A scene from last year's Homecoming parade. (photo courtesy Kevin Miller, OSU Alumni Association)

Homecoming has always been a special time of year on the Oregon State University campus, and the coming week will prove that the tradition is very much alive, with events such as a parade and bonfire, an influx of alumni visitors, a major awards celebration, a free concert by a Broadway singer and, of course, a football game. The theme this year is “Fire It Up.”

Events start on Monday, Oct. 15. A full list of Homecoming activities can be found at http://osualum.com/homecoming

Highlights of Homecoming 2012 include:

• Alumni Fellows and Young Alumni Awards: Six distinguished graduates will gather on campus Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19-20, to be honored by the OSU Alumni Association. The honorees — five alumni fellows and one notable young alumna — will meet with OSU students, staff and faculty, be feted at a reception and dinner on Oct. 19, and will appear Oct. 20 at the Beavers’ Homecoming game against Utah. The alumni fellows are Celia Austin ’76, nominated by the College of Public Health and Human Sciences; Ellen Bishop ’79 and ’83, nominated by the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Roosevelt Credit ’90, nominated by the College of Liberal Arts; Gayle Fitzpatrick ’78, nominated by the College of Business; and Shelton Louie ’78, nominated by the College of Pharmacy. This year’s recipient of the OSUAA Young Alumni Award is Bridget Burns ’04 and ’11, nominated by the College of Liberal Arts.
• Homecoming Parade, Bonfire and Pep Rally: The parade, featuring former Beaver kicker Alexis Serna, begins at 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 18, in downtown Corvallis at 6^th Street and Jefferson, winds through campus and ends at the bonfire in the parking lots behind Callahan Hall. The bonfire and pep rallyprogram begins at 7:15 p.m., and head football coach Mike Riley and his players are scheduled to attend.
  

  Last year's Homecoming game. (photo courtesy Kevin Miller, OSU Alumni Association)

• Broadway in the Memorial Union: The OSU School of Arts and Communication and the OSU Alumni Association welcome Roosevelt Credit, 2012 Alumni Fellow and Broadway singer from “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” performing with the OSU Chamber Choir on Friday, Oct. 19 at 3:15 p.m., in the MU Lounge. This event is free and open to the public.
• “Fire It Up” tailgater cooking contest and cookbook: Before the game on Oct. 20, OSU fans tailgating in campus lots are invited to compete for fame and fortune in the OSU tailgater cooking contest. In addition to the contest, all OSU friends, fans and alumni may submit tailgater recipes for a “Fire It Up” tailgater cookbook, which will be published electronically at the end of the season.

The honorees met with OSU students, staff and faculty, were feted at a luncheon and dinner, and appeared at the Beavers’ football game against the University of California, where they joined OSU President Edward J. Ray.

This year’s OSU Alumni Association Alumni Fellows are: Stephen Bailey, Hillsboro.; Kim Brouwer, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Margaret Carter, Portland; Walter Kortschak, Palo Alto, Calif., and Richard Spinrad, Corvallis. This year’s recipient of the Young Alumni Award is Jonathan Isaacs, Portland.

Bailey grew up on a dairy farm near Tillamook and graduated from OSU in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He worked his way up in the world of corporate accounting, in 2000 becoming – as chief financial officer – part of a new management team that was credited with saving Wilsonville-based FLIR Systems and later adding thousands of jobs. In 2003 he and his wife, Marian, went back to their rural roots and purchased a vineyard. Today they own Bailey Estate Vineyard and are partners in Grand Cru Estates, and he serves on the board of advisers for the new Oregon Wine Research Institute at OSU. The Baileys recently were inducted into OSU’s Harris Society after making a $1 million gift to The Campaign for OSU to support construction of a new home for the College of Business.

Brouwer, a 1978 graduate in pharmacy, initially wanted to be a small-town pharmacist, but her own interests and her mentors at OSU led her to focus instead on a career of groundbreaking research. She is a worldwide expert on interactions of drugs in the liver. She is chair of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is also the William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor.

