The February episode Southern Oregon University's Faculty & Staff Spotlight podcast is a conversation with Al Case, an associate professor of businss at SOU – and the university's official sports photographer.

Case received his bachelor's degree in accounting and master's degree in accounting with a tax emphasis, both at Brigham Young University. He then worked mostly in corporate tax areas for Deloitte, a prominent business services firm, before moving on to work in the tax departments of two multi-billion-dollar, high-tech companies.

He and his family moved to Ashland in 2000 to find a better work/life balance, and a year later he began teaching at SOU. He continues to teach a variety of accounting courses, focusing more on tax planning than typical accounting professors. He taught himself photography along the way, and became the university's official sports photographer after his work was noticed by the Athletics Department.

Case sees some parallels betwee his teaching and his photography – helping his students to see the story behind the numbers, just as viewers may see the fuller story behind his photos. "I'm tryng to get them to see the big picture, as well as the details," he says.

Case is interviewed in this 14th installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is Codi Kirksey, a Music Innovation major from Ashland, Oregon.

The initial episode of the 2025-26 academic year for SOU's Faculty & Staff Spotlight podcast is a conversation with Alexander Gonzalez, an assistant professor of music and director of bands at SOU. He also serves as artistic director of the Rogue Valley Symphonic Band.

Gonzalez will conduct SOU's Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, and will also teach music applied lessons in trumpet, and courses in music pedagogy.

He served as the assistant director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also earned his master's degree in Wind Conducting. His career includes teaching conducting courses at Capital University Conservatory of Music in Ohio, directing the Professional School Orchestra, leading the Middleton Symphony Orchestra's Wind Octet in Wisconsin and educating students in music history at Hillsborough Community College in Florida. His journey began in public schools in Florida and Colorado, where he taught a range of music courses at the middle and high school levels.

Gonzalez is interviewed in this 13th installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is Codi Kirksey, a Music Innovation major from Ashland, Oregon.

The final episode of the 2024-25 academic year for SOU's Faculty & Staff Spotlight podcast is a conversation with Dee Fretwell Carreon, a senior instructor of business and director of the Global Innovation Scholars program. Carreon is also a co-director of the annual SOU Creativity Conference and is a former chair of the School of Business.

Carreon began her career in 1999 as an operations director and later worked 10 years as vice president of operations for agricultural manufacturer Ecoteas of Ashland. She has recently worked on scaling issues with Heather's Choice, a "packable meals and snacks" company that was featured on Shark Tank and has since relocated to Ashland.

She has worked in the nonprofit world, assisting in nonprofit development for organizations across the United States. She also enjoys developing systems and assisting in the direction of music festivals and major events.

Carreon describes herself as an "operations girl" who is admittedly nerdy about the nuts-and-bolts of businesss.

She is interviewed in this 12th installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

The light shines on Danielle Hammer, an instructor in SOU's First Year Seminar program, in the latest episode of the Faculty & Staff Spotlight podcast.

Hammer talks about her upbringing – raised by a single mother and unhoused at times – and then finding her footing in community college before transferring to SOU and earning bachelor's degrees in English and Anthropology. She was a McNair Scholar at SOU, which set the stage for graduate studies, then she returned to teach at SOU after earning her Ph.D. in Literature at University of California, San Diego.

She teaches writing courses and is coordinator of SOU's Bridge Program, which serves first-year students from under-represented populations. Her academic fascination is the representations of madness and haunting in Irish literature – a theme that she continues in her Purposeful Learning Seminar course, Unsolved Mysteries.

Hammer says she learned to trust and rely upon faculty members and her peers when researching topics as an undergrad, "before 'Googling' was a verb."

Hammer is interviewed in this 11th installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Val Soto – an instructor in SOU's First Year Seminar program – is in the spotlight for this latest podcast episode.

Soto discusses his his stint in the U.S. Army and then his decision to attend Southern Oregon University, and how his years as an undergraduate – eventually earning bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies (Health and Physical Education, and Mathematics) – prepared him for his graduate studies in the University of Iowa's Interdiscplinary Neuroscience program and his teaching career.

