Pacific University

Boxer wrestling hopes to make waves again, guided by a son-father team of Boxer alumni.

As a social worker, Maria Vasquez-Rodriguez ’22, MSW '23 aims to straighten and shorten the path of patients who are buffeted by the health system. She was awarded the social work scholarship named for Claire Argow.

Pamela (Paguia) Christianson '85 and Erik Christianson '83, OD '86 met on campus in 1982 and were married five years later. Their Boxer love story includes two sons and exciting careers in Alaska. 

Lorraine Basch ‘17 has covered a lot of territory since she graduated from Pacific University. And she’s just getting started.

Kohler is surely the only Pacific undergraduate who’s eligible for Social Security, lost his job for honoring a picket line during the Reagan administration, had a son born in Mexico, and produced the last live show that featured Billy Rancher.

As a teenager, Chris Stamm MAT ’22 dropped out of high school in the San Francisco Bay area and describes his road to college as a rocky one. Now, he is pursuing a master of arts in teaching in special education.

Two historians have compiled and published a sortable list of Native people who died while attending two boarding schools for Indigenous Americans in Oregon. The online resource, which covers deaths dating back to 1881, documents approximately 275 students and 30 non-students who were buried at the Chemawa School Cemetery near Salem, and two who are buried in unmarked graves at the Forest View Cemetery in Forest Grove.

Ashley Martin '20, MBA '21 cruised directly from her Pacific University undergraduate degree in economics into the university's MBA program. The experience has taught her much about the world of work, professional networks, and friendships.

Tim and Cathy Tran struggled to survive after the fall of South Vietnam but overcame challenges to reach America, where they flourished.

Elona Wilson '18 took her undergraduate degree and ran with it, breaking a family cycle of poverty and addiction on her way to becoming a respected leader of Next Up, a Portland, Ore.,-based nonprofit.

As a child, Méndez Bolaños ’21 attended a school in Hillsboro where she struggled to keep up with classes requiring English. Now she teaches English language learners in the same school.

Kelsey Schweitzer ʼ11 attended Pacific University with hopes to become a marine biologist. She dreamed of studying wildlife to find ways to promote the health of the environment and mankind. Eight years later, she had her heart set on going to law school.