CAS Connection CAS Spotlights archive

JAPANESE — Originally from Oregon, Meg Tsukamoto BA ’00 (Japanese) has spent the last 25 years living and working in Japan. She is a professional emcee, serving as both interpreter and facilitator for large events such as wedding receptions, a niche she found after struggling to find a bilingual emcee for her own wedding in Japan.

CREATIVE WRITING — For Morgan Thomas MFA ’16 (fiction), a future in writing was not always the plan. Their journey from curious storyteller to nationally recognized author demonstrates how creativity can grow through hard work and community.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Theresa Gildner’s research in the Amazon as a doctoral student in anthropology led to publications and experience in conducting ethical field research. She continues that work as a Washington University faculty member.

SPANISH - College of Arts and Sciences alum Brandon Rigby enjoyed studying Spanish, but it wasn’t until a professor suggested he major in it that he dove in. With multiple overseas assignments under his belt, he is now a global diplomat for the U.S. Department of State.

CINEMA STUDIES - Cinema studies professor Masami Kawai is set to begin production on her first feature film, “Valley of the Tall Grass,” in Eugene in summer 2026. It is both a personal journey and a community-centered story.

PHYSICS - An assistant professor of physics at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, Nguyen has been named the 2025 recipient of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Maria Goeppert Mayer Award. Named after a German American theoretical physicist who was co-awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics, this award honors exceptional achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Sarah Koski graduated with a degree in political science in 2006 from the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences and Robert D. Clark Honors College. To find her purpose and mission, Koski first had to break up with the notion that all success is a high-powered executive job. Now a community resource liaison for Lane Transit District, Koski works to help people feel seen and heard, and to make real change in the unhoused community.