He teaches writing courses in the First Year Seminar program, integrating his functional neuroanatomy interests such as the physical implications of stress, focusing on free will and the manifestations of consciousness.

Soto says that in his academic journey, he has been "guided by mentors who consistently showed up for me, and that's something that I strive to do for my students."

Soto is interviewed in this 10th installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Joshua Goodman – an assistant professor in SOU's Department of Psychology who is also affiliated with the Human Services and the Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies programs – is in the spotlight for this latest podcast episode.

Goodman discusses his research, which focuses on parent support for LGBTQ+ youth – and most recently, intervention for parents who are unsure of their children's sexual orientation. His career has emphasized the development and assessment of interventions to facilitate parent and family support.

He teaches courses at SOU that are related to counseling and clinical psychology, as well as gender and sexuality, including Crisis Intervention Strategies, Human Sexuality, and Introduction to Helping Skills.

Goodman has worked in a variety of roles as a clinician, including at university counseling centers, intensive outpatient mental healthcare and an LGBTQ+ community counseling center. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Goodman is interviewed in this ninth installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty and staff members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Clinton Lytle, SOU's veterans resource coordinator, discusses is military career in the U.S. Navy, his college experience at OIT and the importance to him of that school's Veterans Resource Center.

Lytle was trained in the Navy as a "nuke" – a nuclear propulsion plant operator – and machinist mate. His degree at OIT is in Renewable Energy Engineering, and he worked as a student employee in the Veterans Resource Center.

Lytle's responsibilities at SOU include helping student veterans and their families with VA benefits, operating the Veterans Resource Center and managing the VA Work Study program.

He is interviewed in this eighth installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Tanya Blakeley, an instructor in Southern Oregon University's Department of Education, talks teaching, learning and living.

Blakeley has previously taught in two disciplines – Education and Criminology & Criminal Justice – but this year began a full-time position in the Education Department. Before beginning at SOU in 2009, she taught K-12 students, and she incorporates much of what she learned in those classrooms into her curriculum for future teachers. She models an inclusive classroom and believes in building a supportive learning community for SOU students.

Blakeley, who also has experience in education and program coordination with various non-profit organizations, received her bachelor's degree in education from Texas Christian University and her master's degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

She is interviewed in this seventh installment of "Faculty & Staff Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Erik Sol, a senior instructor and chair of Southern Oregon University's Outdoor Adventure Leadership program, talks teaching, learning, travel and (yes) adventure!

Sol teaches everything from whitewater rafting and backcountry split-boarding to avalanche, swiftwater and technical rope rescue skills. He enjoys helping students to become outdoor guides, and says sharing the success stories of program alumni is "a dream come true."

Sol, who received his bachelor's and master's degrees from SOU, has traveled on expeditions to Nepal, India, Bhutan, Tibet, New Zealand and throughout the U.S., meeting and working with "humans who are doing amazing things all over the world."

He is interviewed in this sixth installment of "Faculty Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which a student multi-media host in SOU's Office of Communications shines a light on SOU faculty members who make an impact on students and their campus community. This year's podcast host is SOU freshman Hailey Demarest, of Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Erica Knotts, a senior instructor in the Southern Oregon University Communication Department, discusses her teaching style – blending fun exercises with rigorous learning – along with some of her favorite courses, her background and much more.

Knotts teaches communication courses including Conflict Resolution, Nonverbal Communication, Small Group Communication and Negotiation. She especially enjoys observing face-to-face communication in real-world environments as she shares practical learning experiences in the classroom.

Knotts is interviewed in a fifth installment (and third of the second season) of "Faculty Spotlight," an SOU News podcast series in which the student multi-media reporter in SOU's Communications Office shines a light on SOU faculty members who make an impact on students and the campus community. This year's multi-media reporter is communication major Angelina Caldera.