“I recovered very quickly, I feel wonderful, and I think I’m going to be perfectly capable of living a normal life,” Hubbard said. “I’m very blessed.”

As recently as January, it was another story. Her kidneys, weakened by chronic kidney disease that runs in her family, were failing rapidly. Her doctors had given her two choices: undergo a kidney transplant, or prepare to start the taxing process of dialysis. Hubbard reluctantly decided it was time to give notice to the OSU Research Office, where she had worked as a fiscal manager since 2003.

The journey from there to here involved several generous colleagues, some medical luck – and an institution that was willing to bend its own rules to help out.

As Hubbard prepared to leave the university, she decided to send thank-you cards to colleagues who’d supported her, with a brief note about her condition – and the address of the Transplant Services program at Portland’s Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital, where Hubbard had registered as a potential  transplant recipient. While such transplants are often done with organs harvested from cadavers, Hubbard’s doctors had told her that the odds of success are better with a kidney from a living donor.

Sharing a “shining” moment, Cynthia Hubbard (left) and Marge Stevens each wore crowns in the hospital to help them feel connected.

One of those thank-you cards found its way to Marge Stevens, an accountant with OSU’s Sea Grant Extension office. Stevens had known Hubbard professionally for several years, first when Hubbard worked for the Extension Service and later through the Research Office, which counts Sea Grant among the programs and institutes it oversees.

“My first thought was that maybe I could help get the word out to people who might have known her,” Stevens recalled. “But somewhere in the back of my mind was this little tickle telling me ‘Maybe you’re the one.’”

When Stevens ran into Hubbard and, idly, asked about her blood type – it was the same as hers – that “little tickle” became resolve. She talked to her husband, her supervisor and her physician, and then she called Legacy Transplant Services.

Thus began a detailed series of interviews to determine whether Stevens was healthy enough, whether she had sufficient support at home, and whether her kidneys were a close enough biological match that she could donate one of them to Hubbard.

“The process was very scientific, and there were a lot of steps. At each step of the way I could have been eliminated,” Stevens said. “They also told me I could stop and pull out at any time. There was absolutely no pressure on me, but the further I got into it, the more I knew that this was something I wanted to do.”

Hubbard, meanwhile, was surprised and overwhelmed. “Marge and I had met in the course of our work, but we didn’t know each other well,” she said. “I never expected something like this. I’ve got to say, she is my angel.”

When word of Stevens’ plan got out at OSU, staff in the Research, Sea Grant and Extension offices rallied to support both women. One potential issue for Stevens was recuperation time. It can take a month to six weeks for a kidney donor to be well enough to resume normal activities, and the surgery requires a year of follow-up appointments and tests. Concerned that Stevens might run through her sick leave and vacation time, some of her coworkers offered to donate their own unused leave time, if needed, to make sure the transplant didn’t pose a financial burden to Stevens and her family.

While state administrative rules and union contracts permit such donations, they require the applicant to have depleted their own leave hours before they can solicit donations, and are generally restricted to cases involving “serious health conditions” of the employee or their immediate family members. It was not clear that the organ donation would qualify. With support from Research Director John Cassady and Sea Grant Director Robert Malouf, OSU’s Human Resources office and the Oregon Public Employees Union were able to work out a one-time exception allowing classified staff to donate some of their leave time to Stevens.

“This was a really bright light that shone through all of this,” said Stevens. “I had huge, tremendous support from my coworkers, and the fact that management and the union came together on this was part of that. I really appreciate the 147 hours that my classified co-workers at OSU donated to my leave balance.”

Once the pieces were in place, things moved quickly. By spring, Hubbard’s doctors had determined that her kidneys were failing to the point where dialysis would be necessary — and they told her that an eventual transplant might be more successful if it was performed prior to dialysis. In April, just before dialysis would have started, Stevens was approved as a kidney donor.

“My attitude was, `Let’s go,’” she said.

The transplant surgery took place on April 28, 2008. Both women came through with flying colors. And their friends at OSU came through too, sending flowers, collecting baskets of treats and coupons offering help with everything from yard work and cooking to running errands and driving the women to medical appointments.

“So many people helped us in very special ways,” Hubbard said. “I’m especially thankful to those who   contacted Legacy Transplant Services about the donation program and offered to be tested to see if their kidney would be a good match for me. I will always be overwhelmed and humbled by the care, concern, and generosity shown by so many. OSU is an extraordinary place and I am fortunate to know and to have worked with such wonderful people.”

Stevens returned to work six weeks after the operation. And Hubbard, who had thought her working days were over, is reconsidering.

“I recovered very quickly, I feel terrific and I think I’m perfectly capable of living a normal life now,” she said. “I’m polishing up my resume.”

~ by Pat Kight

If your summer itinerary took you away for research, a sabbatical or just a good old-fashioned vacation, you may have missed some particularly interesting campus happenings. LIFE@OSU offers this recap for the information challenged.

