Interviewer: Julia Weirnick
Interview Date: February 29, 2024
Location: Interview conducted over Zoom
Duration: 0:47:12
The interview opens with a question asking Susan to describe growing up in Portland. Portland was a much smaller place at the time, and Susan stayed home until kindergarten and then grew up going to Catholic schools. She made friends and has had several reunions with her schoolmates in recent years. She also described being very involved with sports, competing in swimming and volleyball, and serving as captain of her high school basketball team.
Susan’s high school years at Holy Child Academy inspired her love of science; particularly an influential chemistry class that she took as a senior. After discovering this passion, her family was very encouraging and supportive, most notably her father, who worked in power administration and enjoyed scientific topics. Susan’s dad was also an alumnus of Oregon State College, graduating in 1950 when Susan was two years old.
Susan would end up attending Oregon State herself, but first went to Gonzaga to be with her best friend and also because it was a Catholic school. After a year, she decided she needed a change of scenery, and her father encouraged her to switch to Oregon State since he had really enjoyed his time there. After transferring, she found that she really liked OSU, and ultimately double-majored in Zoology and Microbiology.
Thanks to a class that she took at Oregon State, Susan was exposed to opportunities working in public health. After in 1970, Susan began working in virology laboratories, first at the Oregon Health Division and later at Portland State University, where she remained until her retirement in 2003. She was subsequently recruited back to PSU to work part time, which she did until stepping fully away in 2011. While working, she also married and had children.
Near the end of the interview, Susan talk about how her younger brother went to Oregon State as well and had a very different social experience than Susan thanks to his much more extroverted nature. Susan also shared her love for Corvallis, the OSU campus, and the agricultural farmland surrounding it.
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Susan’s high school years at Holy Child Academy inspired her love of science; particularly an influential chemistry class that she took as a senior. After discovering this passion, her family was very encouraging and supportive, most notably her father, who worked in power administration and enjoyed scientific topics. Susan’s dad was also an alumnus of Oregon State College, graduating in 1950 when Susan was two years old.
Susan would end up attending Oregon State herself, but first went to Gonzaga to be with her best friend and also because it was a Catholic school. After a year, she decided she needed a change of scenery, and her father encouraged her to switch to Oregon State since he had really enjoyed his time there. After transferring, she found that she really liked OSU, and ultimately double-majored in Zoology and Microbiology.
Thanks to a class that she took at Oregon State, Susan was exposed to opportunities working in public health. After in 1970, Susan began working in virology laboratories, first at the Oregon Health Division and later at Portland State University, where she remained until her retirement in 2003. She was subsequently recruited back to PSU to work part time, which she did until stepping fully away in 2011. While working, she also married and had children.
Near the end of the interview, Susan talk about how her younger brother went to Oregon State as well and had a very different social experience than Susan thanks to his much more extroverted nature. Susan also shared her love for Corvallis, the OSU campus, and the agricultural farmland surrounding it.