Pacific University to Recognize Three Outstanding Alumni at Homecoming 2018
Pacific University will honor its 2018 Alumni Association Awards recipients at a special dinner and ceremony on Friday, Oct. 19 as part of the university’s annual Homecoming Weekend festivities.
Among the recipients are Daintry Bartoldus ’88 of Ewa Beach, Hawai‘i, who has spent her personal and professional life caring for those who are homeless or experiencing disabilities; Dr. Peter Agbo PharmD ’09, a pharmacist and medical doctor who founded a charity and provides direct care to underserved people in his home country of Nigeria; and Steve Dustrude ’73, a retired teacher and speech-language pathologist who has been a leader in Oregon’s education systems and a passionate supporter of his alma mater at Pacific.
Daintry Bartoldus ’88
Bartoldus ‘88 of Ewa Beach, Hawai’i, will receive the university’s Outstanding Alumni Award, which recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to their community or profession, and who have made tremendous accomplishments toward their life goals.
Bartoldus, currently the executive administrator of the Hawai’i Council on Developmental Disabilities, has committed her life to improving the health and wellbeing of the disabled and homeless members of her local community, often going above and beyond the parameters of her chosen career of social work.
Bartoldus has served as a caseworker, supervisor of caseworkers and nurses, and as liaison between the Hawai’i Legislature, Congress and the community. Now, as executive administrator of the Developmental Disability Council, she plans, oversees, evaluates and advocates for systems to serve those with disabilities.
In the 1990s, Bartoldus played a key role in navigating Hawai’i through court-ordered changes to its mental health services system. She helped create a model of independent living for adults with disabilities, who previously were forced into group living situations, and doing so, mentored numerous other social work professionals.
Among many additional accomplishments, Bartoldus has helped establish and support a lunch cart staffed by people with disabilities.
Her passion to help others is hardly relegated to her professional life. At just 26, she became the guardian to a disabled woman, who had recently been released from a mental institution with no place to go. The two have been roommates for the past 37 years.
Bartoldus also took in the autistic son of a friend to provide the young man with a stable support structure that eventually enabled him to live independently in an apartment. She has helped immigrants with educational and economic opportunities, and in 2017, she adopted a homeless family of five, helping the adults find jobs and register the children for school and eventually helping them secure their own housing without government assistance.
“I believe we are servants,” Bartoldus said. “I was put here to be the best I can be.”
Dr. Peter Agbo PharmD ‘09
Agbo will receive the Alumni Association’s Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes Pacific alumni who demonstrate outstanding leadership in their vocation, community service or service to the university.
A native of Nigeria and resident of Smyrna, Del., Agbo is a tireless champion of providing health services for the underserved in Africa. Agbo grew up in Nigeria and earned his doctor in pharmacy from Pacific in 2009. He went on to earn a master’s degree in public health and a medical doctor degree from the American International School of Medicine Guyana. Today, he is employed by Bayhealth Medical Center in Delaware. Each year since 2011, Agbo has traveled back to Nigeria to deliver healthcare services and supplies to underserved people.
He co-founded a charity with a longtime friend and neurosurgeon to deliver medical care and services to people in Nigeria. In December, Abgo and friend Dr. David Asuzu will take a team of physicians and other medical personnel to provide free care to more than 1,000 people during a two-week visit to the city of Ikom, close to the border with Cameroon. This year, they expect many of those served will be refugees fleeing from war in neighboring Cameroon. They will do everything from dispense vitamins to perform surgeries for those who have been injured or haven’t been served by the local medical system.
“They don’t have the resources,” Agbo said of the healthcare system in Nigeria. Poor people in this part of sub-Sahara Africa don’t get regular medical attention. As a consequence, Agbo said, many have diabetes, high blood pressure or aren’t receiving routine care while pregnant. Agbo said he and Asuzu remain committed to the project to bring advanced healthcare to underserved people in the region where they grew up.
The coming trip will bring new medical challenges and different kinds of patients, but, said Agbo, “I can’t wait to see them.”
Steve Dustrude ‘73
Dustrude will receive Pacific’s David and Sandy Lowe Outstanding Alumni Service Award, recognizing Pacific alumni for significant contributions of time, service and talents to Pacific.
A resident of Springfield and retired teacher and speech-language specialist within the city’s school district, Dustrude has served as president of the Springfield Education Association and been active in the Oregon Education Association and Oregon Speech and Hearing Association. He also served on the Pacific University Alumni Board of Representatives for many years, including a term as president.
As a board member, he has been a strong advocate for the university’s Alumni Legacy Scholarship, which is given to students who are children or grandchildren of Pacific alumni. Part of this advocacy has been to involve other members in the selection process and work with the university to offer more scholarships to more students.
Dustrude said Pacific has enriched his life in personal ways, from providing the setting for meeting his wife, fellow alumna Cyndy ’74, to being the place where his daughter, Erin Dustrude-Lampert ’05, PT ‘08, her husband, Joel Lampert ’05, MS ’07, PsyD ‘10, and his brother-in-law attended school.
Award Ceremony
The Pacific University Alumni Awards Dinner & Ceremony takes place at 5 p.m. Oct. 19, on the Forest Grove Campus.
The Pacific University Alumni Association strives to deepen the engagement of alumni and students in a lifelong relationship with Pacific University and to further the welfare of Pacific University. Pacific is a small, but diverse learning community, where students thrive in a personal academic environment. Tracing its roots to 1849, when it was chartered as a school for orphans of the Oregon Trail, Pacific has long been devoted to making a difference in the world. Today, students study in a unique combination of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in the liberal arts and sciences, business, education, health professions and optometry. Located in Oregon, Pacific serves a diverse population of more than 3,900 students, with campuses in Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Eugene and Woodburn. At Pacific University, students and faculty develop close, nurturing relationships that provide an extraordinary educational experience.