Alumni

The long legacy that women have made in sports at the UO and beyond. While Title IX continues to impact generations, we look at a group of alumnae who have inspired countless women and girls who came after them.

DATA SCIENCE, BIOLOGY, ECONOMICS - The Data Science Initiative graduated their first group of undergraduates. Seven undergraduate data science students walked the stage this spring to collect their diplomas, an exciting moment for the university’s new data science degree program.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - NASA recognized a University of Oregon alumnus for his impactful research on the health of astronauts in space with an award depicting NASA’s own safety mascot, the beloved cartoon dog Snoopy.

THEATRE ARTS - Six years in the making, three powerful films by University of Oregon theater arts alumnus and award-winning documentary filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald raise awareness and shine stark light on the plight of their subjects. He calls the projects his “humanitarian trilogy.”

BIOLOGY - When Folake Owodunni came to the University of Oregon from Nigeria in 2005 to study premed, she knew she wanted to help people. Today, her international health technology company is poised to help people across Africa.

MATHEMATICS - In November 1974, University of Oregon distance runner Steve Bence convinced the legendary Steve Prefontaine, his former teammate and close friend, to run in an outlandish event: the “Great Race.”

ECONOMICS - I start the hike with false urgency, excited after hours in the car. It is late fall and snowing, which I am not expecting. I watch the flakes melt into my clothes. “Cotton kills,” they say, because it won’t keep you warm when wet—but here I am, in jeans.

PHYSICS - Now that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope has reached its destination a million miles from Earth and begins beaming back images of the deepest parts of space this summer, Charity Woodrum, a 2018 University of Oregon alumna, will be among the first to pore over them, looking for clues to how our galaxy came to be.

BIOLOGY - Prithiviraj Fernando, MS ’93, PhD ’98 (biology), and Herve Memiaghe, a landscape architecture PhD student, use research to save elephant populations in Sri Lanka and Gabon, Africa.

SOCIOLOGY - Shortly after AK Ikwuakor launched a fashion company in 2020—and just as he was preparing to leave to conduct an international motivational speaking tour—all US flights were grounded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ikwuakor, BS ’07 (sociology), a serial entrepreneur and three-time All-American Ducks hurdler, found himself grounded in more ways than one.