OSU President Ed Ray presents honorary degrees to 23 former students. (photo: Jim Folts)

June
If you were unable to attend OSU’s 139th commencement ceremony, you not only missed the university’s largest-ever graduation, with some 4,600 degrees awarded, but the presentation of honorary degrees to 23 former students of Japanese ancestry who were forced to leave the university during the early years of World War II.

Victims of U.S. Executive Order 9066, which sent many of them to internment camps, most of the former students have since died. But several attended the ceremony, moving many in the crowd to tears by their grace and dignity.

Bindi, Terri and Bob Irwin visit Corvallis. (photo: OSU Foundation)

Later in the month, Terri Irwin, wife of the late Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, came to Corvallis to sign a memo of understanding with the OSU Marine Mammal Institute to fund a series of upcoming whale expeditions headed by Professor Bruce Mate. Accompanied by her Emmy-award winning, 9-year-old daughter, Bindi, and 4-year-old son, Bob, Terri captivated a standing-only crowd at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center and patiently indulged multiple interview requests.

Terri, who is originally from Oregon, disclosed that she and Bindi also plan to accompany Mate on at least one of the expeditions, which will be filmed for later broadcast on the Animal Planet cable network.

OSU Associate Professor Staci Simonich and Peking University student Wentao Wang gather air samples from a rooftop in Beijing during the Summer Olympics.

July
News that Staci Simonich, an OSU associate professor of chemistry and toxicology, would be part of an international team monitoring air quality in smoggy Beijing during the Summer Olympics prompted a spate of major, big media coverage. Outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to National Geographic to USA Today seized on the story, as did the Reuters and Associated Press wire services, sending the story around the globe.

The air quality, it turns out, was lousy for the Aug. 8 – 24 games, but not as bad as expected, Simonich reported. Chinese efforts to clean things up reduced particulates by 20 to 40 percent over previous year measures, but still left the air considerably below cleanliness standards that many visiting athletes experience in their home countries.

An interesting new partnership between OSU and the London-based Into University Partnerships firm began attracting its own considerable news attention in July. The agreement, the first that Into has signed with a U.S. university, aims to attract significantly more international students to OSU. If successful, the partnership could increase OSU tuition revenue by $25 million over the next five years. The New York Times and Chronicle of Higher Education were among the media writing about the arrangement, which promises to draw much more attention over the coming school year.

August
A pair of prominent new hires were announced in the first half of the month: new College of Liberal Arts Dean Lawrence R. Rodgers and Stephen Brandt, new director of the Oregon Sea Grant Program.

Rodgers , associate dean of Kansas State University’s College of Arts and Sciences since 2002, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a scholar in ethnic and racial minority literature. He’s been a recognized innovator at Kansas State, leading establishment of a first-year experience program and leading creation of a university-wide strategic plan. Rodgers replaced Vice Provost Larry Roper, who had served as interim dean over the past year.

Brandt comes to OSU from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, replacing Robert Malouf, who served as Sea Grant director from 1991 until June of this year. An accomplished scientist with more than 90 publications, 80-plus scientific cruises and more than 220 presentations to his credit, Brandt begins work in Corvallis in January 2009.

Finally, if the dog days of summer left you feeling your age, George Poinar put the passage of time in perspective with his discovery of the world’s oldest gecko.

Poinar, a courtesy professor at OSU and one of the world’s leading experts on insects, plants and other life forms trapped in amber, published the finding in the journal Zootaxa along with fellow researchers from the National History Museum in London. The ancient lizard’s age? One hundred million, give or take a few summers.

~ by Todd Simmons

Reporters from National Geographic, Scientific American, The Associated Press and others learned about OSU's marine-related expertise.

For three days in August, influential news media representatives from around the country got a taste of what makes OSU one of the nation’s top marine research universities.

As part of “Our Changing Coastal Ocean: A News Media Fellowship Program,” journalists toured labs and heard presentations in Corvallis and at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport on topics ranging from coastal ecology and salmon hatcheries to the ocean observing initiative.

Participants represented National Geographic, Scientific American, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, Environmental Science and Technology, National Public Radio’s Pacific Northwest affiliates, the Associated Press and Oregon Public Broadcasting. The head of media relations for the National Science Foundation (NSF) also joined the program. The goal was to familiarize reporters with OSU’s expertise in issues related to climate change, marine mammals, commercial fisheries, ocean productivity and marine observing technologies.

“OSU’s marine researchers are leaders in their fields,” said Luanne Lawrence, vice president for University Advancement, which created and funded the program. “We help to develop ocean policies at the international and national levels and lead state and regional organizations. We wanted reporters who cover marine topics to meet our scientists in person and hear about their latest work.”

The program focused on the coastal ocean. Reporters learned about ongoing research on the seasonal “dead zone,” on marine mammal migrations and on wave energy developments. At OSU’s NSF-funded ocean sediment core repository, they heard how evidence in ocean sediment cores is shedding light on the frequency and severity of subduction zone earthquakes, such as the one that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean in 2004. At the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Lab, the group visited the tsunami wave basin and heard about plans to build a facility to study hurricane-generated waves.

