February 20, 2022 – SOU President Rick Bailey returns to the Raider Up podcast with answers to students’ questions about what SOU has to offer for out-of-state students, parking availability for students, how students may be affected by SOU’s financial realignment and more.
February 3, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey updates the fiscal stability plan and thanks the campus community for thoughtful feedback ahead of the Feb. 16 town hall meeting, where details will be shared. Cost management is one of our for planks, and the other three – reimagining grants, leveraging philanthropy and diversifying revenue – are also keys to SOU’s future. He closes with an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
December 13, 2022 – SOU President Rick Bailey wishes happy holidays for all, regardless of your traditions or how you celebrate the winter season. The pause between fall and winter terms is a time for celebration and reflection – and a reminder that for everyone from Reading to Roseburg, SOU is your hometown public university.
December 6, 2022 – SOU President Rick Bailey talks with students and employees about the university’s pending fiscal and programmatic realignment in his December video message to campus. President Bailey says he is “pleading with” all members of the campus community to play a role in what he acknowledges will be a painful process of determining the things SOU should stop doing. He promises an open, inclusive and compassionate process that ultimately will strengthen the university’s fiscal foundation and will make SOU a model for universities nationwide to reposition for the future.
September 27, 2022 – SOU President Rick Bailey welcomes students and employees to fall term 2022, in his September video message to campus. President Bailey also lays out the plan to escape a periodic cycle of financial crises that are common at public higher education institutions across the country by reducing reliance on state funding and tuition revenue, and creating new income streams for the university by installing four planks: sustainable energy production, a senior living community, a campus business district and replacement of SOU’s core information system.
July 26, 2022 – SOU president Rick Bailey uses episode #4 of his podcast to answer student questions about SOU’s commitment to students from rural areas, whether he may at some point teach military history or other courses, his musical preferences and some favorite moments from his first academic year at SOU.
June 22, 2022 – SOU president Rick Bailey is back behind the mic with podcast host Nash Bennett, addressing questions that have been submitted by students. Topics this month range from cookies and the president’s favorite campus tree, to the cost of housing and ensuring that the university reflects the region’s diverse values.
June 3, 2022 – Watch SOU President Rick Bailey’s June 2022 campus video message. Topics for the final spring term message from President Bailey include SOU’s Gold rating for Sustainability in Higher Education; long-term fiscal goals and how we will address them; a congratulations to the Southern Oregon University women’s Rugby team for a successful trip to the national championship tournament; the celebration of LGBTQ pride month in June; and SOU’s flag-raising ceremony. President Bailey also welcomes the entire SOU community to join this year’s commencement ceremony.
May 25, 2022 – The unthinkable has happened again. Yesterday’s tragedy, nearly 2,000 miles away at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, touched us at SOU as if it had occurred next door. This tragedy, close behind two other mass shootings in recent weeks, reminds us of the fragile nature of life and of the mental health of those who would extinguish it.
May 13, 2022 – The topics for president Bailey’s May video message to campus and the region: JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion); Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month; the in person commencement ceremony on June 11 that will pay tribute to classes of 2022, 2021 and 2020; the Juneteenth flag raising ceremony on June 18; collaboration with Ashland and Medford schools, and others throughout the region; and the value of communication – particularly the ideas and opinions of those within the SOU community.