacturing, and consequent skill demand.”

The results contained some surprising developments. New opportunities in the export market increased absolute occupational mobility, i.e. today’s younger children have better outcomes (occupations) overall, compared to their parents; however, the BTA led to a decline in relative occupational mobility, i.e. children born to top-ranked parents benefit more from the opportunities created by the BTA, relative to those born to bottom-ranked parents.

Pham’s findings have several important implications. First and most importantly, increased trade may help overcome frictions, social structures, or barriers that impede intergenerational mobility. Trade opens new opportunities for younger generations, leading to more upward mobility. Second, if trade can promote mobility and help high-ability individuals obtain better jobs, this can generate additional long-term gains from trade through a more efficient allocation of human capital. However, a possible caveat is that while trade can improve outcomes of younger generations relative to their parents, a child born to top-ranked parents might be better prepared to benefit from new opportunities created by trade. 

“These results were unexpected,” said Pham. “Increased trade helped absolute occupational mobility for younger populations across the board, yet increased inequality across generations with the wealthiest families seeing the greatest benefit. Generally, globalization is viewed as a positive in developing countries, but the increased inequality it creates is concerning, particularly in less developed provinces.”

The policy implications for Pham’s working paper point to the need for a greater investment in education, not just in Vietnam, but in pre-industrial economies. If younger adults are more prepared for globalization, i.e. more educated, the better outcomes they’ll experience. 

The paper, “Exports and Intergenerational Mobility,” builds off Pham’s previous research on the effects of the BTA on labor market power, i.e. the ability of an employer to leverage its position in the economy to influence wages and employment conditions. Pham and his co-authors found in the August 2024 working paper that firms were paying women less than men, but women had more occupational mobility, as a result of the BTA.

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Kennedy Gehrke

By Taylor Pedersen, CLA Student Writer - December 11, 2024

Originally from Wisconsin, Kennedy Gehrke’s academic and professional journey was filled with pivots, unplanned detours, and a determination to make the most of every twist along the way. This winter, Gehrke will travel the globe with Carnival Cruises—a culmination of adaptability and a passion for human connection.

Initially, as a First-year at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Gehrke was preparing for a nine-month study abroad program in England, a goal she had pursued since high school. “I applied my senior year of high school, and then again my first and second year of college,” she recalled. But when COVID-19 hit, her plans and motivation came crashing down. “The program got canceled right after I dropped my classes. I sold my car, moved back in with my parents, and suddenly had nothing.”

Faced with the abrupt loss of her dreams abroad, Gehrke made a snap decision that would set her life on a new course. “I bought a car off the side of the street and just booked it to Oregon,” she said, laughing at the audacity of the move. Although returning to school wasn’t part of Gehrke’s plan, her new roommate, who was studying speech communication, opened the door to a new academic passion. Encouraged by her roommate’s suggestion, Gehrke reached out to OSU’s TRIO program, which supports first-generation and low-income students. She found a supportive community that helped her transition back into college life. 

Through her studies, Gehrke developed an interest in cultural communication—an area that would prove invaluable for her future career. “Speech communication has helped me understand people’s feelings and perceptions better,” she explained. “It’s made me more confident in myself and how I communicate, especially in diverse environments.” 

Key figures at OSU also played pivotal roles in Gehrke’s journey. Professors like Kristen Herring, known for her playful teaching style, and Mark Porrovecchio, who guided her internship process, left lasting impressions. “Both are so different, but they’ve been incredibly impactful,” she reflected.

While in the School of Communication, Gehrke began working for the College of Liberal Arts as social media content creator, jumpstarting CLA’s TikTok channel into the most followed OSU-related TikTok account today.

This academic preparation came full circle during her internship with Carnival Cruises, where she worked alongside a diverse team. “There were only seven other Americans out of 1,500 crew members. Learning firsthand about different cultural norms and traditions was incredible,” she said. Conversations with colleagues from around the world became a highlight of her experience, expanding her global perspective and forging lifelong friendships.

Reflecting on her journey, Gehrke advises students facing disruptions to “roll with the punches.” Her own path—from dropping out of school to securing a highly competitive internship with Carnival Cruises—taught her the value of adaptability and perseverance. “When my study abroad got canceled, I thought I’d never get to travel the way I wanted to. Now, I get to travel the world for months at a time. It’s even better than I could’ve imagined.”

Now, as she prepares for her next chapter, Gehrke is excited about the challenges and adventures ahead. Whether it’s navigating cultural nuances or speaking to thousands of cruise guests, she’s ready to carry the lessons of resilience and communication forward. “I’ve become more adaptable and more understanding of myself and others,” she said. “And I’ve learned that the most unexpected paths often lead to the most rewarding destinations.”

