What area do you work in within the VPFA portfolio?
I work in Safety and Risk Services, where I serve as the University of Oregon’s Youth Programs Safety Coordinator.
My work focuses on programs across the university, wherever UO is engaging minors through camps, classes, research, athletics, the arts, outreach, and other experiences.
What is your current position, and what are your job responsibilities?
As the Youth Programs Safety Coordinator, I help both UO-sponsored and third -party youth programs create experiences where young people can learn, explore, and thrive safely. My work includes training and education, policy and compliance, consultation, incident response, and helping programs navigate everything from healthy boundaries and reporting requirements to the wonderfully complicated realities of working with actual human beings.
A big part of my job is connecting people. Youth programs exist all over UO, so I spend a lot of time building relationships across departments, finding common challenges, sharing good practices, and helping people see youth safety as something we create together, not simply a list of requirements to check off.
What has been your career path; how did you end up in your current position?
My career path makes perfect sense in retrospect, although I’m not sure I could have planned it! I have a master’s degree in Arts Administration from UO and have spent much of my career at the intersection of arts, education, youth programs, and community engagement. Along the way, I’ve worked in arts administration, gallery and community arts programming, youth orchestras, architecture marketing, continuing education, and most recently the Oregon Bach Festival.
While managing youth programs at the Oregon Bach Festival, I became increasingly interested in the systems behind great programs and began asking questions like, “How do we create environments where young people are not only inspired, but safe, supported, and able to belong?” That curiosity eventually led me to Safety and Risk Services and my current role.
It turns out that a career spent organizing artists, musicians, teenagers, parents, faculty, volunteers, performances, travel, and a slew of logistical details is surprisingly good preparation for risk management.
How has working at UO enabled your professional goals and interests?
One of the things I value most about UO is that curiosity can take you somewhere unexpected. I came to the university through the arts and have had opportunities to work in continuing education, music, youth programming, and now safety and risk. Each experience has expanded the way I think about what a university can be, not only for enrolled students, but also for children, families, educators, artists, and the larger community.
UO has allowed me to keep following the questions that interest me: How do we create meaningful experiences? How do people develop a sense of belonging? How can good systems support creativity rather than constrain it? My current position lets me explore all of those questions from an entirely new perspective.
What do you like about your current position?
The variety. On any given day I might be talking with someone running a summer camp, reviewing a policy, developing a training, thinking through an unusual situation, or meeting with colleagues from another part of campus.
But what I love most is getting to know the people behind UO’s youth programs. There are remarkable programs happening across the university, often led by people who care deeply about the young people they serve. I get to help connect those people and build a stronger culture around youth safety and wellbeing. I also genuinely enjoy solving complicated problems, especially the ones where the answer isn’t immediately obvious. I’ve learned that this work takes flexibility and resilience, along with a willingness to listen, adapt, and sometimes try a different path.
Please share some insight into what your job involves.
One thing I’m especially proud of is helping strengthen the network among people who work with youth across UO. Youth programming is incredibly decentralized: programs may look completely different from one another, but many of the people running them are wrestling with the same questions and challenges.
Earlier this year, we brought Youth Program Administrators together for a conference focused on safety, reporting, shared challenges, and learning from one another. What I loved was watching connections happen across programs that might otherwise never interact.
I’ve become fascinated by the larger “ecosystem” of youth engagement at UO. Part of my work now is not simply asking, “Are we meeting the requirements?” but also, “How can we help this whole ecosystem become stronger?” I’m proud to be helping move that conversation forward.
What advice do you have for someone thinking of applying to the UO?
Be curious about the whole university, not just the job you’re applying for. UO is a big place, and some of the most interesting opportunities come from relationships and experiences you never could have predicted from your original job description.
And bring the odd combination of things you know. Universities need specialists, but they also need people who can connect ideas across disciplines. Some of the experiences I once thought were unrelated parts of my career have turned out to be exactly what I draw on now.
Share a little about yourself:
- Family: My husband, Tod, and I have two adult children, Claire and Alex, and a giant, somewhat mythical beast of a dog named Shaggy. We’re a family of musicians, makers, outdoor adventurers, and cooks, usually with more projects underway than is probably reasonable.
- Favorite food: Beans, in almost any form. But if I must be more specific, a really good homemade Yumm! Bowl with lots of vegetables and toppings.
- Best movie you’ve seen: I’m terrible at picking favorites: All That Jazz, Barbie, Raising Arizona, Fargo, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and, because childhood favorites still count, Charlotte’s Web and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
If you could only take three items with you to a deserted island, what would they be?
A Swiss Army knife, a field guide to whatever is growing on the island, and my violin, which would be completely impractical but would give me something to do once I had identified all the plants.
How do you want to be remembered?
As someone who noticed things: people, possibilities, beauty, and the things that sometimes get overlooked. I hope I helped people feel seen and created spaces where they could connect, create, and flourish.
If you could have the answer to any question, what would it be?
What are we not noticing?
(September 2026)