Marilyn Stewart Oral History Interview

Marilyn Stewart discusses her transition from high school to college and several experiences therein. She highlights some of her mentors while noting several courses in which she enrolled while in the military. Moving to Oregon State University, her initial impression was of the campus’ visual beauty. She has held many positions at OSU including: executive assistant, office coordinator, operations manager, advisor, academic counselor, and her current position as acting co-director for EOP. Highlighting the ways in which her poor experience with her high school counselor helped place her on a path of providing assistance to others, Stewart notes several people who have been important to her regarding her work at OSU. In terms of diversity, she feels that it has declined over time, but the Intercultural Student Services has helped this to change. Therefore, recruiting, preparing, and retaining students and faculty of color is the role of OSU as it pertains to fostering diversity. She gives some recommendations on how to accomplish this while highlighting the financial issues that people of color face. Following this, Stewart recounts her hiring process, how she came to the Corvallis community, the role of her programing in providing academic support to students, the challenges of her job, and the overall goal of helping students. In closing, Stewart touches upon her accomplishments, such as her family, joining the military, her college degrees, and student successes.

Marilyn Stewart grew up in Marianna, Florida. She began her college experience at the Chiploa Junior College with the goal of becoming an accountant. In the mid-1980s, Stewart joined the military for eight years where she continued taking courses and met her husband. She came to Oregon State in 1989 to earn her bachelor's degree in business and her master's degree in education. She began her work with the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) at OSU as an office coordinator in 1994 after returning to Benton County. Since then she has held other positions such as executive assistant, office coordinator, operations manager, advisor, and academic counselor. Her current title is acting co-director for EOP.