OWHE Blog
Meet Natalia Fernández Nov 2 2015
Natalia Fernández is the Oregon Multicultural Librarian for the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA). The OMA is a part of Oregon State University's Special Collections & Archives Research Center. Its mission is to assist in preserving the histories and sharing the stories that document Oregon's African American, Asian American, Latino/a, and Native American communities. Prior to joining OSU in November of 2010, she interned at the Arizona Historical Society and worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections. Fernández holds an M.A. in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona (U of A). She also earned her B.A. in Art History and Spanish Literature from the U of A.
My Professional Journey
Meet Virginia Martin Oct 2 2015
Virginia Martin has worked as an educator, activist and advocate for women and sexual and gender minorities for 15 years. She has a special place in her heart for non-profits. She has worked for Planned Parenthood, The Sexual Assault Resource Center, The Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center, and Human Dignity Coalition. Her work with universities includes the Pride Center, Women's Center and Team Liberation at Oregon State University and Program Coordinator for the LGBT Center & Women’s Center at Ohio University. Additionally, Virginia worked for 8 years as the Education Coordinator for It’s My Pleasure, Portland’s first feminist, woman-owned sexuality boutique.
August: Meet Laura Syron Aug 1 2015
BIOGRAPHY
Laura Syron is a Research Assistant in the School of Biological and Population Health Sciences at Oregon State University. A fifth-generation Oregonian, in 2008 she earned a BA from the University of Oregon with majors in Philosophy, Political Science, and Spanish, and a minor in Latin American Studies. As an undergraduate, she studied in Quito, Ecuador and completed an internship in Santiago, Chile. In 2010, she earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from Oregon State University, with a focus on International Health. After completing her MPH, she worked for law firms in Alaska and Oregon. Currently, she is continuing her graduate studies in the Environmental and Occupational Health program at Oregon State University.
July: Meet Malgorzata Peszynska Jul 1 2015
Malgorzata (Malgo) Peszynska is a Professor of Mathematics at Oregon State University and she has been at OSU since 2003. Originally from Poland, she received her MS in Applied Mathematics at Warsaw University of Technology in 1986, and her doctorate at the University of Augsburg (Germany) in 1992. She held various academic positions at Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology, before taking on her first US visiting and postdoctoral positions at Purdue University in 1993 and 1994. After this she moved to The University of Texas at Austin where she worked in the Mathematics Department and the Institute of Computational Engineering and Science and Center for Subsurface Modeling. She works on various applied and interdisciplinary projects with her students and with collaborators from oceanography, hydrology, statistics, computer science and engineering.
June: Meet Kay Sagmiller Jun 1 2015
The most difficult thing I have negotiated throughout my professional life are issues of social class. Raised on an Indian Reservation during the 1960’s and 70’s my childhood was rural, isolated and beautiful. The place I grew up influenced my identity in ways I am still discovering. As my career in education progressed I discovered my upbringing, though unique and rich, limited my success in the professional world.
As a first generation college student I had little encouragement to attend the university: I was female (and why would a woman need a profession) and secondly, there was an expectation I would stay in the Valley and work in the family business until I married. This didn’t “feel” right to me, but at the age of seventeen I couldn’t articulate why.
May: Meet Robynn Pease May 1 2015
BIO
Robynn M. Pease, Ph.D. has over 20 years of related experience in the field of work-life. She currently serves as the director of the Academic Affairs Office of Work-Life at Oregon State University (OSU) and the Greater Oregon Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (GO HERC). One of her main activities at OSU focuses on dual career assistance and dependent care. Prior to her employment at OSU, Robynn served as the Director of Work-Life at the University of Kentucky (UK). In addition to her role at OSU, Robynn currently serves on the executive committee of the College-University Work-Life-Family Association (CUWFA); is a member of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium Advisory Board; a member of the Mid-Willamette SHRM board of directors and a volunteer for the Oregon Long-term Care Ombudsman Program. She holds a doctorate in Sociology with an emphasis in Gerontology from the University of Kentucky.