About the Board
Meet the Trustees
Daniel P. Santos
Chair
After more than two decades of service to four Oregon governors, SOU alumnus Daniel P. Santos most recently served as associate dean for student affairs and administration at Willamette University College of Law. He oversaw student recruitment, student services, placement activities, and administrative duties at the law school.
Richard J. Bailey, Jr., Ph.D.
SOU President
President Richard J. Bailey, Jr., joined SOU in January 2022, after overseeing the resurgence of Northern New Mexico College during five-plus years as president. He previously completed a 24-year career in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a full colonel and command pilot with more than 3,500 flying hours. Dr. Bailey earned accolades on and off campus while at Northern New Mexico College, increasing enrollment by more than 20 percent, cutting student loan defaults by more than 50 percent and more than doubling the college’s graduation rate – all without an increase in tuition rates.
Dr. Jonathon Bullock
Vice Chair
Jon Bullock is the executive director of the Redmond Proficiency Academy, a proficiency-based public charter school that he helped found. He is a major proponent of educational innovation, including personalized learning, and he is an advocate for providing all students with a high-quality public education that honors their individuality, background, and strengths and takes them from where they are to where they want to be.
For over 25 years, Jon has worked with young people as a teacher, coach, and administrator. He has combined his passion and skills as an educator with private sector and non-profit experience to develop one of the largest and most successful public charter schools in Oregon.
Sheila Clough
Sheila Clough is the chief executive officer of Mercy Flights, a Southern Oregon-based provider of medical treatment and transport services. Prior to this, she served as the chief executive officer of Asante Ashland Community Hospital and has worked as a healthcare executive for nearly 20 years.
Prior to joining Asante, Clough served in a progression of leadership roles from 1998 through 2013 with Ministry Howard Young Health Care in Woodruff, Wisconsin, eventually rising to the role of president and chief operating officer.
Shaun Franks
Shaun Franks graduated from SOU in 2014; he studied business, environmental studies, and corporate sustainability. In 2011, through the SOU School of Business, he studied renewable energy in Germany. In 2012, while director of sustainability for student government, he led the establishment of the SOU Green Fund to invest student dollars in local energy, water, and campus sustainability projects. The fund has helped establish three new solar installations on campus, purchase water offsets, and launch The Farm at SOU. Currently, Shaun is a professional working in the renewable energy industry.
Debra Fee Jing Lee
Debra Fee Jing Lee was born in Toisan, China. She immigrated with her family to Providence, RI in 1956. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and a juris doctorate from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Since 1989, Debra has served as the Executive Director of the Center for NonProfit Legal Services in Medford, OR. Prior to this, she practiced as a legal aid attorney in West Tennessee, Central Arkansas, and Jackson County. She has contributed innovative ideas to critical poverty issues, supported diversity, and increased access to justice.
Paul Nicholson
Paul Nicholson is executive director emeritus of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, having held the position of executive director from November 1995 until his retirement in December 2012. As OSF’s executive director he was responsible for all management aspects of one of the largest and most complex professional theatres in the United States, including strategic planning, budgeting, fundraising, public relations, marketing, education programs, human resources, and board relations. From 1980 until 1995, Paul was General Manager of the Festival.
Mimi Pieper
Mimi Pieper is a sophomore in the SOU Honors College. Her major is computer science with a minor in rhetoric and reason. She enjoys learning about everything she possibly can.
Ms. Pieper co-founded a nonprofit school, Mountain Scholars Tutorial, focused on providing rigorous rhetorical education to rural students in Northern California. Ms. Pieper is most proud of her volunteer work at Mountain Scholars, providing tutoring in a variety of subjects, and working to promote community theater.
Most recently, Ms. Pieper worked as a marketing, user experience, and user interface intern at Prelio, a remote tech startup company. In the future, she hopes to continue working in the technology field in the areas of law, artificial intelligence, or other emerging technologies.
Deborah Rosenberg
Deborah Rosenberg is a professor of costume design and has been a member of the Theatre Arts faculty at Southern Oregon University since 1999. Deborah designed the current costume curriculum and currently teaches a six-term costume design sequence as well as classes in stage makeup and costume crafts. Deborah previously served as department chair of SOU’s Theatre Arts Department and as co-chair of the Creative Arts Department. Deborah is a founding faculty member of the theatre summer program, which offers a master of theatre studies degree over three summers.
Barry Thalden
Barry Thalden and his wife, Kathryn, moved to Ashland to retire in 2012. Almost immediately, they became immersed in making good things happen in the community. The Thaldens previously lived in Las Vegas where Barry was CEO of the architectural firm he founded in 1971 and guided for 43 years. Thalden Boyd Emery Architects, with offices in St. Louis, Tulsa, Phoenix and Las Vegas, specialized in designing large-scale projects, including resorts and casinos, throughout the United States.
Bill Thorndike
Bill Thorndike operates his family business, Medford Fabrication, a custom steel fabrication company that has been in operation for 79 years. Thorndike currently serves on the boards of Southern Oregon University, Oregon Business Council, Crater Lake National Park Trust, Jackson County Economic Development Advisory Committee, and Jefferson Regional Health Alliance. He has served on a number of other boards and commissions, including the Port of Portland, Oregon Community Foundation, Asante Health System, Northwest Area Foundation, Northwest Health Foundation, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, and the Portland Branch of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.
Steve Vincent
Steve Vincent is the Oregon regional business manager for Avista Utilities. He’s responsible for public relations, corporate philanthropy, community interface, and local government relations across eight counties in eastern and southern Oregon.
Prior to this position, he was Avista’s Oregon economic development manager and before that its corporate lobbyist in Salem. While in the state Capitol he was loaned to represent Southern Oregon University, Rogue Community College, the Medford Chamber, Southern Oregon Economic Development Inc., the Southern Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon Economic Development Association.
janelle wilson
Born in Grants Pass, Oregon, janelle believes in education as a tool for change and that positive connections and relationships are key to an equitable, enriching, justice-oriented community where diversity is celebrated. These beliefs were cultivated greatly by her family and they continue to inspire the work with which she engages.
janelle holds a B.A. in Multicultural and Gender Studies from California State University, Chico and an M.A. in Women’s Studies in Religion from Claremont Graduate University.
Office of the Board of Trustees
The Office of the Board of Trustees is located at 1250 Siskiyou Blvd. in Churchill Hall, room 107.
Sabrina Prud’homme
Contact
SOU Board of Trustees
trustees@sou.edu
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.8055