10 Questions With… Rona Bryan, 2025 classified staff recipient of the Exemplary Employee Award, and experiential marketing and outreach coordinator for the College of Forestry.
What originally brought you to Oregon State and how long have you been here?
I came to Oregon State in 2018 as a post-baccalaureate Ecampus student in Natural Resources. After getting an art degree and spending over a decade in the service industry, I was hoping to make a career shift, and I eventually started a student position with the College of Forestry International Programs office in 2021. I ended up loving the work and the college community so much that I applied for a staff position, which ultimately led to my current role with the Marketing + Communications team.
How do you tackle so many different tasks at once in your work and how do you stay organized?
I tend to be happiest and most productive in mild to moderate chaos. The best advice I’ve ever been given about handling multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment came from my kitchen manager when I started my first job as a server: No matter how busy you are, read your ticket twice before you send it to the kitchen. That simple trick of slowing down enough to catch mistakes before they were made saved me countless hours and so much unnecessary stress.
What makes you passionate about higher education?
I can’t think of anywhere else that I’ve met so many people who genuinely care about what they do. It’s hard to feel disengaged or uninspired when you’re surrounded by people who value curiosity and creativity and believe in what they’re doing, from students tirelessly pursuing their dreams to colleagues who are unwavering in their service ethic and commitment to mission.
Describe an event you found rewarding and what was fun about putting it together?
One of the most rewarding events I’ve helped coordinate was our Fall Return Festival this September, a reimagined version of our college’s long-standing welcome-back gathering. We wanted to try something new to encourage more in-depth participation and interaction, cultivate belonging and build awareness of college resources. We received an amazing response, both from the units who hosted forestry-themed activities and crafts and from the students and employees who attended. It was fun to put together something with a warm and cozy seasonal theme that I hoped would feel true to our college.
What advice would you give the younger version of yourself who was just starting college?
I’d tell myself not to be afraid of science! I was definitely an art kid in high school and made the mistake of listening to people – both adults and peers – who seemed to think you could be either an artist or a scientist, but not both. I took an ecology class my senior year where we did water quality testing in the creek behind the school and created a dichotomous key for the trees on the trails, and if I had trusted how much joy that brought me and hadn’t felt the need to choose between art and science, it might not have taken me another 10 years to start pursuing an academic path and career that I found truly fulfilling.
What things spark your imagination and how do you channel that into your work in events?
I take a lot of inspiration from nature, and one of my favorite parts of creating events for our college is finding ties to ecology that round out the programming and help meet event and strategic goals. I always try to find ways for events to give a nod to forestry subject matter – even just little details like designing “forest floor” floral arrangements out of moss, lichen and exposed soil for a lecture on the nature of forest soils. The natural world is full of reminders about the importance of interconnected and collaborative work, so I also try to create something together through an event. Our theme for Halloween this year is The Phosphorescent Forest: Fantastic Fungi, Forest Folklore + Ecological Oddities, and we’re going to make an ecological curiosity cabinet filled with natural and handmade artifacts (e.g., plant and fungi specimens) contributed by our community.
What was your favorite course in college?
One that I’ve been remembering fondly lately is Forest as Classroom (FES 430) with Dave Stemper here at Oregon State. The capstone project involved designing an instructional unit using a forest setting to meet learning objectives, including creating a video explaining and demonstrating one of the curricular activities. Spending so much time outdoors while thinking about how to share that joy with K-12 students was a magic combination.
How do you use data to improve and adjust your work to continuously improve events?
One of the first things I did was start identifying areas where we could collect quantitative data to establish a baseline and eventually assess trends and relationships. I’m always looking for opportunities to gather qualitative data as well and am working on establishing a more formal method for regularly collecting feedback on events. I do my best to make sure our community knows that I’m always open to notes and critique – and to date, many of the most successful adjustments we’ve made have been based on that direct input.
Who inspires you in your work, either personally or professionally?
I’m endlessly inspired by my team and coworkers, and I’m so grateful for the compassionate leadership and authentic mentorship I’ve found at the College of Forestry. I continue to be amazed at the talent, kindness and intentionality all around me, and I work hard to incorporate everything I learn from colleagues and students so I can better serve our community.
What is your favorite non-academic pursuit or passion?
It’s a tie between music and plants, with indoor bouldering as a close third. I play keyboard and sing in a band with some of the most wonderful humans on earth, and pretty much all my other time at home is spent working in the yard or tending my houseplants.
