Pacific University

Chika Matsumoto ’21 first started dancing because it’s what her friends were doing. But she never stopped. “It turned out to be a lifelong passion and hobby with me,” she said. “Dance has just been that one thing that stuck with me my entire life.”

Lianda Lonergan '21 is a member of the Pacific Dance Ensemble stying dance, exercise science and more, as she plans a career in physical therapy and preventative medicine for dancers.

“I wanted to be competitive in the market and earn that edge that others might not want to pursue,” said Zade Al-Khatatbeh MBA '18. He saw earning an MBA as a way to help develop the skills needed to advance a career goal of finance or consulting management.

From playing in Sarajevo as bombs fell to conducting in Forest Grove, Dijana Ihas's journey as a musician has been remarkable.

A kindergarten teacher's extra effort set Lillian Wolfe '20, MEd '22 on the path to teaching.

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.

A first-generation college student, Garcia Angeles started his life in a farming community in Mexico. At Pacific, he became a teacher who would support other English language learners like him.

As a faculty member in Pacific University’s School of Learning & Teaching, Bryan Cichy-Parker is focused on other people’s needs: both his students and the generations of children they will influence. “From the admissions process to graduation, you have someone by your side who thinks about your needs and the needs of the possibly two generations of children that you could end up teaching.

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. 

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. 

Pacific University is well represented in the current Oregon legislative session, thanks to the first-time elections of a Republican senator and a Democratic representative.

Dijana Ihas, an associate professor in the Pacific University Music Department, was honored as Oregon Music Educator of the Year by the Oregon Music Education Association at its annual meeting in January.