Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of Taking Action, the biannual magazine from the Office of Institutional Diversity at Oregon State University. I’m proud to say this is Issue No. 10, which is an exciting milestone. We’re excited to continue telling stories about the incredible work of OSU faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners. I encourage you to visit the Taking Action website to see stories we’ve featured over the last five years.
Strong leadership makes change possible, and I’m thrilled Oregon State has a champion for inclusive excellence in our new president, Jayathi Y. Murthy. President Murthy is committed to improving access to higher education for all learners and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the university. This issue features an interview with President Murthy, highlighting her journey through higher education and to leadership as OSU’s first president who is a woman of color.
New equity initiatives featured in this issue include the Bureau of Land Management Pacific Northwest Tribal Forest Restoration and Native Seed project in the College of Forestry, led by Cristina Eisenberg and her team in collaboration with five Oregon Tribal nations.
You will also learn more about the commitment by the OSU Extension Service to expand language access and equity through a newly launched bilingual website, a multilingual library, as well as guidance for translations, transcriptions and impromptu interpretation services.
Outstanding OSU students and alumni continue to make change. This issue of Taking Action includes profiles of:
Saba Moallem, a computer science student who advocates for freedom and equality in Iran, where her parents escaped persecution in the 1980s. Inspired by her grandmother, she would like to use artificial intelligence in medical applications to reduce patient risk during procedures.
Aparna Shrivastava, a 2011 alumna working in the Biden administration for the Development Finance Corporation. As the DFC’s deputy chief climate officer, she focuses on funding climate change adaptation and resilience projects in the developing world.
A 2004 OSU alumna, Temmecha Turner, who joined OID in fall 2022 as the director of community diversity relations. She advances Oregon State’s values and mission by building and sustaining strong, collaborative relationships with diverse communities, organizations, alumni and other community partners throughout Oregon, particularly in the Portland metro area where she
is based.
One of the projects Turner is leading is Access OSU, a partnership between the Office of Institutional Diversity, the Division of Student Affairs, Enrollment Management and the Division of Extension and Engagement. Access OSU will bring together OSU programs and partner with community-based organizations to create pathways to higher education for students and families from Black and African American, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Latinx communities in the Portland area. Through Access OSU, the university will form long-lasting relationships that extend from elementary school through higher education. We look forward to celebrating the launch of the program at the OSU Portland Center later this year.
Finally, as the academic year races to the finish line, we invite you to join the Office of Institutional Diversity at our annual State of Diversity event, a celebration of students, faculty, staff and community partners who are advancing inclusive excellence through innovative teaching, research and engagement efforts. Please join us at this in-person event on Tuesday, May 30, from noon to 1 p.m., or online at beav.es/OSUStateOfDiversity.
Thank you for your continuing support and amazing efforts.
Sincerely,
Scott A. Vignos, J.D.
Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer