Shana Pennington’s passion is the forest. She volunteered in the Pasachoa Forest Preserve in Ecuador for six months in 1996 and may be headed back–but this time, with a great deal more knowledge to apply to her work. Pennington, whose undergraduate degree will be in biology, spent much of last year working in the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest east of Eugene where she studied soil regeneration. "I learned to operate a backhoe and a chainsaw and spent a lot of time crawling around in the bush, digging," she says. The work was the basis of her 70-page Honor College thesis on the topic of nitrogen cycling in Cascade forests. Only days after graduation, she will be headed to Council, Alaska–population 10–for a paid summer internship, funded by the National Science Foundation, to study the adaptations of vascular plants to tundra environments. Her long-term goal is to get a master’s degree in ecosystem studies as preparation for a career in forest biology. She will attend the Honors College ceremony at 7 p.m. on Friday on the west steps of Chapman Hall, 990 E. 13th Ave. Pennington will be initiated into Phi Beta Kappa, the national liberal arts honor society, at an 8 a.m. Saturday ceremony in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St., and she will attend the Department of Biology graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Olum Atrium of Willamette Hall, 1371 E. 13th Ave. SOURCE: Shana Pennington, biology honors graduate, (541) 687-5752.

"We didn’t plan it this way, it just happened," says Beth Fox. Beth and her daughters Emily Mickelsen and Monica Fox each will graduate from a different Oregon college this weekend. Beth is disappointed that she can’t attend all three ceremonies, but not even a private jet could get her to all three campuses in time. Beth will receive her master of business administration degree from the University of Oregon at 6 p.m. Friday in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave., while Emily is picking up a master’s degree in education from Portland State University at roughly the same time. Monica will receive a bachelor’s degree in merchandising management from Oregon State University on Sunday. After the OSU ceremony, all three will gather at a big family celebration at the Fox home in Junction City on Sunday. When her youngest daughter became a college freshman, Beth decided to finish her undergraduate degree, changing her major to business. "My original plan was simply to get a bachelor’s degree in business and get a job," she says. "But I was the only member of my extended family without a graduate degree and I thought it would be great to have an MBA in the family." She entered an accelerated MBA program at the UO’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business in the summer of 1998. At the same time, Emily was working on her master’s degree and Monica was due to complete her undergraduate work. They all finished the same year. "What a thrill," Beth says. "My husband Paul is a little overwhelmed. But it’s a landmark occasion for the family–something to talk about for generations." SOURCE: Beth Fox, (541) 998-8018; e-mail elifox@oregon.uoregon.edu.

Jeff Flanagan gets his dander up when people stereotype him because he needs a wheelchair to navigate the University of Oregon campus. "My disability is no more burdensome than the everyday challenges of anyone else’s life," says the UO senior, who will receive a bachelor of arts degree on June 12. Flanagan says there are plenty of other people who face more demanding challenges–
students who are also single-parents, for example, or people who overcome learning disabilities in order to succeed in school. But college hasn’t been a slam-dunk for Flanagan, who attended college off and on for six years before returning to the UO in 1994. He faces a new challenge now–getting into a good graduate psychology program, and dealing with a nine-to-five job. "It took me a while to get my bearings again, but once I did, I was able to get serious about school," he says. He will graduate cum laude with a triple major in psychology, English and medieval studies. Flanagan’s academic accomplishments–he’s a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key and Psi Chi, the psychology honor society–have opened the door to his dream job, becoming a clinical or counseling psychologist in Eugene. Flanagan will be one of two undergraduate speakers at the psychology department’s commencement ceremonies at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 12, at Hayward Field, 1580 E. 15th Ave. SOURCE: Jeff Flanagan, (541) 302-1884; e-mail flanje@gladstone.uoregon.edu.

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