On her first day as an Oregon State University Ecampus student in 2013, Cheryl Jobs sat down at a Starbucks in the New York metro area, opened her laptop and notebook, and she got to work.
“I remember feeling excited,” she recalls now. “The material had me hooked from day one.”
Seven years later, Jobs is one of the 1,128 members of the Oregon State Ecampus Class of 2020 who earned their degrees online and are being celebrated from a distance this week. They comprise 15.7% of the university’s 7,181 graduates this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused Oregon State to postpone its commencement ceremony – traditionally held each June on the Corvallis campus – until a later date based on public health recovery factors. Hundreds of Ecampus students participate in the ceremony each year to receive their diplomas in person.
Even though the on-site celebration was put on hold, it doesn’t lessen the sense of accomplishment for students like Jobs. She experienced homelessness and faced other personal hardships while studying full time in Oregon State’s online natural resources bachelor’s program.
Jobs immersed herself in the Ecampus coursework, with a focus in fish and wildlife conservation. Now she’s graduating with honors, and her résumé already boasts an internship with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“We are constantly in awe of our global community of students and their ability to persevere and succeed despite the challenges they face as adult learners,” Ecampus Associate Provost Lisa L. Templeton said. “This year we are particularly proud and aware of how hard they work in order to stay on track to graduate and improve their lives.”
The Ecampus Class of 2020 consists of students from 48 states and U.S. territories, as well as Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Taiwan, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Quick facts about 2020 Oregon State Ecampus graduates
- 158 students were awarded a degree with distinction (cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude)
- All 10 of this year’s online Master of Arts in Teaching program graduates have landed teaching jobs
- The online French bachelor’s program is celebrating its first two alumni: Sierra Arvin and James Jaber
- 400 students earned their computer science postbaccalaureate degree online, the most graduates from one Ecampus program.
- A group of 10 students are the first to graduate from the Ecampus college student services administration master’s program.
- Eight students earned two bachelor’s degrees apiece as part of the sustainability double-degree online program
- Oregon boasts 334 Ecampus grads this year. California (209) had the second-highest total.
This year’s graduating class means that more than 7,000 students have earned an Oregon State degree online since 2002. They are now part of OSU’s vast alumni network that are making an impact on their communities and the world.