Oregon State University alumnus Jordan Conger of Bend has become the first student from an Oregon school to be accepted as a Knight Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University.

Conger graduated from OSU in 2017 with a degree in mathematical economics. A five-year chief of staff for gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler, Conger worked full-time while obtaining his Oregon State degree.

Conger will be part of the third Knight Hennessy cohort, for which roughly 4,400 applications were received. The  2020 cohort is expected to include about 80 students.

Conger will pursue a master’s degree in environment and resources in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences and an MBA in the Graduate School of Business. He worked in politics and government for nine years overall. 

Conger helped develop and pass legislation to launch central Oregon’s first four-year university, OSU – Cascades, to enhance whistleblower protections for government workers, and to allow women to purchase birth control without a doctor’s prescription – making Oregon the first state in the country to remove that barrier to access.

Conger aspires to shape future energy and climate solutions and eventually return to public service.

March 27, 2020