Behind the scenes of an OSU home page story

The idea came from an off-hand comment in another interview I was having with Ron Mize, the director of CL@SE at OSU. We’d talked about the subject of the story: The Tenured Faculty Diversity Initiative for almost half an hour. At the end of our chat, I asked him what he does for fun. Of […]

September 21, 2015

The idea came from an off-hand comment in another interview I was having with Ron Mize, the director of CL@SE at OSU. We’d talked about the subject of the story: The Tenured Faculty Diversity Initiative for almost half an hour. At the end of our chat, I asked him what he does for fun. Of course, most of our very dedicated professors don’t have a lot of free time, and he explained that he ESPECIALLY doesn’t because he happens to live in Portland and commute to campus in Corvallis four days a week.

I was shocked. I hate commuting. I live exactly 1.5 miles from campus. It takes me about 10 minutes on my bike…

“But people do this?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered. And it’s not just him. There are more than a dozen faculty members at OSU in this unofficial carpool, and the idea intrigued me.

P1040313

My first thought was, “This could make a great story for our Beaver Nation PDX newsletter,” which I work on and contribute content to regularly. It focuses on content that relates to our Portland audience. Blah Blah…. But the idea became more than that for me….

I mean, these people are brilliant, right? Ph.D.s! In a car! For hours at a time! The conversations they must have! It wasn’t difficult to get the rest of my team on board with the idea.

I knew I couldn’t just talk to them about it. I needed to experience it for myself, so I got permission to join them on a Wednesday in May. But I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. Please never accuse me of not suffering for my art. This is what happened:

•5 p.m., Tuesday: I picked up a car from the motorpool
•4:30 a.m., Wednesday: I drove to the Park-N-Ride in Tigard
•6:15 a.m.: I began my journey back to Corvallis with the Carpoolers
•7:30 a.m.: I arrived in Corvallis and made my way directly to Java II for some caffeine
•5:30 p.m.: I met the carpoolers again
•6:30 p.m.: We are stuck in traffic behind an accident that eventually closes I-5 North.
•7:30 p.m.: We arrive back at the Tigard Park-N-Ride. I hop back into my motorpool car and turn around
•8:00 p.m.: I stop at the Sonic in Wilsonville for more caffeine. And tater tots. I need the tater tots.
•9:00 p.m.: I drop off my motorpool car. Go home and directly to bed.

The result: This story. And I’m totally and completely thrilled with it. It was a blast, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

-Callie

CATEGORIES: Projects

38 thoughts on “Behind the scenes of an OSU home page story”

  1. good story by newtoca. but, if you want go to Bali, may be you can call me and this will be a nice trip guys. to much good place here like a beautiful beach, the culture and much more. if you have a question, ask to me.

  2. This is the time to scour the Internet for inspiration footage
    of initiatives you suppose you might really create, and ideally it
    is best to discover tutorials for them (we have got a bunch
    right right here ). Also, spend some critical time with tutorials on how to place
    together a bouquet Then get some flowers from the grocery store and practice.

  30. Sohbet,Sohbet sitesi
    Online Sohbet’e Katıl
    Yeni Nesil Seviyeli sohbet kanalları.
    Onlarca, Yüzlerce insanla birlikte sohbet chat keyfini yaşamaya hazır mısınız? öyleyse kaptan sohbet odalarına hemen üye olmadan bağlanabilir, hemen sohbete başlayabilirsiniz!

Leave a Reply