Reporters aren’t often asked for an opinion. It’s not really their job, and if it were, they would be hard pressed to come to a consensus – for example, pizza order discussions can go on awhile around this office. But reporters see what happens day-to-day in a community more widely than many other people living there.
Therefore, we ask our reporters to come to some agreement on who has made an impact – for better or worse – in the Corvallis area each year. So far, they’ve been pretty insightful. You’ll see…
No. 1 – Dr. Luhui Whitebear
If being an Indigenous activist, professor, poet, writer, and mother wasn’t enough, Dr. Luhui Whitebear chose to run for a seat on the Corvallis School Board in 2021, winning her seat and the respect of her fellow Board members.
As an assistant professor at Oregon State University, Whitebear teaches classes on issues affecting Indigenous communities as well as on traditional and contemporary Indigenous resistance movements, using creative multimedia projects as an essential part of her pedagogy. Through these projects, she has provided students a creative avenue to share what they’ve learned beyond the classroom in the form of campus events, often held at or in conjunction with the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws cultural center – of which she is the Director. While the pandemic interrupted the possibility of conducting in-person events during the 2020-2021 academic year, Whitebear continued working with her students over virtual classes to create digital zines and videos, which can be viewed online.
For the months of October and November, Whitebear prepared two resolutions for the Corvallis School District to annually acknowledge, celebrate, and educate about the significant histories of two historically oppressed and excluded communities: LGBTQIS2S+ History Month and Native American Heritage Month. Both resolutions were passed unanimously and will take effect in 2022.
With the former resolution’s aim to push for greater visibility and awareness of Indigenous Two-Spirit people within the queer community, Whitebear calls for more inclusive language in advocacy efforts, which have become an extension of her activities on campus. One such effort happened in November, when she and other staff co-organized a virtual Two-Spirit Stories of Resilience event, where attendees listened to songs, short stories, prose, and poems by Two-Spirit and Indigenous trans and queer people.
Through it all, she has managed to balance her myriad commitments with being a single mom. “Being a mother is definitely my priority, and [my kids] have been by my side through everything,” she said. “My kids have been to rallies with me and participated in other activist work. They helped support my campaign efforts and have been to class with me during my graduate studies.”
To learn more about all Luhui Whitebear is up to, people can view her curriculum vitae and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter.
No. 2 – Judy Ball
Back when the Corvallis School District was looking at how to allocate bond money refurbishing schools, Judy Ball, a then-member of the Corvallis School Board, stepped up with an article from North Kansas City. In their schools, they had instituted gender-neutral restrooms, and according to their superintendent, it was working great.
This led the Corvallis board to install the first gender–neutral bathrooms in several schools in the district. Also, the overall policy has changed. This means that whenever a restroom is updated in a school, it will be modified to be available to all students.
“Judy Ball was a fierce advocate of underprivileged groups in our school,” said Vince Adams of the Oregon School Board Association. “She was the conscience of the school board and kept us all on track.” Notably, Adams also serves on the Corvallis Public Schools Board, as well.
No.3 – Jeff Jimerson
In January, Benton County launched its brand-new logo – a nearly $15,000 endeavor that was a modern twist on the historic original. The logo featured a new font, coloring, and artwork, all towards the goal of making it easier to read and use. Madison Avenue Collective in Corvallis was chosen to design the project because of the importance of keeping the design local. Jeff Jimerson, the design firm’s principal and creative director, was one of five people selected to head the project. 
“All together, the elements of the logo – color, shape, typography, symbology – communicate a healthy, livable community with a commitment to preserving a natural environment,” said Jimerson.
Both positive and negative, the Corvallis community voiced strong opinions on the new brand, making its launch a dynamic event in Benton County history. Love it or hate it, this logo leaves Jimerson’s imprint on our community for decades to come.
No. 4 – TIED – Johnny Calderon & Dylan De Honor
In April, local residents Johnny Calderon and Dylan De Honor took it upon themselves to organize Corvallis’ first Really Really Free Market – an informal, community-led
alternative to charities and thrift stores in which people can freely give,
take, and distribute a wide variety of resources with one another. While the two were inspired by the RRFM in Anaheim, Calif., Calderon was also motivated by his past
experiences with houselessness in Corvallis, leading him and De Honor to set up the monthly RRFM in locations that local unhoused or low-income community members had greater access to.