Carter, who earned a master’s degree in education from OSU in 1974, made history as the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. She went on to hold the state senate seat in District 22, and her legislative legacy is marked by resolute efforts to protect the state’s most vulnerable citizens. Her graduate degree from OSU helped her transition from being a schoolteacher – for 27 years – to serving as a counselor at Portland Community College. She now serves as Oregon’s deputy director for human services.

Kortschak has served as a director of more than 40 companies and has consistently appeared on Forbes Magazine’s list of the nation’s top 100 venture capitalists. He is a managing member of WMAS Management LLC, and is managing director in the Palo Alto office of Summit Partners. He received a bachelor’s in civil engineering from OSU in 1981, and has a master’s in civil engineering from the California Institute of Technology and an MBA from UCLA. He and his wife, Marcia, founded the Kortschak Family Foundation, and they recently gave the University of Southern California $10 million to create the USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity in Student Affairs. It will serve USC students with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other identified learning differences.

Spinrad had already established himself as an ocean researcher and federal science administrator when he agreed this year to return to OSU to serve as vice president for research. He left a Washington, D.C., post as assistant administrator for research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to return to Oregon State, where he earned master’s and doctoral degrees in oceanography in 1978 and 1982. Prior to his work at NOAA, he served as a research director with the U.S. Navy, taught oceanography at two universities, directed a major national non-profit organization, presided over a private company and worked as a research scientist. Spinrad oversees a growing research enterprise at OSU, with annual research funding of about $275 million.

The Young Alumni Award winner, Isaacs, enrolled at OSU at the urging of friends from Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, Ore., and at first had no idea what to study. Once he joined the student government’s effort to lobby the legislature against tuition hikes, he was hooked on politics. He won election as student body president in his junior year and graduated from the College of Liberal Arts in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He worked for several political organizations and candidates in Oregon and Washington, D.C., serving Oregon House Democrats as executive director of FuturePAC from 2004-06. He managed Jeff Merkley’s successful 2008 senate campaign, the first in 40 years to unseat an incumbent U.S. senator from Oregon. He served as state director in Merkley’s senate office for several months before resigning to become executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

The OSU Alumni Association created the Alumni Fellows program in 1988 to bring distinguished alumni back to campus to be honored and to share their experiences. The Young Alumni Award was added in 2006.

~Mark Floyd

Last year's Homecoming celebration included a massive Thriller dance. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Homecoming takes place at Oregon State University this week, and the OSU Alumni Association is seeking decorated floats, marching bands, student and community groups, dance teams, groups, and novelty acts – as well as enthusiastic spectators – for the Oct. 29 night parade.

The parade begins at 6:30 p.m. at Southwest 30th Street and Jefferson Way, with Grand Marshal Mike Parker, radio voice of the OSU Beavers. Participants will traverse the campus to 14th Street and Washington Avenue, where a pep rally and bonfire will begin. Spectators are encouraged to bring canned food to donate toward the Spirit Week food drive.

Community spectators are encouraged to park free at the OSU parking structure at the corner of 26th Street and Washington Way, and to view the parade on those streets as well.

The theme of Homecoming 2010 is “Old School Benny, New School Pride,” and events run Oct. 25-30.  Featured are Spirit Week, the bonfire, a tug-o-war contest, a traditional chant contest, and, of course, Saturday’s football game between the Beavers and the California Golden Bears.

New to the slate of activities is a panel discussion titled “OSU Traditions: Past, Present, and Future,” featuring former Oregon Stater editor George Edmonston, OSU archivist Karl McCreary, OSU social media specialist Kegan Sims, and OSU student Tonga Hopoi. Hosted by the Student Alumni Association, the panel is set for Wednesday., Oct. 27, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union lounge, with a free reception following.

“This is the first year we’ll have a night parade that leads directly to the bonfire and pep rally,” said Mealoha McFadden, the alumni association’s membership director. “Not only are students participating but we anticipate a large number of community families who will line the streets to watch the lighted entries and to support the Beavers at the bonfire and pep rally.”

Details, entry forms and a full Homecoming schedule are available at www.osualum.com, by mail or fax from the alumni association, (541) 737-2351, or for pickup at the CH2M-Hill Alumni Center, located across from Reser Stadium on 26th Street.