Top Stories of 2025
As the calendar year draws to a close, we’ve compiled a sampling of top stories from the undergraduate college, the graduate school, and the law school.
Year in Review
From the unveiling of a new mascot to community-engaged learning to national recognition, 2025 was packed with achievements worth celebrating.
Institutional Highlights
River Otter Makes a Big Splash as New Mascot
The river otter, beloved for its scrappiness, teamwork, and Pacific Northwest roots, is officially Lewis & Clark’s new mascot. The adorable, semiaquatic mammal emerged as the top choice among students, alumni, and employees.
Lewis & Clark and Albina Vision Trust Launch Historic Partnership
The new collaboration will build a hub for education and economic opportunity within Portland’s redeveloped Lower Albina district to foster learning as a core value of the community and provide opportunities for Albina residents and Lewis & Clark students, staff, and faculty.
L&C Launches New Career Accelerator “Turbocharged” by $5M Commitment
This transformational approach to career readiness will integrate career competencies and work-ready skills into every undergraduate’s academic journey; a commitment from Heidi Hu BS ’85 and Daniel Hsieh establishes an endowment to support it.
Five-Year Jumpstart to an Education Career
Lewis & Clark’s Teacher Pathways program supports undergraduate students who dream of becoming educators, offering a BA, MAT, and licensure in just five years.
Points of Pride
Lewis & Clark Ranked Among Princeton Review’s Best for 2026
In the Princeton Review’s 2026 guide, Lewis & Clark appears among the nation’s top 391 colleges and received high marks for most beautiful campus (No. 9), most politically active students (No. 13), and best college newspaper (No. 19).
Lewis & Clark Named One of Nation’s Top Green Colleges
Lewis & Clark ranks No. 26 on Princeton Review’s 2026 list of Top 50 Green Colleges, earning national recognition for its strong culture of environmental responsibility and sustainability. The honor appears in the newly released Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2026 Edition, which profiles 388 institutions that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to environmental stewardship.
L&C Among Top 50 Liberal Arts Colleges for International Students
Lewis & Clark has earned a spot on Study Abroad Aide’s list of top U.S. liberal arts colleges for international students, recognizing our commitment to global education and community.
L&C Ranks in Peace Corps’ Top 10 for 2025
Lewis & Clark has been named No. 8 among small colleges on the Peace Corps’ 2025 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list. With six alumni currently serving across five countries, the college continues its deep-rooted commitment to global service.
Poet Joins Elite Ranks of Guggenheim Fellows
Corey Van Landingham BA ’08 has been named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for creative and intellectual achievement. The fellowship will underwrite a yearlong poetry project that explores how isolation can sharpen both perception and imagination.
Historian Named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow
Quinn Slobodian BA ’00, an intellectual and cultural historian, has been named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for creative and intellectual achievement.
Research and Scholarship
A Quantum Leap for Physics Students
Ben Olsen, assistant professor of physics, is establishing Lewis & Clark’s first Quantum Information Science and Engineering lab to probe how unusual types of matter behave at the subatomic level. But first he and his students have to build “The Apparatus.”
Scholar Helps Build a ChatGPT for Latin America
Freddy Vilches partners with Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence on the creation of a Latin America-focused chatGPT and an AI translator of Indigenous languages.
Where the Wild Mice Are
This summer, several Rogers Science Program students immersed themselves in hands-on field work investigating the behavior of deer mice in Tryon Creek State Natural Area with Assistant Professor of Biology Tracy Burkhard―and found their career paths.
A Decade of Dedication: Professor Lydia Pallas Loren’s Work on the Landmark Restatement of Copyright
In a historic achievement, Lewis & Clark Law Professor, Lydia Loren, has helped lead the first-ever Restatement of Copyright to completion as one of five Reporters appointed by the American Law Institute (ALI). Initiated in 2015, this ten-year endeavor culminated in the ALI’s unanimous approval of the final sections of this comprehensive document, which spans 11 chapters and 83 sections.
Do Less to Do More?
Assistant Professor of Professional Mental Health Counseling and “Burnout Scholar” Justin Henderson has an innovative approach to understanding workplace well-being.
Spinning Spider Research Into a Notable Award
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has recognized Greta Binford, professor of biology, with the 2025 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award. The honor celebrates her nationally recognized research on spider biodiversity and venom evolution—much of it conducted alongside undergraduate researchers.
College of Arts and Sciences
Finn Watson BA ’26 Wins Goldwater Scholarship
Watson is one of 441 students selected from a pool of more than 5,000 nationwide for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the preeminent award for undergraduates in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
Four New Grads Honored With Fulbright Awards
Four graduates from the Class of 2025 will spend the next year teaching overseas after receiving prestigious awards from the Fulbright Program.
History Professor Recognized for Teaching Excellence
Assistant Professor of History Nancy O. Gallman has earned a prestigious Graves Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching. The award will support her latest research project, Law’s Borderlands. The manuscript reimagines early American legal history through the lens of cultural interaction in the late-colonial South.
PBS Shines National Spotlight on ‘Classroom 4’
PBS is streaming Classroom 4, which captures the transformative Inside-Out course taught by Professor Reiko Hillyer, where students break down the walls imposed by incarceration to study, connect, and change each other.
A Tradition of Connection: L&C’s International Fair Turns 60
For six decades, Lewis & Clark’s International Fair has brought cultures together through food, performances, and community. The run-up to this year’s fair, held March 1, featured a week of festivities, including student-designed meals and a visual history of the fair, highlighting its impact on generations of students.
Nothing But Net—and Heart
Just one year after finishing dead last in the Northwest Conference, Lewis & Clark men’s basketball shocked the league with a championship run for the record books. Their grit and belief carried them all the way to the NCAA Division III National Tournament for the first time in over 20 years.
Bacchus Revels in First-Ever National Ultimate Frisbee Championship
In a dramatic 15-14 overtime victory, the Bacchus ultimate frisbee team triumphed over Middlebury, capturing their first national championship at the 2025 USA Ultimate D-III College Championships.
‘Mossy Log’ Earns Top Honors in Oregon Newspaper Publishers Contest
The student newspaper’s recent slate of state awards—along with a national ranking from The Princeton Review—attest to the team’s talents, grit, versatility, and sense of community.
Graduate School of Education and Counseling
Welcome Andy Saultz, New Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling
Saultz, an alum of the graduate school’s secondary social studies MAT program, brings a wide range of expertise in educational policy, the politics of education, and the intersection of health and education policy.
Creating Equity-Centered Principal Pipelines
In fall 2021, Lewis & Clark was named a partner recipient of an $8.2 million grant from the Wallace Foundation, kicking off work with Portland Public Schools to train aspiring administrators with programming focused on equity and inclusion. Funding has been awarded for an additional year, extending the program through 2026–27.
Art Therapy Faculty Spearhead Legislation to Transform Oregonians’ Access to Mental Health Care
Beginning in 2026, HB 3761 will expand access to art therapy for Oregonians on Medicaid/Oregon Health Plan, helping to ensure that the people with the greatest need have increased access to effective mental healthcare.
McKenzie Darr EdS ’21 Named Oregon School Psychologist of the Year
Now in her fourth year with the Dallas School District, Darr is one of two school psychologists serving students at Whitworth and Oakdale Heights elementary schools, Dallas Community Charter School, and Dallas High School. Last year she served 86 students through the evaluation process and 90 students the year prior.
Grant Piros ’21 Named 2025 Assistant Principal of the Year
Piros was presented with the award at a surprise assembly in front of a gym full of excited middle school students in the fall, and will be formally honored at COSA’s annual Seaside Conference in June 2025.
Leadership Beyond Our Schools
A professor of educational leadership travels to the arctic circle on an environmental justice mission to defend a precarious way of life.
Lewis & Clark Law School
Welcoming Alicia Ouellette, Jordan D. Schnitzer Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School
On January 2, 2025, Alicia Ouellette took the helm as the Jordan D. Schnitzer Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School.
“Dean Ouellette’s expertise and visionary leadership are exactly what is needed to build on the law school’s success and lead it into the future,” said Robin Holmes-Sullivan, president of Lewis & Clark.
The First Attorneys Licensed Through Oregon’s SPPE Program
Lewis & Clark Law alumni are leading the way in Oregon’s new Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination (SPPE), a bar alternative that prioritizes hands-on legal experience over a traditional exam. Four of the first five attorneys who earned their licenses are L&C grads.
New Partnership With OPB Trains Law Students, Supports Oregon Journalists
Lewis & Clark Law School and Oregon Public Broadcasting are launching the Public Records and Government Transparency Project, a new initiative offering legal training for students and support for journalists navigating Oregon’s complex public records system.
Legal Advice Portal Expands Access to Justice for Victims of Hate & Bias Crimes in Oregon
A new online portal from the NCVLI is providing free legal advice to victims of hate and bias crimes in Oregon, bridging a critical gap in access to justice.
Environmental Law Moot Court Team Wins National Championship
Lewis & Clark recently secured its ninth championship at the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, further solidifying our status as the most successful school in the competition’s history.
Lewis & Clark Law Professor, Tabrez Ebrahim, Named Fulbright U.S. Scholar
Lewis & Clark Law Professor Tabrez Ebrahim has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to conduct comparative legal research in Jordan, studying similarities and differences in intellectual property law and business law between the United States and Jordan, and their corresponding impact on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Undergraduate Admissions Graduate School Admissions Law Admissions
More Stories
Tech Saavy
AI Helps Students ‘Take the Hint’
Ishan Abraham BA ’26 and a team of collaborators are developing an AI-powered learning system that delivers hints during hands-on cybersecurity exercises. Their work will be presented at next year’s 21st International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Defending the Natural World
Justice for Animals and the Environment on a Global Scale
The law school’s Global Law Alliance is helping to advance environmental and wildlife protections across the globe while giving students hands-on experience in international law.
Buzzy Data
Visualizing the Region’s Wildlife Through Data
Students received hands-on data science experience with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, predicting the climate and habitat vulnerabilities of the species in our region.
Faculty Honors
Spinning Spider Research Into a Notable Award
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has recognized Greta Binford, professor of biology, with the 2025 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award. The honor celebrates her nationally recognized research on spider biodiversity and venom evolution—much of it conducted alongside undergraduate researchers.