Both have continued to build affinity with other organizers, activists, and advocates in the community, bringing new ideas, skills, and creativity to the mix. As a result, the Corvallis RRFM has seen some positive outgrowths, including starting a free monthly magazine, hosting participatory activities at the end of the month, and becoming weekly.
“It’s crazy how the free market’s been growing, and people have been supportive and allowed us to become so much bigger,” said Calderon. “Strangers I would see every now and then would stop by every week and become friends in our community. It’s definitely made Corvallis a smaller town in a great way.”
No. 5 – Gary Chapman
Corvallis resident Gary Chapman has been a bright light in the local community for many years now, contributing to it in ways that include his work assessing water pollution for the Federal EPA and later as the founder of Paladin Water Quality Consulting. But what he is being celebrated most for in 2021 is the culmination of his decades of work as President of the Corvallis-to-the-Coast Trail Partnership (aka C2C or C2Sea).
Abandoned by the U.S. Forest Service after 25 years, Chapman and his friends wondered if maybe the Forest Service had been going about it the wrong way by starting in DC rather than Oregon. They hiked, recruited, and stirred the crowd locally. After 20 years, they did it. You can now walk from the Willamette, along Marys River, through Christmas tree groves, to Marys Peak, through Harlan and Toledo, and to the Pacific at Ona Beach.
No. 6 – TIED – Sloane Rittner & Dr. Bryce Cleary
The impacts of these two people were a line of tension that spun around the city during this year’s school board election.
Sloane Rittner – a Corvallis–area trans woman – had been a patient of Bryce Cleary’s as she was coming to the realization that she had been assigned the wrong gender at birth. She went to her physician to find someone who could help her through her transition. Unfortunately, Cleary was not the doctor she had hoped for.
Cleary – a Corvallis–area primary care doctor – ran for a seat on the Corvallis School Board in May with a campaign talking points highly focused on his pedigree as a caregiver. Much like a group 
of other conservatives across the country, Cleary’s platform and talking points reflected a conservative bent unusual to a Corvallis election, and Cleary himself would go on to make a number of unproven and incendiary accusations against incumbent board members.
At the apex of the election, Rittner came to The Advocate to share her story in an op-ed. A story that touched a nerve in Corvallis, and social media began to come down mostly in her favor. Her trauma in seeking a medical professional who would listen and lead her to the right resources brought other people to our door, showing us that the struggles trans people encounter in trying to assert their true selves are many and varied.
Cleary threatened to sue the paper over Rittner’s op-ed. He was not elected to the school board.
No. 7 – Ana Pearse
During her final year as an OSU student, artist Ana Pearse poured her photographic skills and visual creativity into art-based advocacy for fellow survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. Her goal? To expose the normalization and pervasive “everyday-ness” of rape culture in contemporary American society — including the gaslighting and silencing of victims. 
By documenting stories from places where sexual violence occurred to the deliberate destruction of rape test kits by law enforcement, Pearse’s work spoke to many in the community, where she has been featured in local exhibitions on campus, downtown in a Corvallis Book Bin window display, at the Blackfish Gallery up in Portland, and the Umpqua Valley Arts Center in Roseburg.
She graduated from OSU this year with honorary distinctions as both an Arts Fellow and Research Fellow, and plans on pursuing a Double Master’s degree in photography and art history after taking two gap years.
No. 8 – F. King Alexander
- King Alexander was named president of Oregon State University in late 2019. He resigned in April of 2021 after becoming notorious for his mishandling of sexual assault allegations during his time as president of Louisiana State University. His year-and-a-half tenure brought little to the table for OSU students.
“This is not about ranking well in U.S. News and World Report or some private school ranking in the Northeast,” Alexander said in an Advocate interview, “this is about serving the state and serving the next generation of students to make them better than we are.”
