News, Media and Stories | Alumni

Ryan Gibbard ’03, PharmD ’10
Ryan Gibbard ’03, PharmD ’10 has been promoted to associate professor in the Pacific University School of Pharmacy.
Michela Kenning OD ’12
Michela Kenning OD ’12 has been promoted to associate professor of optometry and granted indefinite tenure by Pacific University.
William Hefner OD ’96, MEd ‘97
William Hefner OD ’96, MEd ‘97 has been granted indefinite tenure by Pacific University.
Andy Haugen '11, MAT '13
Andy Haugen ’11, MAT ’13 loves seeing his students’ “ah-ha” moments. “You always get a different group of students every year, and you never know what their background or thought processes are,” he said. “It’s always fresh, it’s always unique.” Haugen is a history teacher at Valley Catholic High School, a private school in Beaverton, Ore., where he also is the school librarian.
Avery Richardson '17 and family pose on campus in 2015
In the years since graduating from Pacific University, Avery Richardson ’17 has spent a lot of time gaining experience and honing his next plans. “I wanted to do something a little differently, work with more underserved populations,” he said.
Jessie Wachter '03 holding a JW Tiny Tote
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Jessie Wachter ’03 suddenly found herself without a job for the first time in nearly two decades. She has used this break in her career to launch a small business. 
Pacific University alumnae and students leaders come together on Feb. 25 to share ideas for making racial justice a daily commitment in 2021.
Garrison King-Halsey III portrait
In his first book of poetry, The Father’s Curse, Garrison King-Halsey III ’19 has published a collection of poems reflecting the current landscape of the dating world for young adults from the perspective of a young African-American coming into adulthood. It gives insight to love, heartbreak, cheating culture, toxic masculinity and more.
Melissa Lowery in a scene from Black Girl in Suburbia
Melissa Lowery has taken some of the lessons of her film, Black Girl in Suburbia, and applied them to her own life.
Templeton and Osbrink
A team led by Pacific University alumna Ali Osbrink ’19 and including Pacific Biology Associate Professor Christopher Templeton is having a paper on songbird cognition published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, a prestigious UK-based scientific journal. 

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