In addition to lab visits, reporters met informally with OSU scientists at the HMSC and with community representatives at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The impact of science on decision-making was the focus of discussions with state Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, state Rep. Jean Cowan of Newport and with people from local government and the fishing, economic development and tourism industries.

OSU is home to the third-largest assembly of marine researchers in the nation. They are based in the colleges of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Science as well as the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Oregon Sea Grant, the Marine Mammal Institute, the Hatfield Marine Sciences Center and the OSU Seafood Research Laboratory in Astoria.

Just a few days later, select OSU Agricultural Sciences and Extension and Experiment Station faculty had a similar opportunity to get up close and personal with key media during a fellowship produced by the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources. Since 1995, IJNR has sought to foster higher standards of news coverage of natural resources and the environment, and its “Willamette Valley Institute” brought journalists together for one week to hear from experts and tour key areas.

At OSU, they heard from a panel of faculty on the topic of genetic modification of crop plants and from individual researchers on organic agriculture. Participating reporters represented such outlets as the Associated Press, the Washington Post and Jefferson Public Radio.

~ by Nick Houtman

A series of workshops and field trips are scheduled as part of the conference, which costs $30 to attend. The event is sponsored by the CoastWatch program of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and the Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators. Members of either organization may attend for half price.

A series of lectures, one on Friday night and three Saturday, are free and open to the public.

John McGowan, a professor of oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for 40 years, will speak Friday at 7 p.m. on “The State of the Ocean.” His studies have focused on the relationship between climate and the physics and biology of the ocean.

On Saturday, Aug. 16, marine educator Marty Giles will speak on “The World of the Beach” beginning at 10 a.m.; Sam Chan, of the Oregon Sea Grant program based at OSU, will speak on “Invasive Species and How They are Reshaping the Oregon Coast” at 11 a.m.; and author Skye Moody will speak on “What We Can Learn from Flotsam and Jetsam” at 1 p.m.

The free lectures will be held in the Hatfield Marine Science Center auditorium.

The series of workshops will focus on educating participants about climate change, invasive species, tsunamis, tidepool ecology, protecting coastal cultural sites and teaching methods.

Participants in the Sunday field trips will explore Seal Rock tidepools, see how exhibits are prepared for the Hatfield Marine Science Center visitor center, take a walk along the Yaquina Bay estuary, get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, or go on a flotsam and jetsam scavenger hunt at Agate Beach.

Pre-registration is recommended, though not required. More information is available by contacting Fawn Custer of Sea Grant Extension at 541-867-0329 or fawn.custer@oregonstate.edu, or Phillip Johnson of CoastWatch at 503-238-4450, orshores@teleport.com.

Brandt, the director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will begin his Oregon duties in January of 2009. Robert Malouf was the previous Oregon Sea Grant director, from 1991 until his retirement in June. Jay Rasmussen, Sea Grant’s associate director and Extension program leader, is serving as interim director.

Brandt has directed the Great Lakes lab since 1997. Both an oceanographer and freshwater scientist by training, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and has had several academic appointments, including as a professor with the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and as director of the Great Lakes Center for Environmental Research and Education with the State University of New York College at Buffalo.

The ecology and management of marine and freshwater ecosystems are his principal scientific interests and expertise. He is an author on more than 90 scientific articles, has given more than 220 scientific presentations, and led more than 80 scientific research cruises. Brandt also has received many awards, including the prestigious Presidential Rank Award.

“Steve Brandt is not only a talented scientist, he is a nationally-recognized scientific leader,” said John Cassady, OSU’s vice president for research. “Under his leadership, the NOAA Great Lakes lab has grown significantly and has established a reputation for innovation and collaboration.”

During the first seven years of Brandt’s tenure as director of the Great Lakes lab, its federal budget grew by more than 50 percent, to more than $9 million. In 2004 he created a NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health, obtaining $7.2 million in funding for 11 institutions. He also created the NOAA National Center for Invasive Species Research, headquartered at the Great Lakes lab.

Brandt served as deputy assistant administrator of all NOAA research during 2006, helping to oversee about 900 employees and a budget of more than $300 million.

For all this, Brandt said he is “extremely pleased” to be taking over the leadership of Oregon Sea Grant. “It is well recognized as one of the best Sea Grant programs in the nation, particularly noted for its strength in Extension, communications and education,” he said.

 “Now we’re embarking on a new era,” he added, “in which there are great opportunities for forward-looking research and new partnerships that address both the needs of Oregon and the vital Pacific region of which we’re part.”

While the Oregon Sea Grant program has a 40-year history of marine research and outreach, Brandt is no stranger to Sea Grant. In 2001 he started a Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Office that represented a first-in-the-nation effort to connect NOAA research to the outreach capabilities of Sea Grant (which is a partnership between NOAA and the states). He also serves in advisory capacities to the Michigan and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs and as a reviewer of science projects for numerous programs.

But his Sea Grant roots go even deeper. As a Wisconsin graduate research assistant, he was a “Sea Grant scholar”; and in the mid-1980s he was the named “Sea Grant fisheries professor” with the State University of New York. In that capacity he succeeded Robert Malouf – just as he now will as the Oregon Sea Grant director.