Theme: Music
Sue Borden Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
July 28, 2015
Sue Borden (b. 1939) is an Oregon State alum who completed her master's degree in
Mathematics in 1962 and who also worked as an early computer programmer for what was
then the Department of Oceanography. In 1988 Borden was hired to lead the SMILE (Science
and Math Investigative Learning Experiences) Program at OSU, an initiative seeking
to promote interest in the STEM fields and enrollment in college among Oregon's minority
and under-served youth. By the time of Borden's retirement from OSU in 1999, the program
had been implemented in ten communities across the state and was acknowledged by the
Clinton administration with a Presidential award. Borden's interview focuses on her
own academic and career path as a woman in the sciences, her active involvement in
local music organizations, and the history of the SMILE Program during her years as
director.
Roosevelt Credit Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Mike Dicianna.
April 25, 2014
Roosevelt Credit attended OSU from 1986-1990, graduating with a degree in Music Education.
Following graduate studies at Northwestern University in conducting and opera performance,
Credit began a career as a stage and music performer, appearing on Broadway in "Porgy
and Bess" and "Show Boat," and touring the United States in support of both productions.
His interview discusses his upbringing in Oakland, California, his time at OSU and
his life as a Broadway performer. During the interview, Credit also performs an impromptu
version of "Carry Me Back," the OSU alma mater. Likewise included is a recording
of a performance that Credit delivered later that day with OSU choir students at the
Memorial Union.
Jodie Davaz Oral History Interviews
Two life history interviews conducted by Chris Petersen.
May 2014 - May 2015
Jodie Davaz (class of 2015), a Digital Communication Arts major and student in the
University Honors College, spent the 2013-14 academic year as Station Manager at KBVR-FM.
She is also the first editor of Beaver's Digest, successor publication to the Beaver Yearbook. Her first interview is devoted to the inner-workings of OSU's student
radio station, her ambitions for Beaver's Digest and her sense of student culture on campus and within the community as it stood in
2014. Her second interview, recorded almost exactly one year later, focuses on the
first year of Beaver's Digest and Davaz's broader reflections on her rich undergraduate experience.
Natalie Dollar Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Janice Dilg.
August 5, 2015
Natalie Dollar (b. 1963) has been a member of the OSU Speech Communications department
since 1993, and a member of the faculty at OSU-Cascades since 2002. Now the Associate
Dean of Arts and Sciences at the Bend campus, Dollar has focused her scholarly research
on cultures that choose to reside outside of the mainstream, a program of work that
has led to study of houseless youths in the Seattle area as well as fans of the Grateful
Dead music group. Her interview focuses on her southern roots and the impact that
her upbringing made on her as an academic and as a person; her research on alternative
cultures; and her long experience as a faculty member and administrator at the Cascades
branch campus.
James Douglass Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Bob Schapper, Chris Petersen and Steve Matthes.
December 5, 2013
James Douglass (b. 1936), served as Oregon State University's Director of Bands from
1968-1999. During that time he directed the OSU Symphonic Band and the OSU Marching
Band, as well as other athletic bands. Under his leadership, the OSU Bands performed
internationally, engaging in goodwill tours of Japan, Taiwan and Costa Rica. Douglass
is also the founder of the Northwest Band Camp, which serves 450 middle school students
each summer. He has appeared as an adjudicator, guest conductor, band clinician, and
trumpet soloist at colleges and high schools in Europe, Canada, Taiwan, the Philippines,
and the U.S. His interview focuses on his early musical interests, his tenure in
the Navy Band, his long career at Oregon State University and some of the outstanding
musicians who performed at OSU during his three decades in charge.
Starr McMullen Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
September 4, 2015
Starr McMullen (b. 1951) was a member of the OSU Economics faculty from 1980 to her
retirement in 2014, serving as department chair from 2001 to 2005. An award-winning
scholar of transportation economics, McMullen has also served on the Oregon Governor's
Council of Economic Advisors since 2003. McMullen is likewise an accomplished violinist
and fiddler, who won the 2014 National Senior Fiddle Championship at the National
Oldtime Fiddle Contest. Her interview traces her work in economics; her institutional
memories of the Economics department at OSU; her perspective on the struggles that
women continue to face in academia; and her on-going pursuits as a musician.