Carmen Ford Phillips Endowed Professorship in Leadership

The Carmen Ford Phillips Endowed Professorship in Leadership Fund in the College of Health was created in 2013 through the estate plans of Carmen Ford Phillips, ’59: a fund that will support the training of university students who serve as mentors to 4-H youth throughout Oregon.

An Oregon 4-H Foundation trustee for many years, Phillips is the owner of Polo Ridge Farms, a breeder of quarter horses in Monmouth. She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics at OSU in 1959 followed by her master’s degree in nutrition and food management in 1963.

Phillips is a member of the Ford family, whose history with Oregon State goes back decades. A gift from Carmen’s late mother made possible the construction of the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families, named in her honor. Phillips is a board member emeritus of The Ford Family Foundation, which funds OSU programs, research and outreach, particularly in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Each year the foundation also provides scholarship support for hundreds of students in post-secondary schools in Oregon and northern California.