Honors Link

Julian Uselman always knew that he wanted to attend medical school, so it was never in doubt that he needed an outstanding undergraduate education. In the Oregon State University Honors College he found just that, and at a price big-name private schools couldn’t beat.

“The Honors College gave me all the resources of a small Ivy League school that I wanted, and it gave me the opportunities afforded at a big state school,” Julian says. He received an Oregon State Presidential Scholarship that essentially paid his tuition throughout his four years as an undergraduate.

Julian graduated with an Honors Bachelor of Science in radiation health physics in 2002. He then spent a year teaching English in Japan before attending medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he graduated in 2009. After completing his internship and residency at the University of Arizona in Tucson he came back to the Pacific Northwest.

He is now back in his hometown of Silverton, Oregon as an osteopathic physician with Silverton Health, specializing in family medicine.

Once he established his career, he felt it was only natural to reconnect with the first stop in his professional journey, the Honors College at Oregon State. After participating in a mentorship lunch with current students, he joined the Honors College Board of Regents in 2015.

“This is my way of giving back and completing the circle,” Julian says.

Julian sees in the current Honors College a continuation of the strengths he found so enriching as a student. Students are engaged in a unique educational experience within the greater OSU community.

“As I see the university growing and the Honors College growing, I would like to help the Honors College maintain the feeling of a small community with the great resources of a larger school,” Julian says.

The HC community shaped his undergraduate degree and he reflects fondly on conversations he had in the SLUG (the HC student learning center at the time – “Students Learning UnderGround”). The space to be yourself, collaborate with others, and share ideas is something he believes is a central strength of the Honors College.

“I love the open collegiality of the SLUG, which I still believe needs to be in a basement,” Julian laughs. “I want to maintain that as we grow.”

He says that the open collaboration and dialogue that the Honors College student spaces provide is “part of what makes you a scholar and a creative thinker.”

Though he wants to maintain the essence of the Honors College, he knows the new space in the Learning Innovation Center, where the HC will move in fall, 2015, will only help the college develop for the future.

“I’m excited that the Honors College is growing and expanding its resources,” Julian says. “It should have a space to fit all that the college can do.”