Spring2025 15 CABRERA: COURTESY OF GEORGE CABRERA; TAN: CELIA MUTO; NGUYEN: JUAN CASIANO/LUMETRY MEDIA; MUNSON: PEG HERRING PRESIDENT Q + A PERSPECTIVES VICTORIA NGUYEN, ’95, MAIS ’06 Global Director, Inclusive Talent and Workforce Learning, Genesys Dr. Larry Roper, OSU’s former vice provost of student affairs, once challenged me: “Do you want to create the world you are a part of or let others shape it for you?” This profound question continues to guide my commitment to fostering inclusive practices. It’s also why I passionately support the OSU Alumni Association — helping ensure that Oregon State remains a welcoming, equitable space where future Beavers can grow and thrive. THE THINGS WE CARRY Q: WHAT’S A PIECE OF ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT YOU RECEIVED WHILE AT OREGON STATE THAT YOU STILL REMEMBER TODAY? KENNETH MUNSON, ’74, M.S. ’80 Retired Global Director of Forestry Projects for International Paper There were two professors who inspired me during my time at OSU: Dr. Bob Tullock when I was an undergrad and Dr. Chet Youngberg when I was a grad student. Both were mentors before I knew what that meant. Both told me directly that I had potential well beyond my own self-assessment. The two-word summary I’ve carried around for over 50 years is “aim higher.” Now that I have a chance to mentor others, it’s a great privilege to keep the impact growing. TARI TAN, ’08 Assistant Dean of Educational Innovation and Scholarship, Harvard Medical School My closest mentors (and friends to this day) helped me navigate an undergraduate “identity crisis.” Their advice and encouragement to me — to thoughtfully reflect on my interests and priorities and to be willing to pivot and embrace change — was transformative to my life then and has been ever since. Their words continue to guide me through professional growth and evolution and to empower me to innovate solutions to the many unpredictable challenges in our world today. GEORGE CABRERA, ’68, ED.M. ’69, ED.M. ’72 Professor emeritus, Western Oregon University I still have the note that my advisor and mentor Dr. Ned Marksheffel in the School of Education gave me when I graduated so many years ago: “Best wishes for a most successful future, George. It has been a pleasure to see you develop. No doubt you’ll be a great teacher. I’ll be watching. And you can do it.” For 48 years, he was always with me and my students in our classroom, ensuring that I was doing my very best on their behalf. has always been really good at robotics, but robotics will increasingly have more and moreAI in it.All of the investments in robotics get folded into this AI vision. Then there’s all the other work that’s going to draw on AI — for example, the experimental infrastructure tied to use in semiconductors. That’s going to get rolled up in not only new generations of materials and semiconductors and processes, but also things like semiconductor design, which increasingly draws on AI. And students will get exposed to and get to participate in all these programs. Do you anticipate that the university will need to make policies for student use of AI? At this stage, I’d prefer to have guidelines rather than rigid policies. You’ve got to allow this to evolve. My hope is to go beyond constraint to really look for the creative. I can’t think of a community that is better suited to deal with this question than an academic campus.We will debate it.We’ll test it in the classroom. We will think it through in deep ways. From this, we will evolve guidelines and — as our understanding of AI use matures — we will know enough to make strong policies. Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about this spring? AI is disruptive, and there are so many other disruptions sweeping through our world right now. In a time of extreme change, finding your guiding light, finding your vision, finding your mission and holding true to your values is a very useful way of living your life. When we’re looking to make decisions at OSU, our focus must be on students, students, students. We are here to educate in the broadest possible way. Maintaining access, maximizing opportunity, building excellence — that’s our guiding light. Everything else follows. THIS INTERVIEW WAS EDITED FOR CLARITY AND LENGTH.
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