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Credit: Bureau of Land Management

By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - December 9, 2024

The growth of hand-crafted artisanal food products in recent decades is widely recognized as a significant culinary trend by consumers and marketers alike. The trends include the growing emphasis on locally sourced foods, farm to table, sustainable food options, and transparency. Maple syrup made from the Indigenous bigleaf maple trees of the Pacific Northwest (Acer macrophyllum) is a new artisanal food product with potential to grow and make a significant impact in Oregon’s food systems landscape. 

A new multidisciplinary study by Lisa Price, professor of anthropology in the School of Language, Culture, and Society, Ann Colonna of OSU’s Food Innovation Center, and Eric Jones of Forests Ecosystems and Society, explores the gastronomic potential of bigleaf maple syrup in restaurants, by working with local chefs in assessing its viability in dishes. This study is part 2 of a larger project devoted to building a sustainable bigleaf maple syrup industry in Oregon.

There are few bigleaf syrup producers, which leads to a lack of awareness of bigleaf maple syrup by culinary professionals, e.g. chefs. An important next step in promotion is to learn how culinary professionals evaluate the qualities and potential uses of a variety of small batch artisanal syrups. This new study focuses on syrup from three small independent producers in Oregon subjected to sensory assessments by 62 chefs at restaurants in the south- and mid-Willamette Valley. 

“Bigleaf maple syrup has a flavor profile distinct from the sap of the sugar maple and other native northeast American species,” said Price. “However, because of its small market share, its culinary potential and origins are relatively unknown to Oregonians.”

A majority of pure or blended maple syrup widely sold in grocery stores is derived from the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), which grows prevalently through the northeastern U.S., Midwest, and eastern Canada. Sugar maple procurement and the processing by regional Indigenous tribes of the tree’s sap extends back in time before contact with European settlers in the 16th century.

In the West, however, there is little documentation, written or oral, of Indigenous regional tribes tapping or using bigleaf maple sap. Nonetheless, all western tribes had extensive knowledge of bigleaf maple tree uses. The bark was used to thicken soup, make ropes and baskets, and treat tuberculosis. The large leaves were used for food storage and enhancing flavor, as well as to cover food in cooking pits and to lay fish on while cleaning. Additionally, the tree’s wood was crafted for making cooking utensils, bowls, canoe paddles, and other objects of use and construction. By extension, it is highly probable that tribes had knowledge that the sap of maple trees was edible. 

“Because the procurement of sap and processing into syrup occurs during the winter,” said Price, “Eastern Indigenous tribes relied on the sugar maple to provide an important source of calories and nutrients during the harsh winter months. West coast tribes existed in such rich ecosystems with plentiful food sources; they probably saw no use for making syrup, but instead used the bigleaf maple tree for other purposes.”

Price’s new culinary analysis with Colonna and Jones focuses on the sensory and nutritional qualities of bigleaf syrup, increasing culinary awareness and use, and best practices for creating food safe products for markets and consumer confidence.

Overall, the 62 Willamette Valley chefs who tasted syrup from the three small independent Oregon producers noticed a complex flavor profile with flavor attributes including “buttery,” “sweet,” “vanilla,” and “bourbon;” however, the most appealing descriptions of the syrup appeared before a tasting, surprising the researchers. Chefs were most concerned if the product was “locally sourced/produced,” “100% pure,” and “all-natural.”

This study will help producers identify taste and quality profiles that appeal to chefs, opening a market for their product in local, independent restaurants and other professional culinary businesses. Bigleaf maple trees hold a historic cultural significance for  the Indigenous peoples of the region. Today, many tribes are seeing a cultural resurgence, while small producers are struggling with aging populations and the consolidation of food production and processing. The resurgence of greater appreciation for bigleaf maple and the emergence of bigleaf maple syrup come at an opportune time. Both tribes and owners of small woodlots can leverage this trend and produce artisan food during the winter when most farm and forest food production in the PNW is dormant. 

This focus on locally sourced, artisanal ingredients is an alternative counterpoint to the homogenization of the global food supply. To fully experience the unique taste and culture surrounding bigleaf maple products, consumers must visit the Pacific Northwest.

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Mahal Miles

By Mike McInally, Freelance Writer - June 15, 2021

Mahal Miles flunked every economics test she took at North Medford High School.

So it’s a surprise to learn that, these days, she listens to economics podcasts in her car – and if her younger sisters want Miles to drive them anywhere, she forces them to listen as well.

The sisters, Miles said, listen “very much begrudgingly.” But by the time it’s over, “they’ll be sort of grumpy, but they’ll say, ‘All right, that was pretty cool, I guess.’”

