91传媒

From the President 鈥� October 29, 2025

From the President 鈥� October 29, 2025

Gratitude, purpose, and connection

Dear 91传媒 Community,

The beautiful fall weather and colors are keeping me focused on the here and now. The tangerines, red, and deep greens have captured my attention and kept me focused on the things that make life enjoyable. The ride! The chaos around us can鈥檛 define who we are and what we do.

Gratitude, purpose, and connection are my keys to happiness (and for many others, if you ask psychologists). All the more reason I enjoy sitting down to write these letters to you. Sharing with you our colleagues鈥� successes helps reframe our commitments to each other and our shared purpose of lifting up educational opportunities for rural Oregonians. We need each other at 91传媒; faculty, staff, and administration are all here to lift up our work.  

As I write, I don鈥檛 know the outcome of our visit with NWCCU, but I do know that so much effort went into preparing for this visit. All across 91传媒, we鈥檝e been asking hard questions about what we鈥檝e done and how we can be our best, and I鈥檓 hopeful they saw that. Karen Clay, Angie Adams, and Provost Peter Geissinger have been our fearless leaders and organizers for this momentous visit. Special thanks to Deans Darren Dutto, Nate Lowe, and Scott McConnell for helping out with some large requests!

I鈥檇 like to thank everyone for their patience during the planned power shutdowns. With the assistance of our 91传媒 employees, Darryl Nobles and Brad Walters, OTEC and All Phase were able to gather critical information about our medium-voltage campus utility system. 91传媒鈥檚 IT staff and Darryl also collaborated to ensure that the backup generators operating the Data Centers and Badgley Hall are working properly. Their coordination and hard work before and during the shutdowns have made the process run more smoothly each time. Thank you!

And thank you to all of you who help make our campus vibrant. I appreciate the Library faculty and staff for arranging their Night Against Procrastination event, which draws students in for fun and pancakes at just the right time for both studying and diversion. I鈥檓 also impressed by the new work of 91传媒鈥檚 American Democracy Project and their coordination with the League of Women Voters of Union County, Oregon 鈥� a nonpartisan organization 鈥� to bring a discussion about the impact of changing drug laws in our community. These are just the kinds of events that make universities special!

I鈥檝e been doing my share of event-ing too. I really enjoyed hearing Alysia Cohen鈥檚 faculty research on 鈥淢itigating Stress and Anxiety Among College Health Profession Students鈥� at our faculty colloquium. Her presentation resulted in a fascinating conversation that occurred afterwards. I finished my annual meeting with every unit on campus, and it was great to have time in smaller groups to talk about our future and the big and small questions burning in our brains. Of course, supporting 91传媒 athletics is a full-time job, and I loved catching games this weekend and welcoming Scott Crawford, NAIA鈥檚 Frontier Conference Commissioner, to 91传媒. 91传媒鈥檚 Oregon Agricultural Foundation, which supports scholarships for our students, was on campus, and I had a great time discussing our challenges and opportunities. They are such a sweet group of folks who care about our community.

Other meetings included local and state leadership. The , in which I serve as convener, met with Governor Kotek to share our priorities for regional development. I took Casey Hallgarth, Superintendent of Baker School District, for a walk around campus as we discussed how we can better partner to serve Baker County. Superintendent Halgrath is an alum, and he was excited to see some of the changes we鈥檝e made in the past few years.  

I had some travel over the past week that took me to New York City. While I was there, I popped into the Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art New York and saw ,鈥� an incredible exhibition that examines natural resources extraction.  Such a thoughtful exhibit that made for wonderful conversation with my travel companions. Take a look!  I also got to see the and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was all great food for my soul.

Finally, Happy Halloween 91传媒!  I may still be caught binging horror movies for a few more weeks, but never at the cost of serving you! Thank you to each of you who shared your favorite horror movie with me.  

Wishing you well,

Kelly A. Ryan, Ph.D.
President