When the truth came out about Alexander’s time at LSU, when it came out later that he used OSU attorneys for his personal career protection, and when we learned that we would be paying out over $600,000 and health care costs to get him to leave, we asked if it was even possible that our students could do worse that this man.
In our opinion, Alexander embodies the inauthentic elements of university administration life. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to Ana Pearse’s work – he could have actually learned something about integrity.
No. 9 – Jarred Bierbrauer
The last few years have been an interesting time for men. The term “toxic masculinity” has been bandied about like a spitball aimed at your head. So what Jarred Bierbrauer did in response to that is perhaps even more important than he thought.
Bierbrauer’s documentary “Damstrong: Mental Health and Masculinity” relates the perspective of four men in the OSU community – a veteran, a cheerleader, a teacher, and an athlete. In each interview, the viewer sees a slice of what life is like for these men, what expectations they were raised with surrounding their masculinity, and how they have responded to those expectations.
Bierbrauer took the time to show viewers that “real men” can and should have the freedom to be vulnerable, emotionally expressive, and not bound to what our social and cultural norms have told them to be and not to be.
No. 10 – John Ellis
An Executive Producer of Uphill Media — an independent media network dedicated to educating the electorate about civics — John Ellis is also serving as the General Manager and Program Director of KORC FM Music & Civics, a volunteer-run, FCC-licensed, Low-Power radio station based right here in Corvallis. Described as an “Uphill Media adventure,” KORC is the first rural station to be developed by the network, playing an eclectic song library of over 88,000 titles carefully curated by broadcast veterans in the community. But Ellis sees the station as a means to also present civics and educational pieces that are relevant to people in Corvallis.
KORC volunteers have partnered with Veterans for Peace and Our Revolution Corvallis Allies (ORCA) to help fund and operate the station, and to help produce content that will compel listeners to engage with and take action in their communities.
With this undertaking, Ellis continues to make a mark on the community one listener at a time.
No. 11 – TIED – Doug Keszler & Andrew Grenville
Inpria was founded in 2007 as a spin-out from Oregon State University’s Department of Chemistry. This year, CEO Andrew Grenville and co-founder Professor Doug 
Keszler made headlines after the company announced it was sold to Japanese firm JSR for $514 million.
The Corvallis–based company began its work in Keszler’s chemistry lab at OSU. It has enabled semiconductor manufacturers to make more efficient and less expensive circuits that power everyday electronics from smartphones to PCs.
Grenville spoke to OSU following the most recent announcement made by the company, saying, “We wouldn’t be here without OSU; that’s abundantly clear.”
Some of the major backers for the company include Intel, Samsung, TSMC and Hynix. OSU also owns a small equity stake in Inpria.
A Sad Goodbye to…
Scott Givens
Founded in 2001, Browser’s Bookstore has been a staple within the Corvallis and Albany communities. Known best for selling and buying unique used books, Browser’s has been the go-to spot in town for every eclectic book lover’s needs. Earlier this year, Browser’s owner Scott Givens announced the upcoming closure of both the Corvallis and Albany Browser’s stores due to personal reasons. 
When asked how Browser’s has affected the community, Givens said, “First, we have a knack for keeping odd books in stock…” He explained that this quality has made Browser’s the best bookstore in the Pacific Northwest region to find unique books, out-of-print titles, and lesser-known authors.
Additionally, Givens shared that nearly all of the stores’ inventory comes from the PNW, particularly Linn and Benton counties.
“…We have had a significant financial impact on the community for a business our size,” said Givens. He estimates that final closure will be in mid-to-late February.
Yuji Hiratsuka
This year we celebrate Yuji Hiratsuka, who is retiring after nearly 30 years of service to both Oregon State University and the greater Corvallis community. Hiratsuka’s career as an artist and professor of printmaking touched the lives of many emerging artists and art-lovers alike. His unique style demonstrates a blending of eastern and western cultures, while exploring the intricacies of the human condition.
With a clear passion for education and outreach, Hiratsuka has played an instrumental role in the creation of the Norma Seibert Printmaking Scholarship program, as well as the JumpstART program for high school students, both of which offer support to aspiring artists in the Corvallis area.
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