Her sisters will be particularly interested in a podcast if it touches on issues of social justice. And, in a way, that intersection of economics with social justice helps explain how Miles, just a few years removed from sweating over tests at North Medford, now is graduating from Oregon State University with a degree in managerial economics, with a minor in public health management and a certificate in the medical humanities.

Certainly, economics wasn’t part of the plan when Miles enrolled at OSU. The original idea when she came to Corvallis was to study public health; OSU was the logical choice because its College of Public Health and Human Services is the only accredited program on the West Coast.

But a couple of introductory classes in economics, taught by Michael Nelson and Jon Chesbro, opened her eyes to different possibilities. In those first classes, Miles said, she “really realized the power of economics and how it’s very much the backbone to policy. The combination of econ and public health is a great lens for advocating for human capital investment.”

For example: Miles, whose mother immigrated to the United States from the Philippines to be with a relative, has long been interested in what she calls the “feminization of migration.”

“There are all these social constructs and expectations around motherhood, and a lot of that has to do with being a very directly caring figure in the household,” she said. “But when there’s really no economic opportunity at their home, they have to reassess what it means to be a mother and shift that into being an economic provider. And so they will migrate abroad and then send back remittances. The children may join them or the children may use those remittances to oftentimes invest in education.”

About the time that Nelson and Chesbro were opening Miles’ eyes to the possibilities of economics, she got an additional nudge: She received an email from faculty members in the department that told promising students about career and earning opportunities in the field.

Miles sums up the message she got when she read the email: “You’d be a good econ major!”

It could be – although it’s not certain – that the email Miles received was part of an OSU study into whether emails could be effective tools to attract female students to the profession. The two economics faculty members who ran the study, Liz Schroeder and Todd Pugatch, recently concluded that the email nudges, presumably a best practice to attract women to the field, may not have had the intended effect: In fact, the two found, the emails appealed more to male students. (The department also sends out a general email to students who do well in introductory economics courses, encouraging them to major in the field, and the message Miles got could have been part of that group.)

In any event, in Miles’ case, the email worked: “It was actually pretty influential,” she said. “It was sort of like the final push” to declare an economics major.

Schroeder said that Miles went on during her time at OSU to work with the department’s outreach efforts by participating in its Women in Economics Club and helping develop a mentoring program to support underrepresented students in economics.

Schroeder called Miles “a true leader on campus. … Her work on the mentoring program shows that she exemplifies the best of what it means to be a CLA (College of Liberal Arts) graduate. She studied academic research on mentoring, used best practices learned through other mentoring work at OSU, and drew on her own personal experiences. Synthesizing all this information, she was able to design a program that will benefit students for many years to come. Mahal was a fantastic collaborator and I learned so much from working with her. She’s leaving behind a legacy that makes our program better, and her work on making economics more inclusive helps improve the entire field as well.”

For Miles, the deeper she got into the field, the more she understood how economics can serve as the “backbone” to policy. “It offers a very systemic way of thinking and a very methodical approach to policy analysis.”

During her time on campus, Miles found time for other pursuits beyond economics. She’s served as a peer advocate in the Associated Students of Oregon State University’s Advocacy Office, working with students on issues, such as allegations of academic misconduct or code of conduct violations.

“We’ll meet with students, hear their story, review the allegation, attend college hearings officer meetings with them and really support them with whatever decision they make,” Miles said. “We don’t necessarily advise students but rather advocate for them, ensuring that they know of their rights and how due process works.” Her goal is to make sure that, regardless of the outcome, students feel “it’s been a thorough and just and educational process.”

Miles didn’t ignore the creative process during her time at OSU, taking a pair of poetry classes from Jennifer Richter, an Honors College colloquium on poetry and Greek myth, and a craft course on narrative medicine.

One of Mahal’s poems quotes lines from Mary Oliver’s “Invitation” as a epigraph:

Richter said she wasn’t surprised that Oliver’s poem spoke to Miles. And she said that Miles’ own work “tackles universal, ‘serious things’ such as identity and lineage, power and privilege. I deeply admire how Mahal’s poetry makes room for all of it – the world’s brokenness as well as its beauty – and how her fierce, fearless voice illuminates the daily struggle and miracle it is ‘just to be alive.’”

Miles didn’t get back to the Corvallis campus at all this academic year during the pandemic, when the majority of classes at OSU were taught online.

“I popped up to Corvallis once just to grab stuff out of the storage unit that I threw all my stuff into on the way down, but that’s about it,” she said, a process that she described as “painful.”

Miles enjoys spending time alone, but the pandemic pushed that to the limit – not to mention “the different sorts of chaos this world has experienced together this past year and a half.”

But there also has been an unexpected blessing.

“It’s also been a unique time for me to be back with my family, which I did not expect at this point in my life.”

Even if it meant subjecting family members to economic podcasts.