As Pacific University’s main campus rests in Forest Grove, many students might not be aware that Pacific also boasts many satellite campuses — one of which being the College of Education in Eugene, Ore. What’s more, the Eugene campus will be celebrating 25 years since its inception this year on Oct. 25 with the STAR, or the Student-Teacher Alumni Reception.
The campus, which opened in 1992 and originally offered only courses for the College of Education, began offering a Master in Social Work Program that can exclusively be taken there in 2014. And, the Eugene base has been celebrating new and exciting additions and innovations ever since.
In fact, though it’s a smaller campus, the Eugene branch of Pacific has been an extremely dynamic component in maintaining Eugene’s reputation of vitality and scholarship, according to administration. The campus has worked with several others located in the college town such as, “Collaboration with the University of Oregon, Lane Community College, and local school districts — Bethel, Eugene 4J and Springfield — to offer a Pathways scholarship to underrepresented teacher candidates in the teaching profession since 2013,” according to Interim Director Anil Oommen.
Pacific Eugene has also been proactive in creating a healthy, diverse environment on campus that’s consistent with the standards of the Forest Grove campus.
Oommen points out that the Eugene campus has instituted “the formation of a campus-wide Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee,” as well as “the first Students of Color event for both School of Learning & Teaching and Master of Social Work students in 2019.” Oommen is also the first immigrant-American interim director of South Asian origin as of 2019, marking a proud milestone for the university in enforcing diversity across all campuses.
The STAR is set to bring together alumni of such an effectual campus from the past 25 years to commemorate the progress of the young campus and honor the educators who graduated from Pacific’s Eugene campus. The reception will take place at 6 p.m. at 40 East Broadway St., Suite 250 and will include prizes, snacks, a hosted bar and an update from Dean Leif Gustavson on the campus and its programs.
Leave a Reply