Southern Oregon University’s Small Business Development Center will cease operations Dec. 31 after helping some 11,000 individuals over 41 years, but the state plans to offer virtual services in the new year and hopes to find a subcontractor to offer personal service in the Rogue Valley.
Dee Anne Everson, the CEO and executive director of United Way of Jackson County, has been appointed by Gov. Tina Kotek and confirmed by the Oregon Senate to serve on the university’s Board of Trustees, according to a news release. Everson began her service to the board on Nov. 20.
The Ashland AAUW branch has been awarding scholarships to students for three decades. Organizers emphasized the “lofty ambitions” of the recipients and a strong sense of giving back to the community.
Southern Oregon University (SOU) will host a Native American Heritage Month Celebration — open to anyone — from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, with an Indigenous artisan market, a salmon bake lunch, dancing, and singing. Open to the public, the event will feature about 20 informational and artisan vendors, guest speakers, and intertribal performances representing more than 20 tribes.
A plan for an estimated $8 million redesign and rebuild of the Schneider Museum of Art has been shelved for now as 100% of funding from Southern Oregon University has been eliminated for the nonprofit museum under the university’s budget-cutting Resiliency Plan for at least three years and possibly indefinitely, a decision to be made by SOU’s administration.
One of Southern Oregon University’s most elite programs – its Honors College – is on its way out as part of $10 million in cost cuts detailed in the Resiliency Plan approved by the Board of Trustees in September.
Southern Oregon University will have three new trustees at the table at their upcoming Oct. 16 and 17 board meetings, following new appointments by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek this week.
Two Southern Oregon University faculty members from a program set to be cut from the university amid $10 million in budget cuts have co-authored a book about transgender experiences.
An estimated 514 freshmen started classes Wednesday at SOU, out of an overall estimated 795 new students. The class was anticipated to be down by 9% in enrollment compared to fall 2024, according to projections shared by SOU President Rick Bailey earlier this summer.
In what has been described as a “fight for the future” of Southern Oregon University, the Board of Trustees Thursday morning voted 7-2 to approve the final “Resiliency Plan,” authorizing a total of $10 million in cuts over the next four years, including about $5 million this year from SOU’s $71 million budget as of June, according to SOU President Rick Bailey’s presentation to the board.
In a reversal of fortune, a proposed 6-acre solar installation on Ashland’s northwest side along Highway 99 appears headed for approval after a public hearing Monday, Dec. 1, before a county hearing officer. The proposal had been tentatively denied by staff, then appealed to the hearing officer by the applicant, Medella Bison Ranch.
With growing concerns over major state budget deficits, stagnating population growth, rising unemployment and new data showing Oregon businesses have started looking elsewhere as they expand, Governor Tina Kotek announced her intention to dig the Beaver State’s business cred out of the basement
Asante Ashland Community Hospital’s birthing center and inpatient surgery will close by spring 2026, leaving only the emergency room and outpatient services, according to plans shared with staff Wednesday, Dec. 3, by Asante, the Medford-based health care provider serving Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Obituary: Mary Linda Jackson passed away on Thursday, Nov. 27, after a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. A Catholic Mass and Memorial Service will be held on Monday, Dec. 22 in Ashland.
Ask Strider: For Christmas, a reader would rather have pizza in her pajamas than Beef Wellington in her dressing up clothes, but family members feel differently. What to do? And another reader makes Strider wag his tail and think of pancakes.
A potentially dire budget cliff prompted the Ashland City Council Monday to look at possible future cuts to police, fire, the City Band and burial services, along with various ideas to increase revenues. The council held a five-hour “retreat” in its council chamber Monday to hash out ways to avoid expected budget shortfalls over the next three bienniums that ranged from just over $1 million in a best-case scenario to more than $23 million in a worst-case scenario.
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