(Photo Submitted by Tiffeny Millbritt)
By Elizabeth Vogel, Staff Writer -- vogel11@up.edu
Editor of Portland Magazine Brian Doyle describes University of Portland alumni as "the people who use their unique gifts in creative ways. And in the end it has less to do with them, and more to do with the people they affect."
The following list of alumni is by no means comprehensive, but it is a cross section of the type of people who have benefited from attending UP.
Jack O'Neill
Jack graduated from UP in 1949. This alum is the inventor of the wetsuit, and his products are sold worldwide.
"He invented what he called the super suit because he wanted to surf in cold water," Doyle said. "He didn't invent it to make money, he invented it because he really wanted to surf."
O'Neill loved the ocean so much that he lost his eye to it.
In an interview with Portland Magazine, O'Neill said, "If people remember me for anything, I hope it's for the O'Neill Sea Odyssey program and what it teaches kids about the ocean."
Kasey Keller
You may know him as the goalkeeper for the Seattle Sounders, but before he became the best goalkeeper in the United States, Keller played for the Pilots. After leaving UP, Keller played soccer for teams in Europe.
"He was ready to come back to the U.S. so he accepted the deal with the Sounders. You know he grew up in the Northwest. He likes it," senior Court Reeves said. As Keller's nephew, Reeves knows him pretty well.
"He is really laid back and plays Xbox with me sometimes. He's just really down to earth and genuine," Reeves said.
Augusto Carvalho Dias
Dias is the owner and cofounder of Nossa Familia, a local coffee company dedicated to making good, sustainable and fairly traded coffee. Dias comes from a family of coffee producers and still is active on the family farm in Brazil. He graduated from UP in 2002.
Marla Salmon
Salmon received a bachelor's in political science from UP in 1971 and a bachelor's degree science in nursing in 1972. She was also a Fulbright scholar and went to Johns Hopkins for graduate study.
From 1992 to 1997, Salmon was the chief nurse in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"She ended up being the top nurse in the country," Doyle said. She is currently The Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Dean in Nursing at the University of Washington.
Donald P. Shiley
Besides being the namesake of Shiley Hall and the soon-to-be Shiley School of Engineering, this UP alum saved millions of lives when he helped invent a new heart valve.
"It's easy to say he saved half a million people, but think of what that means: thousands and thousands of children didn't lose their dad," Doyle said. Shiley died last summer.
Sallie Tisdale
Tisdale, a nurse and an author, graduated from The University of Portland in 1983, has published several books and writes for Harper's Magazine.
"She wrote one of the great classics of the Northwest, "Stepping Westward," Doyle, a fellow Northwest author, said. Besides writing on multiple subjects, Tisdale continues to practice nursing and has worked in Africa.
"She's one of those omnicurious people," Doyle said.
Christopher Meyer
After Christopher Meyer graduated in 2002, he was in the Peace Corps in Panama for two years where he worked with coffee growers.
"The job market wasn't good," he said.
He decided to look at alternative options.
"I thought, ‘who will pay me to keep on traveling and learn language?'"
After the Peace Corps, Meyer went to Johns Hopkins and earned a master's degree in international relations. He co-founded a forestry company in Peru called Planting Empowerment and also was given the opportunity to do to climate change work with indigenous people.
Vail Horton
Horton is the founder and CEO of Keen Healthcare Company in Portland. This company works to make better equipment for disabled people. Horton was born without legs and with improper bone growth in his arms, so the work is close to his heart. He worked with his friends at UP to start this company.
Horton also works with Hilary Clinton on worldwide disability policies. As a person who has struggled all his life, Horton has some advice for current UP students.
"Make as wise as possible the best choices, daily, hourly, minute by minute. Hold yourself accountable more so than anyone around you. Be very hard on yourself. Chose the harder more difficult choice always. Live to love," Horton said in an e-mail.
Charles Lewis
Lewis graduated from The University of Portland in 1994. He joined the Peace Corps then went to graduate school at Harvard. He came back to Portland and saw a need for music programs in schools, which is how Ethos came to be.
"When he graduated he was very upset that schools were cutting music," Doyle said.
Ethos is a non-profit organization to bring music to lower and middle class children.
"He has actually changed the lives of thousands of kids," Doyle said.
Tiffeny Millbritt
Millbritt scored the gold-medal-winning winning goal for the U.S. Women's Team in the 1996 Olympics. In 1999, she helped her team win the World Cup.
"She is quick and devious and creative," Doyle said.
Millbritt, came to UP even though she could have gone to any school in the country.
"That was the beginning for us," said Doyle. "We got the tiny creative energy and let it loose in the world."
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