The Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Project

Sort Interviews by Affiliation or Theme

Affiliation: Women's Center

Beth Rietveld Oral History Interview - June 11, 2014

Beth Rietveld Oral History Interview

Life history interview conducted by Janice Dilg.
June 11, 2014
Beth Rietveld (b. 1953) served as Director of the OSU Women's Center from 1992-2011 and was an influential agent of change within both the Women's Center and the larger campus community. A recipient of the National Women's Studies Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, Rietveld made important contributions to campus dialogues concerning inclusiveness for the LGBT community, salary equity for women faculty, and work-life balance issues. Prior to her tenure as head of the Women's Center, Rietveld was, variously, Assistant Director of Physical Recreation and Assistant Director of Student Involvement at OSU. Her interview focuses on the arc of her career, the development of her voice as a womens rights activist, and the changes in campus climate that she has observed over more than three decades of involvement with OSU.

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Jo Anne Trow Oral History Interview - December 13, 2013

Jo Anne Trow Oral History Interview

Life history interview conducted by Janice Dilg.
December 13, 2013
Jo Anne Trow (b. 1931) enjoyed a long and notable career at OSU, where she held numerous positions in teaching and administration; among them, Trow was the university's last Dean of Women and its first female Vice President. Over the course of her career, Trow spearheaded work to address numerous issues of inequality faced by female faculty, such as salary parity. These discussions and activities eventually led to the formation of a new infrastructure to support women on campus, including the OSU Women's Network and the Women's Center. With her husband Cliff Trow, an emeritus professor of History and retired state Senator, Jo Anne has also been very active in the Corvallis community. Her interview focuses on her upbringing and education, her career at OSU, the advancement of equality initiatives on campus, and her volunteer work in retirement.

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Nicthé Verdugo Oral History Interview - February 13, 2015

Nicthé Verdugo Oral History Interview

Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
February 13, 2015
Nicthé Verdugo (class of 2015) was heavily involved with a variety of student activist groups during her undergraduate years at OSU. An Ethnic Studies major who also minored in Women's Studies, Verdugo spent two years on staff at the OSU Women's Center and was also an active member of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and the Alta Gracia workers rights campaign, as organized by United Students Against Sweatshops, a group that she helped to found. In her interview Verdugo discusses the development of her own sense of identity, her activism in support of fair labor practices, the culture of the Women's Center, and evolving conceptions of feminism among young people today.

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