Oregon hospitality owners Curt and Robin Baney have made a gift to Oregon State University - Cascades that doubles an endowed faculty fund to $1 million.

The fund supports teaching in the hospitality management program at OSU-Cascades and is the first faculty endowed position at OSU-Cascades to achieve $1 million in philanthropic support.

The Baneys are owners of the Oxford Collection of hotels including Oxford Suites properties in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and the award-winning Oxford Hotel in Bend. 

To honor student veterans at  Oregon State University – Cascades in advance of Veterans Day, the Bend campus is hosting a variety of activities from Nov. 3 to Nov. 11.

Seven percent of OSU-Cascades students are veterans, including 65 active duty veterans and 18 students receiving veteran dependent benefits. 

Included in the week of activities are:

Oregon State University – Cascades recorded its largest first-year class in fall term 2018, increasing first-year students by a third and serving a younger and more diverse enrollment.

In total, 1,259 students are enrolled at the Bend campus, representing a 4.6 percent increase over last year. The cohort of 113 incoming first-year students dropped the average age of OSU-Cascades students from 29 to 25, and increased to 16 percent the number of students under the age of 20.

Elizabeth Marino, a social scientist at Oregon State University – Cascades, has been appointed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as a delegate to the Second Arctic Science Ministerial, an international meeting in Berlin. 

The ministerial will take place Oct. 25 to 26 in Berlin and is hosted by the European Commission, Finland and Germany. The ministerial hosts science ministers from 24 governments, European Union representatives and delegates from Arctic indigenous peoples’ organizations.

Oregon State University - Cascades has received a gift from Seven Peaks Ventures, a Bend-based venture capital fund. The gift will support a faculty scholar in the university’s computer science program. 

The $62,500 gift was announced today in front of an audience of more than 400 investors and entrepreneurs at the Bend Venture Conference. Dino Vendetti, managing director of Seven Peaks Ventures and OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson shared the stage during the announcement.

Andrew Ketsdever recently joined Oregon State University – Cascades as associate dean and will help lead the growing campus’s academic faculty and research efforts.

Ketsdever’s duties include providing oversight for degree programs in biology, computer science, energy systems engineering, human development and family sciences, kinesiology, natural resources and sustainability.  He will also lead the development of faculty research at the Bend campus, and contribute to campus-wide diversity efforts.

Technology increases efficiency, productivity, control and automation in nearly every industry, including agriculture. At Oregon State University – Cascades’ next Science Pub, OSU researcher Chad Higgins will explore the potential of cutting-edge technology solutions in farming during a presentation titled “Future Farms: Technology in the Field.”

The Science Pub will take place on Oct. 16 in Father Luke’s Room at McMenamins Old St. Francis in Bend.

An Oregon State University-produced feature-length documentary about the decline of coral reefs will be screened at the BendFilm Festival at 6 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Regal Old Mill theater.

"Saving Atlantis” focuses on the dramatic decline of coral reef ecosystems around the world and the impact on people who depend on them.

Oregon State University - Cascades will open its doors for Discovery Day, a campus-wide festival that will celebrate OSU’s 150^th anniversary and the University’s land grant mission to serve the education and research needs of its communities.

The Oregon State University - Cascades Advocacy and Advisory Board will meet on Thursday, September 20.

The meeting will provide updates on strategic initiatives at the campus, including enrollment, community relations, academic programs and student success. 

The meeting will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. in Obsidian Hall, Room 210 on the OSU-Cascades campus on Chandler Avenue in Bend.